Ryan to challenge Heyward, rotating D
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
It was not surprising that Joe Flacco was able to complete 9 of his first 10 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns Sunday night at Heinz Field. Or that he tallied 363 yards passing — the first time in nearly four years he managed 300 yards through the air against the Steelers.
Flacco was allowed to stand in the pocket like he was posing for homecoming pictures, seemingly unconcerned about a Steelers pass rush.
And no wonder. The Steelers’ best sacker — All-Pro defensive end Cam Heyward, who tied for eighth in the NFL with 12 sacks in 2017 — was on the sideline for 20 of the Ravens’ 76 offensive snaps.
A week earlier, against Tampa Bay, Heyward did not play 19 of the Buccaneers’ 73 offensive plays. Was he gassed from the Florida humidity? Injured?
No, it’s just part of a new rotation implemented by defensive line coach Karl Dunbar, who wants to rest Heyward and fellow defensive end Stephon Tuitt as much as possible to keep them fresh into the fourth quarter. The big picture: Dunbar is hoping to keep them as rested as possible late in the season by rotating them on a semi-regular basis with Tyson Alualu, Dan McCullers and L.T. Walton.
Conceptually, the idea sounds good, especially if the Steelers had depth on the defensive line like the 2007 New York Giants, or had a pass-rush specialist coming off the bench. But Flacco was sacked twice for 8 yards and hit only twice more in the Ravens’ victory, 26-14.
“I think it will work in the future,” said Heyward, who has a single sack in four games this season. “Obviously we’re not getting the results, it looks bad now, but I think it allows us to get more reps [for everyone] and stay fresh. I don’t need to play 80 plays a game. Coach [Dunbar] said that from day one. Coach [Mike Tomlin] told me that — I don’t need to play 80 snaps. The name of the game is to stay fresh and stay fresh for the whole season and at the end of games.”
Heyward already has sat out for 60 of 296 total defensive snaps through four games. Tuitt has been on the sideline for 67 snaps. Neither player is injured. The benefactor in terms of playing time is Alualu, who has appeared for 81 snaps in three games. He was injured and did not play against Kansas City.
Curiously, Heyward’s percentage of playing time after four games (79.7 percent) is the exact same as it was for 16 games in 2017 (79.7). The difference, though, is how quickly he and Tuitt are being rotated in the new system. They both came out of the game on the first series against the Ravens and usually were cycled every fourth play thereafter.
“I’m not used to it at all,” said Tuitt, who is one of two defensive linemen, along with Walton, without a sack this season. “I’m used to being out there the whole entire time, me and Cam. But it gets to the point where you want guys to last long term, especially long term into the season.
“We got good guys behind us that can play some really good snaps. It gives them an opportunity to get their legs and get into games and gives us a little break to go back in and do what we do.”
Using pressure to get quarterback Matt Ryan off his mark will be important for the Steelers Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. But pressure has not really seemed to bother Ryan that much this season.
He was sacked 3 times each in games against the New Orleans Saints and the Cincinnati Bengals and hit a total of 14 other times. But, not only did he throw for an impressive 793 yards and 8 touchdowns across those games, he completed 74.3 percent of his attempts for a stellar passer rating of 144.7.
Ryan was sacked just 24 times last season, or once every 23 times he dropped back to pass — second best in the NFL.
“Karl wants to keep them fresh in the fourth quarter so if we get in situations where it’s a passing game, then we got to have people who can rush,” defensive coordinator Keith Butler said. “We’re only in the first quarter of the season. I think it will help us in the long term.”