Why do the Pittsburgh Steelers seem to consistently have more communication issues than the rest of the league? High turnover is one factor, but the complexity of their scheme may be another culprit. They had to simplify things on Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts, and it’s no coincidence that they had one of their best performances of the year.
Derrick Harmon was asked how they were able to play so aggressively against the Colts without paying for it like they have in recent weeks.
“Play calls a lot simpler, and guys just playing freely,” Derrick Harmon said via 93.7 The Fan on X. “Trusting the guy next to them to make a play, and once them guys make a play, just having energy out there as a defense.”
It’s hard to quantify momentum in sports, but that doesn’t discount the impact it has on every game. The players didn’t have to think as much on Sunday, which enabled their raw talent to shine through. And once T.J. Watt and Payton Wilson forced some turnovers, it lit a match under the defense and made them very difficult to stop.
To be fair to the coaching staff, they changed things up with both the scheme and the personnel. That nullified some of the Colts’ scouting and game planning to an extent. I wasn’t just a matter of simplifying things. Who is to say that Jalen Ramsey and Kyle Dugger at safety wasn’t the major catalyst?
It’s easy from an outsider’s perspective to think they can just recreate those results by doing the exact same thing schematically. But teams will be able to craft a much more appropriate game plan to combat what the Steelers are now doing.
Here’s what Tomlin had to say about simplification versus changes in personnel being the major catalyst for improvement via his Tuesday press conference.
“I think it’s both. I think it always is,” Tomlin said. “I think all the decisions that you make in terms of menu and menu size are usually about yourself first and what you’re going through. And then what’s required to strategically match up against opponents.”
When asked if they will continue with the simpler game plans, he said those decisions are made on a week-to-week basis with the opposing team’s characteristics in mind.
DC Teryl Austin has also spoken about the need to simplify things at times. He called that out in response to Jordan Addison and the Minnesota Vikings finding an explosive play late in the game to give them a comeback opportunity. The constant variable then and now is the attrition and turnover in the secondary.
It’s fair to question whether the “menu size” has been too large at times given the constant miscommunications on defense. But they also have the most experienced defense in the league. You can hardly blame the coaching staff for thinking they could handle more, at least early in the season.
Pittsburgh won’t have the exact same game plan against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, but they at least committed to the same personnel for the foreseeable future.
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