The Steelers' defense has had to make several adjustments over the past few weeks in order to compensate for the loss of Ryan Shazier. In the process, they have maintained their standing as one of the best defenses in the NFL.
When Joe Haden returned from his six-week injury, the Steelers reunited a secondary that had been one of the most consistent units in the NFL. Haden joined second-year cornerback Artie Burns in a secondary that led the NFL in fewest passing yards allowed for several weeks early in the season.
Now with the defense having to employ new strategies to solve problems caused by Shazier's absence, other players have been forced to take on more responsibilities that place them in vulnerable situations. Two of those players are Burns and Haden. Both of their performances will be key for the Steelers defense in this upcoming playoff run.
We explain further in Carter's Classroom:
The Steelers have emphasized the importance of communication among their defenders so that each player can stick to his assignment without overplaying any responsibility because they all know how their roles work in concert with the teammates around them.
Early in the season, we all saw how the Steelers' defense could play together and protect the right parts of the field against different passing attacks week after week. That required preparation both in communicating the responsibilities to each other so that they were on the same page, but also being ready for how offenses attack them.
When a defense can recognize a formation they're up against from the film they've studied, it helps them recognize which parts of the field they should try to protect and anticipate the routes they'll face.
An example of how well it was working came against the Chiefs when the Steelers blanketed all five receiving options for Alex Smith, who was undefeated and considered an MVP candidate before that game. He had nowhere to throw:
That level of preparation was something Shazier noted to me in the locker room when I asked about why the defense looked like it was in place against the pass more often than not.
"That's one we worked on all offseason," Shazier said after the Steelers' 26-9 win over the Ravens. "Even if we don't know their route concept, we do have an idea of what's going to happen and who's going to be in which area. That's helped us a lot to create turnovers and be around the ball when people catch it."
What the Steelers were able to do so often early in the season was to play their schemes without shading any help to one particular part of the field. It allowed for their schemes to be more difficult to crack unless a team found a specific weakness to target. While there are protections in the defense to prevent big plays over the top, there are players who can be targeted underneath those protections.
Fast forward to Week 15 when the Steelers were missing both Shazier and Haden. We revisit when Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowki walked the Patriots down the field for the eventual game-winning score.
The Steelers employed a standard Cover 1 man scheme in which they rushed four players, left five in coverage and had Sean Spence and Mike Mitchell playing zones in the middle of the field. Highlighted in yellow is Sean Davis in his single coverage with Gronkowski, and we see how Brady attacked that matchup advantage:
Mitchell was playing a deep zone assignment in which he was the only man protecting against a receiver beating his man over the top of the defense. Spence sat underneath the defense covering the middle of the field in case Brady became loose out of the pocket or a receiver ran a shallow cross.
Because of the base scheme, the Steelers weren't able to help against specific underneath routes. But placing faith in their outside cornerbacks, Haden and Burns, could allow Keith Butler to coach his defense to help against the players inside the numbers who might hurt the Steelers.
Take, for example, when Haden almost intercepted T.J. Yates in the Steelers' last game when DeAndre Hopkins ran an in route. Haden positioned himself to take away the inside and was in perfect position to take away the route. Had Yates thrown a catchable pass, it likely would have been intercepted:
One of the keys moving forward will be relying on both Haden and Burns to win in those situations and putting emphasis on helping other players with their matchups underneath. This would allow the two cornerbacks to effectively eliminate two of an opponent's receiving options and allow the rest of the defense to concern itself with only three players.
That's a serious matchup advantage, especially when a team might try to target a player like Gronkowski. The Steelers showed an example of that when Burns intercepted Yates in the second quarter on Christmas Day. Watch how Burns locked up Will Fuller on a slant route to the back of the end zone, then notice how the Steelers used Davis and Vince Williams to take away tight end Stephen Anderson (highlighted in yellow during the middle of the play) and forced Yates to look elsewhere:
Williams even raised his hands in celebration when he realized the ball was thrown behind him because he knew that Burns had his back. This is where the Steelers take away the matchup nightmares they might be worried about by relying on their cornerbacks to win their one-on-one matchups.
I asked Mitchell after the Texans game about what he's seen from his unit as the secondary's signal caller, and he expressed every bit of confidence in his cornerbacks.
"Big hats off to Artie because we put him in a lot of zero-like situations where he had no help," Mitchell said in the Texans' visiting locker room. "We knew if we minimized Hopkins we would have a successful day. [Burns] had to stand up against a very fast wideout and hats off to him."
What was remarkable was how the Steelers lined up Burns against Fuller, a speed demon of a receiver who ran a 4.32 time in the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine. He wasn't provided much security. When Mitchell used the phrase, "zero-like," he is simply saying there is no support behind Burns when he's in coverage. If he gets beat, the Steelers are basically surrendering an instant touchdown.
What Mitchell alluded to was that the Steelers knew they had to help against Hopkins, the NFL's current runner-up in receiving yards behind Antonio Brown, but they had to rely on Burns to prevent big plays against such a fast receiver in order to pull that off.
Haden confirmed with me after the game that the Steelers' coaches approached the unit on the Saturday before the game with the plan for him to shadow Hopkins for most of the game.
"We talked about it on Saturday night because the coaches came to us about it and we just did it," Haden said after limiting Hopkins to four receptions on six targets for only 65 yards and one touchdown. "He's very good at making combat catches, so I had to make sure he didn't get his hands on me. You can't let him be physical because he's a fast guy that runs good routes and I had to keep in front of him."
Having the confidence in Burns to lock down his side, and the faith in Haden to be able to shadow Hopkins, paid off for the Steelers. You could see several instances where Mitchell played as the safety help behind Haden to allow him to be aggressive when he needed to be able to win.
The key in those situations is to bracket the receiver by making sure the cornerback and safety are shaded enough to the targeted receiver so that it creates a tighter passing window and forces the quarterback to be extremely accurate.
Watch how Haden took away Hopkins' back shoulder and even challenged him on a throw that hit him in stride. But with Mitchell over the top, Yates couldn't afford to let the pass hang out too long. In turn, Hopkins couldn't finish the play:
Being able to rely on Haden to be the man who shadowed Hopkins, probably the best receiver the Steelers will face this entire season, is a huge vote of confidence from Butler and Mike Tomlin. When they can rely on him and Burns to be instrumental in a scheme, it opens up other options for how they can assign Davis, Mitchell and even William Gay to help across the field.
Considering that the only receivers currently in the NFL's top ten in yards whom the team might face in the playoffs are the Chargers' Keenan Allen and the Chiefs' Tyreek Hill, the Steelers might be in a situation where Haden and Burns won't need as much help over top. It would allow them to take away other options like Gronkowski or Travis Kelce or any receiving option who might line up inside the numbers.
While the upcoming matchup with the Browns certainly won't be a good game for tape on what the Steelers will do with several players resting, it will be interesting to see if they test any new schemes in a game that won't have much significance unless the Patriots lose to the 5-10 Jets at Gillette Stadium.
But one thing that we'll revisit in the postseason will be how the Steelers use these two cornerbacks and whether it will be a turning point in their campaign for a seventh Super Bowl win.