In a rare moment of candor that might border on wishful hyperbole, Mike Tomlin used words to describe his Steelers defense that would not typically be commensurate with a unit that ranked 24th in the NFL last season.
Great. And dominant.
Largely, his players would agree, though there is a small matter of fixing the worst run defense in the league in 2021.
"With the defensive player of year (T.J. Watt) and you have guys like Minkah (Fitzpatrick), those are standout pieces," all-pro defensive end Cam Heyward said, "but I like to think we got a lot more than that."
"We have all the talent in the world, all the experience in the world," Fitzpatrick said Monday as the Steelers began their third week of training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. "It's going to be a solid, solid defense all around the board."
The Steelers have a long way to go to reach that level after what happened in 2021. They allowed the most yards per game (398), most rushing yards per game (148.3) and most points per game (23.4) since Tomlin became coach in 2007. Their defensive ranking was the team's lowest in 33 years.
Tomlin, though, doesn't think so.
With three all-pro players and several changes on his coaching staff — Teryl Austin was promoted to defensive coordinator and former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores was hired as a senior defensive assistant — he expects his defense to be more than just solid.
"I think it's a reasonable expectation for us to play great defense," Tomlin said the other day on the WDVE morning show. "Those are our intentions. We're not going to be bashful about stating that as an expectation, and we're not going to run away from it; we're going to run to it."
Tomlin didn't stop there.
"We have the men, not only in personnel but in schematics and coaching. I expect them to be dominant."
Tomlin is not typically prone to such hyperbole, especially in training camp. Nonetheless, they are the most candid comments he has made since he said the Steelers should "win it all" on national television in 2017.
But dominant?
"I think we all have high expectations," defensive end Chris Wormley said. "Top five or better is what we're looking for, and I know we got the guys to do that."
The Steelers have had a top-five defense nine times in Tomlin's 15 years as head coach, four times leading the league in total defense, so it is not far-fetched to have similar expectations.
But, first and foremost, the Steelers have to find a way to improve a run defense that surrendered four 200-yard games and 24 runs of at least 20 yards in 2021, more than any team in the league last season. They were the only team to allow an average of five yards per carry.
To that end, they spent a portion of Monday's practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium working on their run defense.
"We got some work to do," Heyward said.
The Steelers made attempts in the offseason to bolster their defense, signing inside linebacker Myles Jack and cornerback Levi Wallace in free agency and adding former Browns and Bengals defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi shortly after minicamp. In addition, they brought back strong safety Terrell Edmunds on a one-year, $2.5 million deal to pair with Fitzpatrick.
They are hoping the addition of Ogunjobi, who hasn't practiced after having offseason foot surgery, and the development of second-year defensive end Isaiahh Loudermilk will compensate for the retirement of Stephon Tuitt.
"He expects us to be great with the guys that we have at all three levels," Wormley said of Tomlin. "We have some pretty dominant players and a lot of guys that can play great ball. We've been working toward greatness, and that's what we expect of ourselves."
