The Pittsburgh Steelers' defense has a wealth of problems after just two weeks. While teams are finding a ton of success by simply running away from T.J. Watt, the secondary has also been burned several times.
There’s one play that you’ve likely seen one film guru or another point out. It’s the same play that allowed Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson to connect on a 34-yard touchdown and for Sam Darnold and Tory Horton to get their own touchdown from 21-yards out.
Both teams came out with similar formations and ran the same deep crossing pattern while the defense ran the same Cover 1 coverage behind it.
It’s a copycat league, and the Seahawks truly copied everything that worked for the Jets in Week 1 except the read option runs, and that’s a big reason why Seattle left with a win. But it’s also a big reason fans have serious doubts that things will get better on defense if adjustments aren’t being made.
Steelers' DC Teryl Austin unloads on defense after botched communication exposes the secondary
Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin expressed his frustration about the play on Thursday.
“Not do that [expletive]. That [expletive] was [expletive] bad,” Austin said. “That can’t happen, cause it wasn’t something that was unaddressed during the course of the week.”
Austin says the defense addressed the play design, but still managed to muck it up. But the question then becomes “How did you mean to stop it, then?” Because that play design is meant to beat Cover 1. The deep middle safety cannot be right. Trailing the near-side receiver would just lead to the opposite result.
The answer to that fix is a bit convoluted, but credit to Alan Saunders for tracking it down. Against Seattle, Slay was supposed to peel off and help Ramsey against Horton while Juan Thornhill chased underneath to the far side. Slay didn’t do that, touchdown Seahawks.
Austin’s frustrations are more understandable with that context, and with that context, it makes sense why the Steelers would show the same coverage shell. If they pull off the bait, it’s likely a turnover, or they bust the play and prove they have an answer for it.
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But, since they didn’t, don’t be at all surprised if the Patriots run this same play out of a similar formation. If Pittsburgh can’t properly communicate or execute the scheme, then the same thing will happen for the third week in a row.
It’s concerning because fans have a reason to question the scheme in the first place. After all, this defense is playing worse than it has in a long time, despite the additions made on the back end. But if there’s proof that the players aren’t doing what is asked of them, it creates an even larger problem.
Because these are veteran players who know how to play winning football in the NFL, or at least, that’s the bill of goods Steelers fans were sold all offseason.