If the recent lapses in his pass defense are just "hiccups," as Mike Tomlin called them Tuesday, the Steelers had better hope somebody scares them away – soon.
The results of some of those hiccups have been scary enough. After allowing touchdown passes of 55, 54 and 39 yards in last Sunday's 31-28 win over Green Bay, the Steelers have now allowed nine of their 10 longest passing plays in the past four games.
The Steelers (9-2) have won all four games as part of a six-game winning streak, but that doesn't mean Tomlin is at all pleased with his pass defense.
"We’ve been having hiccups on defense in terms of giving up explosion plays and it’s preventing us from being dominant," Tomlin said. "But it goes beyond that. It’s putting us in positions where we could lose games. They have to disappear yesterday. It’s not one particular guy. It's popcorn. It’s happening here and there and different circumstances and situations."
As much as it might be "popcorn" to Tomlin – popping up here and there with no single culprit – the big plays have occurred far too often in recent weeks, especially considering they hadn't been happening early in the season. In their first seven games, the Steelers allowed just three pass plays of 30 or more yards, a total that was the best in the league. They have given up 11 such plays since.
The Steelers are still finding ways to win, largely because the run defense has been better of late and the offense has picked up some of the slack. But things won't get any easier Monday night when they face the Bengals (5-6) and star receiver A.J. Green in Cincinnati. Green has 53 receptions for 809 yards and six touchdowns, though the Steelers limited him to three receptions for 41 yards on six targets in a 29-14 win over the Bengals at Heinz Field on Oct. 22.
The Steelers chose not to shadow Green with Joe Haden or Artie Burns in that game, allowing the two corners to stick on their respective sides of the field. But with Haden out, that could change. Though the Steelers haven't had Burns travel with a receiver this season, that was their plan coming into the year before acquiring Haden.
Tomlin said he hasn't asked for a status update on the former Pro Bowl cornerback's recovery from a fractured fibula recently because he knows Haden will miss his third consecutive game. Haden, signed just prior to the start of the regular season after his release by Cleveland, suffered a fractured fibula in the first half of the Steelers' 20-17 win on Nov. 12 at Indianapolis, with Coty Sensabaugh replacing him.
At 6-0, 197 pounds, Burns is slightly larger than Sensabaugh (5-11, 187). That size could be put to good use against the 6-4, 210-pound Green. But however the Steelers choose to defend Green, it won't be just one player. It will be a team effort. He has been targeted 10 or more times in three of the Bengals' five games since the loss to the Steelers, catching 32 passes for 504 yards and three touchdowns.
The Steelers are still third in the league in pass defense, allowing 193.4 yards per game – one of just three teams giving up fewer than 200 – but to Tomlin's point, they are giving the Steelers a slimmer margin for error.
Sensabaugh has been involved in at least three of the big plays allowed since, but fellow corner Burns has been beaten, as well.
"Obviously we’re excited about Joe being on our team, and we were when we acquired him. That hasn’t changed," Tomlin said. "But the 11 guys on the field represent us, and they’ve got a standard to uphold. Our expectations are what they are. We expect Chris Hubbard to block people at right tackle. So that’s just how we approach our business."
The Steelers still expect Haden to be back in time for their Dec. 17 game at Heinz Field against New England. But in the meantime, they need to figure out a way to keep the big plays from happening.
"In game preparation, you look at how people produce explosion plays, and usually there’s a pattern," Tomlin noted. "Sometimes you get hit by the unforeseen. You adjust, you coach, you move forward. But when you get hit by known issues, it’s troublesome. So, we’ve got some work to do."
Overaggressiveness, such as Sensabaugh trying to jump this route by Green Bay's Davante Adams, has been the culprit at times:
Sensabaugh bit on a double-move, as Adams ran a stop-and-go route, biting on a slight shoulder fake by quarterback Brett Hundley, giving Adams the separation needed to complete the long play. But missed tackles – as you can also see up there – have happened, as well.
And then, on this long touchdown pass to Randall Cobb, Burns makes the mistake of thinking the Steelers are playing man coverage, when in fact they were in a three-deep zone:
They are the kind of mistakes that can be corrected. But the fact that similar things have happened in recent weeks has Tomlin perplexed.
"It’s not just physical errors. It’s above-the-neck ball because these plays are occurring in situations where we have clues, game situations, down and distance, field position – communication aids in that area as we all prepare and look at ways people can attack us," Tomlin said. "So, it might be one man that’s physically getting beat on some of those plays, but if we’re all doing a good job of physically communicating information that we know based on preparation and sharing that information with the group, we have an opportunity to help individuals that may lack a little information. So that’s what I mean when I say it’s all of the above. We’re collectively responsible for keeping a lid on it. That’s just how I view it."
He just doesn't want to view it any longer. Or, he at least wants to view a lot less of it than he has in recent weeks.
"We have to continue to develop an understanding about game circumstances and situations," Tomlin said. "Many of these downs can be won above the neck. Forget what you do physically. Having an understanding about how people attack you or how people attack is an element of that for us. We’ll work on those things and others."
As for injuries this week, Tomlin said this:
