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Haden thinks Pittsburgh has “better defense than we did last year”

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Coming off of another impressive preseason victory, this time over the Detroit Lions, the Pittsburgh Steelers are starting to look like they’re beginning to gel in all three facets of the game (offense, defense and special teams) just in time for the 2021 NFL regular season. This has been nothing new however to the team’s 11-year veteran cornerback, Joe Haden. As one of the more seasoned players with the franchise, Haden has seen limited action thus far in preseason, but he believes he’s as good as he’s ever felt. Haden took to the media this week as reported from Steelers.com, and shared more about where he thinks he’s physically at coming into the new season.

“I feel like I got enough work in, this off-season’s been great. I still feel healthy, good to go.”
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When asked about the rumors of Haden wanting a contract extension with Pittsburgh, Haden confirmed, but didn’t seem like he wanted to elaborate.

“Y’all heard about it. I obviously want to stay here — just the organization, the staff, Coach T [Mike Tomlin]. I don’t have too much more on it. You know where I want to be.”
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The meat and potatoes of the interview mainly focused on Haden’s thoughts about new starting cornerback, Cam Sutton, how the younger players look up to Cam Heyward, and how Haden thinks this year’s defense compares to last season’s.

“It’s comparable. Having [Alex] Highsmith with another year, bring Melvin [Ingram] here completely healthy — he looks like Melvin of old, and then having D-Bush [Devin Bush] back, and you know, having Joe Schobert, I have another year, Minkah Fitzpatrick — it’s just a chance for a lot of guys to be able to expand their roles. Cam [Sutton] now being able to be a starter on the outside showing what he can do. I think we have if not the same, or a little better defense than we did last year. Everybody has just got to play their role, play their parts, do what we did last year and make plays. We should be fine.”
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Watch the full video here:




Do yinz agree or disagree with Haden’s remarks? Click to comment below!

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Top 5 defense I'd hope for. I'd love to atleast have a middle of the pack running game 15-20, and a top 5 red zone offense.
 
We can only hope he's right.
 
this D will go as far as the horses take them and STAY HEALTHY. Can't lose any big dogs. You know who they are.
 
How good are they when it counts in the playoffs?
 
The front seven could be terrific this year. Highsmith made a huge leap forward and while we still need to see what he can do during the regular season, he looks like a legit quality starter. Ingram should be more productive in a backup role than the Steelers had last year. Clearly Schobert is an upgrade at ILB and you hope that Bush can recapture some of his playmaking abilities he demonstrated as a rookie, but I'll admit I'm a bit worried right now. The big concern is cornerback. Sutton hasn't looked great and Pierre is still a bit of a mystery. It simply comes down to this defense is built to rush the passer and if they get to the quarterback again they'll be top 5 in the NFL.
 
"D-Bush" needs to play better, and start living up to the expectations of a top ten pick.
 
SteelerFan448 said:
The front seven could be terrific this year. Highsmith made a huge leap forward and while we still need to see what he can do during the regular season, he looks like a legit quality starter. Ingram should be more productive in a backup role than the Steelers had last year. Clearly Schobert is an upgrade at ILB and you hope that Bush can recapture some of his playmaking abilities he demonstrated as a rookie, but I'll admit I'm a bit worried right now. The big concern is cornerback. Sutton hasn't looked great and Pierre is still a bit of a mystery. It simply comes down to this defense is built to rush the passer and if they get to the quarterback again they'll be top 5 in the NFL.
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This defense is built on pressure, and we haven't had three of our top players in the front 7 out there (Heyward, Watt, Tuitt). That puts more strain on the corners. Also running vanilla defenses. I think these guys will be fine.
 
If Highsmith/Ingram can amount to the production that we lost from Bud, this is a BIG win.

CB is still the only position of concern IMHO. An elite QB with great WRs and a great pass blocking O-line will give us trouble this year.
 
Let’s hope the pass rush is exceptional. The only way our secondary will be successful. We had such an easy schedule last year. We definitely faltered at crunch time with our D. Tough,tough schedule this season. Hoping a young gun surprises me.
 
Steelmann said:
Let’s hope the pass rush is exceptional.
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Yep, all rides on that IMO. Dupree had a monster year last season so there are big shoes to fill. And hopefully Tuitt channels his loss into some OL losing their helmets.
 
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