Steelers: Age is just right

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

James Harrison has spent all training camp trying to answer questions on whether the Pittsburgh Steelers defense is veteran or — with eight starters past their 30th birthday heading into Sunday’s season opener at Baltimore — just plain old.

The former NFL Defensive Player of the Year is quickly running out of patience.

“How many times have you heard that a defense is just right? Never,” Harrison said. “You never hear that a defense is just the right age to be playing good ball.

“It’s either too young or too old, and I’ve been hearing that for the last few years.”

He’s going to have to endure it for at least one more.

The defending AFC champions had the league’s top scoring defense last season and the Defensive Player of the Year in safety Troy Polamalu. In a rare sign of continuity, all 11 starters return.

Whether they return to the same level of dominance remains unclear. The Steelers took it easy on the 33-year-old Harrison, who played only sparingly in the preseason while recovering from a pair of procedures on his back.

He still endures occasional shooting pain in his legs he says will never truly go away and has taken to acupuncture, posting pictures of needles spread across his body on his Facebook page.

“It lasts maybe 4-5 hours,” Harrison said. “I started doing that last year, and I think that’s really the thing that got me through [the season] with my back the way it was.”

It’s a new-age treatment for an old school player, which is why coach Mike Tomlin isn’t worried whether Harrison will be ready to play on Sunday. Though Harrison claims he’s 80-85 percent, his coach isn’t buying it.

“I’d imagine he is sandbagging,” Tomlin said. “James Harrison likes to play and we expect James Harrison-like play.”

The Steelers will likely need it if they want to beat the Ravens for the seventh time in last nine meetings. They’ll also need their banged up secondary to get up to speed quickly.