Oct 20, 2018 6 min read

Are we over the early-season panic about the Steelers defense yet?

Is it the second coming of the Steel Curtain or Blitzburgh? No, certainly not.

Is it good enough to win in today’s NFL? Absolutely.

The Steelers have played six games, more than a big enough sample size to give us an idea of what the defense looks like. And the results are better than you might think.

A defense that allowed a pathetic 13 pass plays of 40 or more yards and nine runs of more than 20 yards last season – most of which came in the second half of the season – has been much better on the back end. The Steelers have allowed only three pass plays of 40 or more yards in their first six games and just two runs of more than 20 yards.

The Steelers also are allowing opposing running backs only 3.6 yards per rushing attempt, an average that is more than stout.

They’ve given up some rushing yards to opposing quarterbacks, but most of that – 77 yards – came in the opener against Cleveland.

No running back has come close to gaining 100 yards against them. Considering the Steelers allowed three running backs to rush for more than 100 yards against them in their final five games last season – including the playoffs – that’s progress.

Meanwhile, take away a 42-point game allowed to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2 – I know, you can’t do that, but we’ll give them a mulligan against a team that has done that to everyone – and the Steelers are allowing 22.4 points per game.

That’s more than good enough to win on a week-to-week basis in today’s pass-happy NFL.

Are there still flaws? Sure. Cornerback Artie Burns is again struggling with his consistency. But if that’s the worst problem the Steelers have on defense, they’ll be OK.

• If the Ravens and Bengals both lose today – something that is highly possible – the Steelers will be in first place in the AFC North.

That’s why you should never panic over a slow start. Over the past decade, the Steelers have a .500 record in the month of September. They are way over .500 the rest of the season.

• The NFL didn’t suspend Cincinnati linebacker Vontaze Burfict for yet another series of head and cheap shots in last weekend’s 28-21 loss to the Steelers.

The Steelers are getting fed up with it. As one veteran player told me this week, if the league isn’t going to do something about Burfict, who has been fined or suspended 11 different times, the players on the field are going to have to take matters into their own hands.

David DeCastro had a valid point this week when he said after Burfict’s latest elbow to the head of Antonio Brown, “There’s all this emphasis on quarterback safety, but what about a guy like AB? He’s a superstar in this league. What he’s getting paid and what he means to this team, a cheap shot like that I thought was unnecessary. It’s not my job to talk about it. They want to talk about making this game safer? Maybe they’ll do something. Maybe they’ll just put a new rule in that nobody calls when it matters. Maybe it’s a PR stunt and it doesn’t really matter. They like to stir the pot and get everyone fired up. Show the highlight tape before the game. Make sure it all happens again.”

It would be one thing if this were hockey and the Steelers could simply send their enforcer out to fight Burfict. But the NFL frowns upon stuff like that.

Perhaps, however, an all-out brawl in a Pittsburgh-Cincinnati game will get the attention of the league.

This week’s picks

The Steelers are off this week, so we’ll pick the other AFC North games and a couple of important ones.

Tampa Bay minus 3½ over Cleveland: The Browns got stomped by the Chargers last week and banged up in the process. Every Tampa Bay game has gone over the total, which this week is a scant 51½ points. The Browns will have all kinds of issues covering Tampa Bay’s receivers. Since Baker Mayfield took over at QB for the Browns, Jarvis Landry has caught just 13 of 29 passes with which he’s been targeted. The Browns won’t be able to keep up in a 34-24 loss.

New Orleans plus 3 at Baltimore: Drew Brees has beaten 31 teams, with the Ravens being the last one standing. The Saints are coming off a bye, so they’ve had two weeks to prepare for this one. The Ravens are playing good defense, but I’ll take Brees to figure out their defense in a 24-23 victory.

Cincinnati minus 6 at Kansas City: The Bengals are the owners of some crazy numbers, such as their 3-18 record at Paul Brown Stadium against the Steelers. Want one that’s even worse? How about they are 1-18 with coach Marvin Lewis in road games in primetime. When this game got flexed to the Sunday night contest two weeks ago, nobody in Cincinnati could have been happy about that. The Chiefs also are coming off a loss. They’ll win this one, 45-28

New England minus 3 at Chicago: Bears linebacker Khalil Mack is banged up and the Patriots are getting all the pieces together on offense. The Bears will be angry after losing last week at Miami, but this is a tough spot for them, especially if Mack doesn’t play. It won’t be easy, but Tom Brady and company will win, 27-17

Jacksonville minus 4 over Houston: Two teams headed in different directions. The Jags have lost three of four and have shown some flaws. The Texans have won three in a row despite many flaws of their own. Houston’s biggest issue is that it can’t protect quarterback DeShaun Watson, which will be a major issue in a 24-17 loss to the Jaguars.