Inside Conditions: Offense wins fans, defense wins championships

Steelers season begins on Sept. 12 at Buffalo

by Aubrey Bruce 

The upcoming NFL season appears to be adding up to be “very eenteresting” as Shultz, the dummkopf sergeant of the German army on the television series “Hogan’s Heroes,” used to say when he was confused—which was generally always.

There are those diehard fans and supporters of the Steelers that have even suggested (mostly in private) that there may even be a Super Bowl LVI meeting between the Buccaneers and the Steelers somewhere in the cards of the Steelers’ 2021 season: please, fans and scribes alike, don’t play the slots in Vegas and don’t drink the Kool-Aid because it has a weird “sunny” like tinge to it.

The Steelers started their 2020 season similar to a volcanically red-hot furnace melting and forging opponents into what they wanted them to be; even in light of an injury-riddled starting offense, coupled with a high school offensive game strategy, (and I do mean “offensive”) that former Steelers offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner put forth game after game. Fichtner was certainly an expert; well, an expert in predictability.

However, despite being depicted as the weekly “scapegoat” for the offense, the defense of the Black and Gold pressed on and at one point the team was undefeated at 11-0. The Steelers went on to win the 2020 AFC North Division title, by the skin of their chinny chin chin.

The Steelers’ opponent for the Wild Card round in last year’s playoffs was the Cleveland Browns. The Browns marched into Heinz Field and unceremoniously defeated the Steelers and sent them packing with the Steeler nation again pinning the “tail of the donkey” on the defense for the Steelers’ sleepwalking, “Rumplestiltskin”-like performance.

One of the most blatant and unjustified criticisms of the Steelers’ 2020 season performance was that their defense could not get off the field on third down. Last year, the Steelers offense converted 42.86 percent of their third down opportunities: 43.08 percent at home and 42.61 percent on the road. In 2019 they only converted an atrocious 34.36 percent of third down possibilities.

Meanwhile, in 2020, the Steelers defense was ranked 6th in the NFL in allowing opponents to convert on third down chances at 37.71 percent. The big nasty “D” was even better in 2019 in not allowing opponents to move the chains (36.36 percent).

The Kool-Aid promoting the Steelers’ offense as a “savior” may need a lot more sugar…you diggg.

Let an old scribe offer these thoughts up to you. I say, I say, I say if the offense of the Black and Gold can avoid dummkopf picks and costly turnovers in their own territory and if new Steelers Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada can construct a game plan and call a game according to the needs of his offense as a whole rather than attempting to appease and satisfy a select group of selfish players, this team has a good chance to make the 2021 postseason and beyond based on the projected performance on the defense alone.

However, Pittsburgh plays in the NFL’s “Piranha division” and two of their AFC North archrivals, the Baltimore Ravens and the  Browns, were already boasting stout and blood-thirsty defenses and both teams have upgraded those defenses during the offseason.

However, even though the Steelers usually put a very competitive defense on the field, outside linebacker Bud Dupree opted for free agency for this season and signed with the Tennessee Titans and will not be there to help take the pressure off of linebacker T.J. Watt. The Steelers opted to allow Dupree to go his own way. But will Watt be as effective as he was over the past few years when he was a tandem with Dupree? 

The Steelers must now fill the sizable void of the loss of Dupree. I will not give credence to any of Dupree’s theoretical replacements or successors until they prove that they can command the attention and respect that No. 48 earned that oftentimes gave Watt a free shot to sack the opposing QB or to stop a running back in the backfield for a loss or no gain. All the romantic and theoretical hogwash about giving the young up-and-comers and free agent signings a chance to replace a proven starter as well as possibly creating a little more financial flexibility means nothing on paper. It must play out during this upcoming 2021 season.

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