The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense is certainly not among the elite of the elite—or whatever counts for ‘elite’ by today’s standards with the limitations of defensive play—but one thing that they have done quite well, and especially over the past two weeks, has been to force opposing offenses off the field without a first down at a good rate.
A week after forcing the Jacksonville Jaguars into something like eight drives in which they were forced to punt after failing to achieve a first down over three plays, the defense also recorded five three-and-outs out of 11 possessions against the Denver Broncos.