Much of the focus on what the Steelers will do to improve on their 2024 results has been on the quarterback position, but it's not the only area where there's room for improvement this offseason.
Defensive lineman Cam Heyward identified another one during an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio this week. Heyward acknowledged that the team needs to sort things out at quarterback and add "a couple more parts" before pivoting to say that he thought his side of the ball fell short when it came time to playing as a team.
"I think every year we’re striving to win a Super Bowl, and when we fall up short we all have to own it," Heyward said. "And we all have to be better because of it. I don’t think we had enough cohesion on defense to be sound. That starts with players executing at a higher rate. I think we have the guys in the room, but, going forward, we have to clean up a lot of things."
The final game of the Steelers season exemplified the issues that Heyward was talking about as the Steelers allowed 299 rushing yards to a team that had gashed them for 220 in the regular season. That kind of weakness is one good teams will exploit at every opportunity and the Steelers will have to find a way to keep it from happening in the future.
