Steelers defense is paid like it's elite, but against top QBs? It's been a mixed bag

Back in January of 2022, the Pittsburgh Steelers entered the postseason at an inflection point in the franchises history, with one era ending and another beginning.

Playing in his 18th and final NFL season, Ben Roethlisbergers Hall of Fame career was in its final days.

Maybe there was a little magic left in the old gunslingers right arm after he led a comeback in the season finale.

But really, the only hope of upsetting the Kansas City Chiefs rested with Pittsburghs defense.

Advertisement The Steelers had spent a decade investing first-round picks in that side of the ball.

Including the 2020 first-round pick Pittsburgh gave up to acquire safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, the Steelers spent nine of their previous 10 first-round picks on defense, beginning with Cameron Heyward in 2011.

Ahead of the 2021 campaign, they inked outside linebacker T.J.

Watt to a deal that made him the NFLs highest-paid defensive player.

In that playoff game on Jan.

16, 2022, Watt began to show why the Steelers paid him all that money, returning a fumble for a touchdown for an early 7-0 lead.

For a minute, it felt like Pittsburgh could steal a game against a superior opponent.

Like a hot goalie in the NHL playoffs, you cant lose if they cant score, right? One problem.

The Chiefs had Patrick Mahomes, who proceeded to throw touchdowns on five consecutive series (Travis Kelce made it six with a trick-play TD pass).

As if the blowout wasnt bad enough, a message on the video board at Arrowhead Stadium highlighted the embarrassment.

Chiefs fans, we are sorry to report, but due to your support and the Chiefs continually finding the end zone, we have run out of touchdown fireworks, it read.

That offseason, instead of investing in their own fireworks, the Steelers doubled down on defense by signing Fitzpatrick to a four-year, $73.6 million contract extension that made him the highest-paid safety in NFL history.

When Watt and Fitzpatricks salaries fully hit the cap, Pittsburgh became the NFLs highest-paid defense in 2022 with a collective cap hit of $109.9 million, according to Over the Cap.

The defense has hung onto that title ever since.

The Steelers cap hit on defense bumped up to $111.7 million in 2023 and then $137.2 million this season.

Thats more than $20 million beyond the next-most-expensive defense (the Bears at $117.03 million).

When 2024 offseason addition Patrick Queens cap hit spikes next year, the Steelers are scheduled to again lead the league in defensive spending with $168.4 million, more than $34 million clear of the next-highest spender.

Advertisement What are the Steelers getting for all these draft picks and the outsized portion of the salary cap dedicated to defense? Well, at different points this season, the defense has come close to dominating.

The Steelers won two games this year without scoring an offensive touchdown including in Week 11, when they held Lamar Jackson and the No.

1 ranked Ravens offense to arguably its worst performance of the season.

However, if the Steelers formula is to win with defense, they better show it against the AFCs best quarterbacks: Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and Jackson.

Thats especially true in the playoffs.

A deep dive into the numbers reveals the two sides to this discussion.

On one hand, the NFLs highest-paid defense has actually been quite good even great in some instances against the two star QBs in the AFC North (Burrow and Jackson).

On the other hand, against the elite QBs outside the division (Mahomes and Allen), the Steelers defense has been average at best and, by many measures, one of the leagues worst.

With a Week 18 matchup against Burrow on Saturday and a possible playoff rematch against Jackson, Mahomes or Allen on the horizon, lets look at how this defense has fared against the NFLs best.

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs Christmas Day presented an opportunity for Pittsburgh to measure its progress against the games best quarterback.

On Wednesday, Mahomes and the Chiefs recorded their third-highest point total of the season (29).

Mahomes had his best passer rating (127.1), best EPA per dropback (0.43), second-most passing yards (320) and best QBR (90.1) of the season.

GO DEEPER The Steelers had 3 chances to prove they're contenders.

They struck out Thats in line with how Mahomes has played the Steelers throughout his career.

Of the 52 head coaches Mahomes has faced (including playoffs), his passer rating against Tomlin teams is his third-highest (143.5), with 17 touchdowns and one interception.

His EPA per attempt (0.56) is his fifth-highest, and his EPA per dropback is his seventh-highest (0.48).

If the Steelers advance out of the opening round of the playoffs, theres a decent chance theyll see Mahomes again, with the Chiefs coming off a first-round bye as the AFCs top seed.

MAHOMES.

KELCE.

These guys are giving @Chiefs fans the best Christmas #KCvsPIT on @Netflix pic.twitter.com/3OyIjujhgj NFL (@NFL) December 25, 2024 Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills Allen struggled early in his career against the Steelers.

In 2019, he completed just 13 of 25 passes for 139 yards and a passer rating of 65.3 in a 17-10 Bills win.

