PITTSBURGH — If there was reason not to pick the Steelers to win the Super Bowl this season, it was the defense. The feeling around the Steelers the past two seasons has been one of them winning in spite of their defense.
Through two games, Pittsburgh might just be easing some of those concerns that were so prominent before the season. The Steelers have only allowed two touchdowns in the first two weeks of the season and both of those have come in the fourth quarter when the team held big leads.
Pittsburgh improved to 2-0 with a 24-16 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday and the defense was a big reason why.
The Steelers held Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Green to two receptions for 38 yards. Cornerback Ross Cockrell, a waiver-wire pickup last September, followed Green and covered him for most of the game.
“He’s growing in all areas,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “He’s got the things that excite you: he’s tough, he’s smart and he’s got a good above-the-neck game, he’s a worker. All of those things kind of make it a very natural thing, this progression he’s going through, this improvement. I don’t think any of us are surprised by it. I think we all expect it to continue.”
The rush defense continually put the pass defense in good situations. The Bengals couldn’t get anything going on the ground and the Steelers constantly had them in third-and-long situations. The Bengals converted just 4 of 16 third downs.
“In those instances specifically, minimizing Green’s impact on the game, that was the plan for us,” Tomlin said. “We realized that potentially opened up for some other things. (Rookie wide receiver) Tyler Boyd did some good things for them today, but such is life. We felt like if we stopped the run and minimized 18’s impact on the game, that it would put us in the position to keep the score down and thus win. And largely, those kind of things happened.”
The fact that the defensive performances have come against two teams that made the playoffs last season should excited Tomlin even more. Next week, they’ll try to keep it going against the Eagles in Philadelphia.