The Pittsburgh Steelers’ ‘Blitzburgh’ mantra and historical past is well-documented however has sadly been absent in recent times. Right here’s how the Steelers have stacked up leaguewide in sacks since 2017:
As you possibly can see, Pittsburgh’s protection was comfortably above 50 sacks persistently, however has fallen wanting that ultimate mark the final three seasons:
2017: 56 sacks (first)2018: 52 sacks (T-first)2019: 54 sacks (first)2020: 56 sacks (first)2021: 55 sacks (first)2022: 40 sacks (T-14th)2023: 47 sacks (T-Eleventh)2024: 40 sacks (T-Sixteenth)
The Steelers had 5 straight seasons with 50-plus sacks from 2017-2021, tops within the league annually. That has dipped nearer to league common since as the remainder of the NFL has seen an increase in sack manufacturing.
Pittsburgh lately tied for its lowest sack numbers within the span with its 2022 output when the staff didn’t make the playoffs. Fortunately that wasn’t the case this season however brings up the dreaded playoff drought since 2016 with higher sack manufacturing being a part of righting that flawed.
The primary title in any Steelers dialog involving sacks is star edge rusher T.J. Watt. As you might need guessed, the years he has been best aligns with Pittsburgh’s greatest marks. This consists of main the league in sacks in 2020, 2021 (together with successful the NFL Defensive Participant of the Yr award), and 2023.
In 2024, he arguably acquired probably the most consideration of any NFL move rusher, and the opposition restricted him to 11.5 sacks. That’s the bottom variety of his profession, excluding his rookie 12 months and 2022 when he missed substantial time to damage. Watt additionally tied his longest sack drought within the final three regular-season video games of 2024, the one time that’s occurred the final 5 years.
It’s well-documented that Watt prefers to hurry from the left facet. In 2024, 982 of his snaps on the sting got here from the left, with an enormous disparity of simply 11 coming off the appropriate edge. That merely can’t occur anymore with the season we simply witnessed, and Watt has acknowledged he must be “more open to moving around” to maximise his affect.
That may be large in putting extra concern into opposing quarterbacks, the Steelers scheming extra methods for Watt to wreck video games extra persistently. We, in fact, know that soccer is the last word staff sport, and staff manufacturing wasn’t as much as snuff total both.
2024 Sacks
EDGE T.J. Watt – 11.5DL Cameron Heyward – 8.0EDGE Alex Highsmith – 6.0EDGE Nick Herbig – 5.5EDGE Preston Smith – 2.0DL Larry Ogunjobi – 1.5LB Patrick Queen – 1.0DL Keeanu Benton – 1.0LB Elandon Roberts – 1.0DL Dean Lowry – 1.0DL Montravius Adams – 1.0CB Beanie Bishop Jr. – 0.5
A part of Heyward’s spectacular Professional Bowl season that fortunately defied Father Time was being second in sacks for Pittsburgh. Highsmith landed third whereas taking part in simply 11 video games and can hopefully have a wholesome 2025 en path to his greatest season but. The depth at EDGE was fortunately stronger than years previous, specifically Herbig persevering with to money in on his alternatives.
Seeing the remainder of the Steelers’ inside defensive position a lot decrease on the record was painful although, and it merely wasn’t ok in 2024 throughout the board other than Heyward. Large roster turnover at DL may very well be the consequence with the Steelers in search of extra expertise and higher play from those that do return. Benton is highest on that record of hopes for me.
There are a number of layers to the hopeful flip round and eclipsing the 50-sack mark once more, which bodes nicely for defensive success. One other large issue is blitz charges. A number of of Pittsburgh’s league-leading seasons in sacks featured 200-plus blitzes. That has tapered the final three years total, together with simply 165 blitzes in 2024, the fewest throughout that span.
I don’t find out about you, however I feel it’s time to get again to it Blitzburgh.
