Steelers' 'salty' defense looking to bounce back against Raiders

The Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2) are coming off back-to-back losses, and while their offense is mostly to blame, their defense hasn't been at its best, either.

In the Steelers' 20-17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys (3-2) in Week 5, the defense allowed two fourth-quarter, 15-plus play touchdown scoring drives. That is unacceptable for the highest paid defense in the NFL.

On Wednesday, veteran cornerback Donte Jackson spoke on behalf of the rest of the defense, saying that it must do whatever it can to improve and move on.

"Win, loss, you always want to have short-term memory," Jackson said . "You always want to get back to work. There’s so much football left out there to play that, whether you win, whether you lose, you just want to get back in the building and work. The only thing that changes is just the attitude about it. You come off a loss, you kinda just a little more salty."

One of Pittsburgh's biggest issues on defense has been communication. The unit has already had several blown coverages through the first five weeks of the season.

Jackson knows that must change sooner rather than later.

"Just continue to detail it, continue to work at it. Attack these practices. Attack these meetings with that mindset that we gonna clean up all those communication issues," Jackson added . "Different things come into play each week, and for us, it's been communication. …Expecting change."

The seventh-year cornerback is confident that change is coming because he thinks it's somewhat an easy fix.

"It's just focus and execution, man. Sometimes when stuff gets to moving fast out there, sometimes you have guys thinking something and other guys thinking something else," Jackson continued . "It's not something that we feel is killing us right now."

The Steelers have a chance to put those issues behind them in Week 6 when they take on the Raiders (2-3), who are averaging the ninth-fewest total yards per game (297) and 10th-fewest points per game (19.2) in the league.

Las Vegas' offense has a ton of question marks, starting with the quarterback position.

Head coach Antonio Pierce said " he's still evaluating " who will be the team's starting quarterback this week after Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell saw playing time last week.

It also looks like the Raiders will be without star wide receiver Davante Adams (hamstring) for the second straight week.

Jackson knows that will only help Pittsburgh's chances.

"He's one of the best in the game, been that way for however long you want to go back, man," Jackson finished . "Ton of respect for his game. Ton of respect for how he just go about business. He can do it all, run routes, catch the ball."

The Steelers will be a bit-shorthanded themselves, with players like edge-rushers Alex Highsmith and Nick Herbig expected to be sidelined . However, that's no excuse for a defense filled with other stars and a salty taste still in its mouth.

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.