Stephon Tuitt (91) and the defensive front will need to wreak havoc on Sunday - MATT SUNDAY DKPS

Steelers

Carter's Classroom: Winning the trenches

Jan 18, 2017 • 10:42 am

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Underneath all the schematics of personnel matchups, coverage schemes and route combinations is the foundation that dictates the control of every football game, and that's the battle in the trenches between each team's linemen.

When facing a team like the Patriots led by Tom Brady, controlling the line of scrimmage is essential to limiting what aspects of the offense Brady can rely on throughout the game.

Brady will dictate the pace of the passing game and check down into run plays when he sees opportunities for his line to open up a gap for his running backs to run through. He's also adept at identifying blitzes to help his linemen with communication in pass protection.

But even with the pre-snap adjustments and communication at the line of scrimmage, it still requires execution across the board from the Patriots' offensive line. The Steelers' defensive front has been dominant in their first two playoff victories, so let's look at what they can do to continue that trend against the Patriots:

WIN IN SMALL SPACES

The Patriots will look to employ strategies that helped LaGarrette Blount gain more than 120 yards against the Steelers in their previous matchup. They will test the Steelers' linebackers with pulling guards and giving Blount space to work and make them miss. Watch how this play develops as Ryan Shazier reads the pulling guard, but over pursues and misses Blount in the hole:

What also hurts on this play is how much Lawrence Timmons gets pushed out of his gap by Nate Solder (77), which gives Blount that much more space to make Shazier miss.

Part of this was based in what looked to be the Steelers still trying to communicate their assignments as the ball was snapped. Timmons approached Javon Hargrave twice before the snap of the ball, appearing to be relaying information to him of where he was supposed to go.

That's when Brady snapped the ball and Solder got his perfect moment to catch Timmons off-guard to push him out of the hole. The Steelers have considerably improved in their communication on defense, which will be essential to winning this game.

When facing Brady, many adjustments will be made at the line of scrimmage to switch and fool the Patriots' offense with various looks and formations. Doing so requires a lot of coordination from each player on the defense and is not easy to pull off consistently throughout a game, so Sunday's game could be an ultimate test to see how far the defense has come in their pre-snap adjustments.

WATCH FOR TRAPS

Blount won't be the only running back the Steelers have to stop, as Dion Lewis was a significant contributor to the Patriots' victory over the Texans last week. But part of what made that possible were how they tried to keep the Texans' best players on defense off balance.

Watch how they set Jadeveon Clowney up on the edge with a trap and use their fullback to lead block in the hole for Lewis:

Clowney was the Texans' best player in their run to the playoffs and was always tough to match against any offensive lineman. To neutralize this, the Patriots would make it so that no lineman would check him at the line of scrimmage and he would hesitate against the run as he processed what was happening.

Doing so allows from him to be engaged by the pulling guard in the right spot for the hole to be established. The Patriots will most likely look to these types of plays to counter the solid play of James Harrison and Bud Dupree.

It will take great attention and awareness at the onset of each play for the Steelers to recognize when these plays are coming. What Harrison and Dupree have to do in these situations is to close in on the space between them and the pulling guard.

You'll notice Clowney stays in the spot the entire time which allows for the hole to be created. What he needed to do was crash down into the guard, which would prevent him from establishing the edge for the hole that Lewis would run through. Both Harrison and Dupree have shown to be solid against the run and smart in these situations, so this could neutralize a key aspect of what the Patriots look to do on the ground.

BLITZING DEFENSIVE BACKS

Confusing the Patriots' offensive line in their pass protection will be key to getting the clean shots on Brady and keeping the Patriots behind the chains.

Brady is a quarterback wh0 needs to be kept clean and isn't one to be relied upon to extend plays or regularly shove off pass rushers as Aaron Rodgers or Ben Roethlisberger have shown. If there's a common factor in when teams beat Brady in big games, it's that their pass rush was able to get after him and disrupt the timing with his receivers.

The Steelers are at a point where defensive coordinator Keith Butler has shown to be confident in his defense's ability to be responsible in a wide variety of blitz schemes. Earlier in the season, the Steelers' defense didn't feature as many exotic blitzes because they were still in the process of becoming a more sound group in their assignments.

But as we've seen in recent weeks, the Steelers are at a point when Butler feels comfortable dialing up blitzes from the defensive backs and giving very different looks to fool offenses.

The below play is from the season opener in the 2015 season, when Will Allen and William Gay teamed up with a double-edge blitz to sack Brady:

These are the types of blitzes from the defensive backs that are risky, but can be extremely effective as the game continues. Watch how the left tackle never identifies Allen as a threat and immediately focuses on Stephon Tuitt.

Part of this is because William Gay was lined up on the edge and was the assignment of Lewis in the protection, which fooled the tackle into thinking that his edge was safe as expecting two blitzers from the defensive backfield would be unlikely to come on the same side.

Look for Butler to dial up these looks on third downs, as the combination of Sean Davis, Mike Mitchell and Gay being players that will float around the line of scrimmage and can be solid in both attacking Brady and covering receivers from any point on the field.

BRING ALL THE BLITZES

Some aspects of the game never change despite how much the game of football evolves and how many different pieces you have on defense. Look for the Steelers to use various stunt blitzes with their front seven in key passing situations like they did back in 2011 when LaMarr Woodley had a big day in leading the Steelers' defense to a win:

Watch how Larry Foote blitzes the inside and forces the center out of his gap. Woodley times his blitz into A-gap perfectly rolling from behind Foote's stunt and having a clear path to Brady.

The Steelers' linebackers this year have enough explosiveness off the ball to be used in this manner. Shazier and Timmons can both be lined up inside and outside so as to give the Patriots so many different looks that they cannot stay within their comfort zone of reading what the Steelers' defense is doing.

Dupree and Harrison will need to win battles against the Patriots' tackles, Marcus Cannon and Solder. But what could become a bigger problem for the Patriots is the possibility of either outside linebacker being used as Woodley was here. Both Dupree and Harrison are quick and take good pursuit angles when in chase mode.

With the Patriots having to consider multiple defensive backs as potential pass rushers, the ever-moving positioning and threats of Shazier and Timmons, and the possibility of Dupree and Harrison playing off of other blitz looks, the Steelers may be able to orchestrate the perfect storm in the pass rush to get after Brady.

Thursday: Roethlisberger and the Steelers' offense will need to find the ultimate balance to set the tone necessary to be successful against the Patriots' defense. How they do that may be a mix of what they've done recently in games, and a mix of what the offense has been missing in their win streak.