Carter's Classroom: Tight ends to bust Bengals

Dec 16, 2016 • 1:29 pm

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Ben Roethlisberger tossed three touchdowns in a 24-17 victory over the Bengals back in September, each score going to either a tight end or to DeAngelo Williams. That's because the Bengals have placed a high value on the cornerback position, with four first-round picks in Dre Kirkpatrick, Darqueze Dennard, William Jackson III and Adam Jones, who was originally drafted by the Titans. Jackson III and Dennard are still developing in their secondary, but Kirkpatrick and Jones have proven to be effective and aggressive against wide receivers.

The Steelers have only two touchdown passes to wide receivers in the past four meetings between these teams, but they have gone 3-1.

That's a big reason why I think Ladarius Green could be the X-factor Sunday in Cincinnati. He missed the first matchup due to injury. Jesse James and Xavier Grimble scored touchdowns in that early-season meeting.

We go to the film for a closer look at what the Steelers' did in Week 2:

TESTING THE RIGHT CORNERS

The Steelers' offense benefited from having a healthy Sammie Coates early in the season and often took deep shots down the field to test the secondary. His broken fingers have all but removed him as an offensive factor, and that might play into Todd Haley's plan of attack for Sunday:

Roethlisberger knew pre-snap that he was going to Coates as soon as he saw Dennard covering Coates. He does a great job looking off the safety by staring down Antonio Brown and giving Coates the one-on-one.

Dennard and Jackson III are the cornerbacks that the Steelers should challenge downfield, as they have been victims of the deep ball multiple times this season. What might make that difficult is that Coates has not recovered from his two broken fingers, and neither Cobi Hamilton nor Eli Rogers has displayed the speed to be decent deep threats. Brown is always an option, but he'll most likely be shadowed by Kirkpatrick or Jones, players the Bengals count on to be in the right place.

Here's an example of Roethlisberger trying a similar effort with Kirkpatrick in coverage on Coates:

Roethlisberger does a good job looking off the safety, who comes down to help against Rogers' post pattern and leaves Kirkpatrick on an island. But Kirkpatrick runs with Coates stride-for-stride to be in position to react to any pass down the field and makes the interception.

Roethlisberger could have thrown the ball more inside like he did against Dennard, but Kirkpatrick was still in a good position to defend Coates and probably would have made a play on the ball anyway.

It makes sense for Haley and the offense to be designed to give receivers one-on-one chances down the field when the roster had Brown, Martavis Bryant, Markus Wheaton and even Darrius Heyward-Bey as potential targets. But when only one of those players is available and the next best option, Coates, can't catch passes with his injury, it means the offense has to change its plan.

Fortunately, the Steelers have already used a blueprint against the Bengals that could prove effective on Sunday.

USE TIGHT END MISMATCHES

The Bengals will most certainly be playing to contain Le'Veon Bell and provide added support to stop a running back who has record four consecutive games with more than 100 yards rushing. Knowing their tendency to put their premier cornerbacks on the edges of their formations to takeaway the Steelers' top receiving options, this could open up a lot of ground in the middle of the field for the tight ends.

Let's look back at Grimble's touchdown in Week 2, when he made an amazing catch and score to open the game:

Grimble's size and speed were too difficult a combination to cover for the Bengals' safety. He runs a banana route that sets up the defender by starting to the outside, which the safety has to honor, only to turn the inside and show Roethlisberger his huge frame and provide a solid target down the field.

The Steelers will definitely be looking for these kind of matchups that the Bengals will almost have to concede should they plan to stop Brown and Bell from taking over the game. This is where Green comes in with his size, speed and improved catching ability over Grimble.

When the Bengals run zone coverage schemes, they will have to shade help to cover Brown's side. Watch as Brown runs his slant and how the middle linebacker follows him to the middle of the field and honors just his side:

You see that as he does that, it opens up space for James in the end zone. The other middle linebacker has to play closer to the line of scrimmage to honor any underneath routes the Steelers' could use.

Green and James will certainly see these type of opportunities over the middle of the field Sunday. Another factor that will be in play is Bell as a receiving option, a threat that is much more dangerous than Williams. Outside of Bell's last game against the Bengals, which he left from injury early on, he has put up at least 100 all-purpose yards every time he has played them.

If the Bengals don't pay special attention to him, he'll have another big game against them. When this defense honors Brown on the outside and Bell as a runner and as a receiver, something has to give.