Previewing The Pittsburgh Steelers Defense
The Las Vegas Raiders were able to put up 33 points against a top-level defense from last season in the Baltimore Ravens, albeit one that had some injuries.
The Raiders face what is arguably an even better defense on Sunday when they go on the road to face the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Third in the league in both points and yards allowed last season, the Steelers defense is firmly back to living up to its historic reputation.
That includes bringing back the best pass-rushing unit in the NFL last season, leading the league with 56 sacks.
They had three against the Buffalo Bills last week and kept an offense ranked second in the NFL in points scored last year to only 16.
Two of those sacks came from multi-time All-Pro T.J. Watt, who has turned into an annual contender for Defensive Player of the Year.
Watt leads a Steelers front that features multiple other Pro Bowl level players in Cameron Hayward and Melvin Ingram, each having double-digit sack seasons on their resume.
Their linebacking corps is led by the athletic Devin Bush Jr., a player we highlighted earlier this offseason as one to watch among Raiders opponents.
The Steelers also traded for former Pro Bowler Joe Schobert right before the start of the season. Schobert has had at least 103 total tackles each of the last four seasons.
In the secondary, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick has emerged as one of the best safeties in the league and has been an All-Pro each of the last two years.
Veteran cornerback Joe Haden has been a consistent presence for the Steelers ever since 2017, and other young players like corner Cameron Sutton and safety Terrell Edmunds have emerged as key players.
Quite simply, this is a defense that presents very few to maybe no holes for offenses to take advantage of.
Looking at their pass rush specifically, it presents an incredible challenge for a Raiders offensive line that had their struggles against the Ravens.
Especially now that guard Denzelle Good is out for the year with a torn ACL, the Raiders will need their young offensive line to jell quickly.
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