Steelers want to force Wentz to throw
Even though they play with only two defensive lineman most of the time in today’s pass-oriented NFL, the Steelers have learned how to shut down the run with fewer big bodies in the game.
While opposing teams routinely use multiple receiver formations to spread the field and force them to use extra defensive backs, the Steelers have become one of the league’s stingiest teams against the run since 2014.
And it’s been no different after two games this season. The Steelers rank second in the league in rush defense, allowing 50.5 yards a game, and haven’t allowed a run longer than 12 yards. They’ve allowed only two runs over 40 yards in the past 34 games after allowing five in the 2013 season alone.
“We go into the game trying to make teams one dimensional,” said defensive end Stephon Tuitt. “It’s early in the season, but we’ve been doing what we expect to do — making teams onedimensional.”
The Steelers (2-0) hope to do that again today against the Philadelphia Eagles, taking away running backs Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles and forcing rookie quarterback Carson Wentz to beat them by throwing.
So far, that approach has worked against the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals, a pair of 2015 playoff teams. Of course, it helped that the Steelers jumped to leads of 24-6 against the Redskins and 24-9 against the Bengals.
After two games, only one team has faced more pass attempts than the Steelers (97) and no team has had more passes completed against them (61).
“That’s a testament to our offense,” defensive end Cam Heyward said. “Teams are going to get impatient when we’ve got the lead. That’s something we’ve got to continue to hammer home. There’s still going to be teams out there that want to run on us. You got to continue to keep working because once they find one play [that works], every team is coming back to that one play.”
Mathews, a No. 1 draft choice of the San Diego Chargers in 2010, is the Eagles’ feature back, but it was Sproles who played nearly twice as many plays (41 to 21) and had more carries (12 to 9) in a victory Monday night in Chicago. The reason: The Eagles used multiple receiver formations to spread the field against the Bears and force them into their sub-packages.
That’s what opposing teams have been doing to the Steelers for at least the past two seasons. After using their sub-packages 65 percent of the time in 2014, the Steelers were in their nickel or dime packages 75 percent of the time last season.
That hasn’t changed much this season after two games. The Steelers have used their sub-packages 89 of 128 defensive snaps, or 69.5 percent of the time.
And yet they’ve improved each year in rush defense, finishing fifth last season after ranking sixth in 2014.
“It’s simple,” said cornerback William Gay, who was around in 2010 when the Steelers led the NFL in rush defense, allowing a franchise-record 62.8 yards per game. “Each defense you put out there, each person is responsible for a gap, each person is responsible for a coverage, regardless if you have your Okie [or base] package, your nickel package. There are no excuses.”