Steelers’ Alex Highsmith shares eye-opening reminder amid surge

The Pittsburgh Steelers have blossomed into one of the NFL’s most fierce teams before our eyes in the 2024-25 season. At  6-2, they’ve handled having an experimental offense quite well, and have found different ways to make it work. But while the Steelers look resilient, and have championship aspirations, defensive lineman Alex Highsmith gave a clear reminder that they need to keep raising the bar high with their performances each game.

Highsmith addressed the concerns over the Pittsburgh defense after their Week 8 win over the New York Giants, via Yagya Bhargava of Steelers Report. The unit allowed Giants rookie running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. to rack up 145 rushing yards and one touchdown, and had trouble containing the outside on some of Daniel Jones’ completions to Malik Nabers.

“We still have areas we can grow in, and we’ve just got to continue to get better. We can’t be complacent. We can’t get comfortable because we’ve got a lot of tough games, a lot of tough ball ahead of us,” Highsmith said, per Teresa Varley on X, formerly Twitter.

It appears to be one of their most complete, and balanced teams in recent memory. Having one of the strongest defenses in the NFL, led by T.J. Watt, and veteran leadership coming through on the other side of the football with Russell Wilson.. There isn’t a ton to dislike about the Steelers at this time.

That said, they are still winning games because of the sheer fact that they’ve trusted head coach Mike Tomlin’s consistent game plan, and have executed it to near perfection in clutch moments. As Highsmith put it, they can’t afford to get complacent.

What’s next for the Steelers this season?