Necessity is the mother of invention. And in this case, the necessity for the Steelers arose from the loss of defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt.
With Tuitt out for the season after suffering a torn pectoral muscle, the Steelers needed to pivot to a different way to get things done on passing downs.
Their solution -- at least on Monday night in their 27-14 win over the Dolphins -- was a "Rover" package in which the rovers were some players who aren't often expected to do the things they were doing.
Defensive lineman Cam Heyward was the only 300-pound player on the field and would walk around like a caged lion before the snap of the football. Joining him on the inside as an interior pass rusher was 240-pound inside linebacker Vince Williams, as the Steelers kept fellow inside linebackers Mark Barron and Devin Bush on the field, as well. Outside linebackers T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree largely stayed at their edge positions.
The idea was for the team to get its best pass rushers on the field in some obvious passing downs without wearing out nose tackle Javon Hargrave, who also subbed for Tuitt in some nickel and dime packages. And, they wanted to make it hard on quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to figure out from where the rush was coming.
"We just wanted to mix it up and show some different looks for the second half of the season. We can’t just give our traditional looks all the time," Williams told me. "Historically, we’re a great blitzing team. We wanted to utilize as much speed as we can. Fitzpatrick is a really smart guy. We were trying to confuse him a little and give him something he hadn’t seen on tape. We felt like that was an effective switch-up."
Plus, with Heyward as the only true 300-pound player on the field, the Steelers didn't want to make it easy for the Dolphins to double-team him.
"There was a lot of figuring out on the fly," Heyward said of the package. "Whatever it takes. We’ve got to get off that field."
The package worked. Heyward played 51 of the team's 60 defensive snaps in the game and the Steelers limited the Dolphins to three third-down conversions in eight attempts, sacking Fitzpatrick four times.
The success of that package likely means the Steelers (3-4) will continue to use it when they host the Colts (5-2) Sunday at Heinz Field. Or maybe they'll come up with some other unorthodox package.
But just because it worked against the Dolphins, doesn't mean it will work against the Colts' Jacoby Brissett.
Brissett has played well this season after taking over for Andrew Luck following Luck's abrupt retirement before the start of the season. But he's been even better when he's been blitzed. Brissett's passer rating when he faces a three- or four-man rush is 94.5. He's thrown nine touchdowns and three interceptions in those situations.
When blitzed, Brissett's passer rating is 112.2 with five touchdowns and no interceptions.
The idea for the rover package with the Steelers is to not necessarily blitz, but keep the quarterback guessing which four pass rushers are coming.
"It’s more so the quarterback you’re playing against. It’s about trying to manipulate your looks and your fronts," said Williams, who had 12.5 combined sacks in 2017 and 2018. "Sometimes you want to put four down, sometimes you want to rush three. Sometimes, you want it to look like you’re only rushing three. It’s that cat-and-mouse game."
It's one the Steelers, who have 24 sacks this season, are going to have to continue to do without Tuitt, who was having a very good season rushing the passer.
Despite missing the win over the Dolphins and going out early in the game against the Chargers, Tuitt is tied with Heyward for second on the team in quarterback hits behind Watt with seven. His 3.5 sacks are still fourth on the team.
The Steelers felt good going into this season about their ability to generate a four-man pass rush with Dupree and Watt on the outside and Heyward and Tuitt inside. That foursome has accounted for 19 of the team's 24 sacks this season.
Now, they're figuring out different ways to do it without tipping their hand.
"Bud and I want to be able to pin our ears back and rush," Watt said. "We know whoever is in the game is capable. That’s the biggest thing that this team is showing. Everybody goes to the same meetings. Everybody knows what they’re doing. That’s why we’re able to be effective."
And taking advantage of players such as Williams' ability to get to the passer is one way to do that.
"I have a distinguishing characteristic that I’m able to rush the passer from an inside linebacker position, so why not utilize that?" Williams said.
