The Steelers may have lost to the Browns last week, but their defense did give Nick Chubb a hard time. Chubb is the third leading rusher in the NFL and the Browns' best offensive weapon and they limited him to 92 yards on 27 carries for an average of 3.41 yards per carry.
That's the second lowest average Chubb's had in 2019, and a good sign on the Steelers' run defense moving forward. Let's take a closer look at their positives from Thursday night:
The Steelers deployed several different defensive fronts against the Browns, each finding ways to succeed. Look at this front that has four defensive linemen, but with Cam Heyward lining up as the edge to a 3-4 defense opposite of Bud Dupree.
The three interior linemen are Tyson Alualu, Dan McCullers and Javon Hargrave. Those three plugged the middle while Heyward and Dupree pinched the edge. Chubb tried to wade his way through the middle of the line, but Alualu engages guard Joel Bitonio to win the inside gap and clear space for Vince Williams to work behind him.
But Alualu charges forward and through Bitonio, wrapping up Chubb to finish the play:
The Steelers found ways to win on both inside gaps and the edge. Dupree and T.J. Watt have been a dynamic duo for the defense all season. They've excelled both as technicians and athleticism, beating offensive tackles in a variety of ways.
Watch how they crunch the backfield to converge on Chubb. Watt works from the right side to set up Chris Hubbard with a nifty swim move. It's a great move and clears his path to Chubb, but he's beat to the punch by Dupree.
Dupree has a free release off the line, but it's a trap by the Browns. Guard Wyatt Teller is pulling across the line to crash on Dupree and catch him off guard. But Dupree sees it the whole way.
As soon as the play breaks, Dupree attacks Teller to close down the distance of the pull. Doing so limits the impact Teller can make and allows Dupree to disrupt the backfield. And on top of that, he engages Teller with his inside shoulder, keeping his outside shoulder free so he can disengage and tackle Chubb:
The Steelers have credible threats to blow up gaps at each position of their defensive front. That's allowed them to maintain gap integrity for most of the season and allow their linemen and linebackers to play aggressive when keyed to stop the run.
Watch how even Dan McCullers gets into the act when he pushes back JC Tretter into the backfield. That cuts off Chubb's path and forces him to cutback behind his fullback. But that fullback has to beat Vince Williams in the hole, and that doesn't happen.
Williams shoves his man aside and wraps up Chubb with McCullers for a loss:
The Steelers aren't a top ranking run defense ranking 15th in the NFL with 1,052 yards allowed. But part of that has been because of their commitment to various looks to be aggressive in pass defense to fool quarterbacks into turnovers.
Even after a game with zero forced turnovers, the Steelers still have the second most in the NFL with 26, behind the Patriots who have 28. The next closest team is the 49ers with 22.
But even without turnovers, the Steelers' defense showed that when they committed to stopping the run, they could. They'll need a similar performance against a surging rushing offense by the Bengals this weekend, and against the Browns again the week after.
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