Ravens Add Another Veteran Voice to Coaching Staff as Steelers Stand Pat
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The Pittsburgh Steelers don’t feel that the size of their coaching staff is holding them back, president Art Rooney II said on Monday. On Tuesday, the Baltimore Ravens, the team that eliminated the Steelers from the playoffs in the 2024 season, went out and made their already larger coaching staff one bigger.
The Ravens announced on Tuesday that the team has hired former Indianapolis Colts head coach Chuck Pagano to be the team’s senior secondary coach, a position that the Ravens did previously have staffed.
The addition of Pagano gives the Ravens 12 assistant coaches on the defensive side of the ball: coordinator Zachary Orr, passing game coordinator and assistant head coach Chris Hewitt, senior advisor Dean Pees, Pagano, assistant coaches for the defensive line, inside and outside linebackers and secondary, plus a defensive assistant, a quality control coach and an analyst.
The Steelers’ list just seven such coaches: coordinator Teryl Austin, position coaches at defensive line, outside linebacker, inside linebacker and secondary, and the Steelers also have an assistant secondary coach and a defensive quality control coach. The Steelers also had Vince Williams work as a de facto assistant defensive line coach in 2024, though he was never listed as such on the team’s website or media guide.
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Not only are the Ravens bigger, they have more coaches with more experience, as well. Pees was defensive coordinator four times, winning the Super Bowl twice in that role. He’s retired from football several times, but came out of retirement to help the Ravens mid-season in 2024. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin was repeatedly complimentary of the improvements to the Ravens defense that coincided with the hiring of Pees.
“I really see the Dean Pees influence in terms of umbrella defense minimizing big plays,” Tomlin said before the Steelers were set to face the Ravens a second time this past season on Dec. 21. “I think the statistics since the last time we played them bear that out. Since the last time we played them, for example, they’re No. 2 in the league in pass defense. …
“Really, that’s quintessential Dean Pees. Not only was he employed in Baltimore, as you mentioned, but more recently, he was a defensive coordinator for Arthur Smith in Atlanta as well. And I have a real familiarity with his work. Arthur has a real familiarity with his work, and what we’re looking at more recently looks very similar to Dean Pees type work.”
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Which, of course, begs the question, why did Pees go work for Baltimore and improve the Ravens defense while the Pittsburgh unit foundered down the stretch run?
It’s not as if the Steelers have a wealth of experience on their coaching staff. Austin has been a defensive coordinator before, but never more. Dunbar is a veteran position coach, but has never been more. Fellow position coaches Denzel Martin, Aaron Curry and Grady Brown are holding such a job for the first time in their careers. There is no one on the Steelers defensive coaching staff that has ever held a higher position than the one they currently do.
Bigger might not always be better. But the Baltimore coaching staff appears to be bigger and better, and that’s a tough uphill climb for Pittsburgh.