Shazier confident run defense woes will be corrected
The Jacksonville Jaguars provided no disguise to their offensive game plan Sunday against the Steelers. It was apparent from the outset. They were going to run the ball until the Steelers proved they could stop it.
At game’s end the statistics told the tale: 37 rushes for 231 yards. The Jaguars had a quarterback for the game. His name was Blake Bortles, but he was barely needed. He threw the ball a grand total of 14 times and did not complete a pass in the second half.
The image of rookie running back Leonard Fournette running free through the secondary on a 90-yard touchdown run late in the game won’t go away anytime soon. But that might not have been the most emasculating moment for the Steelers defense Sunday.
That came earlier in the fourth quarter when the Jaguars bled more than eight minutes off the clock by running the ball 12 consecutive times before setting for a field goal to go up, 23-9.
“When they run the ball that many times in a row, they just feel like it is super effective what they’re doing,” linebacker Ryan Shazier said Monday afternoon. “On the 90-yard run that means someone wasn’t in position and they just took off. At the end of the day both of them [stink]. You never want to give up either. They equally kick you in the gut.”
This is the second consecutive season the Steelers have been plagued by earlyseason problems defending the run. The Steelers gave up 222 rushing yards in a loss to the Dolphins in the sixth game of last season. The following week they allowed the Patriots to rush for 140 yards in a loss at Heinz Field. That prompted Shazier to say the Steelers defense was playing like “garbage.”
The Steelers eventually got their run defense straightened out and finished 13th in the league against the run, allowing 100 yards per game.
The Steelers are much worse through five games this season. They are currently 28th among 32 teams against the run, allowing 136.6 yards per game. Teams are averaging a whopping 5.1 yards per carry.
But Shazier isn’t calling the defense “garbage” this time around. Instead, he professed confidence in the Steelers making another turnaround.
“Honestly, I’m not really worried,” he said. “I know we’re going to get this taken care of. Right now we’re going through a bad little slump against the run. We’re going to get this fixed. We’re going to get everything back in order.”
Defensive end and team captain Cameron Heyward termed the run defense “unacceptable” after the game Sunday. He referenced missed tackles and improper technique as the main culprits to the run defense woes.
Shazier doesn’t disagree with Heyward’s assessment of the situation. He doesn’t believe the Steelers are doing more stunting or run blitzing, which might create bigger running lanes. He believes the issue lies with the players on the field executing better.
“I think we just have to do a better job of tackling and do a better job of fitting up the runs and getting ourselves in better position,” Shazier said.
“When we’re giving up 3 and 4 yards a run people are going to continue to run the ball, and they’ll be able to run it effectively. But if we get them in longer downs and distances we can cause them to pass the ball more. When you’re playing football like that people are going to continue to run the ball. We just have to do a better job, if we want to be a great defense, of shutting down the run.”
• NOTE — Steelers president Art Rooney II will make a special announcement at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday that involves a former Steelers Super Bowl MVP.