When it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers and how they want to play football, the strategy has been well known in recent years under long-time head coach Mike Tomlin.
The Steelers want to run the football, play good defense, create turnovers to set up short fields for offenses, and avoid the killer mistakes on that side of the ball to win low-scoring games.
More often than not in the regular season, that has worked for the Steelers.
It’s a style that Denver Broncos’ defensive coordinator Vance Joseph knows well and is preparing for. Speaking to the media Thursday ahead of the Week 2 matchup against the Steelers, Joseph said he’s preparing for a “dark, tough game” against the Steelers due to the style of play that is a “rock ’em, sock ’em” style.
“We all know Pittsburgh’s formula to win. It’s gonna be running football, right? Shortened games, play great defense. It’s been what Coach Tomlin’s done for the last 15 plus years, so that won’t change on Sunday,” Joseph said of the Steelers’ style of play, according to video via the Broncos’ Twitter page. “You know, they’ve always been a team that played with big people, multiple tight ends, fullbacks, and it’s been a downhill power running game, you know? And I was in that division for two years and played ’em twice a year. And it’s always that way, you know? So it’s gonna be a dark, tough game on Sunday morning. It’s not gonna be fancy.
“It’s gonna be the tough team who’s gonna win the team who takes care the ball’s gonna win. That’s their formula to win, and it’s everyone’s formula to win. So I’m looking forward to it, man. It’s gonna be rock ’em, sock ’em, tough football.”
It’s not a surprise that Joseph, who has been around the NFL a long time as a defensive coordinator and a head coach, knows all about the Steelers’ style and mentality under Tomlin. The Steelers have made that mentality and style of play clear throughout the offseason with all of the roster moves they made.
Adding coordinator Arthur Smith and his run-heavy approach to the mix to take advantage of a dynamic 1-2 punch at the running back position in Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren was one signal into what they want to do.
Then, there was the drafting of three offensive linemen in their first five picks, doing something the franchise hasn’t done since the 1976 NFL Draft. Not to mention, the comments from those rookie linemen, especially first-round pick Troy Fautanu about wanting teams to fear them due to their physicality in the run game made clear the intentions.
In Week 1, Pittsburgh hammered away at the Atlanta Falcons, rushing for 147 yards in the 18-10 win. Though the Steelers couldn’t truly finish drives with touchdowns, the fact that they were able to bludgeon away at the Falcons and run the ball consistently was certainly encouraging.
There wasn’t much in the passing game with quarterback Justin Fields, but the Steelers did enough there to keep the defense honest. With Fields likely starting again on Sunday in Denver, the plan of attack should be similar for the Steelers, which could lead to an ugly, low-scoring game in that “rock ’em, sock ’em” style like Joseph is expecting.
