The performance of the defense on Monday against the Cleveland Browns still left much to be desired, but it was certainly better for the Pittsburgh Steelers than the week before. While they allowed Cleveland to move the ball and put up some points—aided at times by offensive turnovers—they were very impactful.
The difference isn’t just a coincidence. It’s a product of the work that went in during the week and growing experience within a group that features a number of new parts that hadn’t previously played together. That includes ILB Kwon Alexander, who was only signed during training camp and yet is playing a significant defensive role.
“Communication changed a lot. It was big last week”, he said on Thursday, via the team’s website. “Everyone was on the same page. We still can get better at things, everything’s not perfect, but it changed a lot last week, and you could tell in the outcome. That’s what we’ve been working on. Everybody’s been talking in practice”.
Communication issues were pervasive in the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers, so much so that it had head coach Mike Tomlin singing a different tune about the complications of adding so many new faces to the mix, no matter how experienced in other systems.
“I’ll be very blunt, we’re not concerned about the new faces on defense”, he said during training camp. Yet after their blowout loss in the opener, he talked about the issue of having “a lot of new people” and that there was “no substitute for experience”.
Well, now they’re starting to gain that experience, and slowly but surely we’re seeing that communication level improve, with the results to back it up. It’s still a work in progress, but it is a point of emphasis during the week, so they’re putting elbow grease into the problem.
“It comes with practice. Right now, going through all the stuff we do at practice and make sure everybody’s talking and nobody’s just being silent”, Alexander said. “We got certain guys that don’t like talking just because it’s in them, they just play ball. We’re just trying to get everybody to be vocal. Once you talk, it helps everybody out. That’s what we did last week. That’s why we got that many takeaways and got the ball that much”.
The Steelers recorded six sacks and four takeaways against the Browns. Now, was all of that because they were louder on the field than the week before? Obviously not. Takeaways still involve a lot of luck, especially when you’re talking about forcing fumbles.
But everything goes back to cohesion. Everybody has to be on the same page on defense, or on offense, to be in the right places to make the plays. They were where they needed to be—a lot of the time, anyway—on Monday night. Sunday will be a bigger test, taking the show on the road for the first time.
