In the midst of setting a team record for sacks in 2017, the Steelers got little production from their outside linebackers in that regard compared to previous seasons.
Seventeen of the 56 sacks came from the outside linebackers in 2017, or just 30 percent. That was just a half-sack more than the outside linebackers produced in 2016 when the Steelers recorded 39. But at least that represented 42 percent of the team's production, a level fans have become accustomed to seeing from that position.
The sacks saw a huge leap, but they didn't come from the typical source. According to Arthur Moats, that's probably not going to change anytime soon. In his third season as the team's defensive coordinator, Keith Butler completely changed what is being asked of the team's outside linebackers.
"Absolutely. It definitely has changed," Moats told me Saturday at the Pittsburgh International Auto Show inside the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. "I feel like my first year with (Dick) LeBeau, it was getting to that point where we were dropping more, but it wasn’t all the way to where it is now. Now, we are legit, like, we cover."
But is that better?
The overall numbers suggest it might be. The Steelers have seen their defense rise from 21st in Butler's first season in 2015, to fifth overall last season. And, as stated, they set the team record for sacks in 2017.
But the team's struggles, at times, also can't be overlooked. Despite finishing fifth in total defense, the Steelers allowed Chicago and Jacksonville to each rush for more than 200 yards in regular season losses. And the defense was clearly not the same after losing inside linebacker Ryan Shazier to a season-ending spinal cord injury Dec. 4.
Making improvements on defense was a key point for both team president Art Rooney II and general manager Kevin Colbert in recent meetings with the media, though both were specifically more concerned with fixing the run defense. So while some might be concerned about the 13 sacks starters T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree combined for in 2017 -- a great season for one Pittsburgh outside linebacker in years past -- the bigger concern is seeing them improve as run defenders.
The big sack numbers? Moats isn't going to say those days are over, but he did admit they'll be much tougher to come by.
"I don’t want to say it’s over, but you do have to be more efficient," he said. "When you rush 80 or 90 percent of the game, you can have bad rushes. You can have some rushes where that wasn’t particularly your best rush. But that’s OK because you know you’re going to get another three, four or five on that same drive. With us, you might only get two rushes in a series of eight plays. You had better make sure they are top-notch and hope it’s not play-action.
"We are hybrids. That’s what I like to call us. As a linebacker, your job just isn’t to rush the passer. Your job is to cover, as well. ... When you talk about Von Miller, Khalil Mack, those guys aren’t linebackers. Those guys are d-ends. They rush 90 percent of the time. So when you see their sack numbers, that is a different comparison to what we’re doing. When you look at T.J., when you look at Bud and see how much they drop compared to the guys who are getting 10 sacks, it’s night and day."
Which brings us to the James Harrison situation. Harrison was released Dec. 23 after rarely playing for the Steelers in 2017 and immediately signed with New England. In the days that followed, Harrison was ripped by his former teammates for orchestrating his release by acting out and not being a good teammate.
But Moats, who was among those who were critical of Harrison -- though not to the level of some of his teammates -- said he has spoken with Harrison since and even attended Brett Keisel's Shear the Beard event at which Harrison showed up Friday night.
"We kind of thought Deebo wasn't going to come," Moats admitted.
But was it awkward?
"It was and it wasn’t. The guys who were more vocal with their differences, they weren’t there," Moats said, referring to Dupree and Maurkice Pouncey. "That was a little different. We didn’t have to worry about that aspect of it. I was interested in seeing how guys would be being back around him. I had talked to him a couple of times prior to his coming, so I kind of knew he was more than likely going to show up. I talked to him before the Super Bowl. I talked to him after the Super Bowl. We had hashed out our differences then."
At the Super Bowl, where Harrison and the Patriots lost to Philadelphia, he told DKPittsburghSports.com he understood some of his former teammates lashing out at him because they were upset.
Moats said that was part of their conversation.
"I had no issue with you going to New England. You were getting a job, cool. It was just the way you went about doing it. That was my biggest thing," Moats said of what he told Harrison. "A lot of guys, that was their issue. And as he said to (you), guys were hurt. That’s a guy you viewed as a big brother in the locker room, somebody like that. For you to go through the whole season on this tirade and when you get released, we’re the bad guys, we’re the ones who caused this, that wasn’t cool. That’s what a lot of guys had issues with."
But it's all good now considered what transpired, at least for Moats. As he told me, seeing Harrison win a Super Bowl with the Patriots would have only rubbed salt in the wound. Given that didn't happen, well ...
"For me, we were able to hash our issues out and since he lost the Super Bowl, no harm, no foul," Moats said with a laugh. "We’re all good."
Besides, Moats himself understands what Harrison went through. He saw his playing time cut substantially from 396 snaps in 2016 to just 84 last season. And at 30 and heading into unrestricted free agency for the third time in his career, he knows what Harrison was dealing with.
Despite the emphasis on being asked to do more than just rush the passer, the 29-year-old would like to return to Pittsburgh. But, like it did in 2016 when he went right up to the brink of free agency before signing a second two-year deal to remain with the Steelers, he knows the business side of things, as well.
"Would I like to go somewhere where I can just line up and rush the passer? Sure, who wouldn't?" Moats said. "But I pride myself in being able to do everything. I worked hard to get to the point where I could do everything. It is what it is. That’s how this game is for us in Pittsburgh."
