50-YARD LINE

As the Steelers roll towards their season opener in Denver Sunday night, we look at facet #2 for the season, the defense. Although the Steelers had the #1 rated defense in the league last year, the players aren’t resting on the laurels. Especially with the way the defense fell apart in the playoffs to the Tebow-led Broncos. The defense has lost veteran leadership in the offseason. It’s time for some new blood to step up and take the reins. The D-Line will look to Steve Mclendon, Ziggy Hood and Cameron Hayward to take a step forward and eat up blockers so the linebackers can do their thing. There’s questions at linebacker, though. Will James Harrison start in Denver? If not, when will he be healthy and will he stay healthy? Will Lamar Woodley avoid the injury bug this year, too? When healthy, those two are one of the best outside linebacker tandems in the league and give quarterbacks fits. If they go down, who steps in? Same for middle linebacker. There they have Lawrence Timmons and Larry Foote and not much behind them. Ryan Clark and Troy Polamalu were both Pro Bowlers last year but are on the wrong side of 30. Keenan Lewis predicted a Pro Bowl season for himself in his first starting season opposite Ike Taylor. I seem to remember Ike also made that bold prediction one year. Was it the year Cowher benched him? Be careful what you wish for. I just wish for a healthy, productive season for this defense. They need to improve upon their turnovers, or lack thereof (15), put more pressure on the QB to rattle him into making mistakes, and work to get off of the field on third down to put the ball back in the offense’s hands. And STAY HEALTHY! Go Steelers!!!!!!