The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers played the Baltimore Ravens was back in January, and it was a disastrous performance. Baltimore ran for 299 yards in a game that forced the Steelers to ask themselves a lot of questions. With the teams set to play Sunday for the first time since the Ravens the Steelers out of the playoffs, Teryl Austin is confident those questions have been answered well enough to produce a better performance this time around.
“What we thought when we came out of that game was that we needed to address those areas in the offseason, which we did with our guys. We have had some scheme tweaks and different things that way,” Austin said Thursday via a team-provided transcript. “So I think that when I look at where we are from last year, the end of last year and where we are now in terms of how we’re operating up front and in our front seven, I like us a lot better than last year. I think our guys will bounce back and get things going in the right direction.”
That 28-14 loss to the Ravens was as bad as the defensive possibly could have looked. The Steelers made some additions to the front, acquiring Derrick Harmon, Jack Sawyer and Yahya Black through the NFL draft. And those three were just a small part of the total defensive moves they made over the offseason.
Yet things don’t look pretty for Teryl Austin coming into Week 14. The Steelers are without Harmon, who missed last week’s game and remains out with a knee injury. And the unit as a whole is reeling. The defense has had plenty of bad performances before, but last Sunday’s effort against the Buffalo Bills was shocking. James Cook III ran 32 times, often the same exact play, for 144 yards. And the Steelers had no answers, allowing 249 rushing yards to the Bills.
Even a typically bad game would be an improvement, but the task isn’t any easier this week. Derrick Henry isn’t dominating the league anymore, yet he’s still one of the better running backs in the NFL. After watching the Bills run all over the Steelers, Henry will be getting the ball early and often until the Steelers prove they can stop him.
One thing that may swing in Pittsburgh’s favor is Lamar Jackson’s health. After a great start to the year, he missed a few games with a hamstring injury. Since coming back three weeks ago he still hasn’t looked healthy and didn’t practice Thursday.
But none of that matters if Teryl Austin’s unit can’t stop the run. The Steelers have put a lot of bad tape out there. We’ll see if the scheme does look better this week, but the recent history is far from encouraging.