The Pittsburgh Steelers have relied upon three things to succeed this year: protecting the football, taking it away, and keeping it out of the end zone. When they fail in any of these categories, they generally lose because their margin for error is so slim. Their offense is below mediocre and without the splash plays, their defense isn’t much above it.
The principle driving force for the defense has been the pass rush, however, principally with T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith coming off the edge at outside linebacker. At the moment, both of them are in the concussion protocol.