Steelers

Carter's Classroom: Freeze run, bring heat

Jan 9, 2017 • 1:16 pm

The Steelers' defensive philosophy hasn't changed in the midst of their rebuilding the past several years, though pretty much everything else has. Only Lawrence Timmons and James Harrison remain from the last time they were the NFL's No. 1 defense. But even with a new defensive coordinator and the 3-4 not being the primary formation, they remain the same in principle:

• Shut down your opponent's run game to the extent that they have to beat you with the pass.

• When they're in predictable passing situations, blitz from so many different angles and looks to confuse the quarterback as much as possible.

The more successful the defense is at stopping the run, the more exotic the blitzes.

That's exactly what went right for the Steelers when they completely dismantled the Dolphins, 30-12, Sunday in the AFC Wild Card game at Heinz Field. Jay Ajayi had 33 yards on 16 carries, which forced Miami to pass in key situations. With the help of the Steelers' offense building a significant lead early in the game, this meant that the Dolphins had to start resorting to the pass earlier than they wanted, which created opportunities for big plays.

The Steelers forced three turnovers in three consecutive possessions, each of which came on first down. That's not just a coincidence, that's the design of the defense taking shape.

We slip into the film room to show exactly how that transpired:

CREATIVITY

Harrison's sack/fumble to end the first half was a thing of beauty. It wasn't drawn up by the Steelers' defense, it was an old school veteran change-up at the line of scrimmage that echoed the days when Harrison and Troy Polamalu would ad-lib in the middle of defensive schemes.

Watch how Harrison changes what he's doing, unbeknownst to even his teammates and creates the turnover:

You can't see the pre-snap of the play as much, but Harrison originally lines up just outside of the left tackle, where he's designed to blitz on this particular play.

Then he bumps out to appear as if he is covering the slot receiver. What made me nervous about this play watching it live was that Ryan Shazier immediately approached Harrison telling him to move back inside. I thought they were confused and that either Harrison or Shazier were unsure of their assignments and that the Steelers could be in for a mental lapse in the red zone.

Silly me for doubting Harrison.

The Steelers' all-time leader in sacks just wanted to give off the appearance that he wasn't blitzing to fool the left tackle just long enough so that he could get a free shot on Matt Moore, and Harrison didn't miss.

That was completely his call there, much like it was when he faked a blitz on Kurt Warner in Super Bowl XLIII and returned an interception for a touchdown.

But what makes this an easier call for him to make is that he knows the Dolphins are passing. A team with two timeouts in first and goal might consider a running play normally if their ground game had been successful, but the Dolphins needed points and Ajayi was a non-factor so they went with an empty set which sold what they were doing.

If the threat of a run is there, Harrison can't afford to abandon the edge as he did because he would need to be there to maintain his gap but, knowing it was a pass, allowed him to ad-lib and make the play.

CHAOS

One thing that the Steelers started to do more after they got through their bye week this season was to consistently blitz defensive backs and throw different looks at quarterbacks. That's more difficult to do when your defense is having a hard time accounting for their gaps on each play as the Steelers were earlier this season.

But when Keith Butler can count on his guys to execute his schemes consistently, then the fun blitzes start coming out and you get plays like Mike Mitchell's sack/fumble in the third quarter.

Watch how Moore and his offensive line can't identify where the Steelers are coming from until it's too late:

Mitchell, Harrison, Timmons and L.T. Walton each lined up to the left of the center, making for four players that the offense has to account for to protect Moore on one side of the ball.

Watch how the Dolphins' tight end, MarQueis Gray (48), is helpless as he tries to stop Harrison on an inside rush and then cannot account for Mitchell on the outside rush. That's a complete communication breakdown because of what the Steelers were throwing at the Dolphins.

The Dolphins had both tight ends and Ajayi protecting that one side, which makes it even more remarkable that the Steelers' blitz was able to get through. But when you're able to pin your ears back on defense and look for the pass on more occasions, these types of looks become more effective because Butler can keep throwing so many of them out there and force opposing quarterbacks and offensive lines to have to think more.

The more thinking they have to do mid-play, the more opportunities you have to catch them while they work through those processes.

GETTING FAKED OUT

Then there's the impact of when the blitz has been so successful that quarterbacks take things for granted. After turning the ball over from fumbling on sacks for two consecutive drives, Moore looks around for whichever way the Steelers could bring a blitz to get him.

Trying to account for things like that can lead to mistakenly assuming where a blitz is coming from, and being baited into dangerous throws.

Shazier lines up over the left guard, rookie Laremy Tunsil (67), and works his zone masterfully on this play. He starts by stunting to the inside, then passing off Ajayi to Artie Burns in the flat, which allows him to work back into the defense and intercept Moore.

Shazier's proximity to the line of scrimmage and his speed are two important factors to making this happen. Because he's so fast, he can quickly bounce around on the play, which makes it difficult for Moore to identify what his actual assignment is here.

Moore's inability to account for Shazier shows how dangerous he is as a middle linebacker when he's playing within the scheme. Not only was he helping to account for the possibility of the run and take away underneath passing options, but he also found a way to contribute to coverage over the middle of the field and create a key turnover.

When the Steelers' defense has this many moving parts to it, it's difficult for quarterbacks to always identify what the play call is and make pre-snap reads that keep drives alive. Keep that going and this defense can keep the Steelers in any game.