During the Pittsburgh Steelers current playoff win drought, fingers have been pointed squarely at head coach Mike Tomlin and former offense coordinator Matt Canada. And rightfully so. But we cannot, in good conscience just ignore the fact that there might not be a coordinator in the league who does less with more like Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin.
The Steelers boast the most expensive defense in the NFL with the team’s top four cap hits all coming on that side of the football. Edge defender T.J. Watt, defensive tackle Cam Heyward and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick combine for a whopping $74.2 million against a salary cap of just north of $216 million.
Despite all this, the Steelers defense has been just as inconsistent as the offense in recent seasons. The same criticisms of slow starts, inconsistent effort and lapses in concentration and communication have plagued this group.
The Steelers have gone to great lengths this offseason to rebuild the offense while still adding some huge pieces on defense including linebacker Patrick Queen and cornerback Donte Jackson. At some point, if this unit continues to underachieve, Austin will have to be held accountable for those failures.
