The first step in solving a problem is admitting that there is one.
The Steelers haven't backed away from the issues they've had defensively this season, but sometimes it's difficult to work on problems in the middle of a season when there's also concern about preparing for the next opponent. That's one reason why the team spent last week -- the bye week they earned during the opening weekend of NFL playoffs -- going over some of the issues they've had on defense.
At various times this season, the Steelers have had issues stopping the run or giving up long pass plays. It hasn't consistently shown up, as the team's fifth-overall ranking in total defense and 13-3 record would attest, but it's been troublesome enough that the coaching staff spent all of last week drilling the defense on its deficiencies.
"It was an opportunity to look at ourselves. To look at what we do and the quality with which we’ve done it, the division of labor within what we do, who we are asking to do what," Mike Tomlin said Tuesday. "It was a great opportunity for us to take a step back, from that perspective, and really analyze ourselves in all three phases. Maybe that doesn’t produce a lot of changes or personality changes, but it is still a good, healthy exercise nonetheless. To think critically about why you do what it is that you do, the quality with which you do it and the analysis of that, and how you divide the labor up. We did those things."
Whether some things are now corrected will be on display from here on out, starting with Sunday's AFC Divisional Playoff at Heinz Field against Jacksonville.
"We were working last week, and I think we got a lot of things fixed," Mike Mitchell said. "But this is just talk. We can’t show you until we go out there Sunday and show you that we have them fixed."
One of those issues -- stopping the run -- cropped up against Jacksonville when the two teams met in the regular season. Jacksonville ran the ball 37 times for 231 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-9 win at Pittsburgh Oct. 8. It was the most rushing yards allowed by the Steelers this season.
The Steelers seemed to have their issues in the run game fixed after that, allowing an average of 62.2 yards per game over their next six games, all victories. But that changed when Ryan Shazier was lost to a spinal injury Dec. 4 at Cincinnati. In the four games since Shazier was injured, the Steelers have allowed an average of 126.8 yards rushing per game, and they finished the regular season ranked 10th in the NFL in rushing defense at 105.8 yards per game.
They'll be tested by a Jacksonville offense that finished the regular season atop the NFL in rushing offense at 141.4 yards per game. Jacksonville ran for 155 yards in last week's 10-3 win over Buffalo in an AFC Wild Card game.
"They ran the ball extremely effectively against us last time," Tomlin admitted. "Leonard Fournette was central to that. You can fool yourself if you just commit to stopping him. They are the No. 1 rushing team in football. Chris Ivory is a quality veteran running back. T.J. Yeldon has played very well when given an opportunity. Blake [Bortles] is extremely mobile, and his mobility is a factor in the game. Whether it’s by design, which they have several things to keep you off-balance on first and second down."
Winning those downs will be critical for the Steelers if they hope to return to the AFC Championship.
So, too, will be shutting down big passing plays. While they ranked fifth overall in pass defense this year, they allowed 13 plays of 40 or more yards this season, tied for the third most in the NFL. Of course, Jacksonville led the NFL in pass defense at just under 170 yards per game, but gave up 12 such big plays.
Still, the Steelers are concerned about allowing the deep passes, as well.
"I think I ran more go ball and sprints than I did all year combined," Mitchell said of last week's bye. "The coaches were emphasizing all the plays that we messed up on all year combined. Obviously, some of those were vertical passing plays."
But vertical passing plays might not be an issue against Jacksonville. The Jaguars had just seven plays of 40 or more passing yards this season, and Bortles completed just 12 of 45 pass attempts of 20 or more yards down the field. So if the Steelers can slow down Jacksonville's running, they should control this game. Then again, Bortles attempted just 14 passes -- completing eight -- in the first meeting as the Jaguars picked off Ben Roethlisberger five times, returning two for touchdowns.
Fournette had 28 carries for 181 yards and two scores, the last of which came on a 90-yard run on the Jaguars' final offensive play. Prior to that run, he was averaging 3.4 yards per carry, but the Jaguars still had 141 yards on the ground before the 90-yarder
Tomlin made note that it wasn't his defensive front getting blown off the ball. The Jaguars just took advantage of mistakes the Steelers made in their run fits.
"That is just NFL football. Nobody gets blown completely off the ball and just big college holes in NFL run games," Tomlin said. "It doesn’t take much in the NFL. A guy or two out of his gap and it could produce a significant day, so nothing earth-shattering or groundbreaking there. So we better put on the screws. You better not find solace in the fact that it wasn’t a blow-off-the-ball type of situation. Very rarely is it in the National Football League."
Because of that, the Steelers feel the things Jacksonville did in that game won't be easily repeated. They don't feel they were physically manhandled or beaten. They made mistakes and the Jaguars exploited them. And even with that, Jacksonville's offense only scored 16 points. The other 14 came off of interception returns.
"If you watch that football game, it’s not like their offense exploited us a ton," Mitchell said. "I don’t think it was a dominant performance from that standpoint. I thought we played well enough to win the game. We didn’t. We’ve got to do better Sunday as a complete team to win the game. When we don’t beat our own behinds, it’s really tough for other people to do it. I’ve still got to give them credit, but a lot of our mistakes come from us."
