When asked if he was concerned about the Steelers' run defense, Cameron Heyward's response was simple and to the point.
"No," he replied.
That might not seem like a good response given that the Steelers allowed 176 yards on the ground two weeks ago in a 34-6 win at Houston and then another 102 in their regular season finale, a 28-24 victory over Cleveland.
Getting better as a group and individuals has been the team's focus during its bye week for the playoffs, as the Steelers (13-3) await a yet-to-be-determined opponent for a Jan. 14 postseason game at Heinz Field.
But the team feels like there were some extenuating circumstances in both late-season cases that don't suddenly mean the Steelers can't stop the run again.
Against Houston, the Steelers were intent on not allowing receivers DeAndre Hopkins or speedy Will Fuller to get behind them. And they didn't do that, giving up just 51 net passing yards and limiting Hopkins and Fuller to five combined catches.
In the win last Sunday over the Browns, meanwhile, 61 of Cleveland's rushing yards came from quarterback DeShone Kizer on six scrambles. Cleveland's running backs, Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson, managed just 41 yards on 21 rushing attempts, a run-stopping effort the Steelers will take in any week.
Having the Steelers divert from their usual zone defenses to play more man-to-man has been something the team has wanted to do since getting picked apart by Tom Brady in last year's AFC Championship.
But those quarterback scrambles? They happen when a team is playing man defense, something the Steelers have done more often in recent weeks.
"Yeah," said Heyward. "That’s going to happen when you play man. Guys have their backs turned trying to disrupt wide receivers and worrying about the coverage. That’s more of a burden on us, but we like it that way. We’re doing more four-man rushes or five-man rushes. So everybody is going to have one-on-ones. But it’s always a Catch-22 with it. You’ve got to be able to capitalize on it."
The Steelers know it can happen when they play man. And seeing it happen so often with Kizer was a good reminder of what they might need to work on this week. Of their three potential playoff opponents -- Jacksonville, Kansas City and Tennessee -- all have quarterbacks capable of making a defense pay if the pass rushers allow them to escape the pocket.
That's when the Catch-22 situation to which Heyward referred occurs. For defensive backs plastered on receivers down the field, picking the right moment to leave their receiver in coverage and go after the quarterback can be a difficult decision.
"It's tough," cornerback Joe Haden admitted. "You've got to wait until he gets past the line of scrimmage because before that, it's plaster your man. Those scramble plays, you can think you have it covered and then it's a completely different play. It is tough, you kind of want to keep that quarterback contained in the pocket in the middle and then collapse it from the outside."
If that doesn't happen and the quarterback is allowed to escape, bad things can happen, as the Steelers found out.
Kizer had two big conversion runs on third-and-long situations, including getting 16 yards on third-and-15. And things won't get any easier against Kansas City's Alex Smith, Jacksonville's Blake Bortles or Tennessee's Marcus Mariota.
Pittsburgh played against all three of those teams in the regular season and did a good job of keeping them contained. Smith had four rushing attempts for 13 yards, Bortles one for 9 yards and Mariota had just five yards on five rushing attempts.
But Smith had 355 yards rushing and one touchdown this season, Bortles 322 yards and two scores and Mariota 312 and five scores, showing just how dangerous each can be once he breaks the pocket.
However, no team in the NFL this season allowed fewer than the 39 rushing attempts the Steelers gave up to opposing quarterbacks this season. And Kizer's 61 yards represented more than one-third of the 171 they allowed this season -- the fifth-fewest in the league.
That their worst game in allowing the opposing quarterback to get out of the pocket came in Week 17 -- and in a game in which they recorded six sacks to set the team record with a league-best 56 -- makes for a good teaching moment for defensive coordinator Keith Butler.
"It's funny you should say that," Butler told DKPittsburghSports.com. "I got hot about that a couple of times (Sunday). That goes with the territory a little bit. You're trying to get a good rush, the rush lanes open and they get out and get a first down and stuff like that. That's the downside of playing man-to-man coverage. But there's a lot of upside to playing man-to-man, as well. You kind of weigh it in there and mixing it in there, not always playing man-to-man, but playing some zone. We've got to be able to do that. But we've become a pretty good man team, I think. We've got to be able to use both."
If they're going to do so, the front has to be more cognizant of its rush lanes when it knows the defensive backs are in man coverage behind it. That means being more disciplined and not allowing the quarterback to escape the pocket.
"I think that’s very critical to our success," Heyward said. "You look at the last game, we gave up some rush lanes that allowed them to run the ball and pick up first downs on third-and-advantageous. If we can keep mobile quarterbacks in the pocket, we’ll have a lot more success. If you get wide-open lanes, they’re going to exploit you. It’s even more critical in the playoffs.
"We know we can stop mobile quarterbacks time and time again, we just have to be more consistent."