The Steelers' 20-13 win over the Browns at Heinz Field had plenty of positives for Mike Tomlin's team that advanced to 7-5 after coming back from 10 points down with three minutes to go in the second quarter.
But what can't be ignored is how their defense attacked Baker Mayfield, who was coming off scoring multiple touchdowns in three straight games, including the Browns' 21-7 win Nov. 14.
Here's how they did that:
The Steelers finished the game with five sacks, split between Bud Dupree, T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, Javon Hargrave and Cameron Sutton.
After only sacking Mayfield once in the loss earlier this season, the pass rush knew it had to get home more and create opportunities for turnovers. Watt was the first on the board when he whipped former Steeler Chris Hubbard around the edge in the first quarter, pressuring Mayfield and not allowing him to escape:
Tomlin always talks about finishing the job, and Mayfield's ability to extend plays can make that difficult on pass rushers. But the Steelers kept after him and didn't stop pursuing, even when Mayfield did make guys miss.
Here's Dupree's huge sack and forced fumble. Watch all the different things he had to do to make this play happen. First he puts on a perfectly executed spin move to left tackle Justin McCray's inside shoulder, then he used his inside hand to engage Joel Bitonio and keep himself free.
Once Mayfield started scrambling, the rest of the Steelers' pass rush started to get in on the act. Vince Williams missed a shot and Watt missed another, but Dupree never gave up on the play, coming back and putting his hands on the ball to knock it loose:
Dupree said after the game that at no point did the Steelers panic, even when down 10-0 with three minutes left in the second quarter.
"Just hang in there," Dupree said about the team's mindset. "Don't blink, keep going. Coach Tomlin always tells us not to blink. We knew what we were messing up on. It would have been different if we just couldn't stop them at all, but we knew what we were messing up on. We were out of place in the gaps and letting people run free. This is old stuff that we shouldn't have been doing."
It took a team effort to keep after Mayfield at times — even the Steelers' edge rushers couldn't do it all on their own. In the example below, Dupree gets a great jump off the snap on this third down, but Mayfield steps up and tries to make a play. Once he gets moving, the Steelers had Tyson Alualu and Sutton waiting to bring him down for the sack and third down stop:
What also shouldn't be overlooked was the work of the interior defensive line, namely Heyward and Hargrave. Once the game got to the fourth quarter, you could see both surging at times. Here's Hargrave's sack on Mayfield, where he gets his inside hand in the chest of guard Wyatt Teller and walks him into the backfield.
Once he got back there, Mayfield couldn't escape as Dupree took on a double team and kept him in the pocket:
Hargrave and Heyward each contributed with sacks, something the Steelers expected more of from the days when Stephon Tuitt was healthy. Tomlin said after the game that he appreciated their play today, and that it reminded him of when Tuitt and Heyward were in together.
"We had a couple where we had Heyward and Tuitt in there and that was pretty good," Tomlin said on his interior defensive line's performance. "This was a good game, but we have had a couple of those type games."
Javon Hargrave and Cam Heyward celebrate Hargrave's sack Sunday - MATT SUNDAY / DKPSAll that pressure eventually forced Mayfield to take the riskier deep throws that would give the Steelers' defense the opportunity to make a play to close out the game. And it came on a play where they baited him into a very tough throw that Joe Haden intercepted.
"We were in Cover 3," Haden said of his interception. "Jarvis Landry was running a seam route and Mayfield kind of threw it high and behind him. So I went down and tried to get it before it touched the ground."
Haden's description of the zone scheme there confirmed why the throw was so far off. Cover 3 usually leaves the seam routes open for easy completions down the middle of the field if the defenders playing intermediate zone can't jump the route.
Mayfield thinks he's going to get that look, but you can see Minkah Fitzpatrick jump right on Landry's seam route. That forced the high throw, which Haden capitalized on:
The Steelers' defense now has 43 sacks on the season, which is just nine from tying last year's 52 which led the NFL. Only this year, the Steelers have the playmakers behind their pass rush to better capitalize on bad throws from quarterbacks who are feeling the pressure.
They get to face Kyler Murray, Josh Allen, Sam Darnold and Lamar Jackson (again) in their final four games — all rookie or second-year quarterbacks that could get rattled with enough pressure as the Steelers fight to hold onto their claim to the final wild-card spot in the AFC playoffs.
MORE CLASSROOM
Nov. 30: Keep it simple for Hodges
Nov. 28: Heyward wins anywhere
Nov. 26: Watt, Dupree dominate
Nov. 25: Snell plays closer again
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs. Browns, Heinz Field, Dec. 1, 2019 -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
