Patrick Queen carried some high expectations as he flipped from Baltimore to Pittsburgh last offseason. His first year with the Steelers was rather unremarkable, leading a defense that had many struggles toward the end of the 2024 season.<\/p>\n
In 2025, he has put together some good games, although there\u2019s still been some inconsistencies as well. However, he and the entire defense are coming off a great performance against the Indianapolis Colts. Queen\u2019s unit was able to halt the best offense in the league for most of the game. Coming off that outing, Mike Tomlin is starting to like what he\u2019s seeing from Queen.<\/p>\n
\u201cPQ has been awesome in Year 2 as our defensive quarterback,\u201d Tomlin said Tuesday during his weekly press conference via the Steelers\u2019 YouTube channel<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s really owned responsibility, being the hub of communication. It\u2019s something that\u2019s somewhat new to him, although playing is not, being a defensive quarterback is. I like the trajectory of it in Year 2.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been more than a few moments in which Steelers fans could have been upset with Queen. Against the run, he hasn\u2019t been good on a consistent basis, and that effort extends to most of the linebacker position. Queen missed two tackles in the Steelers\u2019 win over Indianapolis, and he leads the defense in missed tackles by quite a wide margin<\/a> with 14. But aside from just bringing down the ball carrier, Queen hasn\u2019t been stout against the run consistently. Really the whole linebacker room has struggled to fill gaps.<\/p>\n He hasn\u2019t been anything special against the pass either, but that\u2019s an area where the Year-2 improvement is noticeable. In his first season in Pittsburgh, Patrick Queen allowed a 76.3-percent completion rate, a 114.0 passer rating and four touchdowns when targeted. He\u2019s been better this year in each category, allowing a 62.2-percent completion rate, a 90.5 passer rating and just one touchdown through eight games.<\/p>\n While some inconsistencies are there, Queen certainly has started to put together some good games recently. He probably had his best overall game<\/a> as a Steeler in their win over Cleveland a few weeks ago. He also had a solid showing against the Colts Sunday. You\u2019d like to be able to string those together without bad performances against Cincinnati and Green Bay in between. But it is progress nonetheless.<\/p>\n