The Pittsburgh Steelers took care of business against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 14, winning 27-22 in a game that solidified the Steelers atop the AFC North and puts them in prime position to win the division with four weeks left in the regular season. The performance came after a disastrous collapse the prior week, and with the Miami Dolphins set to come to town on Monday night in Week 15. The Steelers will need to continue to put together some dominant performances, especially on the defensive side of the ball moving forward.
Jared Wickerham / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers defensive end Yahya Black (94) and Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward (97) during a regular season matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens in 2025.
The defense sealed the game against the Ravens late, getting a critical sack with nine seconds left. With all the attention still centered on the defense, many around the league look to different position groups or different players as the reason why the Steelers find success on defense when they do, but one player in particular has gone under the radar to observers.
Daniel Jeremiah recently discussed this at length on the latest episode of his Move The Sticks podcast, giving his takes on the performance of the Steelers as a whole, and brought up something that most haven’t talked about lately. That being the performance of Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward.
“Cam Heyward, eight pressures in this game,” Jeremiah said. “He’s not anywhere near as quick as he was when he was younger as a player, but he’s got so much dang power that the lack of twitch that he had a few years back doesn’t really matter. The last play of the game, the biggest play of the game, they finished him off, was a little pick stunt, and he just kind of comes off the pick stunt and ends up closing. He pops in Lamar [Jackson]’s vision, so Lamar tries to get out of there and then [Alex] Highsmith catches him from behind. But it’s kind of made by Cam Heyward. Because of playing with TJ Watt and playing with some of the other guys he’s played with, I don’t know that we realize how good of a player this guy is. He’s 36 years old and been doing this a long time.”
Jeremiah’s comment about Heyward is warranted. Because of Heyward’s time playing with other elite players on the Steelers’ defense, including superstar edge rusher TJ Watt, Heyward’s production has largely gone unnoticed. As it pertains to the game against the Ravens, Heyward had an incredible impact like the majority of the defense did, rising up to the challenge issued to them earlier in the week. Heyward didn’t produce a sack, but he did produce two solo tackles and three assists, applying pressure to Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson all day long.
Karl Roser / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward (97) during a regular season matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens in 2025.
The dominating performance by the Steelers’ defense against a division rival is something that the team will need to carry forward into next week against the Dolphins and beyond as the regular season comes to a close. With the rebound performance from the previous week, the Steelers are finding some consistency on the defense, with players like Heyward being core contributors. However, to ensure the AFC North title belongs to the Steelers, they’ll need to focus on other key factors as well.
Steelers Need To Have Strong Performances In The Trenches
With how dominant Heyward and the other Steelers players were in the trenches against the Ravens, they all need to continue these performances in the coming weeks. The last few quarterbacks the Steelers will see are generally much worse under pressure. With another dominant game or two, maybe Heyward finally gets recognition from more of the national media.
Alysa Rubin / Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward (97) during a regular season matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens.
What did you think about Jeremiah’s comments about Heyward not being as recognized as he should be in 2025? Let us know in the comments below.