With improved offense in 2020, could Steelers defense make even more ‘splash’ plays?

Chris Adamski
Monday, Aug. 31, 2020 4:10 p.m. | Monday, Aug. 31, 2020 4:10 p.m.

Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joe Haden celebrates his interception with teammates during a win against the Arizona Cardinals last season. It was one of 20 interceptions and an NFL-best 38 takeaways for the Steelers last season. They also led the NFL in sacks despite a poor offense that rarely put opponents in a position to have to take chances.

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense led the NFL in sacks and turnovers during the 2019 season.

Imagine what it could do if the opposing offenses had to revert to taking chances, throwing more or went into desperation mode to come back?

The Steelers managed 54 sacks and 38 takeaways last season. Remarkable, but when considering the Steelers held a lead of more than 10 points only three times last season, that makes their ability to force takeaways and put pressure on the quarterback even more impressive.

“You always want to have the lead, so you know that it is going to be a pass most of the time,” outside linebacker Bud Dupree said during a video conference call with media Monday. “That being said, you can get way more opportunities when you have the lead. We have to create plays. When you get those opportunities, we have to create the plays and the splash plays that we can, and it might be something special.”

All 2️⃣0️⃣ interceptions in 2️⃣0️⃣1️⃣9️⃣⤵️ pic.twitter.com/hwW8EWMWAw

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) January 21, 2020

Last season’s Steelers defense was special. Its offense, um, was not. It ranked 30^th in the NFL in yards and 27^th in points.

That put little pressure on opposing offensive coordinators or quarterbacks to be aggressive or take chances. The only games in which the Steelers ever carried a lead of more than 10 points were the Sept. 30 win against Cincinnati (25 minutes, 40 seconds of a lead of 14-plus points), all but about 12 minutes of a victory at the Los Angeles Chargers two weeks later, and a home win in their next game against the Miami Dolphins on Oct. 28 (the Steelers led by 13 for the final 5:37).

One would think that with the return to health of offensive stars Ben Roethlisberger, JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner that the offense will produce more points, thereby putting opponents into less comfortable situations offensively, which in turn could lead to even more sacks and takeaways for the Steelers.

Our defense led the league with 5️⃣4️⃣ sacks in the regular season.

? all of them ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/V4RD1nnogi

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) January 14, 2020

“When you are playing with a lead and you know that teams are one dimensional, then your ability to get turnovers increases,” Steelers senior defensive assistant/secondary coach Teryl Austin said. “If that happens, that will be great. If it doesn’t, then it is our job to get the ball back in these tight games. We are going to try to get after the ball no matter what.

“So, I think our guys are determined to make sure we play better than we did last year and get more turnovers and be more impactful on the games than we were last year. That is really our charge.”

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Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.