Steelers Film Room: A closer look at Bud Dupree’s preseason debut

Sack #1

Watch Dupree’s first sack of the night here (1:36 mark on the video):

The Steelers are in their basic dime defense on a 3rd-and-short situation. In Pittsburgh’s dime, there are two down linemen, two edge rushers, one inside linebacker up front. Last season, Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt switched sides, so Dupree is always the weak-side rusher, matching up against the opposing team’s left tackle (usually their best pass blocker).

Pittsburgh runs a double stunt with their two linemen and edge rushers here, where Dupree and Watt rush to the inside, while after a quick hesitation, the linemen cross outside behind the edge rushers.

Dupree gets off the blocks very well here and take the left tackle inside with him while the left guard is engaged with Cam Heyward. Heyward then crosses behind Dupree, in turn leaving Dupree double-teamed for a fraction of a second.

The left tackle sees the stunt and leaves Dupree to pick up Heyward. Dupree then impressively fights off the guard very quickly and hits the quarterback head on for the sack.

This whole play happened in 2.65 seconds by my watch (unofficial), which is in the vicinity of how quickly Tom Brady gets rid of the football on average. So, this happened relatively quickly.

The great thing about this happening in the time that it did is Dupree getting off the second blocker so quick when the left tackle left Dupree to pick up Heyward.

This is not a complicated blitz whatsoever, so having success at it is a great sign and a very impressive play by Bud Dupree.