Top 10 combinations of offensive and defensive lines in 2018

#3 Pittsburgh Steelers

Offense: LT Alejandro Villanueva, LG Ramon Foster, C Maurkice Pouncey, RG David DeCastro, RT Marcus Gilbert; Bench – B.J. Finney & Chukwuma Okorafor

Defense: LE Cameron Heyward, NT Javon Hargrave, RE Stephon Tuitt; Bench – Tyson Alualu, Leterrius Walton

Everybody talks about Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell and the other skill-position players, but when you really look at them, the Steelers win in the trenches first, which allows their playmakers to go out and do their things, as well as making teams one-dimensional with their defense.

Alejandro Villanueva, David DeCastro, and Maurkice Pouncey were all voted into the Pro Bowl last season. However, Ramon Foster and Marcus Gilbert are highly underrated in their own right. This is a just a very complete unit, with the right mix of mobility, nasty attitude and technique.

There is no other team in the league, that works the zone-game better than Pittsburgh. Lev Bell’s patient approach to let things develop and manipulate double-teams matches perfectly with what the big guys up front are doing, by staying around the line of scrimmage longer and forcing the defense to overcommit, which they counter off perfectly. In the passing game, these guys are a big factor in allowing Big Ben to extend his career, after being more of an off-script, shrugging hits off-type of quarterback when he was younger.

I always thought Cam Heyward was severely underrated, but last season things went to the extreme. Fans voted eight Steelers into the Pro Bowl, but left the defensive linemen off the ballot. Heyward had a phenomenal season, with 12 sacks and TFLs in the high double-digits. He’s a monster.

Stephon Tuitt on the other end has developed into of the top five-techniques in the league himself. He might not be quite as disruptive as his teammate, but he comes pretty close to the prototype at that position.

Nose tackle Javon Hargreave had unreal burst off the line and played with excellent pad-level at South Carolina State. He might not have the longest arms and was more of a one-gap specialist in college, but he has taken on his role in the middle and still has room to develop.