The Steelers have been masters of disguise with their defense for years. It's an added bonus of playing a 3-4 defense, which has just three linemen on the field, often allowing the players behind the linemen to shift around to different spots.
But that gets more difficult when you switch to a nickel or dime defense, something that is really now the base alignment for most teams. With just two true defensive linemen on the field paired with two outside linebackers as pass rushers, you're essentially playing a four-man front.
And when you don't blitz a lot -- as the Steelers did not do in last week's 23-16 win at Buffalo to open the season -- there's not much use in disguising blitzes that aren't coming. Eventually, the offense starts to catch on that guys aren't coming and the four pass rushers on the field are the ones they must be concerned with.
Instead, against the Bills, the Steelers got even more creative with their four-man rush. Several times they had one of their outside linebackers standing behind the line as the offense approached the line of scrimmage. Then, at the last second, the three linemen who had their hand on the ground would shift in unison and the standing linebacker would fill the open spot.
It allows the Steelers to avoid having T.J. Watt or even Cam Heyward double teamed and makes the quarterback very nervous.
It's a wrinkle the Steelers really wanted to add to their defense this season, especially after losing nickel corner Mike Hilton who was an excellent blitzer out of the slot.
"Yeah, I think so," defensive lineman Tyson Alualu said when I asked him if that was something new this season. "It’s just with teams that can get in a good rhythm, you try to give different looks to make sure it’s not as easy of a read for him to make whether it’s a quick pass or him taking off and running. We’re trying to affect the quarterback and I think that helps us."
It also doesn't hurt that the Steelers rotated their guys up front liberally. Watt and Heyward played the most up front with 69 and 56 out of 85 defensive snaps, respectively. But everyone who was active chipped in.
And that meant there were times when, for example, Melvin Ingram was on the field with Alex Highsmith. The Steelers would stand those outside linebackers up like defacto inside linebackers and then shift at the last moment to put them on the line.
"Most offensive linemen come up and identify what we call the Mike (linebacker). Who’s the Mike linebacker?" defensive coordinator Keith Butler said. "They do that in order to set their protection. We want to confuse them a little bit, make them think like, 'Who is the Mike? Is that the Mike? Nah, that’s not the Mike. Is that guy the Mike?' We’re gonna do some things with them there as long as they can handle it mentally. If they handle it mentally, we’ll do it.
"But I’ll still tell you, and I’ll tell you until the day I die, mental mistakes and missed tackles get you beat on defense. We’ve got to give them enough where we can be versatile, but at the same time, we don’t want them making a lot of mental mistakes either."
So far, so good.
MORE STEELERS
• Unfortunately, few inside the UPMC-Rooney Sports Complex were particularly surprised to see Alejandro Villanueva struggle in his first game with his new team, the Ravens. Though they won't say it publicly because of the respect they have for Villanueva as a person and everything he's accomplished in his life, the Steelers weren't unhappy to see the Ravens sign the veteran offensive tackle in an attempt to fix their offensive line. The Steelers felt Villanueva, who turns 33 later this month, was done. That's why they didn't make a push to re-sign him as the Ravens signed him to a two-year, $14-million deal the way they did, for example, in continuing to work on Alualu after he signed with Jacksonville. The Steelers eventually talked Alualu into reneging on his deal with the Jaguars to stay in Pittsburgh. Baltimore has an out in that deal, but Villanueva would still count $3.25 million against its salary cap if he's not on the roster in 2022. That seems highly likely. But good for Villanueva for getting one last payday ($8 million guaranteed) out of a former hated rival. -- Lolley
• Many people think things such as block punts such as the one the Steelers had against the Bills last week just happen organically. Player A beats Player B and blocks the kick. But there's typically much more to it than that. Against the Bills, the Steelers had Marcus Allen and Arthur Maulet drop off the line of scrimmage just before the snap on Buffalo's first three punts -- all in the first half. That lulled the Bills into a false sense of security. On the blocked kick, Maulet came from the right side off the end and Allen looped around to come through that side, as well. Allen's rush occupied a blocker on that side and allowed Miles Killebrew to sneak through and block the kick. "It was a play we had been running all week in practice and just a lot of effort and great execution," said Ulysees Gilbert, who scooped up the loose ball and scored. "It's how we prepare. This is just who we are. We work hard and try to be the best we can at what (special teams coordinator Danny Smith) has in front of us, what he teaches us. We go out and practice and execute that and just pray that when we come to the game, we execute the right way to make a play like that. I feel like it's day in and day out, every week that we feel like we have an opportunity to make some splash on special teams." -- Lolley
PIRATES
