Sack total down for 'a lot of reasons,' but what's the answer?
KARL ROSER / STEELERS
T.J. Watt during Tuesday's practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
The Steelers are tied for 22nd in the NFL with 25 sacks this season. That's a far cry from leading the league in sacks for five straight seasons from 2017 through 2021.
Coming off a mini-bye, in which Mike Tomlin said Tuesday the team did some self reflection, the Steelers' coach was asked about what the problem may be:
"Probably a lot of reasons, to be honest with you," Tomlin said Tuesday. "We've had people missing at times. Oftentimes, the strength of the pack is the pack. For a large portion of the early portion of the season, we were without Alex [Highsmith] and [Nick] Herbig, for example. Then obviously, when you're minus guys like that, people can focus their energies on T.J. [Watt]. But also, just the nature of which people play us, particularly in one-dimensional passing moments. They're aware of our reputation and the reputation of individuals within our group. Oftentimes, we see max protection, particularly when it's possession down-and-distance. And obviously that minimizes your capabilities in terms of getting home. It makes it easier to cover people on the back end, but it does make it more difficult to get home. For us, we're just trying to be successful in those moments. We don't have control of all the variables. If people choose to protect, we better win on the back end. If people have five eligible out, we better win in terms of the rush. I think that's probably the spirit in which we operate, and how a lot of these things have unfolded."
While there's some merit to not having a healthy Highsmith or Herbig, there's another causality: They just don't blitz very often, ranking 16th in the NFL with a blitz rate of 24.2%. While they blitzed only 27% of the time in 2021, they had a blitz rate of 38.7% in 2018, 36.9% in 2019 and 40.3% in 2020. Perhaps blitzing more often could get the job done.
Of course, only 11 of the teams ahead of the Steelers in sacks have a higher blitz rate. So, whether it's health, max protection, teams game-planning for Watt or whatever, the Steelers have to get to the quarterback. And the general consensus in the locker room -- with this and seemingly every other issue -- is just ... try harder? Seems like there's a better answer here.
This week couldn't be a better week to get back to pressuring and sacking the quarterback. Joe Burrow has thrown more interceptions against Pittsburgh as opposed to any other opponent. Their ability to pressure him is a big reason why.
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THE ASYLUM
Chris Halicke
5:31 pm - 11.26.2024South SideSack total down for 'a lot of reasons,' but what's the answer?
KARL ROSER / STEELERS
T.J. Watt during Tuesday's practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
The Steelers are tied for 22nd in the NFL with 25 sacks this season. That's a far cry from leading the league in sacks for five straight seasons from 2017 through 2021.
Coming off a mini-bye, in which Mike Tomlin said Tuesday the team did some self reflection, the Steelers' coach was asked about what the problem may be:
"Probably a lot of reasons, to be honest with you," Tomlin said Tuesday. "We've had people missing at times. Oftentimes, the strength of the pack is the pack. For a large portion of the early portion of the season, we were without Alex [Highsmith] and [Nick] Herbig, for example. Then obviously, when you're minus guys like that, people can focus their energies on T.J. [Watt]. But also, just the nature of which people play us, particularly in one-dimensional passing moments. They're aware of our reputation and the reputation of individuals within our group. Oftentimes, we see max protection, particularly when it's possession down-and-distance. And obviously that minimizes your capabilities in terms of getting home. It makes it easier to cover people on the back end, but it does make it more difficult to get home. For us, we're just trying to be successful in those moments. We don't have control of all the variables. If people choose to protect, we better win on the back end. If people have five eligible out, we better win in terms of the rush. I think that's probably the spirit in which we operate, and how a lot of these things have unfolded."
While there's some merit to not having a healthy Highsmith or Herbig, there's another causality: They just don't blitz very often, ranking 16th in the NFL with a blitz rate of 24.2%. While they blitzed only 27% of the time in 2021, they had a blitz rate of 38.7% in 2018, 36.9% in 2019 and 40.3% in 2020. Perhaps blitzing more often could get the job done.
Of course, only 11 of the teams ahead of the Steelers in sacks have a higher blitz rate. So, whether it's health, max protection, teams game-planning for Watt or whatever, the Steelers have to get to the quarterback. And the general consensus in the locker room -- with this and seemingly every other issue -- is just ... try harder? Seems like there's a better answer here.
This week couldn't be a better week to get back to pressuring and sacking the quarterback. Joe Burrow has thrown more interceptions against Pittsburgh as opposed to any other opponent. Their ability to pressure him is a big reason why.
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Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
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