The Pittsburgh Steelers, by their own admission, didn’t pay the proper amount of respect to TE Trey McBride last week until he showed them first-hand what he could do for the Arizona Cardinals offense. No less a source than S Minkah Fitzpatrick put that out there.
Then the defense gave up a couple scores to New England Patriots TE Hunter Henry. So you probably shouldn’t be surprised if you hear see the likes of Kylen Granson or Will Mallory of Andrew Ogletree featured prominently during Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, their “arsenal” of tight ends. That’s what defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is preparing for.
“If we show that we can’t guard them, they’re gonna use them”, he told reporters yesterday, via audio provided by the team’s media department. “They’re gonna use them even if they haven’t. We’ve got to do a better job there”.
On the whole, the Steelers’ numbers defending tight ends rank only in the average range, not especially bad in any one area, though their five touchdowns allowed puts them among the top 10. Recent weeks, however, have given increased cause for concern given what they have put on tape working against McBride and Hunter Henry, neither of whom would be the first tight end names to come to mind—even if, as Fitzpatrick reminded, they should very much be respected.
As for the Colts’ tight ends, that truly is a group with perhaps no one standout performer. All of them—all four of them—contribute to their offensive game plan, some serving in a more blocking-oriented capacity for Jonathan Taylor and Zack Moss. Others have been used in the passing game more recently.
But when you have a week like the Steelers did defending the tight end position, which included surrendering a total of three touchdowns, it goes without saying that teams are going to look at that. They also allowed Cincinnati Bengals TE Drew Sample to find the end zone a week earlier, four of their five touchdowns surrendered by tight ends on the season coming in just the past three games.
You always hear that the NFL is a copycat league, and for good reason, so the Steelers would be wise to pay special attention to how the Colts may look to attack them over the middle with their big bodies. Especially given the state of their inside linebacker room, and the Colts’ lack of much of a receiving threat elsewhere outside of WR Michael Pittman Jr.
“We’ve got to do a better job in terms of making sure we have the right guys on them, what kind of scheme we’re doing”, Austin said regarding the Steelers’ approach to defending tight ends moving forward. “When we choose to leave a linebacker on them, it’s got to be at the right times. I would think that they’re gonna use a tight end until we show them we can stop them”.
Given their latest trajectory, that may prove easier said than done.
