THE IMPORTANCE: For the Steelers to take that next step on defense, they need to continue to grow. A year ago, they put together an impressive second half, allowing more than 250 yards passing in only two of their final 13 games.
If they can sprinkle in some more man coverage with their zone and Cover 3, and even the Cover 2 they implemented more often a couple years ago, it will offer more options to match up against a specific team. Brady was able to pick apart a predictable Steelers’ defense in both meetings last year. That can’t happen this year if they want to make it back to the Super Bowl.
THE BREAKDOWN: The Steelers did play the most Cover 2 of any team in the NFL a year ago, but the rest of the defenses called — if not all of them — had plenty of man concepts attached. The issue a year ago was that they just didn’t play man coverage very well.
The way the defense is structured, there are a lot of man concepts. But make no mistake: Butler leaned toward spot drops and zones a lot more than man, and there’s a reason for it.
“We are going to try to build to do what our guys do best,” Butler said earlier this summer. “Sometimes you can’t tell until you get to training camp. Maybe you aren’t as good as you think you should be. Maybe we should do this. It is going to be a learning experience for me to figure out what my guys do best.”
Burns prefers playing man coverage and continued to work on it during the spring by matching up against Antonio Brown during practices. Cockrell doesn’t have Burns’ ability, but he was matched against the other team’s top receiver plenty a year ago, and he did OK. With the addition of Sutton and Sensabaugh and finally getting a healthy Golson back, the Steelers have the pieces to make more of a push toward man coverage.
OK, well, that depends on who’s talking.
Mike Tomlin, Butler and the majority of the players have said that, but Gay scoffed at the concept during the spring when I asked about the transition toward more man coverages.
“Ha!” Gay said. “All the fans and media want to hear is the word ‘man,’ but if you look at our playbook, you play man every time, other than maybe Cover 2. You want to give the fans what they want by using the words man-to-man, but if they understand defense, it’s bigger than that.”
The Steelers played plenty of matchup zone last year, but that type of defense requires experience. Whether coverage is passed over to another defender is predicated on reading the proper route run by the receiver, which could be confusing to inexperienced players. It’s much safer with less chance for a breakdown to allow a corner to just cover a receiver all over the field, letting the natural ability of the defender take over.
“There’s always some opening in a zone defense,” Burns said. “It’s someone who missed a drop, or it’s always some group in a zone defense. To be able to play man, to get a guy right in someone’s chest with the pressure, it affects the quarterback a little bit.”
THE DIFFERENCE-MAKER: While more man is the plan, Butler freely admitted he doesn’t know if it will ultimately work. If the players are able to handle man coverage in camp, they will play it during the season.
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