Mike Mitchell is setting the tone for the revamped Pittsburgh Steelers defense.
And he isn’t making any friends in the process.
On the stat sheet, Mitchell is having a Pro Bowl-caliber year. He leads the team in interceptions, is tied for the most forced fumbles and is fourth in tackles. After a rough 2014 where he played with a bad groin, Mitchell looks like the player the Steelers envisioned when they signed him to a five-year, $25 million deal.
But his stats may not be the biggest reason he is making noise in 2015.
On Oct. 1 against the Baltimore Ravens, Mitchell drove his shoulder in Steve Smith’s back near the sideline as Smith lowered his shoulder to truck a defender. Smith immediately got up and got in Mitchell’s face. On Nov. 1, Mitchell lowered his shoulder into Marvin Jones’s stomach as the receiver reached forward for a pass and immediately snapped backwards.
Neither play drew a flag, but both drew the ire of the recipient. Smith declared that Mitchell was on his “lifetime hit list,” while Jones called Mitchell “fake tough.”
Mitchell plays like a heat-seeking missile between the whistles, and sometimes after it. He does not shy from contact, and isn’t afraid to get in players’ faces after the whistle if they don’t like how he plays. Other players are starting to hate him for it.
When was the last time the Steelers had a legitimate bad guy not named James Harrison?
They had a house full of them on Sunday, actually.
The Steelers invited back the 2005 group that won Super Bowl XL to be honored at halftime against the Cleveland Browns. That group of Steelers had an edge to them. They weren’t afraid of confrontation, or making players from other teams hate them.
That attitude is what made Joey Porter, and eventually Harrison two of the most intimidating linebackers of the last decade. Hines Ward was voted the NFL’s dirtiest player because he hit people in the mouth that didn’t want to be hit there. Even the humble Troy Polamalu didn’t show fear when he stepped onto the gridiron.
They didn’t win friends with that style of play, but that attitude won them Super Bowls. It made them one of the NFL’s best and most feared defenses of the 2000s.
When those players got older and departed, their edginess was not replaced, and the Steelers defense looked like a shell of its former self. But the defense is showing improvement in 2015, and Mitchell is helping to fuel the comeback.
Brutality is not the only quality that makes a great defender, it also takes talent. Mitchell has plenty of that.
But he wants to be the most violent player on the field, and players may want to think twice about crossing him. His reckless abandon makes it more likely that he will be in a position to create a big play for the defense.
He has told the media multiple times he will not back down. And for the most part, he shouldn’t.
Sure, he hasn’t made the smartest decisions, such as celebrating a forced fumble while the ball was still live against the Bengals. He also picked up a taunting penalty in that same game after a third down stop.
Could he tone down the celebrations to minimize unnecessary flags? Absolutely, but he should not stop the talking and certainly not the physicality.
Intimidation and ferocity is what made talented Steelers defenses legendary; a group of players who were not afraid of being hated is what made them feared.
Mitchell is that bad guy now.
