A few years ago, the Denver Broncos began calling their secondary the "No Fly Zone," because it was so difficult to pass against.
The Steelers' secondary might have to start coming up with a cool nickname of its own. After all, in their past five games, the Steelers have allowed just 158.8 yards passing per game, a ridiculously low number.
They'll put that much-improved pass defense to the test once again when they travel to Denver on Sunday to face the Broncos.
It's just a five-game stretch, but considering where the Steelers were at early in the season, it's a considerable improvement.
In their first five games, the Steelers (7-2-1) allowed opponents to throw for an average of 296.2 yards per game. Their recent stretch, which includes holding Jacksonville to just 64 passing yards in a 20-16 come-from-behind win last Sunday, has vaulted the Steelers from 29th in the league against the pass to seventh going into the game against the Broncos (4-6).
"We’re in the top 10?", free safety Sean Davis asked when I told him that. "Good. We’re just playing well together. That chemistry, we’re just playing well together."
Their work against opposing receivers has been the most impressive thing about this recent stretch.
In their first five games, the Steelers gave up 69 receptions for 1,061 yards and eight touchdowns, an average per catch of 15.4 yards. That was easily among the worst in the league.
In their past five games, however, while the Steelers have given up nearly the same number of catches to opposing receivers (63), they have gone for just 523 yards and three scores. That's an average per catch of just 8.3 yards.
"Fifteen to eight?", a surprised Davis said. "That’s a big difference."
Indeed. Especially considering Buffalo leads the league allowing 10.1 yards per catch. And that's to receivers, tight ends and running backs as a group.
To hold opposing receivers under 10 yards? That's phenomenal, especially in today's NFL.
There are a lot of reasons for that. A pass rush that has provided consistent pressure is a big part of it. Tackling after the catch is another. The Steelers also began using their top corner, Joe Haden, to shadow the opponent's best receiver.
"It’s just staying on top of things, tackling well and don’t give up any yards after the catch," nickel corner Mike Hilton told me. "That’s one thing we’ve thrived on. It’s just something we really focused on. We know if we don’t give up the explosive plays, it’s going to be tough to drive the length of the field on us."
That has been the case. And the communication breakdowns that were plaguing the team early in the season? Well, they have disappeared.
The recent stretch of solid defensive play in the backfield also coincides with Mike Tomlin's decision to stop rotating cornerbacks Artie Burns and Coty Sensabaugh opposite Haden.
That experiment rotating those two corners went on for four games and ended after a Week 6 win at Cincinnati, when Burns got 29 snaps rotating with Sensabaugh. Since then, Sensabaugh has taken all of the snaps opposite Haden and has been solid.
"I feel like that kind of just settled everyone in," Hilton told me. "That let everyone know who the guy was at that position. It kind of settled us in as a secondary. We knew who to communicate with. It’s a lot of different things that have played into how we’ve performed."
According to Playerprofiler.com, since the rotation was dropped four games ago, Sensabaugh has given up just nine completions on 20 passes thrown his way for a paltry 63 yards.
"Coty has been extremely solid for us," Davis told me. "An awesome vet. He’s very vocal pre-snap. It’s nice to have guys like that on your team, especially if you’re missing something. He’ll say something as an alert that will bring it back to me. I definitely enjoy him out there."
Just don't try to give the seven-year veteran all of the credit for this resurgence. He won't take it.
"I don’t think you can attribute that to me," Sensabaugh said. "I think you can attribute that to the pass rush improving and the linebackers, improvement by all 11 guys. We’re starting to mesh together more and starting to gain some camaraderie. I think it’s starting to show."
The Steelers lead the NFL with 37 sacks and the big plays have come to an end. The Steelers have given up just four plays of 40 or more yards, including none in their past four games, tied for second-fewest in the league. They allowed 13 such completions last season.
That will be tested by Denver rookie Courtland Sutton. Sutton has averaged 20.0 yards on his 23 catches this season. The Broncos felt so good about the rookie they traded Demaryius Thomas to Houston a few weeks ago.
But the Steelers' secondary has been up to the task. While the opponents haven't been quite as daunting as they were early in the season, they haven't all been popgun offenses such as Jacksonville, either. The Steelers shut down the passing games of Cincinnati, Baltimore and Carolina during this recent stretch, as well. That was the same Ravens offense that had 363 yards through the air against the Steelers in a Week 3 victory. The second time around, the Steelers limited Joe Flacco to 209 yards.
It might not be worthy of a cool nickname just yet, but in today's pass-happy NFL, defense does still matter.
"Early in the season, we had a lot of moving parts, additions, subtractions, a lot of new faces," Davis said. "I think everybody has learned about each other and been talking in meetings and walk-throughs. Playing together has made us jell.”
