LATROBE, Pa. -- When people think about the outside linebackers in the Steelers defense, they have visions of Kevin Greene and Greg Lloyd screaming off the edge to take down a quarterback. Or they think of Jason Gildon and Joey Porter terrorizing quarterbacks. Or James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley.
You get the idea.
The reality, however, is those days are long gone. The days of the Steelers outside linebackers combining for 20-plus sacks are a distant memory.
In fact, the last time it happened was in 2010, when Harrison and Woodley combined for 20.5. Since that time, the Steelers have had an individual outside linebacker have a decent season here or there rushing the passer, but the dominant efforts just haven't been there.
Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt want to change that. They want to be considered among those great pass rushing tandems.
That might elicit some chuckles from some circles after they combine to record 13 in 2017. Others will realize the team is asking its linebackers to drop into coverage now more than ever before, making that goal more difficult.
But the reality is that the two former first-round draft picks have the talent to make that kind of season happen. At least that's what their position coach, Porter, believes.
"I’ve always set myself up in these interviews, ‘Oh, they’re going to have 25 sacks, blah, blah, blah,’ That’s the way I feel about them," Porter told me at the team's training camp at Saint Vincent College. "At the same time, I can’t play for them. What I want, they’ve got to want. I feel like they’re good enough. I love those guys. I feel those guys are good enough to do all those numbers I say. But I can’t set their number. That’s what I can’t do any more. I can’t set the stats for them because that’s what I want. They want it too. I can’t go out there and play. I can’t make the calls. All I can do is coach them and help them with the tools to go out there and do it. I know they have the potential to do that."
Potential. It's often a dirty word in the sporting world.
It is, however, true for Watt, a first-round pick last year, and Dupree, now entering his fourth season. They have potential. But neither has reached what they could be.
"The ceiling I have, I'm nowhere near reaching that yet," Dupree said earlier this year.
No kidding. A physical specimen at 6-foot-4, 270 pounds, Dupree looks explosive at times as his 4.56-second time in the 40-yard dash would suggest. But, to this point in his career, he's been an enigma.
While last season was his best in terms of rushing the passer with six sacks, everyone wants more, including Porter and Dupree himself. But last season was also the first in which he wasn't hampered by injuries.
The Steelers have flipped the side on which Watt and Dupree line up this year, meaning Watt lines up on the left side of the defense, where he played in college at Wisconsin, while Dupree is on the right. That could help in the long run.
Porter said it's all about getting them in a position where they can make the most plays.
"The right side and the left side don’t matter," Porter told me. "It’s more, do you create more pressure, are you a better rusher? That’s where that comes from. Where do you throw your best pitch from on third-and-12? If it’s third-and-12, where can you line up and get home? That’s what it’s all about. They’ve always played a little on both sides. Now, it’s just starting a game there."
If early training camp is an indication, it might help. Though Watt has been out most of the past week nursing a sore hamstring, Dupree has looked more comfortable on the right side. He's using more inside moves and having some success. For example, before leaving Friday night's practice with a concussion, Dupree lined up against tight end Jesse James on back-to-back reps in the backs-on-backers drill.
James was set up as an in-line blocker and Dupree's burst at the snap took him around James' left shoulder to the quarterback without being touched. On the next snap, James jumped out to stop that move and Dupree did a swim to the inside to beat him to the quarterback.
It's all well and good in practice. But people are going to want to see it happen in games.
Porter knows if his guys are dropping into coverage, the opportunities are fewer. But he's also OK with that if the team is winning and playing good defense.
And defense in the NFL is evolving -- at least the way the Steelers are playing defense.
"Defense is always evolving," Porter agreed. "It’s funny that you say that because y’all don’t write it like that. You’re going to tell me he’s dropping more but that’s not what you’re going to write. Y’all going to write, ‘Where are the sacks at?’"
Guilty as charged.
"No matter how much we drop or what we’re doing, their production is valued on one thing," Porter conceded. "If we get to the Super Bowl (last season), sacks don’t matter because we had the most sacks in the Steelers history. So what if there weren’t 20 from the outside linebackers? If we win it, does that matter? It only matters because we lost. That’s the crazy thing about it. I remember making the Pro Bowl off of seven sacks. I remember we won the championship and I only had eight sacks, or 10 or nine or whatever it was. I know how it works. For them, they had the pressure on them of wanting to be good. T.J. wants to be good. Bud wants to be good."
How good? The Chargers' Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram are considered the gold standard now by which other outside linebacker duos are measured. They combined for 22.5 sacks last season,
But realize that Ingram, a former first-round pick, had six combined sacks in his first three seasons and was considered a bust in some circles before turning things on the past three seasons when he's had 29.
"They say they want to be talked about in that light," Porter said. "They want to be compared to Bosa an Ingram because they feel they can do similar things."
We'll see if that can happen this season.
With Watt going into his second season, he should be better prepared for the grind. And Dupree, now in his fourth season, is settling in more, as well, since James Harrison and Arthur Moats are no longer around.
"It allows Bud and T.J. not look over their shoulder," Porter told me. "To know that they’re going to be the guys and play like that. They don’t have to look over their shoulder and say, ‘Man, if I don’t do this, so-and-so is coming in.’ When I played, I didn’t have that. I only came out if I got tired and I wasn’t ever tired. That’s a whole different confidence having that. In the past, when you have somebody who’s a significant player, if you mess up, he’s coming in. You don’t play your best ball.
"You can’t play a game thinking, ‘As soon as I mess up …’ That ain’t no fun. That’s any position. I think they’re going to do fine. I’m excited for them. I’m excited for the season to start."
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers training camp, Latrobe, Pa., Aug. 4, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS