The month of December has been one to forget for the Pittsburgh Steelers, to say the least.
Among the myriad of issues that have plagued the Steelers during their three-game losing streak, their secondary has been arguably the biggest.
After 17 games this season, the Steelers' defense is ranked 24th in passing yards allowed per game (226.9). During their losing streak, they've allowed 262.7 passing yards per game. To put this in perspective, the defense ranked 21st exactly a year ago in this category (230.7), despite the injury issues they endured while struggling to make a playoff spot at that time. What this means is that even with the additions they made this offseason, the Steelers' secondary has regressed from what it was in 2023.
The million-dollar question the team has yet to answer is: where is the true source of the problem? It would be easy to look at coaching, which both defensive coordinator Teryl Austin and head coach Mike Tomlin share the blame for, but the personnel, which was once a strength early in the season, has now unraveled and shown they are liabilities in coverage. One can assume that schematics play a part in their regression, but their level of play has become a serious issue.
For this occasion, we will review each player in the secondary solely based on their productivity this season in relation to yards allowed. In this case, we've used each player regardless of snaps taken:
*stats courtesy of Player Profiler and Pro Football Reference
Player Receptions Allowed Yards Allowed Yards/Reception Allowed
Donte Jackson 34 514 15.1
Joey Porter Jr. 47 584 12.4
Cam Sutton 8 67 8.4
Cory Trice Jr. 4 49 12.3
Minkah Fitzpatrick 33 488 14.8
Damontae Kazee 11 182 16.5
DeShon Elliott 32 230 7.2
Though the defensive backs have seemingly allowed a low reception percentage, each player has unfortunately surrendered a high number of yards per reception; the type of yards that have extended drives, contributed to more touchdowns allowed, and swung the pendulum of momentum to opposing teams.
What's discouraging is that these problems have emerged against both contenders and teams completely out of playoff contention. Based on what we've seen this season, teams are taking full advantage of the flaws within the secondary.
At this point in the season, there is little the Steelers can do to improve their current situation with their secondary. The offseason should result in drastic changes to the coaching staff and the players themselves. Until then, they have no choice but to find quick solutions if they have any chance of making noise in the playoffs.
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