Few matchups test a defense’s speed like facing Miami, and this week, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ hopes of slowing down one of the NFL’s most explosive tandems lean heavily on the linebacker tasked with matching that tempo.
For HC Mike Tomlin and company, Pittsburgh enters Week 15 riding high after a gritty 27–22 road win over Baltimore, but the challenge ramps up quickly with the Dolphins coming to town on a four-game heater. Miami hasn’t lost in a month, and everything they do is fueled by pure speed -- from De'Von Achane's acceleration to Jaylen Waddle’s ability to stress every blade of grass horizontally.
That’s why this week places such a spotlight on Steelers’ second-year linebacker Payton Wilson, a hyper-athletic defender whose blend of range, instincts, and urgency aligns perfectly with what Pittsburgh has to counter.
Payton Wilson is the key to a Steelers victory in Week 15 against the Dolphins
Drafted in the third round out of NC State in 2024, Wilsopn arrived as one of the most explosive linebackers to enter the league in recent memory. And although his transition into the Steelers’ lineup has fluctuated -- starter at times, rotational piece at others -- his role has consistently gravitated toward the situations where his athletic profile matters most. Third downs. Coverage snaps. Space-driven plays where speed meets speed.
Against Miami, that identity becomes the centerpiece of Pittsburgh’s defensive plan.
The first task: keep Achane from turning the corner. The Dolphins design their run game to stretch and stress defenses horizontally, and Achane’s instant acceleration punishes late reads, poor leverage, and sloppy angles. For Pittsburgh’s linebacking corps, sealing the edges isn’t just a coaching point -- it’s survival this week. That’s where Wilson becomes essential, using his sideline-to-sideline twitch to knife through gaps, disrupt timing, and eliminate cutback lanes before they turn into explosive runs.
Should he execute at a high rate, the Dolphins’ most dangerous element can be forced to work harder for yards than they’re accustomed to.
But it doesn’t end there.
Crossing patterns for Jaylen Waddle are a foundational pillar of Miami’s passing game, designed to punish defenses that fail to communicate or that lack second-level speed. It's the hardest route to cover in football as it's a full field sprint, and correct depth, efficient drops, and the ability to carry routes across the field become crucial -- and where Wilson's coverage skill set becomes a quiet equalizer within the hashes.
He doesn’t need to erase Waddle; he just has to take away windows, force Tua Tagovailoa to reset, and keep explosive plays from snowballing.
Overall, Pittsburgh doesn’t have to win a track meet Sunday. They just need to disrupt one. And their most athletic second-level piece may be the key to doing exactly that.