Steelers' poor run defense jolts McLendon

By Ray Fittipaldo / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Steelers nose tackle Steve McLendon knows the defense has not performed up to its usual standards this season. But seeing the Steelers with a 29 next to their name in one notable category in the NFL's weekly statistics nearly left McLendon speechless.

The category is run defense, and that would be 29th out of 32 teams.

"Man, that's bad," said McLendon, a five-year veteran in his first season as a full-time starter. "We used to be in the top five. We haven't ever been out of the top 10. That's a first, man. We just have to do better."

Once the NFL's most impenetrable rush defense, the Steelers are no longer striking fear into opposing offenses. Each of the first four opponents accumulated 100 yards rushing or more against the Steelers. To put that into perspective, when the Steelers won the Super Bowl after the 2008 season, they allowed only five teams to rush for 100 yards in 16 regular-season games and three postseason contests. Even the 8-8 team last season allowed just four opponents to rush for 100 or more.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/steelers/steelers-poor-run-defense-jolts-mclendon-706236/#ixzz2gomcx1ir

AP diced us up pretty good. We can't stop the run and we can't get pressure.

Whyant5 wrote:

We can't stop the run and we can't get pressure.  

And we can't stop the underneath passes. Other than that, everything is swell.