The Steelers play the St. Louis Rams this Sunday. Check out news on the upcoming game…
From Mike Prisuta, Steelers.com:
Let the competition in the trenches commence:
When the Steelers travel to St. Louis this weekend, the outcome of the game very well may be decided in trenches.
Cam Heyward knows the Steelers’ defensive line won’t be playing against the Rams’ defensive line, but he still maintains the Steelers’ unit can and should outplay the Rams’ much-more-publicized defensive front.
“Me, (Stephon) Tuitt and Steve (McLendon) all look at it as a challenge,” Heyward maintained. “What defensive line is going to be the most dominant? What Front Seven is going to be more dominant in the game?
It all depends on their offensive line and our offensive line. I’m going to take our offensive line vs. anybody, so we expect to win week in and week out.”
The Steelers’ first-team defensive line consists of a former No. 1 pick (Heyward, 2011) and a recent No. 2 (Tuitt, 2014) at end sandwiching a former undrafted free agent (McLendon, 2009) at nose tackle.
They initially perceived Tuitt as a first-round talent who wasn’t able to maintain proper weight and conditioning due to an injury prior to his junior (and final) season at Notre Dame.
Heyward sees Tuitt as a player ready to make his mark as an NFL sophomore, one that can continue to help the Steelers’ defensive line make a difference.
Tuitt had one-and-a-half sacks in the Steelers’ 43-18 win over San Francisco.
“Tuitt has great athletic ability,” Heyward said. “He has a year under his belt. He’s going to get a lot of opportunities to get one-on-ones.
“I’m getting doubled (double-teamed) he should be wining the one-on-ones. And if he’s getting doubled I should be winning the one-on-ones. We can balance each other out like that and keep everybody accountable.”
Let the competition in the trenches commence.
