These statistics are familiar to anyone who follows the Steelers:
The quarterback completed 16 of 31 passes for 194 yards, two interceptions and no touchdowns. The running backs, collectively, gained 62 yards and no touchdowns.
They may be Steelers-like stats but those weren't produced by the Steelers in a game this season. They came from Detroit quarterback Charlie Batch and the rest of his backfield in the Lions' 15-10 victory Sunday over the Washington Redskins, established by Las Vegas oddsmakers as the Super Bowl favorite.
Even though the Lions gained just 21 more total yards than the Steelers and added two more interceptions, they managed a victory while the Steelers were shut out by Baltimore, 16-0.
The difference? Defense, or rather a big-play defense.
The Lions intercepted Washington quarterback Brad Johnson four times and returned them 84 yards.
The Steelers had no interceptions, no fumble recoveries and just one sack in their loss to the Ravens.
While the Steelers' defense did a respectable job by holding the Ravens to 336 total yards, they came up with no big plays. And when an offense is struggling like the Steelers' offense is, big defensive plays help.
"Definitely," cornerback Chad Scott said. "Getting turnovers helps an offense get good field position, and we weren't able to do that."
Linebacker Earl Holmes came the closest when he dropped a Tony Banks fastball too hot to handle. Backup linebacker Mike Vrabel had the only sack. Also, Joey Porter hit Banks as he was passing and the ball popped out, but the officials ruled an incomplete pass on the play because the quarterback's arm was moving forward.
That was it for the big defensive plays, although free safety Brent Alexander did have a tackle for a seven-yard loss and cornerback Dewayne Washington had a tackle for a two-yard loss.
Big defensive plays rank highly on Coach Bill Cowher's must-do list. In fact, defensive turnovers rank No. 1 on the Steelers' scale, higher than holding the other team out of the end zone.
"Taking the football away," Cowher said, "is really the first prerequisite of a defense . . . To me, you can assess a defense by No. 1 how many times they take the football away, No. 2 by how many points they give up, and No. 3 are the stats."
It's not just an offense that produces scoring opportunities.
"We need to create situations that can put us in good field position on offense, and there's no question turnovers can create that," Cowher added.
Take, for instance, their opponent this Sunday, the Cleveland Browns. They sacked Cincinnati quarterback Akili Smith seven times, had two interceptions and one fumble recovery in a 24-7 victory last Sunday.
One game is not nearly enough to form any kind of statistical trend, but the Steelers have been falling off in the big-play defensive categories the past two seasons.
Since Cowher became coach in 1992, his team has come up with fewer than 30 turnovers only twice, and both occurred the past two years, his only losing seasons. They also had two of their three lowest sack totals under Cowher the past two seasons. They had 28 turnovers and 40 sacks last year, 29 turnovers and 41 sacks in 1998.
The Steelers' defense has not been as proficient the past two seasons creating opportunities for its offense. Although that trend continued in their opener, linebacker Levon Kirkland advised no one to panic.
"Turnovers and sacks and all that are going to come," Kirkland said. "You get them in bunches. Just because we didn't get them in the first game, doesn't mean we're not going to get them, and it doesn't mean we have to do anything super human to help the offense out. We just have to go out there and play ball."
Linebacker Jason Gildon led the Steelers with 8 1/2 sacks last season, but he had only one over the final seven games.
"When you're put in those situations, you definitely have to take advantage of those opportunities," he said. "I think we have enough talent, some good corners out there, some good safeties and good linebackers.
"I feel we're solid all around defensively. We just have to keep working hard at it."
The Steelers did not blitz as often in the opener as they normally have in the past. They also were losing players to heat and injuries as Kirkland, Holmes and nose tackle Kimo von Oelhoffen left the game.
Yesterday, Kirkland offered another way the Steelers might create more havoc on defense: Go by the book.
"It's just like the Bible says, why worry in life? It doesn't help it, it doesn't make it better. That's what we have to do. We have to take that kind of attitude, go out there and not worry about what's going to happen, just embrace what's going to happen, play ball and see what happens -- and I just used 'happen' about three times."
Saying it is one thing, making it another.
Steelers' defense misses big plays 
