When you have defensive players with ball skills like the Steelers do in 2019, you can afford more aggressive schematics that put pressure on them to win tougher situations.
As the group's chemistry has grown this season, we've seen several examples of how aggressive Keith Butler has let his playmakers get against the pass. Butler's lived on the edge for years with calling aggressive blitz packages to confuse quarterbacks.
But now he's got the talented secondary to challenge different passes to create more turnovers. Here's a look at why that's exciting, but it can quickly turn into costly against prepared quarterbacks:
The proof is in the stats to show that Butler's defense has always gotten after the passer. The Steelers currently have 49 recorded sacks, tied for the most in the NFL with the Panthers. If they finish 2019 with the most NFL sacks, it will be their third year in a row to dominate the category.
Part of what's been different in this year's pass rush has been Butler's willingness to let his defensive front players rush and not mix too much of his secondary into the plan. He'll still throw Mike Hilton or Terrell Edmunds into the mix, but he's preferred to gamble with linebackers and defensive linemen that have been highly efficient in the pass rush.
Part of that confidence has also come from knowing the Steelers' secondary can back up that aggressive rush with good coverage. Watch how that plays out for the Steelers on this 3rd and 13. Josh Allen sees five committed rushers from the Steelers, which means six players are in coverage. Five are in man with Minkah Fitzpatrick being the single-high safety.
But the Steelers dial up an aggressive stunt twist blitz with Vince Williams going behind Cam Heyward as Javon Hargrave bullies his way into the backfield and forces a bad throw from Allen, resulting in the stop:
Being able to get that aggressive without selling out too much gives Butler an advantage. But there's also the aggressiveness from his secondary that's changed how this defense operates. Let's look back to Joe Haden's first interception of Kyler Murray. Murray had been dinking and dunking the Steelers all game, which led to Haden dropping out of his responsibilities to gamble on an underneath throw.
Watch how open Haden's man down the sideline is because of his aggressive jump on the out route to Chase Edmonds. He gambles like this primary because he knows Fitzpatrick has his back, but it's a game changing play for him to prey on a rookie quarterback:
Plays like this are exciting, but the reality is that patient quarterbacks will see through them over time. As the Steelers put out more defensive tape, their tendencies will be watched more and teams will pick at areas of weakness. Here's a situation where Allen capitalized on another moment where Haden got aggressive.
Notice how the Steelers drop two deep defensive backs to the left side of the field, but only Terrell Edmunds to the right. The result is an easy touchdown pass to Tyler Kroft, but this looks like nothing the Steelers would call, indicating that an adjustment was made.
If this was the intended alignment, that would make their defensive scheme a Cover 6, which would force Edmunds to cover half of the field while Steven Nelson and Fitzpatrick each cover a quarter of the field on the left.
Edmunds is not their premier safety, so it stands to reason that the actual call was Cover 4 and Haden bailed on his deep assignment because he anticipated an underneath pass from Allen. Edmunds gets left out to dry and you could see him point to the spot where he expected Haden to be as Kroft scores:
As the Steelers' offense continues to struggle, the defense will have more pressure put on them to come up with splash plays that turn the game around. They've done that pretty well with 35 turnovers, second best in the league. But the reality is that quality quarterbacks will start to figure out those gambles if done in similar spots and the Steelers don't adjust.
They'll get the chance to face Sam Darnold this week, who's thrown 17 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 2019. Expect to see more gambles like these, and how the game could come down to whether the Jets prepared Darnold to avoid these traps the Steelers like to set.
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