There’s a lot to not like about the Pittsburgh Steelers defense two weeks into the 2025 NFL season. The unit is ranked 29th in points and yards allowed. Furthermore, the Steelers are in the bottom five of the league in rushing yards allowed and net yards per pass attempt yielded.
There’s plenty to work on ahead of the Week 3 matchup with the New England Patriots. But while talking to the media Thursday, Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin seemed most upset about the unit’s inability to fix their mistakes from the season opener during Week 2.
Austin’s unit struggled with a lot of the same issues in both games. Specifically, the Steelers defense gave up a touchdown on a crossing pattern in each contest.
This week it was Jalen Ramsey vs Tory Horton. Same result.
When asked about how to better defend deep crossing patterns Thursday, Austin didn’t mince words.
“Not do that [expletive]. That [expletive] was [expletive] bad,” Austin said, via Carter. “That can’t happen.
The Steelers defensive coordinator added that the unit worked on defending that pattern before facing the Seattle Seahawks in Week 2. However, his defense didn’t execute the adjustments.
“It wasn’t something that was un-addressed during the course of the week.”
“Not do that shit. It’s fucking bad. That can’t happen. It wasn’t something that was un-addressed during the course of the week.”
Not that it wasn’t already clear, but Austin also said, “I get a little pissed off at those things.”
Teryl Austin Voices Frustration With Steelers Defense
It’s more than fair for Austin to be irked with his unit. Several members of the Steelers organization, including head coach Mike Tomlin, hyped the team’s 2025 defense as one that could be “historic.
On paper, the unit has former Pro Bowlers at all three levels and three likely future Hall of Fame members. To supplement those stars, the Steelers defense also has exciting young players such as Derrick Harmon, Joey Porter Jr. and Payton Wilson.
Injuries have slowed the unit to begin the season. Harmon has yet to make his debut, and Porter missed Week 2. Alex Highsmith sat out a majority of Week 2 as well, and others briefly left the Seahawks matchup.
Still, Pittsburgh’s defensive lapses have been surprising. The Steelers have allowed 22 plays of at least 15 yards, which is four more plays than any other team through two weeks.
With the inability to stop explosive plays, the Steelers defense has allowed opponents to convert 46.4% of their third downs. That’s 10th worst in the league.
The poor run defense hasn’t allowed T.J. Watt, and the team’s other top pass rushers a lot of opportunity to pursue opposing quarterbacks in obvious passing situations. The Steelers have also just missed on a couple instances to sack the quarterback.
Pittsburgh is ranked sixth in pressure rate through two games but only has three sacks.
“Almost doesn’t do much for us, you know,” Austin admitted, via The TribLive.com’s Chris Adamski. “Almost gets them first downs.
“I did think some of the execution of our pressures up front were really good. We got what we wanted. We were able to get in and get some hits on the quarterback, but our rushing coverage, everything has to work together. And right now, we’re just a little bit off.”
Austin on the Defensive Coordinator Hot Seat in Pittsburgh?
There’s plenty of time for the Steelers to correct their defensive issues. Veteran cornerback Darius Slay pointed to his experience with the Philadelphia Eagles last season as the main reason he has confidence that the team’s defense will fix its problems.
Last year, Slay was part of a Philadelphia Eagles defense that allowed the third-most yards and ranked 23rd in scoring through the first four weeks of the season,” The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo wrote. “An early bye week changed everything. The Eagles bounced back over the final two-thirds of the season to finish with the NFL’s best total defense (278.4 yard per game) and second-best scoring defense (17.8 points per game).
But Austin will have to fix his unit’s issues with perhaps a growing narrative that he needs to be replaced.
Steelers media personality Mike Nicastro argued Wednesday if the problems continue for the team’s defense, the organization should consider a midseason coordinator change.
They did it in season with Matt Canada. So they aren’t immune to it.
If you’re really all in, need to send a message and fix these leaks asap.
As Nicastro reference, the Steelers fired offensive coordinator Matt Canada in November 2023. The team finished the 2023 regular season 4-3 after Canada’s firing.
It’s possible Austin reacted the way he did Thursday because he is aware his coaching seat could be getting warm. In all likelihood, though, he’s just frustrated like a lot of Steelers fans are, seeing the team’s defense repeatedly make the same mistakes early in 2025.
Steelers DC Teryl Austin Absolutely Blasts Glaring Defensive Issue