{"id":201530,"date":"2026-05-24T22:14:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/201530\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T22:14:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T22:14:25","slug":"former-steelers-linebacker-calls-out-long-time-defensive-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/201530\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Steelers linebacker calls out long-time defensive issues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the least innovative teams in the NFL over the last number of years, specifically on the defensive side of the ball. Their predictability on defense was emblematic of the final years of the Mike Tomlin era, which led to mediocre-to-good regular seasons but consistent failures in the postseason.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Former Steelers linebacker Vince Williams chimed in on the Steelers\u2019 defense and his personal experiences with the organization.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201c[The] Steelers defense did have an unhealthy attachment to base personnel,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/VinnyVidiVici98\/status\/2057982375598895445?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">Williams posted on X<\/a>. \u201c5 man pressure was a strength that lived long enough to become a weakness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Per <a href=\"https:\/\/sumersports.com\/sumerbrain\/chats\/0c054ff4-69f8-4f71-93c1-4529caf8e6c6\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sumer Sports<\/a>, the Steelers lined up in base defense on just over 34 percent of snaps in 2025, which ranked ninth in the NFL. In 2024, they ranked 12th and in 2023, they ranked first.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Pittsburgh\u2019s heavy reliance on their specific base defense has long been criticized, as there have been countless examples of linebackers being lined up on slot receivers. L.J. Fort and Jon Bostic covering Keenan Allen in 2018 is one of the more infamous examples of this, but it was a schematic flaw that opponents regularly took advantage of over the last decade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">With new leadership and new thoughts defensively in the building led by new defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, there are sure to be several innovations to the Steelers\u2019 defense that fans have been clamoring for.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Let us know what you think in the comments. Be sure to bookmark Behind the Steel Curtain for all the latest news, breakdowns, and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the least innovative teams in the NFL over the last number&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74,4852,4853],"class_list":["post-201530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-commentary","tag-pittsburgh-steelers-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}