Patrick Queen played with Elandon Roberts before, so he wanted the intel on new Steelers DC Patrick Graham. He liked what he heard. Roberts signed with the Las Vegas Raiders last year in free agency and played under Graham there. With Mike Tomlin retiring, Mike McCarthy hired Graham as their new coordinator.
One of the chief concerns Queen has had about the Steelers’ defense has been communication, specifically in their many lapses. Over the past couple of years, that has been an area in which they have struggled. As the quarterback of the defense, he wants a leader who will put the emphasis on that. And he’s happy to report that’s exactly what they now have in Patrick Graham.
“It’s huge. I talked to E-Rob [Elandon Roberts] about him, because E-Rob was with him in [Las] Vegas. He was like, ‘That’s gonna be the bare minimum. You’ve got to communicate’”, Queen said of Graham, via the Steelers’ website. “I just love that, because for me personally, if everybody communicates, everybody knows what they’re supposed to do, and if we don’t know what we’re supposed to do, somebody’s gonna figure it out through that communication”.
Graham knew when he took the Steelers’ coordinator job that communication was an area of concern, not that he wanted to talk about last year’s problems. In Patrick Queen, he has a willing communicator. And also one who is growing into that role, now in his third season with the green dot. Now ostensibly in his prime, he understands better than ever how important this aspect is.
“When we’re all on the same page, everybody can fly around, get 11 hats to the ball”, Queen said. “And you could be that Steel Curtain type of defense. Obviously, like PG [Patrick Graham] said, you’ve got to earn that name. We’ve just got to go out there and we’ve got to do it. We’ve got to prove it every single down”.
The Steelers continue to believe they have the talent to field an elite defense. Both Patrick Graham and Patrick Queen have essentially communicated that idea. If communication is the lone bugaboo holding them back, it should certainly be their priority.
In recent years, the Steelers have devoted more resources to the offense, but the defense has received plenty of attention, too. They won’t see many contributions from the rookie class, but free agency is another story. The Steelers added two veteran defensive backs in free agency who are great communicators: Jamel Dean and Jaquan Brisker. In Brisker’s case, he has a relationship with Joey Porter Jr. that goes back to college. And those sorts of relationships can help Patrick Queen as the Steelers build chains of communication on defense.