Joe Starkey: How good, really, is the Steelers defense? We're about to find out.

PITTSBURGH — After three games, I thought this Steelers defense had a real chance to be Mike Tomlin's best since 2010.

After nine games, I feel less confident. If that sounds insulting, it shouldn't. It's just that the standard is pretty high around here.

The overall numbers are impressive, for sure, but less so over the past six games. And yes, the defense held an explosive Washington Commanders offense relatively in check Sunday, but I would argue that several Washington miscues helped save the day. (Go back and watch Commanders receiver Luke McCaffrey running wide open late in the game — I was thinking maybe for a 97-yard touchdown — only to see Jayden Daniels overthrow him, or tight end Zach Ertz dropping a perfect pass that might have gone for a huge play; it was one of several Commanders drops)

In the first three games, the Steelers were positively stifling. In the past six, they have allowed 339.5 yards and 20 points per game. That yardage figure would be tied for 19th in the NFL over the full season. The points figure would barely crack the top 10.

They handled Daniels, especially on the ground, but they did get help — and now they're looking at double doses of Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow, plus red-hot Jalen Hurts (18 total touchdowns in his past six games) and a nice man named Patrick Mahomes. The part of the schedule featuring broken Aaron Rodgers, ancient Joe Flacco, somebody named Aidan O'Connell and the corpse of Daniel Jones is long gone, except for a couple of games against the Cleveland Browns-is-the-Browns.

But that's the good news, too: The quality of competition, particularly at the quarterback position, is taking the kind of leap Saquon Barkley would be proud of, and while that could expose this defense as fraudulent, it also provides a canvas on which to express true greatness.

Plus, it helps to have a real offense, led by Russell Wilson, putting up points of its own.

The challenge Sunday is daunting. The Ravens offense is borderline ridiculous. ESPN's Paul Hembekides labeled it "one of the great offenses in NFL history" through 10 games.

This is what he wrote: "The Ravens average 7.1 yards per play, on pace to be the highest mark in a season in NFL history. They're quarterbacked by Lamar Jackson, whose passer rating of 123.2 is on pace to be the highest mark of any quarterback in a season in NFL history. [They have] the most efficient passer in NFL history averaging 54 yards per game rushing, at 5.9 yards per carry, and a running back, Derrick Henry, who is on pace to become the fifth player ever to average 100 yards per game running on six yards per carry.

"They have a historically great quarterback, a historically great running back, and when you combine the proficiency of their pass game and their run game, what it spits out is one of the great offenses in NFL history."

If I'm the Steelers, I'm putting that last paragraph on the ol' bulletin board.

These final eight games will provide answers to questions such as whether this secondary will hold up against better passing games, whether Joey Porter Jr. will rebound from a rough outing and some season-long inconsistency, whether Minkah Fitzpatrick will ever make another splash play, whether 35-year-old Cam Heyward — who has been an absolute monster — has a finishing kick, and whether the Steelers will be more stout against the run at home, where they have allowed more than 300 yards rushing over the past three games.

What they've done best is turn the ball over (16 takeaways) and save some of their best stuff for late in games. A great example was T.J. Watt getting stifled for much of the Commanders game only to make some giant plays late — including what should have been a safety when he was blatantly held in the end zone.

We have all seen great Steelers defenses. We know what they look like. We give them nicknames. Is this one?

We're about to find out.