Steelers ‘situational defense’ as problematic.
On Monday, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin opened up his weekly press conference following the team’s Week 14 loss at New England on TNF. Much of the focus was on the defense, which gave up 21 total points against the Patriots, the second-highest total of the season after going 2-10 in Week 1.
“We’ve had some issues that have been pretty consistent all year, but especially in the last few weeks, I think our situational defense has been really important in terms of our inability to keep people to a field goal in the red zone,” Tomlin said. “We’ve had a lot of conversations about the attrition that’s been going on in the interior of our defense, especially at linebackers and subpackages, and what that’s done to our schemes.
Tomlin was talking about the team’s recent struggles at the inside linebacker position, following the season-ending injury of their starter, Cole Holcomb, and then their second-round pick, Kwon Alexander, who has been out since Week 11. Since Holcomb’s injury, the majority of the snaps at inside have been played by Elandon since Week 11, with depth players (Mykal Walker) and Mark Robinson (who has rotated in and out) playing the bulk of the snaps. Given how important the inside linebacking position is to the defense’s communication, it isn’t hard to see where some of those lapses have come from.
Still, Tomlin sees the positives in the fact that they now have a full week in which to evaluate their linebackers and figure out how to best utilize their skillset moving forward. “I look forward to having a full week,” he said. “Some of the guys we are using, it is reasonable to expect them to be better as exposure increases, but we will have a plan in place to highlight what they do well, and divide the workload accordingly.”
The coaching staff will likely need to dedicate a significant amount of time to developing a coverage plan for the middle of field. Walker has been a major issue in coverage, allowing 114 receiving yards with three touchdowns in 97 coverage snaps through the last four games, according to PFF. Tight ends have been at the forefront of this, with the Steelers allowing a league-leading four touchdowns to them since the bye week.
At the conclusion of Week 14, Tomlin addressed some of the areas the defense needs to improve on, particularly in the red zone. A week ago, the Steelers were on the short field and were unable to hold the Patriots to a short field goal, which essentially sealed the game. Typically, the defense gets off to a good start in these tough circumstances; they hold teams to field goals, they keep them from getting into the end zone, and they play better defense in the red zone than they have in weeks.
On Saturday, December 16, the Steelers will have a short week again as they host the Indianapolis Colts as part of the NFL’s Saturday three-game schedule in the absence of high school football.
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