James Harrison and Jarvis Jones were disruptive the last time against the Chiefs. — MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Steelers

Carter's Classroom: Stopping a quick offense

Jan 12, 2017 • 4:23 pm

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Tyreek Hill has become an NFL sensation in a matter of weeks with his electrifying speed and his ability to change games with the ball in his hands. While his ability on special teams is a threat to consider, his style of play fits the mold of what the Chiefs have done in recent years on offense.

Alex Smith wants to get the ball quickly into the hands of his playmakers and let them be the ones who find holes in the defense to bust open. Hill, Jeremy Maclin, Chris Conley and Travis Kelce are all players who can break short passes for big gains if left unchecked.

That's what the Steelers were able to prevent from happening in the Week 4 meeting, and what they'll look to repeat this week. Let's take a look at some of the fundamentals that the Steelers' should be looking at when it comes to the Chiefs' offense:

CONTAIN ALEX SMITH

While Smith isn't a running quarterback, he is still mobile enough for the Chiefs to look to extend plays with his feet in order to free up more time for their receivers to get open.

When it comes to countering that, the Steelers have had the recipe of success to contain Smith and shrink his moving pocket and crash those types of plays; much like Cameron Heyward did here:

Watch how Heyward engages the left guard and keeps his outside shoulder free while still shuffling his feet to make the play. The entire offensive line use left reach steps to try to set up the wall for Smith on this play.

What breaks it is how Heyward recognizes the play and beats the left guard to his spot. While Heyward won't be in the game to do this, both Stephon Tuitt and Javon Hargrave have shown to be capable enough to make such a play. Also, notice how Jarvis Jones was fighting to get free on the edge. That will be James Harrison this time around, who will definitely be more of a problem for the Chiefs.

BE PREPARED FOR OPTION PLAYS

The Chiefs will try to use their speed to slow defenses down laterally with misdirection plays and decisions that look to take the edge and aggressiveness away from opposing defenses.

The option play is designed to bring the direction of the play down to the decision of the quarterback to either hand the ball to his first option, keep the ball himself or sometimes even pitch the ball to a third option.

Something the Chiefs love to do is line up Hill in the backfield with Smith and Spencer Ware to give the defense the proposed threat of having three potential directions with the ball. The point of this option is to force the linebackers to hesitate just long enough for the Chiefs' offensive linemen to ascend to the second level and block them:

Watch how both middle linebackers for the Titans get caught up trying to figure out which way the ball will go and how the Chiefs' linemen pounce on them to create a huge hole for Hill to run through.

Once Hill gets to the secondary his speed and momentum make him a tough player to bring down and control, so it's all about making sure those holes aren't available at the line of scrimmage. Hill is a smaller player who won't be able to find and create his own lanes to run at the line of scrimmage like Le'Veon Bell does on a regular basis.

If the Steelers plan on containing Hill and preventing the Chiefs' lateral run game going, they'll need the front seven to continue to dominate and close down on gaps to prevent the big plays from happening.

TAKE AWAY THE EASY PASS OPTIONS

The Steelers believe in allowing underneath receptions that they can tackle and prevent from gaining extra yards, but they still will have to be ready to make sure those underneath routes aren't for gains that achieve first downs.

The Chiefs managed to get two such passes completed at the start of the previous game, despite the Steelers' utter domination of the game. Smith will look to have more success in the passing game, and it might come from trying to fit the ball into the hands of his speedy receivers underneath the zone schemes the Steelers present:

Here the Chiefs are able to setup a pass to Conley by faking a screen to Hill. Conley finds the soft spot in the zone and sits down in the exact right spot to get the first down.

The Steelers must do what they can to limit these types of easy reads for Smith. Fortunately their secondary has steadily improved during the season and been accountable for playing within Keith Butler's schemes.

Artie Burns, Sean Davis, Ross Cockrell, William Gay and Mike Mitchell will be a key to watch with the Chiefs' passing game. If they are able to stick to their assignments and takeaway the quick reads for Smith, look for more pressures and sacks from the front seven.

Friday: We take a look at what the Steelers will need to do on offense to counter the Chiefs' aggressive style of defense.