The Pittsburgh Steelers pride themselves on stopping the run, but last season a leaky unit turned into a dumpster fire after Ryan Shazier went down in the 11th game.
Before Shazier went down, the Steelers allowed 4.0 yards per carry.
After he went down, they allowed 5.1 per carry. It added up to their worst per-carry yield (4.397) since 1954.
Fixing the run defense became the offseason priority, according to team president Art Rooney II, and it was echoed by Vince Williams and Cameron Heyward, two leaders up front, throughout the offseason.
Their remedies?
Well, the 31st-ranked tackling team in the league, as ranked by Pro Football Focus, went out and signed PFF’s No. 1 tackling safety, Morgan Burnett, and its No. 8 tackling linebacker, Jon Bostic. And those two…
