The challenge now is to get 11 to play as one, something that didn’t happen a year ago when regular lineup changes due to injury resulted in poor running fits, blown assignments and missed tackles. The Steelers allowed six backs to rush for at least 100 yards, which is bad all by itself. But when you think about who those backs were — well, it cuts even deeper. Dalvin Cook and Joe Mixon are established stars, no doubt. But Alex Collins and Latavius Murray failed to reach the mark in any other game last season, D’Andre Swift managed it only one other time, and D’Onta Foreman had done so only once in his previous 22 games.
“When you look at the tape and see how many 100-yard rushers we allowed last season, it’s completely unacceptable,” Watt said. “If you want to be successful in this defense, you have to be known for stopping the run. You can’t have teams running the ball in the end zone on you.”
A significant change this year is along the sideline, where Teryl Austin was promoted to coordinator after three seasons as senior defensive assistant/secondary coach and Flores was brought in from Miami. They are respected minds whose backgrounds on defense should complement each other. Austin’s strength comes from his long history as a secondary coach and coordinator, and Flores, who spent four seasons as the safeties coach with New England, is also widely respected for his work as a linebackers coach and de facto coordinator with the Patriots (no one with the franchise having held the DC title since 2017, the year before Flores took on the duties).
Predictability, there have been conversations between the two about Flores’ view of the Steelers from the outside, notably strengths and vulnerabilities. Like every team, Pittsburgh does a lot of self-scouting, but it is always valuable to hear how others see you.
“It’s a good perspective to have because sometimes you don’t see your blind spots,” Austin said. “It’s been a good give and take. You don’t want a guy who comes in and doesn’t tell you anything. He’s been more than open about what he sees and thinks.”
For Flores, the goal is to help make the Steelers as successful as possible. As a former coordinator, he knows Austin’s focus is often the big picture, with position coaches responsible for refining and polishing up the detail work. That suits him well.
“At the end of the day, football is football is football,” Flores said. “The terminology might be different, but techniques and fundamentals are pretty straightforward and standard. And then the situational awareness that I’ve learned in other places I’ve been — there’s a high value on that here. Red zone. Two minutes. Stopping the run. Just playing sound, sound football and forcing the opponent to beat you. When I hear that, it’s right in my wheelhouse. I know how to coach that, that and that, and if there’s something a little bit different, I try to learn about it and get it coached the way we want to get it coached here.”
“I was down there in Miami with Flo for a few months (in 2019 before being traded to Pittsburgh), and the thing I noticed about him was that he was really big on details,” Fitzpatrick said. “He didn’t just coach them, he enforced them. I feel like that’s what we needed from last year.”
Heyward describes the synergy between Flores and Austin as “eye-opening”. As he speaks, there is an energy that seems to accompany his words. It appears Week 1 can’t get here fast enough. He knows everyone is focused on the quarterback situation — where Mitchell Trubisky is expected to win the starting job over Mason Rudolph and rookie first-round pick Kenny Pickett — and whether the defense will be able to carry the load during the transition period. But his focus, like that of Watt, is much more simplistic.
“When you come to the Pittsburgh Steelers, you’re known for your defense,” Heyward said. “That wasn’t the case last year, so going forward it’s put up or shut up. If we’re going to win these games, it’s got to come down to us. But that comes with the standard we are charged with upholding. It’s not pressure. It’s what’s expected.”