4 takeaways from Pittsburgh Steelers impressive win over Lions

Steelers defense was on fire

Steelers defense didn’t create a single takeaway in this contest. But that certainly doesn’t mean they weren’t spectacular against the Lions on Saturday night. Forget about Detroit’s surge late in the fourth quarter. That came against primarily third-string defenders. The starting defense was practically spotless in this contest.

Again, we have to be careful not to over-analyze their performance. After all, this did come against a Lions team that is projected to be one of the worst in football this year and Detriot was missing a number of starters – including quarterback Jared Goff and tight end T.J. Hockenson.

At the same time, I don’t want to short-change the Steelers for what they were able to do. While Pittsburgh’s defensive line finished the night with just one sack, Alex Highsmith once again harassed the quarterback and forced a few bad throws as he barreled down towards the passer. He wasn’t the only one, as the pressure was pretty consistent all night.

In the secondary, I thought Pittsburgh’s defensive backs did a good job breaking on balls and didn’t allow much of anything after the catch. In fact, the defense allowed just two passes over 15 yards on the night. I thought Jamir Jones and James Pierre had another nice game, while Marcus Allen made a bit of a splash. However, this was just a brilliant team effort to hold Detriot scoreless through the first three quarters.