{"id":227440,"date":"2026-06-25T02:25:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T02:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/227440\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T02:25:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T02:25:23","slug":"former-steelers-db-describes-just-how-much-mike-mccarthys-packers-emulated-pittsburghs-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/227440\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Steelers DB Describes Just How Much Mike McCarthy’s Packers Emulated Pittsburgh’s Defense"},"content":{"rendered":"

It turns out, new Steelers HC Mike McCarthy had a thing for their defense<\/a> long before he ever stepped inside Pittsburgh\u2019s building. That information is nothing new, of course, as his Pittsburgh connections are legion. In fact, his defensive coaching staff in Green Bay had many, many ties. But former Steelers DB and DBs coach Darren Perry\u2014a part of that unit\u2014provided insight into just how deep it went.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first got there in Green Bay, I took every defensive play from the Steelers\u201d, Perry told Gerry Dulac<\/a>, having played under Dom Capers with the Steelers from 1992 through 1994 and coached under Dick LeBeau from 2004 through 2006. \u201cThat\u2019s how we put our cut-ups together. We actually taught our 2009 defense off of the Steeler defense\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 2009, Mike McCarthy hired a cast of characters from the Steelers\u2019 1990s defenses. In addition to naming Dom Capers defensive coordinator, he hired Perry as safeties coach and OLB Kevin Greene as outside linebackers coach. Two years later, he also hired former Steelers DB Jason Simmons.<\/p>\n

Simmons, along with former Packers cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt Jr., are now part of the Steelers\u2019 defensive coaching staff under McCarthy. One wonders, were he alive today, whether Kevin Greene would have finally returned to the Steelers on the coaching staff under McCarthy.<\/p>\n

But the point is, the Packers ran the Steelers\u2019 defense, including in 2010 when they beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl. That might be going a little bit too far, but not too far. As Perry recalls, former Steelers DC Dick LeBeau \u201ccalled one time and he said, \u2018Hey, DP, you guys are running our stuff better than we are right now\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

Perry explained that after McCarthy brought them in he and Capers modeled their unit after the Steelers\u2019 1992 defense. \u201cSo we got a Clay Matthews. We got a B.J. Raji. Those were the two guys that we drafted. And then we had a Charles Woodson, who was like our Rod Woodson. Nick Collins was like our Carnell Lake. So there are certain pieces that you want to have in place to make it strong\u201d.<\/p>\n

As Dulac points out, McCarthy\u2019s Steelers defense is built a similar way. They have the outside linebackers, with T.J. Watt, the 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. To hear DL coach Domata Peko talk, Yahya Black might be their new nose tackle. And Jalen Ramsey is their Woodson-type player, which their coaching staff acknowledges. And their Carnell Lake? Well, it depends on which qualities you want to highlight. Personally, I think either DeShon Elliott or Jaquan Brisker would qualify.<\/p>\n

Of course, this wouldn\u2019t be the first time we talked up how the Steelers\u2019 defense measures up on paper<\/a>. The real test will always be on Sundays, and it\u2019s up to DC Patrick Graham<\/a> to deliver the passing grade. Or far more than the passing grade, as a matter of fact. It was important for Mike McCarthy to retool this defense in a way that highlights the roots of the Steelers\u2019 strengths<\/a>. It needs to be a championship-level unit. It was good enough to beat the Steelers back in 2010, after all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It turns out, new Steelers HC Mike McCarthy had a thing for their defense long before he ever…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[41057,4917,8203,73,75,74,1833,995],"class_list":["post-227440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-gerry-dulac","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-mike-mccarthy","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227440","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=227440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}