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

Sack #2

This sack just shows how explosive Bud Dupree can be (the play starts at the 4:49 mark):

There’s really not much to break down on this one. It’s pretty straight forward. And Dupree was pretty spectacular is this play.

The Steelers are in their base nickel defense, rushing the front two linemen, two edge rushers, and one of the inside linebackers, while the rest of the defense is in man coverage with safety help over the top.

With a five-man rush, Dupree has one lineman to beat and potentially the running back in pass protection, who is on the weak side of the quarterback (Dupree’s side). At the snap of the ball, the running back crosses over to double team T.J. Watt, which leaves Dupree just one-on-one with the left tackle.

Dupree sheds his block cleanly, embarrassing the left tackle in the process, and gets to the quarterback in 2.49 seconds (unofficial).

One thing that remained consistent between the two sacks was how quickly Dupree accelerated at the snap of the ball. The really great thing about this play is then how quickly he became disengaged from the attempted block.

He didn’t take unnecessary time with the swim or spin move, just used great technique and speed to shed a block and limit the amount of time he could possibly be engaged by the tackle.

We’ve seen Bud Dupree have games like this in the past. We all know it needs to happen more consistently, but this sure is a great sign that he’s been working hard this offseason on shedding those precious tenths and hundredths of seconds to get to the quarterback.