The Pittsburgh Steelers will play their ninth game of the 2023 regular season on Sunday afternoon, and this week it will be a home contest against the Green Bay Packers. This week the Steelers will enter their game as slight home favorites once again. Below are five key things that I believe the Steelers will need to do Sunday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium to come away with their sixth win of the 2023 season.
‘Love’ Lots Of Third & Longs – For his career, which has included 18 appearances and just nine total starts, Packers QB Jordan Love is just 32 of 62 (51.6%) passing on third downs with six more yards to go. Only 20 of his 67 dropbacks in those situations have resulted in either a touchdown or a first down, which equates to just 29.9 percent. Love has been sacked four times on third and 6 or more and has five interceptions to go along with just one touchdown. Four of those interceptions have come this season.
Conversely, the Steelers defense has given up just15 first downs on 55 total dropbacks this season when opposing offenses have faced third down with 6 or more yards to go. Six of the defenses’ sacks so far this season have also come on third downs when six or more yards is needed by the opposing offense. The Packers have an overall third down conversion rate of 41.7% on offense so far this season and that’s tenth best in the league so it’s fairly imperative that the Steelers defense gets Love and company in as many third down and 6 or more situations as possible on Sunday.
‘Tine’ To Heavily Attack The Corners – The Packers are unlikely to have staring CB Jaire Alexander on Sunday as he’s expected to miss the week Ten contest with a back injury. Assuming the doubtful Alexander doesn’t play, the Packers’ two cornerbacks on Sunday will likely be Carrington Valentine and Corey Ballentine, both of whom don’t have a lot playing experience overall. Valentine is a rookie out of Kentucky while Ballentine has bounced around a few teams since being selected in the sixth round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Washburn.
The Packers have played a lot of zone coverage on defense so far this season and with Alexander likely to miss Sunday’s game, that trend will likely continue on Sunday against the Steelers in an effort not to give up the big passing play. Heavy zone coverages and all, those two Packers’ cornerbacks should not match up well with the Steelers top two wide receivers, Diontae Johnson and George Pickens. In a rare case of the Packers playing press-man coverage on Sunday, Steelers QB Kenny Pickett should attack the tastiest outside matchup deep. Additionally, it would be wise for the Steelers to attack the edges with their running game on Sunday to see just how willing and able Valentine and Ballentine are at offering ground support.
Wherefore Art Thou, Romeo? – The Packers leading pass catcher heading into Sunday’s game against the Steelers is WR Romeo Doubs, a second-year player out of Nevada. Doubs enters Sundays Week Ten game with 30 total receptions for 312 yards and five touchdowns, all of which have come inside the red zone. The Packers only have 12 touchdown receptions on the season, so Doubs has accounted for nearly half of those. Not surprisingly, Doubs also leads the Packers in third down receptions with 11 and seven of those have resulted in either first downs (5) or touchdowns (2).
In summation, and while the Packers do have several other young and capable wide receivers on their roster in Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, and Dontayvion Wicks, Doubs is probably the one that Steelers need to pay the most attention to on Sunday and especially if the Green Bay offense enters the red zone.
Control Scary Gary – While he doesn’t play every down on defense, Packers EDGE Rashan Gary is easily the best player on that side of the football for Green Bay so far this season. Gary mostly lines up on the left side of the Packers defense so that means Steelers rookie T Broderick Jones will be matched up against him most of Sunday afternoon. Gary leads the Packers in sacks (4.5) and total pressures (33), and he’s tied for the team lead in tackles for loss (5). Gary has managed to register those stats despite only playing 42% of all defensive snaps the Packers have had this season.
Gary likes to be on the field in obvious passing situations and sometimes his rush path includes being part of T/E stunt so that he can loop inside. Because of that, Steelers LG James Daniels will need to make sure he is on high alert on Sunday along with Jones. While Gary has been string as a pass rusher so far this season, his play against the run has been just average. Because of that, the Steelers might want to run at Gary when they have chances to do so. Jones played well in his first start at right tackle in Week Nine and it’s imperative that he has another nice showing on Sunday against Gary and fellow Packers EDGE Kingsley Enagbare, who will likely be on the field whenever Rashan isn’t.
Nix Nixon – Packers CB Keisean Nixon is one of the top returners in the NFL this season and especially when it comes to kickoffs. A South Carolina product, Nixon leads the NFL in kickoff return average (28.0) so far this season and his long is 51 yards. Last season, he averaged 28.8 yards per return and took one back 105 yards for a touchdown. Nixon also returns punts for the Packers and this season he’s averaged 10.6 yards per attempt with a long of 34.
In short, Nixon can flip a field in a hurry for the Packers and thus the Steelers coverage units must be on point on Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. Pittsburgh’s kickoff coverage team hasn’t been great overall this season as that unit has allowed a 23.5-yard average through the first nine weeks of the season.
