The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the midst of the 2024 regular season, and with it being the team’s latest game fans’ hopes remain high heading into the final stretch of the season. The hope is there is a winning performance on the horizon on Sunday in Week 15 when the team travels to play the Philadelphia Eagles.

What exactly do the Steelers need to do to on defense to claim their eleventh victory of 2024? Let’s break it down…

Defense

Force a Slow Start

If you missed the stat about the Eagles slow starts offensively, go check out the offensive keys to victory article which ran right before this article. History is on the Steelers defense in the opening frame, but the Steelers defense also has to keep the Eagles offense bottled up as long as they can.

The Eagles offense absolutely is capable of breaking out at any time, in a variety of ways, but it will be up to the Steelers to keep them bottled up as long as possible.

Slow Down the Run

The Eagles are averaging 190.5 rushing yards per game, which is 1st in the NFL. It isn’t just Saquon Barkley, while he gets the majority of the touches in the running game, but also the running ability of Jalen Hurts. Stopping a powerful running attack like the Eagles is a pipe dream, but being able to slow them down will be paramount.

On top of that, not allowing chunk plays in the running game will be huge for the Steelers defense. If you think back to the Steelers 18-16 win over the Ravens earlier this season, Baltimore was the top rushing attack at the time and the Steelers limited their effectiveness in that game. They’ll need to do it again vs. the Eagles.

Cone in Jalen Hurts

Hurts is a good quarterback, but I wouldn’t put him in the great or elite category. He has shown he can be had in a variety of ways. He can be confused by coverages at times, slow to go through his progressions, and also holds onto the ball too long. If the Steelers edge rushers can cone in Hurts, they will be able to impact Hurts in a variety of ways.

Takeaways will be helpful, but just forcing mistakes will be equally as important. The Eagles have surrendered 36 sacks this season and the Steelers have 7 sacks in the last two weeks. With Hurts and AJ Brown in the news this week due to their “beef”, the Eagles might want to throw the ball more than usual. It will be up to the Steelers to take advantage of this decision, if it’s made.

I talk about this, and MUCH more on the “Let’s Ride”, and you can hear that podcast in the player below this article. In the meantime, be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the team as they gear up for game time!