3 reasons for optimism heading into the Steelers 2020 season
By Eric Hassel
The Steelers defense should be able to improve upon last season’s stellar performance
According to Pro-Football-Reference, the Steelers defense finished the 2019 season ranked 5th in terms of points against or points allowed, in other words. Considering the Steelers offense finished the 2019 season ranked 27th in points scored, had it not been for the performance of the defense, the 2019 season probably would have been a losing one instead of a ‘break-even’ one.
Admittedly, there were games where the defense just could not get that last stop on third down or that turnover that may have given the offense one more shot at a potential game-winning drive. There were also games where the defense just could not get into a ‘groove’. Overall, the defense ‘saved the day’ more times than it did not (save the day).
The ‘Achilles heel’ of the 2019 defense was pass coverage between the LB and Safety groups. Assuming we can ‘shore up’ that weakness, I do not see any reason that the Steelers defense will not ‘step up’ during the 2020 season to either duplicate the top 5 performance of last season or to improve upon the top 5 performance of 2019.
With most of the 2019 defense returning for the 2020 season, I, for one, am very optimistic about our chances to field a defense that will dominate in 2020.
Let’s take a look at the final reason for optimism.