Steelers defense wasn’t aggressive in loss to Patriots
There is a ton of blame to go around, when it comes to the Steelers 36-17 loss to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game Sunday night at Gillette Stadium.
Yes, the offense performed sub-par, yet again, producing just 17 points, one week after it produced only six field goals in an 18-16 victory over the Chiefs in the divisional round. When you consider that the offense was supposed to be the unit that carried the team in 2016 (and mostly did just that), employing some of the game’s most dangerous weapons in quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, receiver Antonio Brown and running back Le’Veon Bell, along with maybe the best offensive line in the NFL, that’s primarily where the blame should be directed.
However, this does not mean the defense, as young as it is, doesn’t deserve a load of the blame, as well.
After all, for as young as the defense is, it’s also quite talented and filled with some high pedigree players, players who were starting to show their true potential during the nine-game winning-streak that led into the AFC title game.
Once youngsters such as first round pick Artie Burns and second round pick Sean Davis started seeing more playing time in the secondary, the defense’s aggression and speed picked up noticeably. In-fact, over the last nine games, Pittsburgh led the NFL with a pretty overwhelming 31 sacks.
So, what happened to that aggression on Sunday against the Patriots? Why sit back in a zone and allow Tom Brady, perhaps the greatest quarterback in NFL history, to pick your secondary apart?
The consensus among experts and fans following Pittsburgh’s bitter conference championship defeat was that the coaching staff basically utilized the same defensive strategy against New England that it had been using for the better part of 15 years.
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In case you’re not aware of the Steelers history against New England over past decade and a half, it’s not good. In-fact, during the Mike Tomlin Era, Brady has thrown 22 touchdowns to zero interceptions, which is mind-blowing, considering his defenses weren’t always young and inexperienced; they were once the best in the entire league.
However, young and inexperienced or of age and suffocating, Brady has owned the Steelers defense his entire career.
Do you think he gets flustered while trying to read a zone? Zone defenses are for rookie quarterbacks, which is what Joe Flacco was eight years ago, when Dick LeBeau effectively employed such tactics in the AFC title game against the Ravens at Heinz Field.
Flacco made some rookie mistakes in that game–including a late interception that Troy Polamalu took to the house.
A quarterback like Brady only gets flustered when you pressure him and force him off of his timing. Pittsburgh barely breathed on Brady Sunday night, and he had all the time in the world to find the soft spots in Keith Butler’s zone defense.
Would it have mattered had the Steelers switched to man-to-man and tried to blitz Brady as much as possible?
Maybe not, but at least they wouldn’t have gone down without a fight.
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