Carter's Classroom: Wrong scheme, wrong team

Jan 23, 2017 • 1:44 am

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In a game that could have been a landmark win and a chance to show that they might have learned from previous failures, the Steelers came out with their familiar zone schemes that have faced Tom Brady and the Patriots and never worked.

The two games in which the Steelers have managed to defeat Brady have featured tighter man-to-man coverage throughout the game to disrupt his timing patterns and give the pass rush a better chance to get after the quarterback.

Against lesser quarterbacks, zone blitz schemes might force mistakes and rush them into poor decisions, but Brady is not of that category and requires a completely different approach. Let's take a look at some of those moments and how the Steelers' approach led to that problem:

NO-HUDDLE THROWS OFF SCHEME

One thing Bill Belichick did that helped start the problems for the Steelers was to employ a no-huddle defense in the second drive. Once that happened, the Steelers' defenders were unable to communicate their adjustments effectively to the various looks the Patriots brought, which forced the defense to stay in base looks:

Watch how the Steelers only rush three and the rest sit back in zone coverage. This is on first down, but it's an empty set and is a predictable passing situation. Normally here, you would want across-the-board, tight coverage and five pass rushers mixing up interior blitzes and outside stunts.

But no, a standard three-man rush with both outside linebackers playing back in a zone and allowing for those parts of the defense to be susceptible to seam passes to quick receivers. That's a recipe for disaster against Brady.

NEVER SENT THE HOUSE

Third-and-five inside the red zone is a situation when the defense can afford to be aggressive. Keith Butler dials up a cross blitz by Lawrence Timmons and Ryan Shazier, but only Javon Hargrave and Stephon Tuitt are there to help as pass rushers:

Notice that James Harrison again drops into coverage. Harrison being arguably their best pass rusher right now makes that decision difficult to understand unless you're in a situation when Brady has been under siege from the pass rush throughout the game. That was not the case here.

Rushing Harrison forces the Patriots' six defenders to account for five rushers, which might be the better chance to confuse the offensive line. While we cannot see the breakdown in the secondary until the coaches' camera angles come out, this was still a confusing decision on third down. Both Dupree and Harrison drop back, and either could have been valuable at the line.

MAN WOULD SIMPLIFY ASSIGNMENTS

While man-to-man tighter coverage would disrupt Brady's timing patterns and take away his zone reads, it would also take away the advantage of the mind games that the Patriots love to play.

The Steelers' secondary and cover players are extremely young, with this being the first AFC Championship Game for all but William Gay. Putting them in zone coverage assignments forces them to think more against a quarterback who does his best against defenses who are in that position:

Watch how Sean Davis is running from the middle of the field over to the sideline to cover Chris Hogan. That's from a lapse somewhere in the coverage that leaves Hogan open. Hogan had a career game, and a lot of it was because the Steelers' defense stayed in zone, which led to his routes being unchallenged.

Placing defenders in man coverage requires less thinking about where they are and what other assignments they might base their decisions on; in essence all they have to worry about is the man in front of them and any gap they might be assigned against the run.

With the Steelers having seven starters on defense who are age 25 or younger, it would make sense to not let their decision-making be the weakness of the defense and let their speed of running with their assignment be an asset. But that never materialized for the defense and Brady capitalized.

ZONE SUSCEPTIBLE TO MORE BREAKDOWNS

Mike Mitchell's hard bite on the flea flicker was not something that needed to be explained, it was obvious he abandoned his responsibility and the Patriots went right to the space he vacated.

What might not be so easy to see is how the zone played directly into that:

Mitchell is the lone high safety on this play, and his mistake is inexcusable. However, this play lends itself to each zone defender watching to see what happens at the line of scrimmage. Having players in man coverage might allow for cornerbacks to run with the receivers, giving Brady a smaller window and Mitchell more support on the play.

Ultimately the Steelers' weaknesses on defense were completely exposed as the Patriots tested their communication skills at the line of scrimmage with their no-huddle offense and continued to carve their zone defense apart. The Steelers had a week to prepare for this type of attack, which was nothing out of the ordinary for the Patriots, and they weren't ready.

The blueprint to stopping the Patriots is out there and can be applied by the personnel the Steelers have on their roster. One must ask why it wasn't used in this do-or-die game.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY