The Steelers defense was 'shaky' at the outset but eventually settled down
When we discuss what transpired in a game, we generally discuss playing complimentary football. The Steelers offense put up thirty points against the Seahawks and although the defense gave up twenty-three points, we surrendered a lot of yards, three-hundred and sixty-nine, to be exact.
As I mentioned at the beginning of our discussion, we won the turnover battle courtesy of a strip-sack fumble by Nick Herbig, our rookie linebacker out of Wisconsin. I don't know about you, but it just seems like every time Herbig is on the field, good things happen.
Herbig provided the only turnover of the game and it was necessary and timely. Not only did Herbig cause the fumble, but he recovered it. I'd say that was a good day at the office for Herbig. Unfortunately, it was not a good day at the office for everyone on the defense.
We gave up two-hundred and eighty-one yards through the air and gave up one rushing and one passing TD. While that's not in and of itself catastrophic, it certainly could have been had the offense not scored thirty points.
That's where I think we got exposed to a degree. We gave up less than one hundred yards on the ground but through sixteen games of the 2023 season, the Steelers defense is ranked in the third quartile in average passing yards allowed per game.
While that is concerning, at least to me, I don't know what can be done to correct it at this late stage of the season. With that in mind, let's see what else we learned.