Last year the Steelers' saw their secondary play as one of the best units in the NFL with the arrival of Minkah Fitzpatrick and Steven Nelson to team up with Joe Haden, Mike Hilton and Terrell Edmunds.
They haven't looked nearly as good so far this season.
The Steelers' secondary isn't as sharp as it can be right now, but the good news is the Steelers are still 4-0 after their 38-29 win over the Eagles and the defense still ranks high in several key statistics.
They're first in sacks, third in interceptions, sixth in points per game allowed and have the sixth best passer rating allowed. But that doesn't mean there isn't a bunch to clean up. Carson Wentz didn't put up insane passing numbers for the Eagles with 20 completed passes on 35 attempts for 258 passing yards for two touchdowns, two interceptions and being sacked five times.
But several times the secondary was beaten by Wentz and his young receivers in Travis Fulgham and Greg Ward Jr. in ways that attacked different weak spots in the Steelers' defense based on various concepts.
The answer to improving in those spots is a mix of improved chemistry between defensive backs understanding each other's strengths and weaknesses while applying that understanding to knowing which passing concepts opponents favor.
Here's an early example from the game when Fulgham ran a simple hook route short of the marker. The Steelers are in a zone defense that has Nelson playing a deep zone with Edmunds in position to help underneath. Both are lined up to at the same depth to disguise who is playing underneath and overtop coverage. Edmunds tries to jump the pass when Wentz goes underneath to Fulgham, but is blocked from getting there by Ward, which should be offensive pass interference, opening up Fulgham:
Picks like that happen a lot in the NFL and we've seen the Steelers learn to work around them as seasons continue and secondaries sharpen. Some of the plays given up Sunday were just solid execution against tight passing windows.
Here's Nelson in coverage against Fulgham, a player making his second career start. Nelson establishes inside leverage before Fulgham's corner route that gets just enough separation for Wentz to make a good throw for the first down. This isn't necessarily a bad play by Nelson as with several new receivers, tendencies are difficult to pick up on film for cornerbacks to know which routes to jump based off different formations and situations:
Corner routes were especially tough on the Steelers' secondary, as Ward also beat Haden badly for a third quarter touchdown. Corner routes can be tough to anticipate when not looking for them, and Haden was beaten on this break for a wide open receiver:
Those routes are things cornerbacks can adjust to as they grow each season. In an unprecedented year for high passing numbers in the NFL, there will always be different challenges for secondaries to adjust against. What has to happen in response will come during the weeks where Keith Butler and company identify what those challenges are and adjust to them.
That's where you'll see Fitzpatrick, Hilton and other players start to play off what teams perceive as the Steelers' weaknesses. It takes time and turnovers are often built on luck and consistent discipline that forces tight passing windows for quarterbacks to hit. For Fitzpatrick to be the opportunist he was last year, the Steelers' coverage underneath will need to be tighter and prevent easier throws that can avoid the secondary's centerfielder, which is ultimately what has happened through four games.
In those four games, Fitzpatrick has only been targeted ten times, allowing seven completions for 96 yards, most of those coming when a receiver was running underneath one of his deep zone assignments and he just happened to be the player that had to come up and make the tackle.
But think about that, that means Fitzpatrick is only being targeted 2.5 times a game, allowing only less than two catches a game, and only 24 receiving yards per game. Those are insanely low numbers in a year where most teams' passing numbers are through the roof. That means when he's lining up as the Steelers' deep safety, teams aren't able to take the top off the defense and it forces opponents to have to consistently throw underneath passes to sustain drives.
Fitzpatrick is doing his part even if it doesn't look like it on the box score, and the tape shows it. But what the tape also shows is that the secondary has to be more consistent with their assignments in helping force the ball towards Fitzpatrick for him to make the most of any opportunities.
Fulgham's fourth quarter touchdown is a perfect example of why that tightening up of the secondary is needed. The Steelers send five pass rushers and go to a Cover 1 Man defense. This means that five players are in man coverage while Fitzpatrick is the lone centerfielder in zone coverage. The Eagles run a double crossing concept where Zach Ertz, their Pro Bowl tight end, runs a deep in route to the back of the end zone while Fulgham runs a drag underneath.
Except Fulgham realizes he doesn't have to run a drag because he's completely uncovered. Instead of taking his route to the middle of the field, he stops, does jumping jacks and presents an easy target for Wentz. The missed assignment here was clearly on Nelson, who was covering nobody and started the play lined up over Fulgham while the rest of the team was in man coverage:
If Nelson comes down on Fulgham to cover, that pushes Fulgham to the middle of the end zone where Fitzpatrick is waiting. That's the design of the play, but it's busted when Nelson isn't there. Fitzpatrick shuffled to help against Ertz and would've pounced on Fulgham if Nelson has pushed him that way, but one mistake can bust any defensive concept if a good quarterback like Wentz is paying attention.
This is where the Steelers' defensive backs have to tighten up. It won't mean they'll never get beat, but it will present tougher challenges for quarterbacks to throw against them. And when those challenges get more desperate, you'll see some real opportunities for Fitzpatrick and company to break on passes and make big plays.
But what's crazy about all that is the fact that even without playing its sharpest football, the Steelers' six interceptions is the third most in the NFL. And their seven forced turnovers are the tenth most in the NFL, with the large majority of the teams above them having played more games because of the Steelers' forced early bye week.
If you want to see what it would look like if the Steelers' cornerbacks and underneath coverage were tighter and forced the ball to Fitzpatrick more, just look back at his pick six against the Colts in 2019. Haden is right on the back of his man, forcing the ball to have to be thrown more to the inside, where Fitzpatrick can then properly jump the pass and take the opportunity the other way:
The good news for the Steelers is that all these challenges are very fixable and not something that takes an overhaul. How they adjust and adapt to this year's offenses may be the determining factor in key games against quarterbacks like Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson later in the season.