He is soft spoken, polite, and appears to be a pretty laid back guy.

But get him on the football field, and the 6-6, 303 pound right defensive end Stephon Tuitt is anything but.

Described during training camp by fellow defensive lineman Steve McLendon as playing with "controlled violence," Tuitt is making his presence known in a loud manner in his second season.

"I expect this out of me," said Tuitt. "I expect myself to do these things. I am very hard on myself. I have been this way since I started playing football."

Tuitt, the Steelers second round draft pick in 2014, has 32 tackles and four and a half sacks in eight games this season, missing two games due to injury. Last year he had 17 tackles and one sack in 16 games, four of them starts.

"It's just knowing the defense, paying attention to the little details within the defense," said Tuitt. "You want to be able to move on and get a chance to help the team. That is all I care about, helping the team. Most importantly, all I care about is winning a championship."

Tuitt said he learned a lot his rookie season from his teammates, especially Cam Heyward, about playing in the NFL and what it takes. He focused on all of the little details this offseason, coming in ready to take that next step. 

"I worked. I paid attention to the little things I needed to get better at," said Tuitt. "Every year there is going to be something I have to understand about myself and focus on. This year I spent more time in the weight room, got stronger, and understood myself better.

"I am still a young guy, I still have a lot to learn. I have a lot of guys on this team who are helping me to learn and understand how the process works."

One process he doesn't need help with is the art of getting a sack. Tuitt had one and half against San Francisco, followed by one against St. Louis and so on.

And what's that feeling like when he gets to the quarterback?

Well, the answer didn't come easy, but his smile sure did. That was about all he could do was smile when thinking about that feeling.

"I don't know," Tuitt said, pausing and the smile growing. "It's just that moment. It's the moment. I can't explain it to you. It's the moment, you finally got to him."

The Steelers have been informed that their Nov. 29 game against the Seattle Seahawks will remain a 4:25 pm (ET) start. The game will air on CBS.