The Pittsburgh Steelers run defense was awful on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, as they gave up 152 yards and a touchdown on the ground to 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey. With Nick Chubb and the Cleveland Browns up next on Monday night, Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin knows that Cleveland and other teams will target Pittsburgh on the ground if they can’t clean up their run defense.
“I think that especially in this league if you show some vulnerability, if you show some weakness, teams are going to take advantage of it until you correct it, and until we correct it, we can expect it to happen. It’s our job, starting with me, to make sure we put our guys in the right place to make the plays so we can correct it and get it corrected so that people aren’t doing that to us,” Austin said via transcript provided by the team.
Tackling was an issue, as was run fits, with ILB Cole Holcomb particularly struggling against the run on Sunday. It was a bad day for Pittsburgh’s defense all-around, but letting McCaffrey run all over them also helped set up the pass and put the 49ers in more manageable situations.
The highlight of the day for McCaffrey was a 65-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter that extended San Francisco’s lead to three possessions. On that play, Pittsburgh’s defensive backs got completely manhandled by the 49ers wide receivers on the boundary, allowing McCaffrey a lot of room to run and ending with him in the end zone. From top to bottom the Steelers have to be better against the run going forward.
The Browns and Chubb are one of the better teams/backs in the league, and Chubb has a history of success against the Steelers. They’re going to have to be ready and need to play better than they did last week. If they struggle to stop the run again, the Las Vegas Raiders and Josh Jacobs will look to continue to pound the rock against Pittsburgh in Week Three.
It’s not worth looking that far ahead yet, but the Steelers have to show they aren’t a team that can be ran all over. If they can contain Chubb on Monday, that will do a lot to show they’re better against the run than they showed against San Francisco.
McCaffrey might be the best back in football, but Chubb is certainly up there and you could make an argument he’s the top dog. Pittsburgh is familiar with him, and he’s familiar with Pittsburgh. If the Steelers can’t fill the holes and continue to miss on tackles, Chubb could have a field day on Monday at Acrisure Stadium. The Steelers have been working to make sure that’s not the case, but they’ll have to prove they can stop him on Monday.
