These are the top 10 Pittsburgh Steelers defensive players of all time. The Steelers have always been known for tough defense and these are the men that built that reputation. Linebacker James Harrison is one of the best defensive players in Steelers' history. There are two ways to win a football game: score more points than your opponent or prevent them from scoring more points than you. For the last fifty years, the Steelers have excelled at the latter. During the ‘70s, the Steelers' Steel Curtain defense was a 4–3 scheme with a dominant front four, three athletic linebackers and hard-hitting defensive backs. The ‘90s ushered in the Blitzburgh era, marked by hyper-aggressive linebackers who relentlessly ran down quarterbacks. During the Super Bowl years of the mid-2000s, the addition of a roving, tenacious, strong safety made the Steelers defense even more dangerous. The Steelers defense has ranked in the top five for points allowed in a season 17 times since 1972. Dur