If any good can come from the 299 rushing yards the Steelers allowed in their embarrassing loss to the Ravens in the playoffs, it at least provided a much needed kick in the pants.

It's not easy, especially when the head coach and defensive coordinator keep their jobs, but that game provided tangible, necessary change to make sure that kind of performance doesn't happen again.

The Steelers were very confident in their bold strategy to defend the Ravens' run game. And in the first meeting between the two teams, an 18-16 victory at home in Week 11, it worked.

Typically when offense run the read option, the edge defender will either contain the edge, forcing the quarterback to hand the ball to the running back, or crash in on the running back and force the quarterback to keep it and run toward the space vacated by that edge defender. The Steelers instead chose to always -- and I mean, ALWAYS -- have the edge defender crash down on the running back. That was meant as a measure to limit Henry's impact. As for Jackson, the Steelers were instead relying on their inside linebackers and safeties, such as Minkah Fitzpatrick to use their elite speed and limit Jackson's yards.

"The first game," Patrick Queen told me, "it worked well."

Sure did. Outside of one 31-yard scamper, the defense kept Derrick Henry to 2.8 yards per carry. To that point in the season, he was a wrecking ball against every defense. 65 total yards on the ground was a massive victory. As was keeping Lamar Jackson to 46 rushing yards, though those came on four carries.

However, when the two teams met just five weeks later, the Ravens weren't about to let that happen again.

"The second game, they started picking up on it," Queen said. "They started gashing us and everybody could see that."

The Ravens' counterpunch resulted in 220 yards on the ground. While Jackson was kept to just 22 yards on nine carries, Henry trampled the defense for 162 yards, averaging a massive 6.75 yards per carry.

By the time the playoff game came around, the Steelers' plan was to incorporate some of the old ways they defended the Ravens in previous years with this new attack they came up with earlier in the season. As we know by the 299 in the rushing yards column, which was only short of 300 because of kneel downs to close out the game, that game plan didn't work.

So, the logical question is ... what the heck happened?

"They were so detailed on what they were doing," Queen said. "Sometimes they were pulling the tight end. Sometimes they were crashing the tight ends. We didn't prepare as well in knowing when a tight end was coming down or when he was going out. It's just something on our part that we've gotta be better at, just knowing football and being experienced. We should have just seen that."

But, it wasn't just lack of detail and preparation. Lack of execution hurt the defense badly, more than it usually does when even one guy fails to do his job. The new strategy that worked so well in the first game was a high-risk-high-reward move. If it failed, it would fail miserably. They found that out the hard way.

"When you're doing stuff like that, you've gotta be very, very tightly sound and disciplined," Queen said. "If one person gets out of their gap or one person doesn't do their job, the whole thing crashes and everything falls to pieces. 

"Let it be one-on-one, whoever has Lamar one-on-one, try to force him back to your help. I think it should have been like that. When they first put in the game plan, you think it's a good game plan until you get into the game and everything goes sideways. If he falls down for four yards every single time, you live with it. Cool, he got it. It shouldn't be 40-yard runs and 60-yard runs. You can't have that. That's how you lose games."

With the issues diagnosed, the next natural step was to fix them. Part of the solution was coaching changes. While Mike Tomlin and Teryl Austin remained employed, both Aaron Curry and Grady Brown were replaced by Scott McCurley and Gerald Alexander, respectively. The front office made the defensive line a huge priority in the draft, selecting Derrick Harmon, Jack Sawyer and Yahya Black, all of whom are good run defenders. 

Another part of the solution, believe it or not, was actual change to the schematics of the defense. That includes some new coverages and new looks on the defensive front, with a heavy emphasis on fleshing out details to make everything more streamlined.

"We're more detailed now. Everybody understands this is how we're playing," Queen said. "There's a whole bunch of stuff we're running now, and it's all detailed out. Stuff to help in the run and pass game. Every team's got a mobile quarterback now, so you have to have somebody who can be the extra guy. There's a lot of stuff where we have the extra guy while we're still protecting our back end and our fronts. A lot of rotation, a lot of disguises. I think it's going to be best for us."

Obviously, we have yet to see these changes take shape. The work has been underway throughout OTAs and minicamp, with the heavy labor of ironing it all out starting at training camp. 

MORE STEELERS

• I've already reported this, but Queen was horribly sick in the game against the Ravens. I could observe that in the locker room afterward. However, I now have more detail on just how sick.

Queen came down with what he described as food poisoning the day of the game. That included before even getting any help, a period of two hours of laying down in the shower to feel any kind of relief from ... everything that type of illness entails. He couldn't even keep water down. In preparing him for the game, the training staff gave him plenty of nausea medication and had him on an IV ahead of the game.

During the game, Queen said there were times he could barely talk. He even needed Minkah Fitzpatrick and/or Elandon Roberts to help communicate calls to the defense as Queen heard it through his helmet.

After going through all of that, Queen credits the Ravens for a great game plan, not his illness as the reason for the outcome.

"I hate to sound like I'm making excuses," Queen told me. "It's just unfortunate that I had to go through that, in that type of game, on that level, against my former team."

• The latest I'm hearing on T.J. Watt's contract extension: It's going to get done. Tomlin's confidence in front of the media is not a facade. In fact, he's probably even more calm and confident about this extension getting down than the last one four years ago.

Going back to that, by the way, there wasn't a soul in the Steelers organization more pleased than Tomlin to see Watt not participate in anything while he held in and sat out throughout the preseason in 2021. If anything, he preferred Watt to stay out of action. He knew that Watt would be ready for the season, and he wound up tying the NFL sack record and won Defensive Player of the Year.

While the matter of when Watt will be signed to an extension remains unknown, Tomlin will likely be just as happy if things play out the same way they did last time. He'll rest very peacefully at night knowing his best defensive player will be healthy heading into the season.

• In a recent live stream on TikTok, free agent wide receiver Keenan Allen said he's not interested in playing with the Steelers. I can tell you with confidence, after confirming with a very reliable source in the team's facility, that Allen hasn't been on their radar in their search to add another pass catcher. Like, not at all. So, his words didn't exactly break their heart.

• Aaron Rodgers is still learning the Steelers' playbook, but it's certainly not going to take him long to pick it up. In the meantime, his transition to becoming a Steeler in every other way has been very seamless. From what I observed this week at minicamp, he's very engaged with teammates, both on the field and in the locker room. It's early, but vibes around Rodgers and his teammates are very high.

• After being lightly restricted during OTAs, Troy Fautanu got cut loose this week at minicamp. By the time training camp rolls around, all restrictions of any kind will be gone. They were really gone this week, but everything will be full steam ahead for the Steelers' 2024 first-round pick when the team reports to Saint Vincent College on July 23.

• Some locker room logistics: Rodgers has Ben Roethlisberger's old locker, which also belonged to Russell Wilson last season. That locker was unused during the 2022 season. Will Howard has George Pickens' old locker. DK Metcalf and Kaleb Johnson are right next to each other.

• With minicamp in the books, players are heading all over. Some are already long gone away from Pittsburgh, some are staying in town, but obviously doing their own thing. Players are also planning all kinds of things together, from meeting with guys out of town for non-football reasons to meeting up in the area to work out together and everything in between. So, yes, it's time away, but football will still be on all of these guys' agendas. It'll just be more on their terms to get ready for training camp.