Confidence can be a tricky thing. To get to the NFL, you need a lot of it. It's needed to stay there, as well.
When you're an NFL cornerback, the rules are set up for you to fail more than 60 percent of the time against even an average quarterback. This year, it has ramped up even more. Seven quarterbacks are currently completing 70 percent or more of their passes, including a league-best 80.6 percent for Drew Brees.
"It’s super difficult," Joe Haden told me Thursday of playing the position in the league. "But you just have to realize that it’s not going to change. It’s tailored to the offense as far as touching, as far as contact, so you have to go back and try to play by the rules. They might get some completions, but as long as you don’t let the ball get over your head, that’s the key. You have to make them matriculate the ball down the field. You have to make them do it 5 or 6 yards at a time instead of just bombing it over the top."
That has been the issue for Artie Burns, one that led to his benching last week in Tampa.
Burns, a first-round draft pick in 2016, had been a starter since Week 9 of his rookie season, but was replaced in last week's 30-27 win over the Buccaneers by Coty Sensabaugh. The two rotated at the outside spot opposite Haden, with Sensabaugh getting 48 snaps compared to 25 for Burns, nearly a 2-1 split.
The problem, it seems, is Burns isn't always doing what he's been coached to do.
"Sometimes he reverts back to stuff that he's done before instead of playing technical stuff that we ask him to play," Keith Butler said Thursday. "As a young player, you can't always revert back to what you did that hasn't been successful. You've got to try and run the techniques that we've taught you to run."
The issue for Burns isn't that he's allowing some completions. As Haden said, that's going to happen in today's NFL. The issue has been allowing opponents to get behind him.
He's been targeted 13 times this season, allowing nine completions for 176 yards and three touchdowns with one pass breakup. That's an average of 19.6 yards per completion. Opposing quarterbacks have posted a passer rating of 151.4 when targeting him. That pales in comparison to the 12.6 yards per catch he allowed on 37 receptions and two touchdowns all of last season per playerprofiler.com.
Burns had not played well this season and he knows it.
"It’s just me making plays. I know I can make plays," Burns said. "They’re trusting me to make plays, I’ve just got to make them."
Sensabaugh's completion percentage allowed isn't much better. He's given up 10 catches on 12 targets, but for just 123 yards and one score. That's a passer rating of 137.2. He's not exactly making plays, either. But he's not giving up big ones.
"I'd like to see, from all of them, they need to not give up big plays, keep the top on it if they can," Butler said. "We knew going into the Tampa game, that's what they had done the most damage with, going deep. We tried to tell them all week to stay out of those situations. That was the whole deal."
This isn't the first time the Steelers have benched a cornerback and had him come back stronger. Mel Blount was benched by Chuck Noll briefly while struggling in 1974. He came back and was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1975 and is widely considered one of the greatest defensive backs in NFL history. Former Steelers great Ike Taylor also went through a benching by Bill Cowher in 2006, his fourth season in the league.
Both Blount and Taylor were benched at the age of 26. At 23, Burns is still young enough to bounce back and become a productive player, if he takes the benching the right way.
He told me he didn't take it personally, knowing the coaching staff made the move because it wants more from him.
"Yeah, probably," he said when I asked if he thought the move was made to help light a fire under him.
Burns knows he has to be more consistent in his play.
"Definitely," he said. "That’s what every coach wants, every team wants. I’ve just got to make sure I’m doing that routinely. I’ve done it before. I’ve just got to do it again."
Which is why Mike Tomlin hasn't banished him from the field completely. The Steelers have seen Burns make plays in practice sessions. They've seen him shadow star receiver Antonio Brown and not be consistently overmatched.
But for whatever reason, his mind seems to drift at times. That's something Sensabaugh, an eight-year veteran, understands well.
"That’s the beautiful part of this position, you can be the hero or the scapegoat," Sensabaugh said. "As a DB, if you’re not locked in on every play, they can beat you."
Burns is looking at this as a challenge. He knows he can do better and cites more game-film study as a way to make that happen.
Butler feels that's a good place to start.
"In terms of learning the game and seeing what his opponents do, yeah," he said. "He needs to be aware of what his opponents do, what their strengths and what their weaknesses are. He's got to understand what his strengths and weaknesses are and accentuate the strengths and beef up on the weaknesses."
If he can do that, there's still time for Burns to recover and become a valuable part of the defense. He is, after all, still just 23. And opponents had just a 65.6 passer rating when targeting him a year ago.
Blount and Taylor both recovered from their struggles to do so. Burns can as well, though he knows he's already at a career crossroads.
"It's definitely going to make or break me," Burns said."I've got to keep my head down, stay focused."