As the Steelers prepared for their 2020 regular season, one of the questions that came up over and over again was whether or not the defense could be as prolific at taking the football away as it was a season earlier, when it recorded 38.
Considering the unit totaled a less than pedestrian 15 in 2018, that was a legitimate question, to be sure. Also, prior to 2019, taking the football away had been a major problem for Pittsburgh’s defense for close to a decade. The Steelers averaged roughly 19 takeaways between 2011-2018, or almost half as many as was the standard for Super Bowl teams over the years.