Pittsburgh Steelers: 3 most dangerous Raiders heading into Week 14

Jared Cook

Cook has been one of the more productive tight ends in the league this year. And now with Amari Cooper in Big D, Cook has become Carr’s primary target.

The Steelers schemes don’t matchup well against great tight ends. Look at what Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce has done to this team recently. Cook isn’t either one of those guys, but he’s a good receiving tight end. He runs clean routes and is a good pass-catcher.

The main issue here is how do the Steelers take him away. Usually the primary target for a quarterback is a receiver and the simple answer there is Joe Haden. That’s not an option here, so what do the Steelers do here?

Sticking an inside linebacker on him isn’t a great option, especially since Jon Bostic is sub-par in coverage and Vince Williams is better utilized when being free to do different things. You could ask Terrell Edmunds to cover him, but Edmunds is a bit hit and miss on his coverage. Edmunds could make a play here and there, but Cook could also get some chunks on crucial downs if Edmunds can’t hold up.

A legitimate tight end is a pickle for the Steelers’ defense, but they had better figure it out. Cook is just the warmup for who they have the following week. And Cook will be a handful for this unit.