Winning 24-17 over the Chargers at Dignity Health Sports Park Sunday night featured a Steelers' defense that carried the team to victory. That performance from Keith Butler's crew featured three turnovers, including a fumble returned for a touchdown.
They also shut out the Chargers for three quarters, allowing for the Steelers' offense to score 17 points on the road and build a lead they would not relinquish. But what helped them pitch that shutout was a mix of defensive looks that confused Phillip Rivers and made it difficult for him to adjust until late in the game.
Let's breakdown some of those disguised looks that led to their success:
Some of the most intriguing parts of football are the chess matches between quarterbacks and defenses that you can't always see from on the live television broadcasts. The Steelers disguised their true intentions on defense to keep Rivers guessing in the pocket instead of feeling comfortable about his reads.
Here's the Chargers' first third down attempt where they line up in the shotgun and the Steelers come out with a dime defensive look. Initially Devin Bush is close to the line but backs off. Then T.J. Watt approaches the line of scrimmage to fake a blitz, but drops into coverage once the ball is snapped.
The Steelers disguised a max coverage Cover Six scheme with multiple interior blitz threats, which took away any of the deeper reads Rivers thought may develop. The result is a checked down pass that falls incomplete:
Butler used plenty of looks with moving pieces to keep Rivers guessing all night. Here's another third down where the Steelers had seven defenders roaming the box to show the threat of blitzes from several players. The Chargers' offensive formation looked pass-heavy and you can see Rivers communicate to his line to look for oncoming pass rushers up the middle.
Notice where Rivers' head is pointed after the snap. He's looking down the middle to throw past where he thought the blitz would come from so he can exploit it. But the Steelers faked another blitz on a disguised max coverage Cover Three defense. Rivers sees he's fooled and checks the pass down to Austin Ekeler, who is tackled for a loss to force another punt:
When enough of those fake blitzes work, it gets inside the quarterback's head that he's being fooled and can confuse him to make hurried decisions if he continues to not anticipate which disguised schemes are called. This was the reason for Bush's touchdown that gave the Steelers a 7-0 lead.
Watch how Watt lines up wide to show the illusion of coverage in the slot while Bush approaches the line as if he's going to blitz. All of this is done to make Rivers and his offensive line think the Steelers will blitz from the right with Bush and cover to the left with Watt.
But as the ball is snapped, Watt rushes off the edge and Vince Williams blitzes A-gap with a free path to Rivers. That overloaded the right side of the Chargers' line and allowed heat immediately in Rivers' face.
He tries to save the play with a dump pass to Melvin Gordon, but in his haste he misses with a backwards pass and Bush, in man coverage on Gordon, is all over the mistake to capitalize for the score:
These types of plays highlight the moving parts of a defense that is synchronized to work together in disguised coverages and blitzes to maximize their effectiveness. For a unit that is still extremely young and building chemistry, this kind of execution is a good sign that they can bring a wide variety of looks that prevents them from being predictable.
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MORE CLASSROOM
Oct. 15: Ground game's revival
Oct. 14: Steelers take away Rivers’ top options
Oct. 11: Backs buck up on protection
Oct. 10: Finally, a defense with ball skills
