Healthy Mike Mitchell a Difference-Maker for Steelers' Defense

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Mike Mitchell's first season with the team did not go so well.

After building up a single-season reputation as a hard-hitting ball hawk for the Carolina Panthers following four years of relative obscurity with the Oakland Raiders, the expectations were high when he arrived in 2014 to replace Ryan Clark.

While Mitchell increased his tackle total from 2013, improving to 71 total (and 53 solo), he recorded no interceptions. He was Pro Football Focus' 69th-ranked safety (out of 87) and particularly struggled in coverage, giving up 18 receptions on 24 targets for 210 yards and two touchdowns. He seemed slow, hesitant and almost lost in a new defensive system.

But Mitchell revealed after the season that he had played the entire year with two torn groin muscles, for which he underwent offseason surgery to repair. Now healthy, he's quickly proving why the Steelers opted to commit up to five years and $25 million to sign him more than a year ago.

	Comb. T	Solo T.	FF	FR	INT	PD	Tgts.	Rec.	Yds.	TD
2014	71	53	2	0	0	3	24	18	210	2
2015	48	39	2	1	3	7	11	3	73	0

Mitchell is currently the Steelers' fourth-leading tackler, with 48 combined and 39 solo. He has two forced fumbles and one recovery. He leads the team in interceptions, with three, and has seven passes defensed. And he's much-improved in coverage, giving up only three receptions on 11 passes thrown his way, for 73 yards. He's allowed zero touchdowns. And he's now ranked ninth at his position by Pro Football Focus.

It's not just for his coverage prowess, either. He's also ranked seventh in run-stopping percentage, with 16 tackles counted against the run and four stops—or losses for the opposing offense—and 15th in tackling efficiency, totaling 12.8 tackles for every one missed.

But the numbers don't tell the entire story of Mitchell's impact this year—and impact is the right word. He's been as hard-hitting as ever and more accurate while doing it. There are fewer misses and more makes as far as tackles are concerned, and he's helped bring back some of the Pittsburgh defense's signature swagger.

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

For a few years now, Pittsburgh's defense hasn't been the fearsome unit it used to be, and opposing offenses have known it. That's not the case in 2015. The Steelers have 28 sacks, and they again have a missile-like safety prowling the defensive backfield and providing run support. Mitchell's name may not be iconically "Pittsburgh" as Troy Polamalu's, but he does provide some of what has been missing with the absence of Polamalu and others.

He'll make a hard tackle and then trade words with the player he hit—or even those he didn't, such as Mitchell's "you're next" threat made toward Cincinnati Bengals receiver A.J. Green after pancaking his teammate, Marvin Jones. He's not afraid to take on Baltimore Ravens receiver Steve Smith, one of the toughest men in the league. Mitchell is a throwback, which is exactly what the Steelers need as part of their current defense.

"I'm just a passionate football player, man. I hate that it rubs people the wrong way, but I'm not gonna change. You don't want to see me get excited? Don't come to the game or don't let me make plays," Mitchell said to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Joe Starkey. 

It would be one thing if Mitchell didn't back up these words with on-field actions, but he does. A healthy Mitchell has proved to be the game-changing safety the Steelers saw in him when they first signed him. And even more than that, the toughness he brings to Pittsburgh has increased the intimidation factor of the entire defense.

It took an injury-plagued season to get to this point, but Mitchell is earning his keep and then some.