Throughout the Week 11 loss on the road to the Cleveland Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ pass rush was rather frustrated without how quickly Cleveland got the football out of rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s hand.
In the 13-10 loss to the Browns, Pittsburgh’s pass rush of T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and Cameron Heyward, among others, couldn’t really make much of an impact defensively. Watt had a sack in the fourth quarter, but that was really all that the pass rush generated in the loss. In fact, Thompson-Robinson averaged 2.15 seconds time to throw.
That quick time from snap to throw makes it nearly impossible for the pass rush to get home.
Pittsburgh might see more of that on Sunday in Week 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals, too.
Watt was certainly frustrated with Pittsburgh’s inability to defend 5-yard throws against Cleveland, and for the entire season for that matter, so the defense has to adjust this week with Cincinnati’s Jake Browning making his first NFL start.
For defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, there is full confidence in the players and the coaching that they know what needs to be done to adjust to quick throws moving forward.
“We do. I think our guys are well-coached and they understand every pass is not banquet, as Mike [Tomlin] would say. You’re not going to eat and get a sack on every one, so what’s the best plan of action for us on this particular play?” Austin said Thursday, according to the official transcript provided by the team. “I think our guys are really sharp about that.
“They know when they have an opportunity to rush and get home, and they know when that ball is going to be out quickly to get their hands up and affect the play a different way.”
Austin’s comments echoed the ones that Heyward made on Wednesday, stating that the Steelers have to do a better job of getting their hands up in passing lanes at the line of scrimmage, getting some batted passes in the process. The Steelers also have to do a better job of forcing opposing offenses into longer down and distance situations, allowing the pass rush to get after things.
Too often against the Browns, Pittsburgh wasn’t able to do that. Ultimately, that allowed the Browns to dink and dunk the football down the field, especially on the final drive of the game, leading to the game-winning field goal.
It will be much the same on Sunday in Cincinnati. Pittsburgh will have to be better prepared for it.
That includes Watt, who has a history of batting passes at the line of scrimmage and even picking off passes at the line, not to mention Heyward, who bats passes at the line of scrimmage with the best of them.
The Steelers say they know how to deal with the quick throws. Now it’s about executing in-game.
