Welcome back to your weekly Pittsburgh Steelers mailbag. As always, we’re here for the next hour to answer whatever is on your mind. Should be a…fun one this week.
To your questions!
Yinz: Hey Alex – Where do we match up well against the Ravens defense? If you were gameplanning, where would you try to exploit? I probably would have said secondary, but with Humphrey & Marcus Williams coming back, I’m not so sure.
Alex: I’m….gonna need some time to get back to you, ha. I was talking with a Ravens guy last night and he said CB was their biggest concern. Wasn’t sure if Humphrey was going to play. So I guess there? But it’s a typical tough Ravens front with three really talented safeties now that Williams seems very likely to return.
In these moments, and really just pointing to the Steelers struggles, you focus on yourself. What you do well (I know right now it doesn’t seem like much) and playing sound and technical. They want to get Pickett into a rhythm early with some quick-hitters. They want, and need, to run the ball. That’s really where their focus is. Beyond that, it’s hard to find where Pittsburgh has the personnel or schematic wins. Maybe the Ravens’ pass rush won’t be as strong because they’ve been hit by injuries to guys like Oweh and Objabo.
Brian Tollini:
Do you feel it is a mistake to have our CB’s only play sides, this allowing a defense to dictate matchups?
Also, Steelers have zero rush tds. Ravens have allowed zero rush tds. Najee is going for 21/126/3, right?
Alex: It’s a fair question. Pittsburgh has played sides forever and haven’t travelled basically since Ike Taylor. You’re right offenses do get to dictate matchups and that can be an issue. But I guess I can live with the Steelers doing what they do because they don’t have a top-end corner who can and should travel to take away a star receiver and if you want to move one guy, you gotta be able to move the other. So there’s layers to all of that. I guess I’m ok with their decision. There’s pros and cons to move or not.
Yeah I noticed that stat last night. Doesn’t look good on paper. I sure hope you’re right. It would be classic Steelers to come out on top this weekend. And history says they actually will.
Tasso222222: Does the fact that Kendrick green played relatively well especially considering his relatively short duration with the Texans and the fact that he played alongside a rag tag oline group signify some serious issues with the Steelers? Coaching, scheme, player evaluation?
Alex: I get what you’re saying. But I don’t know if that one thing in a vacuum is the smoking gun. I don’t even know exactly how well Green played up to that point. Better than Pittsburgh it sounded like. I think it was scheme-related. He was a zone-blocking guy and Houston is better equipped to run that stuff.
More broadly, the regression of guys like Cole/Daniels and Seumalo probably not being as good as he was last year may speak to a larger problem with overall coaching, development, and getting the most out of their guys.
Jerry Reid: Hey Alex, I’ve noticed in the majority of clips the past couple weeks opposing DLs have been playing incredibly wide or are overloading sides. Is that something that certain defenses do more than others or is that something that’s been found to be effective against the Steelers?
Alex: Pretty much. It’s just part of a defense’s and coach’s personality. Mike Tomlin referenced seeing more teams run those “3×1” fronts with three defenders to a side pre-snap. All signals stunts and games because you can’t be that unbalanced and bunched as an actual rush.
Is it effective against Pittsburgh? Houston gave them fits. It’s a challenge for all lines, I’m sure, when you’re trying to sift through all those looks.
draframe1: Hi Alex! In the chance that Canada is replaced at the bye who takes over? And how could they implement any meaningful changes in a short period of time?
Alex: It’ll either be QBs Coach Mike Sullivan or offensive assistant Glenn Thomas. My guess is Sullivan. Been here longer, has NFL OC experience, and spent more time around Pickett. More seamless transition.
The playbook wouldn’t dramatically changed. The plays really wouldn’t change. But the sequencing of plays could be different and I think that’s the #1 issue when it comes to scheme/playcalling stuff.
BananasFoster: Ravens win this week 27-7, and Steelers look horrible again in the process. At this point isn’t all the Canada stuff a distraction. Wouldn’t letting him go just put an end to it all.
Alex: No, it wouldn’t. Because they’re 2-3 and just got their butt kicked by Baltimore. People will be happy for eight seconds about Canada being fired until they get mad about his replacement and any future losses. Firing Canada does not cure their ills. Far from it.
