Steelers' new safety Juan Thornhill's explanation for his jaw-dropping hit against the Jaguars proves he's perfect for Pittsburgh

But on Saturday, he put on the Black and Gold for the first time, and he made sure to make a statement...

Juan Thornhill reflects on big hit vs Jaguars

"My whole goal was to set the season off the right way," said Thornhill via Nick Farabaugh on X-Twitter. "I just want to set a tone for this defense to be one of the most physical in the NFL. I think that hit definitely helped with that."

As you can see in the all-22 clip I shared above, it doesn't get any better in today's game of NFL football. The timing, launch point, shoulder angle, and impact on the wide receiver to force an incomplete pass and do so without striking the head or neck, or using his own head and neck, was picture-esque from Thornhill.

As for the message he was trying to send, I would say it was heard loud and clear. Not only on that play, but the one before, when Payton Wilson decided to suplex the ball carrier. It's only preseason, so who cares about a fourth-down conversion when you're showing defensive mentality of that sort?

The most important factor in all of this is that Thornhill, Wilson, and the rest of the starters carry this over to the games that count. In recent years, but last year especially, we saw the defense slow down the stretch of the season.

The fatigue of a grueling training camp, physical brand of football, and no mercy mentality came crashing down when the team played 3 games in 10 days and lost all of them. Not only is there no such scheduling conflict in 2025, but the team, and especially for the focus of this article, the defense is much deeper.