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Our friends over at Touchdown Wire went about the task of ranking every NFL defense for the upcoming season. In a league that continues to skew heavier and heavier toward the offensive side of the football, being a truly elite defense is harder and harder.
But as we saw in 2019, the Steelers put together a complete defense, and once the trade for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick was done, the entire defense took a huge step forward. This was good enough for Touchdown Wire to rank Pittsburgh at No. 3.
How did the Steelers manage to go 8-8 with an absolutely disastrous quarterback situation? With a defense that pounced on opportunities throughout the season, and got better as things went along. No team had a better Defensive DVOA (Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted efficiency metric) than Pittsburgh from Weeks 10-17, and that had as much to do with the trade for defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick (who became one of the league’s best deep safeties in his new environs) as it did with a defense that led the NFL in sacks (54), pressures (180), and pressure percentage (30.5). If Ben Roethlisberger can make it through the 2020 season, expect the Steelers to challenge the Ravens for the top of the AFC North.
The Steelers squandered once of the best statistical seasons by the Steelers defense last season with a completely anemic offense. This team doesn’t need the offense to be elite to get back to the playoffs. The continued emergence of guys like T.J. Watt and Fitzpatrick puts an offense on the mend to be able to take its time getting to full strength and still remain competitive.
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