Steelers’ defense needs to turn up pressure
Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier, right, and safety Mike Mitchell react after giving up a touchdown to Philadelphia in the second half of a 34-3 loss Sunday. Shazier is questionable for this weekend’s game against Kansas City with a knee injury.
Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz throws the ball over Steelers outside linebacker Arthur Moats during the first half Sunday. The Steelers defense is generating little pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Through three games, Pittsburgh has one sack.
PITTSBURGH – Getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks and either good pass coverage or takeaways from defensive backs often go hand in hand.
The more pressure applied, the more likely the opposing quarterback will make a mistake or throw into tight coverage. The better the coverage, the more time the defensive front has to put pressure on the quarterback.
It’s a chicken-or-the-egg situation and the Steelers are getting neither.
Because the Steelers are playing rookies Sean Davis and Artie Burns in their secondary, defensive coordinator Keith Butler has chosen not to blitz much, instead dropping seven or eight players into pass coverage about 75 percent of the time.
The Steelers have been content to allow short pass completions and tackle the receiver after the catch.
That’s fine in theory. But because of that defensive scheme, the Steelers are applying very little pressure on opposing quarterbacks. And, when they miss tackles on receivers, it is counterproductive.
In Pittsburgh’s 34-3 thrashing Sunday in Philadelphia, Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz had 19 of his 23 completions travel less than five yards from the line of scrimmage. The Steelers got a stop or held the play to less than five yards on 10 of those plays. But when they missed the tackles, they were turned into 132 yards in gains.
Add in two of the stops being turned into positive plays for the Eagles when inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons and cornerback William Gay were assessed penalties for a late hit and facemask, respectively, and a 73-yard catch-and-run on a broken play to running back Darren Sproles, and it accounts for two-thirds of the 301 passing yards the Steelers allowed.
“They had 300 yards passing, but I would imagine over 200 of that were catch-and-run type plays or the broken play,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday. “You have to acknowledge that positioning and tackling were elements of our poor performance.”
They are issues the Steelers (2-1) must fix quickly if they hope to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs (2-1) Sunday night at Heinz Field.
Philadelphia head coach Doug Pederson was formerly the offensive coordinator in Kansas City under head coach Andy Reid. And what the Eagles did to the Steelers last week was right out of the Chiefs’ playbook.
The Steelers, who are allowing 332 yards passing per game, can expect to see plenty of short passes until they stop them.
“I fully expect that to transpire,” Tomlin said. “We looked at some Kansas City tape in preparation for Philadelphia, so it would be reasonable to take the visa-versa approach in preparation for Kansas City, particularly because of the way we performed, or didn’t perform, last week versus Philadelphia.”
Some pressure on the quarterback would help.
The Steelers have an NFL-worst one sack. It’s their fewest in the first three weeks of a season since 1997, when they had a bye in Week 3 after failing to record a sack while splitting games against Philadelphia and Washington. This is the first time since the sack became an official statistic in 1982 that the Steelers had just one through three games.
Perhaps playing a more familiar opponent will help. The Steelers had two sacks in a 23-13 loss at Kansas City last season, a game started by backup quarterback Landry Jones.
Tomlin would like to get more pressure on the opposing quarterback, but he also understands the game situation dictated those results.
That doesn’t explain, however, the lack of pressure in the first two games – wins over Washington and Cincinnati.
“In some of the other games where we were in control and had a lead, I was much more disappointed in our ability to put pressure on the quarterback in those circumstances,” Tomlin admitted. “We had our opponent somewhat one-dimensional and should’ve taken better advantage of it, Washington being an example of that.”
Things also won’t get easier this week because of injuries.
Tomlin said inside linebacker Ryan Shazier (knee) and starting strong safety Robert Golden (hamstring) are questionable to play against the Chiefs. Timmons, who suffered a puncture wound to his shin that forced an in-game trip to the hospital, is expected to be OK. Davis, who plays both the slot position and would be first in line to replace Golden at strong safety, is questionable with a back injury.
“It’s a big week for us because we have an opportunity to respond in the proper way to some adversity, be it injuries or a negative performance,” Tomlin said.
When asked about running back Le’Veon Bell’s participation this week as he returns from a three-game suspension, Tomlin said, “rest assured you’re going to see Le’Veon Bell and probably a lot of him.” … Tomlin said guard Ramon Foster (chest) and wide receiver Eli Rogers (toe) are questionable to play Sunday. There is, however, a chance offensive lineman Cody Wallace (knee) and fullback Roosevelt Nix (back) will see their first action of the season.