The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH - There's something wrong with the Pittsburgh Steelers' defense. The players know it. The coaches know it. Most of all, the teams they're playing know it.

A unit that allowed the fewest yards and fewest points in the NFL last year repeatedly has looked confused this season.

The personnel shouldn't be the problem. The Steelers spent tens of millions of dollars re-signing key defensive players - Jason Gildon, Joey Porter, Aaron Smith, John Fiala, Kimo von Oelhoffen - and adding linebacker James Farrior. The year before that, cornerbacks Chad Scott and Dewayne Washington signed new deals.

But this season couldn't have started much worse. The New England Patriots and Oakland Raiders came out in no-huddle spread offenses that shredded Pittsburgh's secondary, exposed flaws in its zone blitzes and negated its pass rush.

It hasn't gotten much better, with five of the Steelers' 10 opponents scoring 30 or more points - something no team did against Pittsburgh last season. The defense has plunged to 21st in points allowed and 19th in yards allowed. Scott and Washington seem to alternate weeks of being picked on by opposing receivers.

Andthe Steelers are allowing offenses to convert a remarkable 48.7 percent (74-of-152) of third downs, easily the worst in the league.

As the Atlanta Falcons rallied from a 17-point deficit to tie Pittsburgh two weeks ago, they converted on third-and-22, third-and-23 and third-and-24 - in one half. The Tennessee Titans were 12-of-19 on third downs in a 31-23 victory over the Steelers on Sunday.

Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Tim Lewis, hailed a year ago as an innovative, motivating leader who might soon become a head coach, now finds his every move questioned.

"Obviously, it's a world that thrives on the negative," he said. "My job is to find what's wrong and try to fix it. What I want to do is find what we're doing well and focus on it and continue to do it."

Lewis and coach Bill Cowher said the Steelers haven't made dramatic changes since last season. Some players suggest otherwise.

The biggest change seems to be the frequent use of linebackers in pass coverage, and not having them blitz as much as they used to. Against the Titans, Porter was supposed to drop into coverage but didn't pick up receiver Kevin Dyson on a 9-yard touchdown catch.

Gildon, an All-Pro linebacker last year who has been having a disappointing season, said Pittsburgh is "doing things differently."

Said Gildon: "I could be wrong, but if you go back and look at what we were doing last year and compare it to what we're doing this year, I think that would be the easiest way to explain it. I've always felt like if it ain't broke, why try to fix it?

"Just being out there and playing and running the defense this year compared to the ones we had last year, something does seem different."

One thing that's different is Gildon isn't pass rushing as much as he did last year. He had 12 sacks last season and 251/2 the past two, but he has only 31/2 this season.

So far, Cowher and Lewis resisted making changes to a third-down unit that usually includes six defensive backs and removes linebacker Kendrell Bell, last year's NFL defensive rookie of the year.

The problem: If Bell stays out, Gildon or Porter must come off the field, or a linebacker must play mostly in deep pass coverage.

Porter said there's nothing wrong with the defense that the players can't fix themselves.

"I don't want to say we're not playing hard, but there are times when we have to play harder," he said. "If you leave the field knowing you played hard, it's not as hard when you watch the films."

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