{"id":217369,"date":"2025-07-18T17:34:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/217369\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T17:34:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T17:34:05","slug":"their-defense-isnt-that-good-colin-cowherd-criticizes-steelers-following-t-j-watt-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/217369\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Their Defense Isn’t That Good’: Colin Cowherd Criticizes Steelers Following T.J. Watt Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Steelers are synonymous with defense. No matter how their teams have been built, their defense is usually in the spotlight. That will likely be true again this season. The Steelers agreed to terms with T.J. Watt on a contract extension Thursday, once again investing in their defense.<\/a> However, Colin Cowherd criticized this move.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the talented Watt, it\u2019s how they prioritize defense,\u201d Cowherd said Friday on FS1\u2019s The Herd.<\/a> \u201cFrankly, their defense isn\u2019t that good. Four straight years, it\u2019s been out of the top 10 in total defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s talk playoffs, because that\u2019s all that matters in this sport. January, if you go look at the last five playoff games for the Pittsburgh Steelers, they\u2019ve given up 28, 31, 42, 48, and 45. They give up 40 points a game. They\u2019re spending all this money on the wrong side of the ball, and they\u2019re not dominant.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that the Steelers\u2019 defense hasn\u2019t been as good as it should have been in recent years. Considering the talent they\u2019ve had, they should consistently be one of the top units in the league.<\/p>\n

However, there\u2019s context around their recent struggles. Last year was a disaster, with Pittsburgh\u2019s defense collapsing down the stretch. While it\u2019s tough to defend the Steelers when they were plagued by miscommunication and missed tackles, injuries have hampered them in other years.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Cam Heyward and Minkah Fitzpatrick dealt with injuries that derailed their seasons. They weren\u2019t the only players in Pittsburgh who got banged up, either. The Steelers dealt with extensive injuries at safety and middle linebacker, forcing them to put a Band-Aid on the center of their defense.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Watt suffered a major injury, and while he returned quicker than anticipated, he never looked quite right. Without him, Pittsburgh\u2019s defense was much worse. That goes to show how important he is to their team.<\/a><\/p>\n

Defense also isn\u2019t entirely to blame for the Steelers\u2019 playoff struggles, either. Often, they haven\u2019t received much support from their offense. Pittsburgh\u2019s offense has often gifted its postseason opponents with points or great field position. Also, in 2023, the Steelers didn\u2019t have Watt, which helps explain why they weren\u2019t as dominant defensively.<\/p>\n

This season, the Steelers\u2019 defense is even more loaded with talent.<\/a> They\u2019ve added players like Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay, with others like Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson hopefully set to take a step forward in Pittsburgh. While the Steelers\u2019 defense hasn\u2019t been at the level it should be lately, it hasn\u2019t been terrible. More often than not, defense is the reason Pittsburgh wins games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers are synonymous with defense. No matter how their teams have been built, their defense is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[6405,7,6,520,57,2360,426,5226,18359],"class_list":{"0":"post-217369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-colin-cowherd","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-steelers","15":"tag-t-j-watt","16":"tag-the-herd-with-colin-cowherd"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}