Steelers relying on Tuitt, Heyward
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward (97) pressures Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) in an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 15, 2015, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Don Wright)
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward watches practice from the sideline during NFL football training camp in Latrobe, Pa., on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2011. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
PITTSBURGH – The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for Steelers defensive ends Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt.
The Steelers have played 135 defensive snaps in the past two games. Heyward and Tuitt have been the only two players to be on the field for all one of them.
Forget the men of steel. Heyward and Tuitt have been the Steelers’ ironmen.
“We’re going to play the guys who display the deserve to play, so if guys want to play more, they need to stoke the fire,” said head coach Mike Tomlin.
Heyward and Tuitt have been pretty good at putting out fires.
Heyward has 38 tackles, four sacks and a team-high nine quarterback pressures, and Tuitt has 32 tackles, a team-high 4 1/2 sacks and five pressures despite missing two games with a sprained knee.
With six games remaining, Heyward and Tuitt have a shot to be the first defensive linemen to finish 1-2 in sacks for the Steelers since Gerald Williams and Keith Willis in 1990. That’s so long ago that Heyward was three years old and Tuitt had not been born.
“We’re not done yet. We’ve got a lot more games left,” said Heyward. “If we want to hit our goals, then we’d better get rolling. The ultimate goal is to win, but me and Tuitt, we want to keep producing. We’ll see what the totals are at the end of the year.”
The Steelers (6-4) rank fifth in the NFL in points allowed per game, turnovers forced and are fourth in sacks. The defense was in the bottom half of the league in all of those statistics last season.
Heyward and Tuitt, who have been given more freedom to rush the passer under first-year defensive coordinator Keith Butler have been a big part of those efforts.
“We tried to tweak a couple of things to allow them to rush a little more,” said Butler. “They’re good football players. That’s the reason we drafted them where we drafted them. We feel like our front seven is the strong part of our defense. We’ve got to keep developing it that way. If we do, we’ll end up OK at the end of the year.”
In former coordinator Dick LeBeau’s defensive scheme, the linemen were asked to hold the point of attack and allow the linebackers to make all the plays. Now, Heyward and Tuitt are being told to get upfield and after the quarterback.
Heyward, a first-round draft pick in 2011, and Tuitt, a second-round selection a year ago, are improving at a good time for Pittsburgh. Heyward showed flashes of dominance in 2013 when he made 63 tackles and five sacks in his first season as a starter. He followed that with a 55-tackle, 7 1/2-sack season last year and has continued to develop as both a player and a leader.
Tuitt has followed suit, learning the ins and outs of playing in the NFL from Heyward.
“We expect it out of each other,” said Tuitt. “I think (Heyward) is the top defensive lineman in the league. He’s got the technique and he’s able to rush the passer and he can stop the run. You look at all-around defensive linemen, that’s one of them right there. My goal is to be the top defensive lineman in the NFL. Two people with that mindset, with that type of skills, we can totally be that.”
That means rarely leaving the field.
That was especially tough for Tuitt, who played every snap the past two games despite missing the previous two weeks with a sprained knee.
Tuitt will dump his knee brace after the bye week and be prepared to play every snap.
“I love it. When I’m in the game, I’m trying to leave with a (win),” Tuitt said. “I love the game too much. I never want to come out.”
The Steelers announced Tuesday that they have signed a 15-year contract with UPMC Sports Medicine to keep their practice facility on the South Side. As part of the agreement, the Steelers’ current facility will be expanded and be renamed the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex in honor of chairman Dan Rooney. … The Steelers will practice today and then be off until Monday.