2015 Will Be Proving Ground for Young Steelers Defense in Transition Mode

It was clear that the Pittsburgh Steelers defense would have some growing pains this year. Even though new defensive coordinator Keith Butler spent nearly as much time with the team as his predecessor, Dick LeBeau, his scheme would include new concepts and techniques for his players to master.

On top of that, the Steelers also had to deal with losing veteran players such as Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor and Brett Keisel, meaning newly minted starters and contributors would come in the form of their younger defenders. Though it did help that the Steelers still have veteran stalwarts such as Cameron Heyward, Lawrence Timmons, James Harrison and William Gay, there would undoubtedly be a period of transition.

It's just that the Steelers may not have anticipated the transition taking this long and being this rocky.

Total Yards	542
Yards/Play	7.7
Pass Yards	386
Comp-Att.	30-of-33
Yards/Pass	11.0
Rush Yards	35
Yards/Rush	4.5
3rd Downs Convert.	11-of-14

Pittsburgh's defense has been shaky during the preseason, though the team's pass rush did look better in its third preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, totaling six sacks on the day. But in its fourth preseason game on Saturday, a 43-19 loss to the Buffalo Bills, signs of regression were all over the place.

In the first half, Pittsburgh's defense gave up 269 yards of offense to the Bills, 198 of those coming in the passing game. The Bills' opening offensive play, a handoff to running back Fred Jackson, went for 41 yards and led to a one-yard Jackson touchdown. As Dale Lolley of the Washington (PA) Observer-Reporter pointed out, it was a three-play scoring drive that was all on Jackson's shoulders.

The Steelers defense gave up big plays to the Bills' passing offense as well, including completions of 16, 67, 13, 19, 12 and 19 yards, thrown by the Bills' quarterback trio of Tyrod Taylor, Matt Cassel and EJ Manuel. In the first half, the three Bills passers completed 15 of their 17 combined pass attempts, for 198 yards and the 67-yard Charles Clay touchdown Manuel threw.

Ultimately, Buffalo's quarterbacks completed 30 of 33 pass attempts for 386 yards and three touchdowns and took only two sacks. The Bills totaled 542 yards of offense on the day, with Matt Simms even getting a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Even worse? The Steelers allowed conversions on 11 of the Bills' 14 third downs.

It was not the kind of performance the Steelers had hoped for given that there is just one preseason game left, and starters will be seen sparingly in it.

There are reasons to believe this situation can improve. One is that the Steelers defense was not at full starting strength, with safety Mike Mitchell, inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons, defensive end Stephon Tuitt all out, while Heyward and nose tackle Steve McLendon played few reps, as noted by Lolley:

The other is that we don't know how much, if at all, Butler and head coach Mike Tomlin defensively game-planned for the Bills. Generally, there is more direct preparation for an opponent during this week of the preseason, but it's still not the same as getting ready for a regular-season contest. And the Bills three-quarterback rotation (or four, counting Simms, who is not in the race to start) also makes it hard to plan against.

There would be far more cause for concern had all of the Steelers' defensive starters been on the field for the entire first half and produced the same results. But it's fair to say the Steelers wanted their defensive transition to be further along and not look like such a project at this point in the summer.

Tackling, coverage, the pass rush, the perhaps ill-thought-out plan to use more Cover 2 and Tampa 2 looks—all of these need to be improved and adjusted, and there's not much time left between now and the September 10 season opener to do that.

Now, the Steelers will have to use the regular season as a trial-by-fire for their new-look defense and the number of younger defenders tasked with running it.

This means the odds of a slow defensive start for the Steelers are high, requiring Pittsburgh's high-powered offense to shoulder the burden of winning games—and to do so without center Maurkice Pouncey for potentially the whole year, without receiver Martavis Bryant for four games and without running back Le'Veon Bell for two.

That's not to say Pittsburgh's defense cannot or will not show improvement as the year progresses. But it's clear there is a lot of work yet to be done until it's where the coaches want it to be. And with little time left, that work will have to take place on the field in the regular season.

This is a situation the Steelers haven't had to face in some time, and whether or not they can handle it will be the biggest thing to watch for this season.