One of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ most significant issues during their four-game losing streak has been their defensive communication. While their communication seemed to improve in Week 18 against the Cincinnati Bengals, it was a mess the three weeks before that, including in Week 16 against the Baltimore Ravens. With the Steelers preparing for a road tilt with Baltimore in the Wild Card Round on Saturday night, the Steelers want to prevent those communication issues from cropping up again.
Steelers LB Patrick Queen told Steve Wyche that the team’s main issue has been communication. He said the Steelers had extra sessions after practices and walkthroughs to work on this.
“This week, they actually had post-practice and post-walkthrough sessions where they went through all of their checks and communications to make sure everybody was on the same page,” Wyche said on NFL GameDay Morning on Saturday.
Queen also told Wyche that Zay Flowers’ absence from the Ravens could help the Steelers make checks and communicate since he’s usually their pre-snap motion player. However, Baltimore could now use multiple different players, which could be confusing if the Steelers don’t communicate well.
That makes communication all the more important against the Ravens. The Steelers will need to know their assignment and matchups, be aware of any checks, and pay attention to what Baltimore is doing pre-snap.
If Pittsburgh’s communication falters again, they won’t have a chance to beat the Ravens. The defense knows that, and it’s good that they spent extra time working on it and nailing things down. Of course, working on it in practice and after practice and going out and executing during a game in a hostile environment is different. Still, the extra work during the week should be beneficial tonight.
A big night from Pittsburgh’s defense is needed for the Steelers to win. Pittsburgh has a shot to pull off the upset win if they can effectively limit Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry as they did in their first matchup in Week 11. It’s a team they know well and they’ve seen twice this year, so any lapses with communication or blown coverages will be inexcusable against a Ravens team that the Steelers are familiar with. It’s a unit with two players hungry for postseason success in Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt, and Queen will want to get revenge against his former team, who didn’t offer him a contract last offseason.
For that to happen, the Steelers will have to be sound and communicate effectively, and the steps they took throughout the week should make things easier in-game.
