Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger Has Harsh Words For Mike Tomlin’s 2025 Defense

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense was relentless in Week 3 against the New England Patriots. Despite the team getting outgained significantly, the defensive unit found a way to force five turnovers, which ultimately ended up deciding the contest. It was good to see the group play better, but there are still several concerns that remain. Opposing offenses are moving the ball down the field very easily, and the schedule is only going to get more difficult for Head Coach Mike Tomlin and co. In Week 4, it will be no easy task taking on the Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, Ireland.

The Steelers have the highest-paid defense in the NFL, but that has not been showing on the field to begin the 2025 campaign. A lot of adjustments need to be made moving forward, or the better offenses on the schedule will find ways to absolutely destroy Pittsburgh. One way to spice things up a little bit is to get more creative, as some reputable individuals don’t really like how the defense looks right now.

Legendary quarterback Ben Roethlisberger provided his thoughts about the Week 3 win on his podcast, Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger. One of his first comments about the team as it stands today is that Tomlin’s defense is not really doing much that will scare teams that are set to play the Steelers. It’s quite boring, per Roethlisberger himself.

“To me, without studying our defense, it seems like we’re a pretty vanilla defense as it is,” Roethlisberger said. “It doesn’t feel like, to me, we’re getting a lot of unique pressures, unique defenses, and I think even Coach Tomlin said that [Tuesday] in his press conference. He said that, something along the lines of, and I’ll probably mess it up, that situations or circumstances are preventing them from doing things, and I don’t know what that means.”

Roethlisberger is a future Hall of Fame player that can simply watch football games live and understand what a defense is or isn’t doing well. The fact that he has noticed through three weeks that Pittsburgh’s defense is lacking something special is not great. Good offenses will pick apart groups that are not doing anything to disguise their looks.

“Is it injuries? I don’t really know,” Roethlisberger noted. “I want to see Jalen Ramsey blitzing. I want to see safeties — I want to see more linebacker stuff. I’d like to see the uniqueness.”

Some may argue that less is more, but it hasn’t worked out for Tomlin and Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin. Something needs to change beginning in Week 4, and Roethlisberger gave some solid ideas.

There’s no other ways to interpret the words of Roethlisberger, who played nearly two decades for the Steelers. He isn’t impressed with how the defense is performing. It doesn’t really seem as if opposing offenses are either. While five turnovers is impressive, the Patriots racked up almost 400 yards of total offense and Pittsburgh barely cracked the 200-yard mark.

That kind of play is not sustainable at the NFL level. If the Steelers truly want to make a postseason run, or at the very least, end the playoff win drought, things are going to have to change. With as much money as the defense is being paid, the players in the locker room should be able to adjust to a more complex scheme in order to show different looks.

Steelers May Have To Fix Communication Issues Before Making Playbook More Complex

Pittsburgh has had known communication problems since the end-of-year collapse in 2024. It’s quite possible that the scheme needs to be simple because the coaching staff doesn’t trust the players on the field to get the job done properly. If that’s the case, it’s a whole different problem that needs to be addressed; but with how much the unit is being paid, Roethlisberger hit the nail on the head. Things need to change, and fast.