LATROBE, Pa. -- The age-old adage in sports, particularly in football, is that "defense wins championships." Traditionally, it's been muttered through a growl of missing teeth, crooked noses and fingers that point sideways.
But this era of the NFL is increasingly dominated by offenses and skill position players. Need proof? Five of the top-nine season scoring averages have come in the last five years.
Defense? With scores resembling that of the arena league, forget curtains and people eaters. These days, he who scores last often wins, right?
Well, not necessarily.
Cam Heyward, grizzled veteran of seven NFL seasons, says the adage still holds true ... to a point.
"I think defense wins championships, but I think you have to break it down even smaller," Heyward was telling DKPittsburghSports.com on Monday morning. "To win games, you've got to have defensive plays."
To further his point, he looks to Super Bowl LII last February between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles.
Tom Brady threw three touchdown passes while never throwing an interception. He threw for a title game record of 505 passing yards as New England did not punt even once. And yet they lost. The Patriots lost because the Eagles defense made one crucial stop: Brandon Graham's strip-sack of Brady with 2:16 to play.
"I don't care how many points you score, if you get one defensive stop you can win a game," Heyward was telling me. "It might not be the entire game that defense wins because there are great offenses out there, but you have to minimize it and say 'Can we win that one play? Can we be that delivering factor that puts us over?'"
Making one stop, at least one more stop than the other guys, can be the difference between winning and losing.
That's what the Steelers are looking to do this season after it proved to be their downfall in last year's divisional-round playoff game against Jacksonville. The defense simply couldn't get off the field as the Jaguars gouged the Steelers for 45 points. Remember Mike Tomlin's decision to go for an onsides kick with 2:18 to play?
The difference wasn't because Blake Bortles threw all over the field. The Jacksonville QB threw for a modest 214 yards. The difference was because the Jaguars ran for 164 yards, the fourth-highest total the Steelers allowed all season. Predictably, the Steelers were 1-3 when allowing more than 155 on the ground.
Though 22 quarterbacks threw for over 3,000 yards last season and eight with over 4,000, Heyward says the Steelers have to be prepared for anything that gets thrown their way. The run, too.
Heyward has seen his position evolve over the years from primarily holding up blocks in front of the linebackers, allowing them to make tackles, to a pass-rushing force. He had a career-high dozen sacks last season to lead the Steelers, who finished with a league-high 56 in 2017. His previous best had been 7.5 sacks in 2014.
"Our position has evolved," he said. "I think the 3-4 (base defense) has always evolved and become more of a hybrid defense, but I think the game, ... understanding that everyone wants to put up the pass numbers, but the running game started to come back and it's become more of a hard-nosed game again. That's just the trend that's started to take place. You just have to be ready for everything."
Clearly, the Steelers are preparing for everything in the passing game. In addition to their nickel, which is their de facto base, they do more with their dime and, now, even the quarter (seven DBs) package. Heyward jokes that he's checking his pocket for change, but he says the primary objective is to stuff the run first.
"We're not going to go out there and play as a first-down defense, but who's to say that we can't tackle well with the guys that are out there in that package?" Heyward said.
That philosophy hasn't changed with Karl Dunbar taking over for John Mitchell as the D-line coach. What's the difference between the two?
"About 20 years younger," Dunbar was saying with a smile after Monday's rainy practice on the turf field at Saint Vincent College. But he's also more of a new-age thinker, bringing with him a wealth of experience at the college and pro levels.
"There's certain nuances that have come from college that's seeping into the pros because you're getting those guys and some of the older coaches are starting to get out of the league, so you're starting to see some of those ideas come from college," he said.
Dunbar is back in the NFL after spending the last two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Alabama, where he helped the Crimson Tide to the national title last season. The year before, 'Bama reached the title game while leading the nation in rushing defense, limiting opponents to just 63.9 yards per game.
"I've coached in this league for a long time and I believe that if you can stop a team from running the ball and making them one-dimensional, then those great athletes you have on the edge and those corners can make their presence felt," Dunbar was telling me. "That's the thing in this league — if you can make a team one-dimensional, that's what it's all about."
Last season the Steelers ranked fifth against the pass (201.1 yards per game) but 10th against the run (105.8). Not coincidentally, the Super Bowl champion Eagles led the NFL in rushing defense at 79.2. That's the kind of number that the Steelers are looking to get back to.
The gaudy passing numbers that $20 million quarterbacks are going to put up are just a fact of life in today's game. You can't completely stop them, but you can limit them. Strong fundamentals like tackling and stopping the run, whether it's a linebacker, defensive back or lineman, never go out of vogue.
Regardless of the passing stats, the bottom line is keeping points off the board. Heyward says that the goal is to keep opponents to under 17 points. A year ago, they were seventh at 19.2.
"I still think we can go 16-0 and give up zero points throughout the entire season, but these offenses are good and they're going to test you," Heyward said. "You go into a game saying when you get to that fourth quarter, 'Who is going to make that first play? Is it going to be the offense or defense that's going to put you over?'"