3 pitfalls Steelers must avoid for the 2020 season to be successful
By Eric Hassel
The Steelers must be willing to ‘tweak’ the coverage schemes on defense
Full disclosure: I have no idea what plays are called on any given down; therefore, I also have no idea what the coverage responsibilities would be on said call. Suffice to say, you don’t have to be a defensive coordinator to see that coverage is not a strong suit for players like Terrell Edmunds.
If you have read any of my previous articles where the subject of coverage and Edmunds is discussed, you probably would think that I am not a fan of his. That’s not the case. I would love nothing more than for Edmunds to become the player the Steelers thought they were getting when we drafted him in the first round in 2018.
Based on the following statistic alone, one of the ‘tweaks’ the Steelers need to make on defense is to find someone else who can cover: According to Pro-Football-Reference, Edmunds went from a 59.5% completion percentage (against) in 2018 to a 72% completion percentage (against) in 2019.
In other words, Edmunds gave up completion of 72% of the time in 2019. Clearly, coverage is not his forte. So why is he put in a position where he will most likely fail? Maybe in certain packages, Edmunds would be better suited at the ‘sub-linebacker’ spot and put a CB at the SS spot.
Again, I am not a defensive coordinator, but if my starting SS is a liability in coverage, I would either take him off the field on obvious passing downs or put him in a spot where he would not have to cover. How about instead of having Mike Hilton, our blitz package CB, as the designated blitzer, try Edmunds at the position and try Hilton at SS?
The Steelers defense was phenomenal in 2019, but just think about how much better we could have been in coverage if we had changed things up every now and then. I don’t know about you, but if the Steelers continue with the same coverage schemes in 2020 as we did in 2019, it may a long season.
Let’s take a look at the next pitfall to be avoided.