Jefferson_St_Joe: Is Pickett accurate enough to be a good QB? At some point you need to be able to throw guys open in coverage and he doesn’t seem to have the ability to do that, which I believe causes the lack of confidence to throw in the middle of the field. You wrote this morning that his favorite routes rely more on the receiver than accurate throws.
Alex: It’s a fair point. I don’t think he’s as accurate as he was billed to be. He’s…average. And he’s supposed to be this pinpoint accurate guy to make up for a lack of elite physical tools. You look at C.J. Stroud with his accuracy and touch. I don’t see that with Pickett. I really never have. Even last year. At least, not consistently.
St36: Hey Alex! I haven’t given up on Tomlin and I usually end up defending him with friends and family but I’m finding it harder to latley. My question is why does it seem on paper our offensive coaching staff leaves alot to be desired? Is it true that the steelers are really cheap with assistants or does tomlin really have the full freedom to hire who he wants? If it’s the latter than he deserves alot of the blame in my opinion.
Alex: There’s a bunch of layers to that. It’s frustrating, no doubt to see the turnover in players and get basically the same results. I don’t have a quick or neat explanation.
As for the assistants, we don’t know how much they get paid. We don’t know how cheap they are or aren’t. Dan Rooney would always so they didn’t pay the most, didn’t pay the least, and were on the “high side of fair.” Is that true under Art? I don’t know. That info is not public. Tomlin is one of the league’s highest-paid coaches. We know that.
Yes, it seems Tomlin has a lot of control when it comes to hiring his staff. That I’m confident in saying.
WeWantDaTruth: Hey Alex. At this point, why not make JOJ a full time starter? He was essentially a 1st round pick. Kick Peterson inside if needed. Agree?
Alex: I’ve understood their desire and rationale for slow-playing Porter’s snaps. And I think he’s gotten to grow up by playing in high-leverage situations.
But at this point, it’s clear game circumstance is having a pretty big impact on dictating how much he plays. Seven snaps in Week One, ten in Week Four. That’s not what this team wants. So at least playing him in nickel would mitigate that. And it wouldn’t put him in an everydown role because I wouldn’t have him out there in base.
Generally speaking though, I agree with you.
Christian D:
Good afternoon Alex,
I understand expecting a significant change to the coaching staff is unlikely given how the Steelers have historically operated, however, what do you expect to happen this offseason? Do you think Kahn/Weidl become more hands on and nudge Tomlin in direction of overhauling certain coaching personnel, whether it be through addition, subtraction, etc.? It possible that us fans are overreacting given we’re 4 games in and 2-2 on the season, but it really seems like this is the year the wheels start to really come off and expose the outdated philosophies in place in comparison to the rest of the league.
Thank you in advance for the potential response and great work as always!
Alex: We’ll take the offseason once it happens. I don’t know right now. Obviously, don’t expect Canada to return. Beyond that, I hadn’t thought about it too much and some of those things will be difficult to tell. How more hands on they are. They’re hands on in terms of roster construction, I know that.
Kelly Clark: Alex thanks for all you do. Love the videos breakdowns! My question is why do the Steelers never seem to have adjustments on offense and defense. I know you game plan, but if things done go our way, we need to adjust what we are doing. IE More stunts, moving personal around etc? It seems other teams can get it done on the fly, what gives? Thanks
Alex: That’s a good question. I don’t have a great answer. My guess is they’re trying to create a simple offense that doesn’t make these guys think too much. So it’s a more limited menu with a young QB and a team trying to do the basics. And so that makes them prone to getting out-schemed by more established defenses. But that’s a very broad answer to a layered question.
Wreckless:
Hey Alex. As someone who has watched this offense extensively, can you tell me why Allen Robinson seems to be nonexistent out there as a receiving threat? Same Juju route tree or what?
Also, how do you think that’ll impact his playing time once Diontae comes back? Do you think CAIII takes over most of the snaps or will he retain his spot more than likely?
Alex: He’s basically JuJu. Which is fine. That’s what I figured he would be. Not going to be targeted downfield. Going to do the dirty work underneath and help block. We’ll see how the roles go when Johnson returns. With his size, there will still be a role for him especially as the Steelers look to get the run game going.
