The NFL is nothing if not a show-me league.
If you show you can stop something defensively, often times, you'll deter the opposing team from trying it. Show you can't stop something and the sharks start circling like there's blood in the water.
There's not just a drop of blood in the water when it comes to stopping opposing running games. It's a 50-gallon bucket of the smelliest, bloodiest chum imaginable.
Since holding the Browns to 96 yards on the ground in a 15-10 win in Cleveland Oct. 31, the Steelers (6-6-1) have allowed an average of 178.5 yards per game on the ground going into Sunday's game against the Titans (9-4) at Heinz Field.
That includes a season-high 242 yards allowed on the ground in a 36-28 loss to the Vikings in a game in which Dalvin Cook had 27 carries for 205 yards.
Even though the Titans have been without star running back Derrick Henry the past five games, there's no secret as to how Tennessee will come after the Steelers Sunday.
"The head coach (Mike Vrabel) is a defensive guy. Defensive guys like to run the ball if they can," said Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler. "If I was looking at us, what would you do? I'd run the ball too. We're probably going to get that along with some play-action passes. We've got to be prepared for all of that."
The secret, as they say, is out.
Check out the Steelers vs. RBs since Week 10 👀
— John Paulsen (@4for4_John) December 15, 2021
(This is a D'Onta Foreman tweet.) pic.twitter.com/XbuE19MGDp
But preparing to stop the run and actually doing it on the field have proven to be two separate issues for the Steelers.
With defensive linemen Stephon Tuitt and Tyson Alualu both out, the Steelers have run a myriad of players through those spots to find adequate play. Backup end Chris Wormley has been fine as Tuitt's replacement -- though he's certainly not Tuitt, one of just three AFC players to reach double digits in sacks a year ago.
But Isaiah Buggs, Henry Mondeaux, Montravius Adams and even All-Pro end Cam Heyward have been tried at nose tackle in place of Alualu, who has been out since Week 2, with mixed results.
Buggs, who was benched three weeks ago against the Bengals before suffering an ankle injury that kept him out of the next two games, is expected to return this week. So will Carlos Davis, out since Week 1 with a knee injury. That's just in time for Steelers, who will be without Adams -- the starting nose tackle the past two games -- who was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 List Wednesday.
No matter who is in there, the job remains the same.
"The old cliche is true, it's not just something coaches use, we've got to win the individual battles," Butler said. "Part of individual battles is to get off blocks. We use the same technique we've always used since I've been here. It's worked for a lot of other people. We still have to get off blocks and get to the ball and play in unison together. We've got to be a better team defense."
The Titans will certainly test that, even without Henry, who rushed for 2,000 yards a season ago and remains fourth in the NFL with 937 rushing yards despite missing the past five games.
The Titans have run since released Adrian Peterson, D'Onta Foreman, Dontrell Hilliard and Jeremy McNichols through their backfield in the past five weeks with some success -- though not to the level of what they had with Henry.
With Henry, the Titans averaged 147.6 rushing yards per game. Without him, that average dips to 122 per game. And much of that was bolstered by a 270-yard game against the Patriots Nov. 28 in which both Foreman and Hilliard rushed for 100 yards despite the Titans losing the game, 36-13, while turning the ball over four times.
After a bye, the Titans have settled on Foreman as their lead runner, with Hilliard and McNichols spelling him. And last week in a 20-0 win over the Jaguars, they rushed for 102 yards.
That's probably still too much for Butler and the Steelers, but it would be a marked improvement.
The Steelers have looked at all of the Titans' games this season in the lead up to this game to get a sense for how they like to run their offense.
"I look at both just to get a sense of what they did before and if they've changed at all," Heyward said. "I think they really tried to settle back into the run. They opened up their offense. Everybody goes through some hiccups. But I think the run kind of settles everybody down and allows them to play with their play-action a bunch. You've got to watch it all."
If the Steelers can limit the damage on the ground, they can put more pressure on quarterback Ryan Tannehill to carry the offense. With Henry available, Tannehill was excelling, as usual, with play-action. He had a 90.2 passer rating with Henry in the lineup. Since losing Henry, Tannehill has thrown four touchdown passes with six interceptions in five games with a passer rating of 74.9.
The Titans averaged 28.4 points per game with Henry. They've averaged 19.4 points per game without him.
"If you stop the run, you've got a chance to dictate what they can and can't do," Butler said. "We've got to do that. It starts first and foremost at the line of scrimmage. If we do that, we've got an idea of when they're going to throw the ball. Play-action is always augmented by a good running game. If they've got a good running game, all of a sudden, your linebackers are running downhill to stop the run and then they throw it behind them. It's effective if they can run the ball."
The certainly can't fail at stopping the run as they did against the Vikings. Cook ran through some holes that he could have taken a leisurely stroll through, getting six runs of 10 or more yards, including 30- and 29-yard runs.
Can that be fixed?
"You hope so," Butler said. "I don't want to see those holes again if I don't have to."
But Butler also took some of the blame for that happening.
Sometimes the defense didn't play things the way it was supposed to. Other times, the Steelers got caught in a bad defense for what the Vikings were doing.
"That's not Coach Butler's job," said safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. "That's our job as the player to know where we're supposed to be lined up and thinking ahead when people move."
But the expectation still remains that somebody has to get the running back on the ground -- even one as talented as Cook.
The Titans don't have anyone anyone near that talented without Henry available. Nor do they have a Joe Mixon, who had 165 yards on the ground against the Steelers in a 41-10 win by the Bengals Nov. 28.
"Does it bother me? Dadgum right it bothers me," Butler said. "I have to make sure we don't do that crap no more. From here on, we're against the wall right now. We've got to win out to have a chance to get into the dadgum playoffs. That's our goal, get in the playoffs. It always has been. It always will be. We have to do it game to game. The first one is Tennessee."
THE INJURY REPORT
PITTSBURGH STEELERS
Offensive tackle Zach Banner, tight end Kevin Rader and Buggs all were non-participants at practice Thursday. The bright side for the Steelers is both Watt and Highsmith were full participants after missing last week's game.
