PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – When it comes to criticizing the Steelers defense, there seem to be two immediate reactions. It's Devin Bush's fault. It's Terrell Edmunds fault.
Regardless of the circumstance. One of the former first round picks almost, always get blamed. They are not faultless, but because of expectations of where they were drafted. It's often on them.
Edmunds is the Steelers third leading tackler (30) and second in solo tackles (21) and owns half of the Steelers interceptions this season. Pro Football Focus says only 50% of the passes thrown his way end up receptions. Edmunds is also ranked higher than Minkah Fitzpatrick.
"I feel good," Edmunds said about his fourth season in the NFL. "I've played pretty good. Still a lot to learn from, a lot to develop. A lot to grow from."
"It's tough playing safety all together," said Steelers defensive captain Cam Heyward. "The last line of defense. The thing I love about Terrell. You don't have to call his name to know he's doing well."
"The stats may not be gaudy or anything, but he's been in the right position. He's able to be a box defender. He's able to come down and smack some running backs. He's grown in that role."
The 2017 first round pick had 251 tackles in his first three seasons with three interceptions and 15 passes defended. The Steelers confidence in the 24-year-old has obviously grown, at times against the Packers, Edmunds lined up against All-Pro receiver Davonte Adams.
"Sometimes that how the call comes out," Edmunds said. "You have to go out there and compete against great guys. Sometimes it's big-time receivers, sometimes it's big-time tight ends, sometimes it's even nice running backs. You just have go out there and compete, put your best foot forward every play."
Defensive coordinator Keith Butler may have more confidence because of Edmunds' improved communication.
"The way he talks, the way he instructs, and stuff like that, and echoes calls, making sure everybody's on the same page," Butler said. "That's the reason. I always tell the linebackers that they're quarterbacks of the defense.
But dadgum, those safeties have a lot to do with it too: him and Minkah [Fitzpatrick] both in terms of getting us in the right things that we need to get in, how we make adjustments down on the field, and stuff like that. We're glad to have both of them: him and Minkah."
It's not easy to work alongside Fitzpatrick. When your partner has the freedom to move around, you need to understand exactly where he is going to be.
"It's grown a lot," Edmunds said of his relationship with Fitzpatrick. "We pretty much know each other. Still some things that we can work on, of course."
"I enjoy playing out there with Minkah. He's a great guy. He's a play-maker. He's a leader. It's going out there, create our bond and keep going with it."
Edmunds is a free agent after the season. The Steelers declined to pick-up the fifth-year option on his contract. Many would consider him a bust or at least not worth where he was drafted.
"Sometimes that first round pressure is unneeded because there are guys that produce at a high level that just don't have stats for it," Heyward said. "Terrell is playing great. We are going to continue to need him to play great."
"We have a great one-two punch back there. Not a lot of teams can say that. Minkah gets all the love and he should. Terrell has been playing really good football for us."
"At the end of the day, everyone is out here with the same goal," Edmunds said. "As Ben (Roethlisberger) says we don't have to play great individually, but if we play good collectively. We will go out there and win a lot of football games. That's our whole mindset, come out and win football games."
Edmunds believes if they can find a way to win against the Seahawks Sunday night before heading into their bye. It might spark a turnaround to the season.
"Take it one game at a time," Edmunds said. "We get through this game, we are back at .500 and now we can really talk about let's turn up the season. That's our whole mindset now."
