Behind the Steel Curtain
The path Philly took to their latest Super Bowl win feels like exactly what the Steelers hoped for in 2024... only they did it better.
It’s been just days since the Philadelphia Eagles stunned with a 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX, defeating the team that, throughout each of the past three seasons, has felt unbeatable — especially in the postseason.
How did Nick Sirianni & Co. bring down Andy Reid and the Big Bad Patrick Mahomes? Well... it was a recipe that the Pittsburgh Steelers have been tinkering with since the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger — a family recipe, handed down from a previous generation of Super Bowl winners in the 1970’s — the great Steel Curtain.
The recipe itself is simple: play possession-down football, be physical, allow the run game to dictate every conversation, and don’t turn the ball over. The Eagles checked every one of those boxes. They led the NFL through the regular and postseason with an average time of possession of 32:21, while averaging the second-most rushing yards per game (184.1) and fourth-fewest turnovers per game (0.8).
So, why did the Steelers and Eagles have such different outcomes? The devil’s in the details.
The Steelers have certainly tried to accomplish this brand of football. In 2021, the Steelers drafted running back Najee Harris in the first round, prepared to place their offensive identity straight on his back just as the team was ushered out of the Ben Roethlisberger era. The problem? They didn’t have the offensive line to establish an efficient and physical run game.
The Steelers have since tried to upgrade up front, but unfortunately building an imposing offensive line takes time. The investment in the trenches did begin soon in GM Omar Khan’s regime, drafting developmental OT Broderick Jones and blocking TE Darnell Washington in 2023 followed by three OL selections in the first four rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft. But still, despite those investments, the coaching didn’t seem to be enough to bring the unit up to par.
Under OL coach Pat Meyer, the team continued to shuffle different combinations at OT all offseason between veteran Dan Moore Jr., coming off a truly disastrous 2023 campaign, second-year OT Broderick Jones and rookie Troy Fautanu. The Steelers failed to ever truly commit to one OL configuration during the offseason, instead opting for versatility. No doubt, that versatility came in handy when injuries began to pile up, but it’s difficult to imagine that it didn’t come at the cost of the development of their first-round developmental tackle.
Finally, there was the investment in the defense. After leading the league in offensive spending in the 2017 season, the Steelers had entirely flipped the script, diverting most of their financial resources to the defense. Soon enough (2022), defensive stars T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, and Minkah Fitzpatrick were leading the roster in salary cap hit, and financial investment on offense took a significant downturn. Pittsburgh would go on to lead the...
