Prior to the start of the season, if you told people that one side of the ball was struggling for the Pittsburgh Steelers, most would have said the offense. But the reality is that the Steelers’ defense has been terrible. Opponents have gained at least 370 total yards of offense in very game but one this season.
And the pass defense has been the biggest issue. The Steelers have allowed at least 300 passing yards three times, including in both of their last two outings. Total passing yardage allowed? 2,054 yards, good for sixth-most in the league. It’s only 24 fewer yards than the fifth-most allowed, the Baltimore Ravens. NFL film guru Greg Cosell says it’s not just one guy or one level of the defense’s fault, either.
“They’ve been really poor,” Cosell said Friday on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast. “You know what pass defense is, it’s a combination of pass rush and coverage. And they really haven’t been strong in either area, which is surprising given that they do have T.J. Watt and [Alex] Highsmith. But they’ve not been able to pressure the quarterback with any consistency, and the back end has been a problem.”
On a macro level, Cosell is right. Both the pass rush and the coverage guys impact the pass defense. Defenders can only cover for so long if the pass rush doesn’t get home. And the pass rush can’t get home if the coverage allows for quick passes all the time.
The latter is a big part of why the Steelers’ pass defense has been poor. The Steelers are actually tied for the eighth-most sacks in the NFL at 22, with three other teams. But they haven’t done much in the last two games. They sacked Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Flacco twice, which is a surprisingly low number considering how bad the Bengals’ offensive line has been. The Steelers weren’t able to bring down Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love at all.
And coincidentally, the Steelers’ defense allowed Flacco to throw for a then season-high 328 passing yards, but that mark only stood for a week. Love eclipsed that by throwing for 360 yards last Sunday. So, it’s the pass rush’s fault, right?
Well, as I said, the quick passes are a big part of the Steelers’ pass defense’s issues during the last two weeks. Flacco’s average time to throw in that game was 2.27 seconds, per Pro Football Focus. His season average? 2.57. And Love’s average time to throw was 2.49, down from his 2.79-second season average.
The Steelers’ pass rush is struggling to get home in the last two games because the quarterbacks are getting rid of the ball so quickly. And the Steelers aren’t cracking down on that. They’re failing to get up on receivers to prevent quick catches, and they’re failing to rally to the ball and prevent yards after the catch. Flacco’s receivers averaged 5.4 yards after the catch against the Steelers, per Pro Football Reference. Love’s receivers averaged a staggering 8.4 yards after the catch.
So, not only are quarterbacks getting the ball out quickly, but the receivers are gaining big chunks of yardage after the catch. Part of that is the sheer number of missed tackles. Those are part of the game, but when two of your top corners are missing over 20 percent of their tackle attempts (Joey Porter Jr. and Darius Slay), that’s a big problem.
Yes, the Steelers’ pass rush needs to be more influential. But the coverage scheme and the secondary could be doing a lot more to help that pass rush. Next to no one is going to get home consistently on quarterbacks averaging under 2.5 seconds in a game.
Head coach Mike Tomlin knows that opposing offenses are going to try to throw the ball quickly against them. But he’s less than forthcoming on what they need to do, besides being better. Will things change against the high-powered Indianapolis Colts this Sunday? Only time will tell.
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