Hot Take Fridays: Pittsburgh, Prepare for some Great Defenses

Heinz Ketchup, pierogis, coleslaw on sandwiches, potato patch fries, iron city beer, bridges, and heading dahntahn are just a few things that yinzers in the city of Pittsburgh love. When it comes to football, there is nothing that yinzers love more than a great defense, and we sadly have not seen one of those in many years. This is the truth for both football teams in the city, the Steelers and Pitt Panthers, and if you are a fan of both of them like me, you have been dying to watch some great defenses the past 5-10 year. Lucky you, it is hot take friday, and I am here to tell you Pittsburgh is about to see some great defenses yet again!

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Steel Curtain Down

For the Steelers, ever since they had the #1 defense in the league in 2012, they have been trying to rebuild their defense again to be that Steel Curtain that we all truly love. The beginning of the 2017 season gave hope that great defense was returning for the Steelers, and then the Ryan Shazier injury occurred and the defense has not been the same since. There have been busts such as Jarvis Jones and Artie Burns, injuries like Shazier, the retirement of a HOF defensive coordinator, and early retirements such as Jason Worilds that set the defense back for years now, but I am here to tell you that the Steelers are going to have a top 5 electric defense this year.

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Why the Steelers Defense will be Great

The Steelers defense showed some flashes last season and yet again led the NFL in sacks, but we all know there was a lot left to be desired. Luckily, Kevin Colbert was busy this off-season plugging up the holes in the defense with the acquisitions of CB Steven Nelson, ILB Mark Barron, and the biggest addition, drafting ILB Devin Bush.

Jon Bostic and L.J Fort were the main liabilities in the Steelers defense last season; when Bostic was in, teams would pass, when Fort was in, teams would run, the Steelers could not win. In comes Devin Bush, an All-American ILB who can do it all. If Bush can play to the level that we think capable, he is going to transform this Steelers defense into something special.

The strongest position group on the Steelers defense in the D-Line. We know what we got in Heyward, but it is Javon Hargrave who is going to truly enhance this defense. Hargrave came on to the scene last year with 6.5 sacks from the NT position, and expect even more from him this year. If Tuitt stays healthy, this is one of the best D-Lines in the league.

TJ Watt is going to be an absolute stud and have 15+ sacks this year as long as he is healthy and Edmunds should take a huge step in year two playing SS. Edmunds got better with each game, really coming on at the end of last season and Davis is becoming more comfortable at FS. Haden is a lock down corner and Steven Nelson should help increase the teams interception total.

Overall, the difference maker is Devin Bush. He is an instant day 1 plug in player and look for him to make a difference day one and finally help make this defense great again.

steelers.com

Pitt Defense Gives Headaches for Years

Ahh, Pitt's recent defense. Where do we even start Panther fans? The names Matt House, Ryan Switzer, Mardy Gilyard, Will Fuller, and Mason Rudolph/James Washington cause almost any Pitt fan to cringe. Over the past ten years, we have seen some great individual defensive players such as Aaron Donald, Ejuan Price, Jordan Whitehead, Jabaal Sheard, and so on, but every defense those players were on had holes in them. No defense will ever drive me more crazy than the 2016 defense, especially the secondary; I will always stand strong on my stance that Pitt would have been in College Football Playoff contention that year with even a DECENT secondary because the offense was THAT good. Enough dwelling on the past, because Pitt is going to have a top 25 defense this season!

newsobserver.com

Why the Pitt Defense will be Great

I look at Pitt's defense, and I see no weakness. Starting with the D-Line, the top 5 guys on the line are going to be absolutely nasty and wreak havoc upon the ACC; Rashad Weaver is probably going to end up on an All-ACC team and have 10+ sacks this season while Jaylen Twyman is going to be a breakout star. 

Pitt goes into the season replacing all three starting linebackers (Wirginis, Idowu, and Zeise), but the players coming in behind them can be summed up in one word, speed. This linebacker unit is going to fly all over the field and Pitt will finally have the linebackers who can keep up with a spread offense. The LB I am most excited about is Cam Bright; any time he was on the field last season, you could not miss him because he is so fast and flashes on the field. This group is finally a collection of heat seeking missiles that Coach Harley has been searching for. 

Now time for the #1 reason Pitt will have a Top 25 defense, the secondary, AKA, the "sniper gang." A position group that was a weakness for years for Pitt is now its biggest strength with seniors Damar Hamlin and Dane Jackson leading the way followed by young upcoming talents in Paris Ford, Jason Pinnock, and Damari Mathis. The depth at this position is incredible; when your back up safeties are Garner, Stocker, and Coleman, who have all played in meaningful games for the Panthers, you got something special. Maybe the best thing to come out of Pitt since the cure to polio.

We saw glimpses of this great defense at times last year against ND, Stanford, GT, and UVA, but this year they are finally going to put it together and show why Narduzzi was truly brought to Pitt, to build a great defense.

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There you have it! I defended my take, now I am ready to take on any of your disagreements! Thanks for reading!

As always, Here We Go and Hail to Pitt!

-Aaron, TGYK