Last week, former New England Patriots WR Julian Edelman made headlines by calling out the Pittsburgh Steelers for never changing their ways defensively, particularly when it came to how they covered empty during his playing days.
“You knew exactly what they were doing,” Edelman said on his Games With Names podcast. “And they still do what they did. They still do the same goddamn shit [as] when I was playing [Mike] Tomlin’s defense. I’m like, ‘We still have linebackers covering the three slot? Every time we play Steelers, I have at least nine catches,” Edelman said on his Games With Names podcast last week.
On former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s Footbahlin podcast, he was asked about the comments and if he agreed with Edelman that the Steelers do the same things. Roethlisberger thinks that it’s an issue that the Steelers need to get away from.
“There’s definitely truth to it. You got to change with the times,” Roethlisberger said. “We’re not trying to confuse people like other teams do. Other teams are confusing people. Look at the end of that Bills-Chiefs game. [Chiefs DC Steve Spagnoulo] sent a corner blitz. They sent it for the first time all game, in a situation where you would never expect it and you need it, and they got home.”
Roethlisberger said the Steelers line up and want to prove they’re better than the guys on the other side and don’t necessarily adapt as they should.
“It’s like we just go through this, ‘eh, we’re just better than you. We’re gonna line up, and we’re gonna beat you.’ That works to a certain extent. At some point, you have to decide that you’re gonna throw some different wrinkles at teams.”
“That’s something that the Steelers, they got to get away from.”
It’s a very interesting comment from someone who has spent a lot of time in Pittsburgh’s meeting rooms and knows how the team likes to and wants to operate. While the Steelers have been one of the better teams against empty in recent seasons and have come up with some good disguises, and that was Edelman’s main point of reference, indeed, the Steelers aren’t necessarily changing things up frequently and trying to confuse offenses. Roethlisberger thinks that’s something that’s changed from when he played, especially when it comes to blitzing and the way Pittsburgh plays defense, but he was clear that he thinks it’s a problem for them right now.
The Steelers have a talented defense and many players who can win by doing the same things over and over, but they also really struggled in the second half of the season. At that point, there was a lot of tape on them and what they liked to run, and their lack of creativity could’ve been one of the reasons for the defense’s second-half slide, in addition to repeated communication issues on the back end.
Pittsburgh will likely roll into next season with largely the same defensive staff, with inside linebackers coach Aaron Curry the only known departure so far. After seeing how some of the best teams in the league have operated this playoffs, like the Chiefs with the example Roethlisberger mentioned, it will be interesting to see if Teryl Austin and company try and get more creative and look to bring different looks to offenses.
It’s not like the Steelers haven’t adapted at all—this season, they ran more three-outside linebacker packages to utilize the talents of Nick Herbig, and later Preston Smith when he was acquired at the trade deadline, and the team isn’t completely lacking in creativity. It just doesn’t feel like it’s on the level it should be, especially against teams that might have more talent than the Steelers, and it’s hurting them when they play other quality opponents.