In 2020, he completed 24 of 43 passes for 238 yards, two touchdowns and an interception for a passer rating of 77.5 in a 26-15 Bills win.

And in 2021, Allen completed 30 of 51 passes for 270 yards and one touchdown, but he was sacked three times and fumbled for a passer rating of 79.7 in a 23-16 Steelers win.

Advertisement However, since the highest-paid defense era began, Allen has largely owned the Pittsburgh.

Hes played the Steelers twice since 2022: Week 5 of the 2022 season and in the wild-card round following the 2023 season.

In those games, he threw a total of seven touchdowns in a pair of blowout wins.

Since the start of the 2022 season (including playoffs), the Bills QB has his third-best passer rating (132.3), eighth-best EPA per attempt (0.36) and fifth-best EPA per dropback (0.42) against Tomlin teams.

Given recent results and how Allen is playing this season (he is the favorite to win his first MVP), the Steelers are probably fortunate that theres no scenario in which theyll play Allen in the opening round of the playoffs.

Unfortunately for them, hes still just 28, and if the Steelers want to do anything substantial in the playoffs in future seasons, theres a good shot theyll have to go through him.

Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals This is where things begin to turn around.

In his NFL career, Burrow has faced 41 head coaches in the regular season and playoffs.

Tomlins Steelers have quite good against him, holding him to his 15th-lowest passer rating (92.4), 10th-lowest EPA per attempt (0.11) and seventh-lowest EPA per dropback (-0.09).

A big part of this: The Steelers have turned Burrow over a ton, including a five-turnover performance (four interceptions, one lost fumble) in Week 1 of the 2022 season to kick off the highest-paid defense era.

Since the start of the 2022 campaign, Tomlins defenses have limited Burrow to his sixth-lowest passer rating (89.3), 13th-lowest EPA per attempt (0.21) and sixth-lowest EPA per dropback (-0.04).

In the teams first meeting in Week 13 this season , Burrow posted his seventh-best passer rating (112.7) and fifth-best EPA per attempt (0.39) but his second-worst EPA per dropback (-0.03).

He was strip-sacked twice (including one returned for a touchdown), reflecting the difference in his attempt versus dropback numbers.

Advertisement The takeaway here is that takeaways matter a lot when the Steelers play Burrow.

When they sack Burrow and even better force him to fumble, theyve been very good against the talented QB.

But when the MVP candidate has time to throw, the Steelers defense can look average against him.

If the defense wants to get back on track after three consecutive underwhelming outings, this must be part of the formula again.

Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens Now the good news.

Jackson has played 45 NFL head coaches in full games (excluding some mop-up duty as a rookie).

Tomlin has been Jacksons kryptonite throughout the Ravens QBs career.

Jackson has produced his second-worst passer rating (73.1), ninth-lowest EPA per dropback (-0.09) and eighth-lowest EPA per attempt (0.01) against the Tomlin-led Steelers.

In the three years of the highest-paid defense era, Tomlins defenses have held Jackson to his third-lowest passer rating (78.8), fourth-lowest EPA per attempt (-0.07) and sixth-lowest EPA per dropback (-0.14).

The narrative continued in Week 11.

Jackson had the worst game of his MVP-caliber season, producing season lows in passer rating (66.1), EPA per dropback (-0.21) and EPA per attempt (-0.17).

Even though the Ravens ran wild behind Derrick Henry in Week 13, the underlying stats suggest Jackson didnt necessarily have a breakthrough.

He produced his fourth-lowest passer rating of the season (101.3), third-lowest EPA per attempt (0.08) and tied for his third-lowest EPA per dropback (0.06).

It will be fascinating to see where things go from here.

Has Jackson begun to figure out the Steelers? Or will he revert to mortal next time he plays Pittsburgh? We might get our answer as early as the opening round of the playoffs, depending on how Saturday unfolds.

C.J.

Stroud, Houston Texans While Stroud hasnt yet entered the upper echelon of AFC QBs, lets take a quick look at his numbers, as theres a good chance the Steelers will open the playoffs in Houston.

Advertisement In Week 4 of the 2023 season, Stroud posted the fifth-best passer rating (111.3), fifth-best EPA per attempt (0.36) and second-best EPA per dropback (0.45) of his rookie season.

Overall in his first two seasons, hes faced 24 coaches.

Stroud has his second-best passer rating, third-best EPA per attempt and second-best EPA per dropback against the Tomlin-led Steelers.

If the Steelers beat the Bengals and the Ravens beat the Browns, Pittsburgh will go on the road to face Stroud once again.

Time will tell whether they can continue to be part of his sophomore slump, or if hell again expose that highly paid defense.

(Photo of Patrick Mahomes, 15, and Cam Heyward: Barry Reeger / Imagn Images).

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