You've seen the plays that the Steelers have given up recently and how a defense that is ranked in the top six against the run, pass, overall yardage and points allowed has seen an uptick in big pass plays allowed in recent weeks.
Dejan Kovacevic covered how the defense performed with its big plays and big plays allowed in his analysis of the Steelers' 31-28 victory over the Packers. Mike Mitchell defined the defensive lapses against the Packers as the Steelers beating themselves; so we take a look at a few of those big plays to identify common reasons why these breakdowns are happening:
MISCOMMUNICATION
The most important aspect of the Steelers' defense that fans cannot see through the NFL broadcast is their communication. Their use of hand signals to talk across the field is vital to making sure the entire scheme of the defense remains intact. It is the cornerstone to how each player knows how and when to move to different parts of the field, whether or not a player has zone or man assignments or should blitz.
What we've seen in these breakdowns is that it's often just one player who misses the message and ends up being out of position. On multiple occasions, we've seen that culprit be second-year cornerback Artie Burns.
When Burns is on his assignment, he's among the best the Steelers have in the secondary. He's fast and puts on a display of solid fundamentals when engaging receivers both in their routes and in how they play the ball. But when he's out of position, it exposes the whole defense.
Take Randall Cobb's touchdown on Sunday night, when he ran a wheel route behind Jordy Nelson's post to the middle of the field. We highlight Burns and Nelson in yellow at the onset of the play and highlight Cobb in red to show you who to look for as the play develops. The Steelers are in a Cover 3 defense, which means three defensive backs, in this case Burns, Mitchell and Coty Sensabaugh have deep thirds responsibilities in this coverage. Deep thirds means each of them are responsible for making sure nobody gets behind them on their third of the field.
The problem that happens on this play is that while every other player on defense is playing his responsibility for a Cover 3 defense, Burns runs with Nelson's post route to the middle of the field as if he's in man defense. That opens up his third of the field for Cobb to jog openly and make an easy catch to score the touchdown:
A simple communication breakdown led to a catastrophic result, as Cobb scored. It's a misunderstanding from an action so small as a hand signal that led to a moment so big that it's hard to understand without the complete picture.
Think back to the only touchdown the Steelers allowed against the Chiefs in October when Burns got caught up trying to direct traffic, and forgot to take care of his sideline. That allowed De'Anthony Thomas to slip behind Burns and make a catch that allowed him to score:
These kind of brief mental lapses have been at the root of the defense's problems, but what also should be recognized is how infrequently they occur. For the most part, the defense has been on its game this season about executing assignments. And that's been because communication has kept the team together, and put defenders in position to make the plays that have earned the defense top ranks across the board.
When seeing these moments, and there will be more, remember that they are few and far between. Even with the uptick of splash plays like these, the Steelers' defense is still allowing less than 200 passing yards per game, and Sunday was the first time all season their defense allowed more than 18 points in regulation.
DOING TOO MUCH
If you've ever heard the Steelers talk about 'doing too much' or 'sticking to their assignments', you should understand the context of how that plays a part in what Keith Butler designs in his schemes for the defense. Often you can see how the Steelers' cornerbacks and safeties make sure opposing receivers are in front of them in order to limit big plays.
That often means not being overly aggressive on underneath routes, allowing those type of plays to be completed, instead of taking the risk to jump a route and expose the field behind them. Take Davante Adams' touchdown against Sensabaugh from Sunday, when Sensabaugh bit on a stop-and-go route and opened up the sideline for Adams to run down the field.
Sensabaugh is in man coverage, so in this situation he has no support behind him, and knows that if he gambles on an underneath route and loses, he exposes the defense for a big play. But he also knows that it's 3rd and 3 and the Packers need to convert. He figures the gamble is worth it, but ends up giving up the touchdown:
But it's not like Sensabaugh hasn't won those kind of gambles before, like when he intercepted Marcus Mariota just the week before the Packers game:
What often determines how a cornerback is better than his peers is when and how he takes those types of gambles. Sensabaugh has been sitting on the bench most of this season for a reason, and while he's talented and solid in coverage most of the time, he does have his moments where he guesses wrong.
But so does every cornerback in the NFL, because there are 40-60 plays a game in which he has to be disciplined enough to not be the weak link in the defense. We showed you how Burns can make mistakes in communication, but let's look at a moment when he bit on an underneath route just like Sensabaugh did.
It was against Jacoby Brissett and the Colts when Donte Moncrief used a double move to force Burns to stumble in space, opening up his third of the field for a score. Moncrief is a bit of a speedster and can hurt a team when the ball is in his hands, so Burns thought that trying to be aggressive and tackle him quickly on an underneath route would be helping his team. In doing so, he exposed his part of the field and did the exact opposite:
But if there were ever two factors that were the biggest contributors to the problems the Steelers have been having lately with stopping the big pass plays, these are it. The team has to buff out those moments when the communication breakdowns occur to make sure they're in position to fill out all the designs in Butler's defense.
And when they do, then the gambles they make in attacking the ball have to be accurate decisions. There's a lot of youth on the field for the Steelers' defense, so it makes sense that these will be the days when they learn from their mistakes. While it's an asset to have seven starters (or eight if you consider Mike Hilton) who are under the age of 26, it also shows when those players make mistakes or get fooled.