Are the Steelers set up for double trouble?
The free-agent addition of Eric Ebron and restructuring of Vance McDonald's contract mean that, once the 2020 NFL season starts, they'll be able to attack defenses with '12 personnel' formations that could open up a new world of opportunities for Ben Roethlisberger and Randy Fichtner.
Let's start with the term: '12 personnel' is a description of an offensive formation that features one running back, two tight ends and two wide receivers. The first digit represents how many running backs are in the formation, with the second describing how many tight ends. Since there can only be five receiving threats on any given play, the amount of receivers is implied by the amount of players not explained in the first two numbers.
The Steelers have use '12 personnel' formations before, but never with the dual threat of two receiving tight ends that highlight the athleticism and skills of two tight ends who've started in the NFL and been decent threats over the middle.
According to SharpFootballStats.com, the Steelers ranked 19th in the 32-team league last season in throwing out of '12 personnel' formations. They took up 23 percent of formations, 18 percent of passing plays. Of the latter, there were 67 passing plays, 62 of them resulting in attempted passes that produced 292 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
The benefit of having athletic tight ends is the strain put on defenses to balance their own formations. Tight ends force defenses to consider the balance of their size advantage to block, as well as the receiving threat they present. As we saw when the Steelers struggled against teams like the Patriots for years, it's difficult for linebackers to efficiently cover tight ends and, at the same time, for safeties to win at the point of attack against the run.
Because tight ends often line up in tighter formations, they can also make for easier targets for the quarterback. Watch below how Devlin Hodges takes advantage of that on a bootleg pass to McDonald:
McDonald lines up opposite Nick Vannett and, upon the snap, crosses to the left side of the field as Hodges runs play action. The Ravens had only linebackers in the box to help cover McDonald, and it took too long to get to him before he fought his way to set up first-and-goal at the Baltimore 2.
According to NextGenStats.NFL.com, McDonald's average of 3.8 separation yards per route was the second-best of any NFL tight end in 2019. His athleticism helped him get away from defenders, but the Steelers' problems at quarterback prevented that from being a factor. He'd get targeted only 55 times all season, behind JuJu-Smith Schuster, James Washington, Diontae Johnson and -- get this -- Jaylen Samuels.
Maybe with Roethlisberger back, McDonald will get more opportunities. Regardless, having him on the field with Ebron would make defenses worry about both as oversized athletic threats who present coverage challenges in vertical and horizontal routes.
Here's an example of how that can break a defense, from a play last season when the Colts came out with both Ebron and Jack Doyle lining up on opposite ends of the line:
When Jacoby Brissett drops back and Doyle stays in to block, it freezes the linebacker who'd been lined up over Doyle in zone coverage lined up. With the Raiders in a single-high safety formation, it makes Ebron's deep crossing pattern tough to cover between a linebacker unsure of how deep he should drop and a safety who can't play too aggressively by coming down on Ebron.
The result is an easy catch-and-run for a touchdown.
What's extra dangerous in the '12 personnel' is that the role of receiver and blocker could be interchangeable between McDonald and Ebron, as either could fill the receiving threat role. But there's a benefit to the running game, too. As a heavier formation, defenses must honor the threat of these tight ends turning into blockers and blowing up smaller defenders in the box.
Here's an example of when the Steelers essentially used that scheme, but with Washington playing the role of a tight end as they were limited before a game against the Bengals:
Vannett seals down with Alejandro Villanueva on the left side as Washington pulls to be a lead blocker for James Conner. The result is an overloaded Cincinnati defense and a big gain.
The ultimate goal of this grouping is to put a defense on its heels about how to attack the tight ends. If they're too worried about how they could overpower safeties against the run, they may open up easy passing opportunities over the middle. On the other hand, playing too small of a defensive formation would open run opportunities like Conner's above.
The Eagles might've been the NFL's best example of the '12 personnel' last season. They threw out of these formations on 54 percent of all passing plays, most in the league. Their top tight ends, Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert, were both among the top 10 in targets, receptions, yards and touchdowns.
Here's an example of how Roethlisberger and the offense could use it to open easier passes:
Watch how Ertz lines up to the left with wider split away from his tackle and runs a crossing pattern over top of Goeddert's short curl pattern. The Seahawks' All-Pro linebacker, Bobby Wagner, tries to pass off Ertz in his cross, but K.J. Wright is too preoccupied with Goeddert's curl to back up and cover Ertz. It puts Wright on an island where he either sticks with what's in front of him or has to turn around and guess where Ertz is to help in deeper coverage, opening up Goeddert.
Plays like this weren't as much a threat to defenses when the Steelers' second tight end options were Matt Spaeth, Jesse James or Vannett. But with both McDonald and Ebron as serious threats, defenses will have to choose which player they respect the most.
And while all this is happening, it could open up opportunities for Smith-Schuster, Johnson and Washington to get one-on-one against cornerbacks, while safeties are forced to help against these tight ends in the middle of the field.
It's up to Fichtner how much these tight ends are used. But it cannot be a skillset that's overlooked in 2020 as the offense looks to bounce back in a big way.
A really big way.