• In their final update of the 2021 season, Baseball America moved Oneil Cruz up to No. 19 in their top 100 prospects, up from No. 50 at the start of the year. Back in May, one of the things Curve manager Miguel Pérez expressed to me was they wanted to make sure he doesn’t press just because there are more eyes on him now. Curve hitting coach David Newhan has worked with Cruz pretty much all season, even going back to the alternate site back in April. As the season has gone on, he has seen Cruz be able to play with that passion while staying within himself better, resulting in his most consistent season in pro ball. Consistently tapping into that upside makes him one of the most exciting prospects in baseball. “There’s no way this guy is the 50th best player in minor-league baseball,” Newhan told me shortly before Baseball America’s update. “He’s number one, by far.” -- Alex Stumpf
• Speaking of Cruz and Altoona, Ben Cherington has said he expects some minor-league promotions from Altoona to Class AAA Indianapolis once the Curve’s season ends this week. There’s less urgency to promote from Greensboro or Bradenton because the Class A teams are playoff bound. Part of that is by design. The Pirates like the idea that these important groupings of prospects stick together and learn to win. Talking to Bradenton pitcher Jared Jones last month, I asked if he would like to be promoted this season, and while he obviously would be excited if there was such an opportunity, he said he also liked the idea of staying in Low-A a little longer and going on a playoff run. In Greensboro, they seem to have that team chemistry and culture that the Pirates are hoping to establish system-wide. “I’ve never been on a team like this,” Grasshopper right-hander Michael Burrows told me over the phone. “It’s pretty unbelievable, considering how good everyone is and how everyone interacts with one another. There’s no cliques, no prejudices with each other. We understand we’re here for a reason, we’re all at the same level. Nobody is bigger than anybody else here.” -- Stumpf
• As for what’s happening with the major league team, I didn’t exactly get a glowing report on new reliever Enyel De Los Santos. The right-hander has bounced between the majors and minors with the Phillies the past few years, where he has done far better in Class AAA. That’s hardly surprising when you consider he relies on 95 mph heat, which by itself is fine, but it doesn’t have the complement it needs with the slider and changeup. The Pirates do need arms to get through the end of the season, and he can help cover some innings, but that might be about it. -- Stumpf
PENGUINS
• It's pretty much a given that the Penguins will start the regular season without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, both of whom are recovering from offseason surgeries. Although it still isn't clear exactly how long either will be out. Regardless, their absences would seem to create a couple of openings in the lineup that younger players would get an opportunity to fill. Paradoxically, though, the opposite might turn out to be true. That's because, with two major offensive contributors unavailable, Mike Sullivan and his staff might prefer to go with more experienced players, even if they're not as offensively talented as some prospects. The veterans would have a better sense of what it takes to play well defensively at this level. At least in the early days of the season, the Penguins won't be constructed to thrive in high-scoring games, so there figures to be an emphasis on responsible defensive work. And that's something that, in general, guys who have been around the league for a while are more likely to produce on a regular basis. -- Dave Molinari
• Given the way that the game unfolds in front of goaltenders, one might expect the position to be well-represented in NHL front offices, but the reality is quite different; only two current GMs were goalies in their playing days. Ron Hextall was, by far, the most accomplished of the two, but that didn't take much since the only other goalie in the group, Edmonton's Ken Holland, made it into all of four games with Detroit and Hartford. Hextall joked there's a logical explanation for why so few former goalies are serving as GMs -- "I'm thinking the answer is that probably most of the goalies are on TV, because we probably talk too much," he said -- but there's a wrinkle in the story. Or the stat, anyway. That's because no fewer than five of the Penguins' past seven GMs (not counting brief interim stints by Jason Botterill and Patrik Allvin) were goalies in a previous life. That list includes Baz Bastien, Ed Johnston, Tony Esposito, Jim Rutherford and Hextall. The outliers? Craig Patrick and Ray Shero. -- Molinari
• Although Crosby's credentials as a leader are beyond reproach -- at last check, he has captained three Stanley Cup-winning teams and two that captured Olympic gold medals -- it seems conceivable Team Canada will at least consider picking someone else to wear the "C" for the 2022 Games in Beijing. Connor McDavid, widely regarded as the premier player in the NHL now, would seem to be the logical choice to be Canada's next captain, but he does not have a track record as a leader rivaling that of Crosby. (Not that many guys from any country do.) Considering Crosby still ranks among the top players in the league, perhaps it would be in Canada's interest to keep that letter stitched onto his sweater for at least one more major international competition. -- Molinari
