The Steelers' pass defense is heading out of the frying pan and into the fire.
A week after holding Tom Brady and company to one touchdown in a 17-10 victory last Sunday at Heinz Field, the Steelers head to New Orleans this Sunday to face Drew Brees and the Saints, owners of the NFL's best record at 12-2.
The two offensive attacks offer some similarities in that they feature future Hall of Fame quarterbacks and a running back who figures heavily in the passing attack. For the Patriots, that was scatback James White, whom the Steelers limited to five receptions for 25 yards on seven targets last week. For the Saints, it's Alvin Kamara, a bigger back capable of running over or around defenders.
But those two things are where the similarities end.
The Steelers used a lot of dime defense against the Patriots. But playing with only one true linebacker — Vince Williams — on the field at the second level left the Steelers susceptible to the run. The Patriots averaged 5.1 yards per rushing attempt. But the Steelers came up with some stops when it counted, holding New England out of the end zone on three red zone trips.
The Saints, however, are content to run the ball if they can. Their 425 rushing attempts are third-most in the NFL this season, and their run-pass ratio is nearly 50-50.
"They really run a balanced offense," Stephon Tuitt said.
The Saints are balanced as much or more so as any team in the league. While White isn't the primary ball carrier for the Patriots, Kamara is for the Saints, leading them with 187 carries to go along with his 77 receptions for 624 yards and four touchdowns on 99 targets.
And then there's Michael Thomas. The 6-foot-3, 212-pound Thomas leads the Saints with 109 receptions for 1,267 yards and eight touchdown catches. And he has done it on just 127 targets, meaning he catches nearly 86 percent of the passes Brees throws his direction.
Joe Haden, who has matched up against the opponent's top receiver all season, likely will follow Thomas in coverage.
"He’s a physical receiver, and he runs good routes," Haden said. "At the same time, he’s working with a great quarterback. When you’re that good, and you’ve got a quarterback who can throw you open, it’s kind of tough. They really work well together, and he gets him the ball coming right out of his routes."
It might seem like the best way to stop the Saints is to shut down those two players — something easier said than done. It's something that's important, but it's not that simple a puzzle.
"Those are his top targets, but he spreads the ball around," Morgan Burnett told me of Brees. "There just aren’t too many times where he makes a bad decision or a bad throw. He’s really smart, got a high IQ. He’s going to put his guys in the right position, and he’s accurate enough to put the ball where only his guy has a chance to make a play on it. Otherwise, it’s not going to be complete."
As much as Brees does spread the ball around — 13 different players have touchdown catches for the Saints — Brees leans heavily on Kamara and Thomas. No other pass catcher has more than 42 targets for the Saints, as Thomas and Kamara have been targeted on 50.2 percent of his pass attempts. They've been incredibly efficient, as well, catching 82 percent of those passes, while accounting for 54.7 percent of passes Brees has completed.
Minnesota's Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, who have caught 51.3 percent of the passes thrown by the Vikings this season on 51.8 percent of the targets, are the only other duo who account for over 50 percent of their team's production in both categories. Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster account for 49.7 percent of the Steelers' targets and 46.7 percent of their receptions.
Despite playing a heavy dose of dime last week, the Steelers got pressure on Brady with mostly four-man rushes. Even though they sacked him only one time, they hit him seven other times and forced him to throw the ball before he wanted.
"They always do a good job of putting people under pressure," Haden said of the Steelers' defensive front, which has recorded 46 sacks this season. "They had Tom a little uncomfortable. They have been doing a good job in three-man and four-man rushes. There’s not too many people extra and that really helps us out a lot."
That could be difficult against Brees, who has been sacked just 15 times this season.
If the Steelers have a glimmer of hope to solving the puzzle that is the Saints offense, it's that the offensive line is banged up. Pro Bowl left tackle Terron Armstead has been dealing with leg and pectoral injuries, and Pro Bowl center Max Unger left Monday night's win over the Panthers with a concussion and did not practice Wednesday. Armstead's backup, Jermon Bushrod, left the game against the Panthers with a hamstring injury. Left guard Andrus Peat and and right tackle Ryan Ramczyk also were limited at Wednesday's practice with shoulder injuries.
But slowing Thomas and Kamara is the key. And the Saints know that.
Because of that, they employ Kamara much the same way the Steelers used Le'Veon Bell when he was still with the team, motioning him out of the backfield to get the matchup the Saints like. The only issue is that the Saints also will keep running back Mark Ingram on the field with Kamara at times, giving them the ability to run the ball when they split Kamara out.
And Thomas will line up both outside and in the slot, making it difficult for the Steelers to shadow him 100 percent of the time with Haden, who has played just 2.6 percent of his snaps in the slot this season. That means covering Thomas, at times, could fall on nickel corner Mike Hilton.
Hilton, who is 5-foot-9, lost some playing time to Cam Sutton last week because the Steelers wanted a corner who was a little bigger in the slot against the Patriots. But Hilton still played 38 snaps against the Patriots compared to nine for Sutton.
That also could be where the 5-10, 215-pound Kamara lines up. They are physical mismatches in many cases, regardless of who is on them.
"They definitely go to them a lot," Haden said. "Those are the two premiere players in their passing game — Kamara coming out of the backfield, and they’re able to spread him out. He’s like a receiver. And then Thomas, he’s just a good dude. He’s a volume catcher. He gets a lot of balls. We have to be sure where those two dudes are at all times."
