Is the Pittsburgh D too old?

Plenty of teams made significant roster moves this offseason, but not the Pittsburgh Steelers. The defending AFC champions made a couple of offensive line changes and let slot receiver Antwaan Randle El go. On defense, however, the players from last season's team are back for another shot at the title, just one year older. In the case of the Steelers, that one year older means the defense is pretty old.

On Sunday, the Steelers will start the same 11 defenders that started the 2010 opener. And that defense will be among the oldest in NFL history. The planned lineup going into 2010 averaged 30.5 years of age, although the actual lineup for the season ended up averaging 29.5 years because Ziggy Hood replaced an injured Aaron Smith. Now Smith is back, and the average age of Pittsburgh's projected defensive starting lineup for 2011 is 31.5. If those remain the starters for the entire season, the Steelers will be the oldest defense of the century by more than a year. Only Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley are under the age of 30.

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Aaron Schatz

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• NFL analyst for ESPN Insider
• Founder of Footballoutsiders.com
• Contributes regularly to "Numbers Never Lie"