Football Outsiders · Aug 31, 2021
DVOA by Route: Cracks in the Steel Curtain
The Pittsburgh Steelers boasted the league's best pass defense last season. With Pro Bowlers at interior lineman (Cameron Heyward), edge rusher (T.J. Watt), and safety (Minkah Fitzpatrick), they gave opponents fits all year. None of those Pro Bowlers played cornerback, however, and on the rare occasions when Pittsburgh did struggle, it was usually on deeper throws to the outside.
Here's a look at Pittsburgh's performance against the most common routes across the NFL last season. The table is sorted by DVOA, and rankings go from low to high—the Steelers rank first in flat targets because they only saw 16 of them all year, the lowest total in the league.
