Sep 18, 2017 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – This was supposed to be the year of the Killer Bs for the Steelers.

Instead, two games into the season, it’s been the Killer D that has carried the team.

While the offense has put up 47 points in the first two games, including Sunday’s 26-9 win over the Minnesota Vikings, it’s been a stingy defense that has been the key component of Pittsburgh’s 2-0 start.

The Steelers have allowed 237 total yards to each of their first two opponents, limiting the Browns and Vikings to just three total touchdowns in those two victories.

And it’s still not good enough for defensive captain Cameron Heyward.

“I want to see that goose egg every time we’re out there,” said Heyward. “We’ve got to keep challenging ourselves. That’s what good defenses do. It’s two games. You don’t win the Super Bowl off of two games.”

No, you don’t. But it’s a great start for a team that finished 21st in total defense in 2015, coordinator Keith Butler’s first season running that unit, and 12th last year. Only Carolina and Buffalo have allowed fewer yards through two games this season.

The Steelers have added nine sacks, a 29.6 percentage rate on third-down conversions and are allowing just 166 passing yards per game.

The Steelers have been fortunate to face a rookie quarterback in Cleveland’s Deshone Kizer and a backup in Minnesota’s Case Keenum, a late replacement for injured starter Sam Bradford, but they also feel like all the pieces are in place to have a shutdown defense no matter the opponent.

“I’m not taking anything away from the guys filling in, but I feel like when our defense is 100 percent intact, we’re going to be one of the best defenses in the league,” said inside linebacker Ryan Shazier, who went to his first Pro Bowl last year.

Shazier has a point.

Defensive end Stephon Tuitt, who was given a five-year, $61-million contract extension the day before the Steelers played Cleveland, appeared in just two plays before leaving with an upper arm injury.

He could be back when the Steelers travel to Chicago (0-2) Sunday in Week 3.

That would be a boost to the Pittsburgh defense, which hasn’t had its two wrecking-ball defensive ends on the field together for more than those two plays in Cleveland in its past 10 regular season game. Heyward missed the second half of last season with a torn pectoral muscle.

“We made some offseason moves, but it’s just a lot of guys growing up,” said Shazier, a first-round draft pick in 2014. “Me and Tuitt, we’re in our fourth year. We’ve seen a lot of football.”

They are two of seven players selected in the first three rounds of the draft in the past four seasons currently starting on that defense. Linebackers T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree, nose tackle Javon Hargrave, cornerback Artie Burns and safety Sean Davis are the others.

Add in Heyward, a first-round pick in 2011, and free agent pickups in free safety Mike Mitchell, a former second-round pick of Oakland; and cornerback Joe Haden, a first-round pick of Cleveland in 2010; and the Steelers have high-pedigree players all through their defense.

“Adding a Pro Bowl corner like Joe Haden, that helps out a lot,” Shazier said of Haden, who was acquired a week before the season began. “We feel great about both corners. I feel like I could talk about our whole defense because anybody could make a big play at any moment.”

Heck, even backups such as defensive lineman Tyson Alualu, a first-round pick in Jacksonville in 2010, have talent.

That’s why players such as Haden and Alualu decided to come to Pittsburgh.

And it’s why the defense isn’t making any apologies for beating up on two perceived lesser teams.

“Nope,” said Alualu, who like Haden has never been on a team that has been 2-0 before. “This feels good to come out on top in these two games.”

With the win over the Vikings, the Steelers are 27-14 against the NFC under head coach Mike Tomlin. … Sunday’s game marked the 76th time in which quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has had a passer rating of 100.0 or better. The Steelers are 68-8 in those games. … Roethlisberger’s passer rating through two games is 99.9.