Steelers' Patrick Graham Has Been Caught In A Lie That Has Been Harmful To His Defense

The Pittsburgh Steelers have not been as dominant on defense as they would like to be in the past few games. The first two weeks were great, as they allowed 13 points per game while keeping opposing offenses from moving the ball too far. In the previous three weeks, however, as they have allowed just over 25 points per game with the passing defense being the primary problem. The run defense in Week 5 was incredible, but they can't keep giving up long drives and chunk plays in the passing game regularly if they want to be a threat in the AFC. 

The biggest concern for the Steelers is the severe lack of a pass rush. This supposedly elite front four has just four sacks in the previous three games. They have been unable to get to the quarterback at all, which makes it harder on these cornerbacks to sit back and play zone defense when the receivers have time to find these soft spots and get open with ease. This is not the path to success at all. 

The reason for this failure may have just been revealed. On a recent episode of Steelers Collective, Mark Kaboly spoke about how something that was promised to the team has not come through at all.

"[TJ] Watt has 4.5 sacks, and they just preached to us about how they were going to move him to the left, to the right because they had to; the scheme was going to say this," Kaboly said. "I think he has less than 15 snaps on the other side in five games. They're just not going to do it."

Kaboly is definitely not wrong about the preaching part. All throughout the offseason and training camp, there was nonstop talk about how TJ Watt would be more versatile, as he would keep moving around to make opposing offensive coordinators and quarterbacks keep adjusting to his unpredictable movements. Now, it's just as predictable as ever, and the same issues that were popping up in 2025 are back with him with the lack of impact in recent weeks.

Kaboly continues on, as he explains how Patrick Graham's refusal to move Watt around is hurting another key player on the defense.

"It leaves [Nick] Herbig in a spot where he can't succeed because he only has 60 pass rush snaps this year," Kaboly said. "You're not going to get home when you have half as many as the other two. I don't know about this scheme right now; I think they got to figure this out and get this thing worked out so there is more pressure."

It's not just Watt and Nick Herbig struggling to get to the quarterback, as there was the aforementioned stat of just four sacks in three games for the defense as a whole, but it's still a problem when your highest paid players are complete non-factors. Herbig had a blank slate in Week 5 despite getting plenty of snaps at both inside and outside linebacker. His performance all season long has been far from acceptable, and it likely falls on coaching. 

Steelers Have Been Setting Herbig Up To Fail After Paying Him

Of those 60-something pass rush snaps that Kaboly talked about, many of them came from the inside linebacker position, where he has been working against a guard. That's not his game at all, as his signature move is designed to get around offensive tackles with ease. It's a lot harder to use that kind of speed rush on an interior offensive lineman, especially since he can't just keep going further to the outside. He needs to go back to outside linebacker.

What do you think about Graham lying to everyone about how he's going to move Watt around, as well as the impact that has on the defense? Let us know on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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