After being annihilated by the Cincinnati Bengals offense in yet another Thursday Night Football loss, the Pittsburgh Steelers head into the mini-bye week with plenty to fix. Despite more significant offseason investments in that side of the ball, the results have been extremely underwhelming, to say the least. After six games, Teryl Austin's unit ranks 19th in success rate and 24th in EPA/play despite facing a pretty friendly schedule up to this point. It's not time to completely panic per se, but there needs to be a real sense of urgency in turning things around before it's too late. That means it's time for some difficult conversations about some potential changes that might be necessary, starting at the cornerback position.
Mike Tomlin's vision for a historic defense was founded on this belief that signing Darius Slay and trading for Jalen Ramsey would give them more coverage stability on the back end to pair with what should be a devastating pass rush. Pittsburgh is currently playing man coverage at the 6th highest rate in the league and operating out of single-high looks at the fourth-highest rate in the league. In essence, this defense is asking the corners to hold up one-on-one outside with extreme regularity in a scheme that doesn't offer much in the way of disguises.
Ramsey has had his struggles that are worth monitoring as the season continues to move along, but Slay's film is littered with what could best be described as non-competitive reps. Perhaps the best example of this from this past week came on Noah Fant 's touchdown score in the second half, where Pittsburgh was trying to banjo the release of the #2 and #3 receivers. Lined up in man coverage on Tee Higgins in the slot, the wideout deploys what is called a "bully" release and sends Slay flying across the end zone, making it impossible for him to contest the throw on the in-breaker.
Just a few plays before this, the Steelers were running a bracket coverage on third down, opting to double-team both Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase, who also went bananas in this contest. This left Slay alone with Bengals backup receiver Andrei Iosivas . The receiver jabs outside to get Slay leaning and uses his hands to discard the jam, thus allowing him to stack him instantly. Joe Flacco sees it immediately and launches the ball downfield with zero hesitation. At 34 years old, Slay clearly no longer possesses the ideal recovery speed and recovery ability to get himself out of compromising positions.
Just before that, the veteran quarterback checked out of a play and created another explosive gain for his offense by exploiting the Steelers' tendencies. So far this season, the Steelers have been turning up the pressure dial on early downs, especially when teams get under center. Cincinnati shifts to shotgun, expecting a man-free blitz, to which their hunch was correct. Chase runs a slant pattern, creating a great deal of separation in the process. When you factor in some of the coverage busts that he's been involved with and his struggles in press coverage, it's been a difficult transition from the Eagles scheme that was more centered around him playing from depth and with vision on the quarterback.
The Bengals deserve credit for a great, albeit simple, game plan centered around hunting those 1v1 matchups on the perimeter. Coaches will often refer to this as a "cat coverage," meaning you have to have some absolute dudes go out there and win consistently. The Steelers thought they had the advantage from a talent perspective, but that turned out to be false in what was ultimately a tough lesson in primetime. If it was going to happen, it's better to find out now, as opposed to December.
The coaching staff really has a couple of different avenues that they could pursue: they could adapt schematically by changing their coverage matrix or turn to Brandin Echols instead. It's worth noting that the team may have already made this decision. Slay didn't play a single snap on the Bengals' final three drives of the game, but we don't yet have clarity on whether or not that was injury related. Benching a six-time Pro Bowler just six games into the experiment might seem harsh, especially knowing how volatile the cornerback position can be in the NFL. But this goes beyond what any coverage tracking data that PFF, SIS, or NGS can provide and is more about what Slay looks like physically at this stage in his career.
When called upon, Echols has been very reliable so far this season. The 28-year-old brings quite a bit more speed, as well as more versatility with his ability to play both outside and in the slot. One adjustment isn't going to fix all of their issues, but it would certainly help their biggest issue, defending the pass right now, which is that they just feel very, very slow on the back end. That doesn't mean he's capable of shutting down Chase or Higgins in their next matchup, but he can at least run with Iosivas vertically.
With the tougher part of their schedule upcoming, starting with the Green Bay Packers next Sunday, time is of the essence.
This article originally appeared on Steelers Now : One Adjustment Steelers Defense Can Make Moving Forward
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