Liability: A person or thing whose presence or behavior is likely to cause embarrassment or put one at a disadvantage.

This word brings to mind names such as Cortez Allen and Antwon Blake regarding the recent versions of the Pittsburgh Steelers cornerbacks. In 2014 and 2015, both playoff seasons for the Steelers, the secondary as a whole, but specifically the corners, were liabilities.

Too often, despite the best efforts of William Gay and Brice McCain (for a season), there was always someone to pick on when the opposing quarterback needed to convert a third down passing situation.

Allen

Allen, who seemed to be developing into a quality starter his first three years, was awarded a contract extension before the 2014 season.

Then, his development hit a wall: inexplicably, he lost his confidence.

A trip to injured reserve in October of 2015 sealed his fate, as he was released in the spring of 2016.

Blake

Antwon Blake, (insert fans cringing), gave up completions constantly.

He would offset being an easy target for any double move or polished route-runner by sometimes making a big play.

I’m not going to waste my time looking up how many first down catches Blake allowed, or the completion percentage of quarterbacks when throwing in his area. It doesn’t really matter – he was a liability.

Draft Misses

For several years, fans clamored for the Steelers to address the secondary issues with high draft picks… after all, they hadn’t taken a cornerback in the first-round of the draft since 1997 (Chad Scott).

While the defense was in the middle of a full-on rebuild, Pittsburgh had missed often on their attempts to turn mid-to-late round corners into quality players.

Curtis Brown, Terry Hawthorne, Shaquille Richardson? Anyone? These misses are what forced the Steelers to start guys like Blake, and even McCain, who wasn’t too bad but definitely wasn’t great either.

Yeah, the memories of their most recent secondary groupings aren’t warm and fuzzy.

New Regime

Alas, it is now Week 16 of the 2016 season, and Pittsburgh is within a victory Sunday of clinching the AFC North.

A few days before the 2015 season, the Steelers quietly signed cornerback Ross Cockrell from Buffalo off waivers. He didn’t have any offseason programs with his new teammates. He didn’t have a training camp to learn the system. Yet somehow, Cockrell immediately found his way into the starting lineup and stayed there all season.

Pittsburgh gave him a one-year extension, banking on Cockrell to continue to get better and likely be a starter in 2016. But who would be starting opposite him?

This past April, the Steelers invested their first pick of the draft on a corner named Artie Burns, from Miami (Florida).

Initially seen as a guy with elite natural talent and huge upside, many believed Burns wouldn’t step in year one and make too many significant contributions. After all, he ran track at Miami too and was never able to focus a full offseason on his football craft. He was getting by on his natural athleticism.

Early on, he had his rookie growing pains – and still is. However, about midway through the season, Burns was penciled in as the starter outside, opposite Cockrell, which moved William Gay to nickel corner – a spot he has thrived in. And Burns hasn’t disappointed, as he’s amassed three interceptions and leads Pittsburgh in pass breakups.

But this past Sunday, Cockrell and Burns showed just how much better this corner group is than previous years, and they did it on back to back Cincinnati Bengals possessions.

Leading 20-18, the Bengals were looking to work some clock and add a score to their lead in the fourth quarter. Pittsburgh’s defense needed a big stop. On a third-and-11 from the Cincy 24, Cockrell broke up a well-thrown Andy Dalton pass that would have moved the chains. Punt.

Ben Roethlisberger then led the offense down the field, putting up their first touchdown of the day on a 24-yard-strike to Eli Rogers. The Steelers then led 24-20 with just over seven minutes remaining. The D now had to protect the lead.

On a third-and-14, Brandon LaFell ran an excellent comeback route on the sidelines. It looked for a moment that a first down was imminent, until Burns flashed his closing speed and broke up the pass. Cincinnati had to punt again, and the offense did the rest as they were able to churn the clock out, securing the victory.

Conclusion

In 2014 and even 2015, this sequence of plays from each corner probably doesn’t happen. It was a sight for sore eyes to see Cockrell and Burns make two of the biggest plays of the game in two of the biggest moments.

Cockrell’s ceiling isn’t reached yet, at only 25, he has some growing to do.

Burns isn’t yet the superstar he was drafted to be, but at 21 there’s little doubt he will grow into elite status if his rookie campaign is any indication.

They may not be household names right now, but as a duo, they are the most reliable group I’ve seen at corner on a Pittsburgh defense since Ike Taylor‘s prime.

Safe to say, the arrow is pointing up.

Way up.