Steelers Know Offense is Causing Issues on Defense
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PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Steelers defense has logged over 100 minutes of playing time during their first three regular season games, and the team fully understands it's killing any potential the group has.
The Steelers defense looked like one of the NFL's best in Week 1, forcing five turnovers against the Cincinnati Bengals. Since then, they've received plenty of criticism while giving up 295 rushing yards in the last two weeks.
How can they fix it?
"Focus on the little things. Control what you can control. Do your job and just get ready to play football again," defensive tackleCam Heyward said. "This weekend was nice to get a nice reset, but we have work to do."
That break was needed for the defense. They'll now head into Week 4 against the New York Jets with a 10-day break between games.
"It was nice to get a couple extra hours of rest," Heyward said. "Hopefully, it benefits us. Now we get to rest and get back to the task at hand."
While the defense is receiving criticism, though, the team understands it's the offense that is hurting their teammates. Center Mason Cole opened up, saying the offense knows they're putting too much weight on the defense's shoulders with their three-and-outs - alluding to an 11-play drive by the Cleveland Browns where Pittsburgh's offense went three-and-out the following drive.
"We gotta help our defense out," Cole said. "Three-and-outs, consecutive three-and-outs for us are not good and it kills our defense. ... A lot of people will say our defense needs to play the run better, but we need to help our defense out. It's important for us to possess the ball and have those possession downs be won."
Heyward knows the defense is capable of solving the problem, but also realizes there's an alarming issue with how long the group has played early in the season. Something the team hopes to fix in Week 4.
"Not getting off the field enough. Obviously not stopping the run enough," Heyward said on the group's concerns. "It comes down to tackling, being responsible for our gaps. Then, when we do that, we can do what we want. We can get after the pass rush. The last two games have not been indicative of it. If we're ever going to have success around here, that's the blueprint to get it done."
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