By Matthew Marczi
It’s been no secret that fourth-year outside linebacker Jason Worilds has really begun to come into his own over the course of the last two games. He registered nearly double-digit pressures this week against the Cleveland Browns despite not actually registering a sack, but he did bring down their quarterbacks—both of them—seven times.
Early in the second quarter, the Browns had begun to drive down the field a bit after a poor punt by Mat McBriar set them up near midfield as it was. Worilds did his part to limit the damage. On third and long, his pressure on Jason Campbell forced a soft pass out to the tight end that was nearly intercepted.
The Steelers presented their usual front in the quarters package, with Worilds lined up on the left, but they ran an exotic stunt that saw the front four moving all over the place after the snap. Ziggy Hood rushed from left defensive tackle and looped around the right side of the defense, for example.
For Worilds, he swam over to the interior and crashed into the A Gap. With the right guard moving backward, he spun off the block and pressured Campbell, tackling him just after he got the pass away.
The Browns had another drive going midway through the third quarter, which in fact culminated in a missed 46-yard field goal attempt on the 14th play of the drive. Worilds had a big impact in forcing the long field goal attempt.
On this first down play, he simply beat right tackle Mitchell Schwartz with an inside spin move after faking an outside rush. It’s been well-publicized how this move has risen to prominence as he has over the past few weeks. His pressure on Brandon Weeden forced a throwaway.
The Browns were able to get a first down a play later despite pressure by Worilds, but he was back at it on the subsequent play. Here, he beat tight end Jordan Cameron off the block in order to make the tackle on the running back after a gain of just one.
On the next play, he was in the backfield once again, pressuring Weeden. This time it was the bull rush as he walked the right tackle back into the pocket and forced Weeden to throw early to Cameron down the field, who was well-covered by the secondary. As you can see, you can have a big impact as a pass rusher without necessarily registering a sack.
