With the Steelers off to their first 11-0 start in team history and leading the NFL in scoring margin at plus-129 points, you'd think they've been an amazingly consistent juggernaut.
You'd be wrong.
Perhaps the only area where the Steelers have consistently gotten the job done from week to week is on the defensive side of the ball. Even when the defense has had a bad game -- by its standards -- there are still enough positive plays turned in by that unit to more than make up for a couple of bad ones.
The offense and even the special teams at one point or another can't say the same thing. Such was the case Wednesday night when the Steelers' offense failed to score a touchdown on three of its four trips inside the 20 and the special teams unit turned the ball over on a muffed punt deep in its own territory in a 19-14 win over the Ravens.
"Our defense saved our ass again," JuJu Smith-Schuster said after the win. "This is something that has happened before."
But with menacing outside linebacker Bud Dupree now out for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL confirmed Thursday morning by an MRI, can the Steelers continue to count on that defense?
Tomlin has talked continually this season about the strength of the Steelers being in the pack. That pack is now down one of its alpha dogs.
The Steelers will find out, starting with their game Monday afternoon against Washington (4-7) at Heinz Field just how much that matters. Dupree has been a major factor in the defense the past two seasons, recording 19.5 combined sacks, 32 quarterback hits, 24 tackles for a loss, six forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in 27 games.
His replacement, rookie Alex Highsmith, has appeared in all 11 games this season, but hasn't played more than 25 defensive snaps in any of them. He has 20 tackles, one sack, three tackles for a loss, one interception and one tackle for a loss.
Still, Mike Tomlin expressed confidence that Highsmith, a third-round draft pick out of Charlotte who was selected as a potential replacement for Dupree in 2021, can get the job done.
"I am," Tomlin said when I asked if he is confident in Highsmith. "I’m just as comfortable as I was in (inside linebacker) Robert Spillane when we called upon him or (rookie guard) Kevin Dotson when we called upon him on the other side of the ball. That’s life in this business. Those guys work behind the scenes every day working very diligently preparing themselves for these opportunities not only in terms of knowing what to do but just preparing themselves in terms of conditioning for when we ring their bell.
"We are ringing Alex Highsmith’s bell now, so it will be exciting to watch him respond to it. It will also be exciting to watch his growth because growth is associated with experience. No doubt in upcoming weeks he will be gaining a lot of that."
Dupree was playing this season on the Franchise Tag and it was expected the Steelers would not be capable of tagging him again in 2021 or signing him to a long-term contract extension. That money will go to his bookend, T.J. Watt, who will be entering his fifth season in 2021, and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, who will enter his fifth year in 2022.
But with Dupree now done for the remainder of this season, the clock gets turned ahead quickly on Highsmith. While the expectation was that he would be the starter opposite Watt in 2021, now he gets a five-game test run this season.
"In the interview process, I was really impressed with his maturity," Tomlin said when asked what made Highsmith attractive. "But that’s not surprising given that he was a fifth-year senior. Often times, we aren’t drafting a lot of fifth-year seniors these days, so he had a maturity level beyond where he was at in this process. But he’s probably older than most rookies. I like his continual growth over the course of his career that manifests itself in the form of production. He had a really big year in 2019 at UNC-Charlotte. He had a tangible, growing resume and he had some maturity that we thought would aid us if called upon in the ways that he is being called upon right now."
The Steelers just didn't think it would be this early.
And the season-ending injuries to both Dupree and inside linebacker Devin Bush -- who has been replaced by Spillane -- could make a front seven that was as formidable as any in the league a little less so.
The Steelers lead the NFL in sacks with 41. They also top the NFL in interceptions (16), total turnovers forced (23) and scoring (17.1 points per game). The Steelers haven't allowed any of their past four opponents to score 20 points and have forced all but one opponent this season to turn the ball over at least twice.
But many of those statistics are direct results of having that outstanding pass rush, which will enter Monday's game against Washington looking to tie the NFL record for consecutive games with a sack at 69.
Tampa Bay's 1999 through 2003, a team on which Tomlin was secondary coach starting in 2001.
There is an expectation that the team will get Stephon Tuitt back for this game after he sat out against the Ravens while on the Reserve/COVID-19 List, so the group of Watt, Tuitt and Cam Heyward will be tasked with continuing the onslaught on opposing quarterbacks.
"They provide a wave that we ride," Tomlin said of his defensive front. "They are good individually. They are good collectively, and they are consistent in terms of their performances. I’ve been a part of several groups like that. I was fortunate enough to be a part of that Tampa group that this group often gets compared to, and that is something that they both have in common. They have great individual rushers who show up week in and week out. I’m fortunate to have that perspective."
But now the Steelers have one fewer. And that means opponents might be better able to shift all of their focus on stopping Watt, who now leads the NFL with 11 sacks after getting two Wednesday against the Ravens.
Tomlin, however, isn't concerned about that.
"I don’t think T.J. Watt gets assistance from anyone in terms of his quality of his play," Tomlin said. "T.J. makes his plays. I don’t think that’s going to be an issue at all. Guys like T.J. don’t depend on anyone."