Coming out of the Week 11 loss to the Cleveland Browns on the road, there were some frustrations defensively for the Pittsburgh Steelers, as the Browns dinked and dunked down the field with rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, winning a low-scoring 13-10 matchup.
Star outside linebacker T.J. Watt was rather frustrated with the dinking and dunking the Browns did, and that the Steelers seemingly couldn’t stop them. After the game he expressed that frustration, stating teams have been doing it all season and that it’s an issue right now for the Steelers.
That will again be the expected plan of attack against Pittsburgh’s defense on Sunday in Week 12 as the Cincinnati Bengals will be rolling out quarterback Jake Browning for his first career start in place of Joe Burrow, who was lost for the season with a wrist injury last week.
Though the Bengals have some great downfield threats like Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, with a quarterback like Browning, chances are the Bengals will want to get the ball out quickly and safely, avoiding turnovers. It’ll be a challenge for the Steelers defense, but for defensive captain Cameron Heyward, there is a way to combat the dinking and dunking.
“It’s a mixture of things. The front’s got to get their hands up a little bit. We’ve got to get some batted balls,” Heyward told reporters, according to video via Steelers Live on Twitter. “If we can get into a situation where we can pin our ears and they have to throw the ball, then you have more chances to have a successful pass rush. But if they’re in situations where they can dink and dunk the ball down the field, then it kind of takes away from the pass rush.
“Gotta stop the run like we did last week, but gotta have some longer downs to make them go down the field.”
The Steelers did a nice job of stopping the run consistently last week against the Browns, holding Cleveland under 100 yards rushing. But even by stopping the run, that didn’t take away from the dink-and-dunk game that the Browns leaned heavily on with Thompson-Robinson, especially on the game-winning drive.
Throws were short and quick, picking apart space within the Steelers’ defense whether it was zone or man coverage. The quick throws didn’t allow guys like Heyward, Watt or even Alex Highsmith to truly impact the game late like they normally do. By getting the ball out quickly, the Browns negated the pass rush, took some pressure off of young tackles Dawand Jones, James Hudson, and Geron Christian, and allowed the Browns’ offense to function quickly and efficiently.
It will be no surprise if Cincinnati borrows some of those concepts after seeing the Browns have success. Cincinnati still has great players on offense without Burrow, but it won’t be the same offensive attack. Pittsburgh has to adjust and find a way to confuse Browning pre and post-snap, get hands up at the line of scrimmage, and take away the short, quick throws.
