Anytime a season ends with a five-game losing streak, there’s plenty of room for change. Not just to personnel, of which the Pittsburgh Steelers did plenty of this offseason, but to scheme. For 2025, the Steelers plan to approach things differently. Deep dives will begin once preseason games get started in August, but The Athletic beat writer Mike DeFabo outlined one of the clearest differences shown during spring practices.
“What they’re doing during minicamp and OTAs, they’re working on some different coverages and also adding some more blitzes,” DeFabo told 93.7 The Fan’s Joe Starkey and Bob Pompeani Friday. “And one of the coverages that they’ve looked into exploring more, and I dunno if they’re gonna lean fully into this or if this is just gonna be another tool in their toolbox, is more quarters coverage.”
As DeFabo noted during the interview, Pittsburgh spent 2024 primarily playing single-high coverage, allowing SS DeShon Elliott to roll into the box to fit the run. But it made the Steelers’ defense more static and arguably more predictable while also making it more difficult to stop big plays. Many defenses have flipped to two-high shells to combat the vertical passing game, a trend that began during the Kansas City Chiefs’ prime under Patrick Mahomes.
Pittsburgh capped the problem in 2024 but over the last two years, the team has allowed 110 completions of 20-plus yards. That’s sixth-most in the league.
Quarters coverage allows defenses to defend the vertical passing game while still fitting the run. Safeties generally play tighter alignments (at its base form, each corner and safety is responsible for one quarter of the field, hence the “quarters” name) and closer to the line of scrimmage. On paper, it’s a best-of-both-worlds approach. However, it’s a coverage more often seen at the college level than in the NFL.
One interesting note is Pittsburgh’s use of quarters could be influenced by the Steelers’ neighbors. Under head coach Pat Narduzzi, the Pitt Panthers run plenty of quarters coverage. Here’s one excerpt for how Narduzzi’s system is defined.
“Narduzzi’s defense typically operated out of a 4-3 base formation, but he was also known for implementing a ‘quarters coverage’ system, which emphasized aggressive coverage by the secondary and disciplined play by the linebackers and defensive linemen.
The defense was predicated on stopping the run first and foremost, and it placed a lot of trust in the cornerbacks to play press coverage. This allowed the safeties to provide support in the run game or blitz in certain situations.”
Pittsburgh has two entrenched starting cornerbacks in Joey Porter Jr. and Darius Slay, two physical corners capable of playing bump ‘n run coverage. It’ll also fuel speculation over the Steelers trading for CB Jalen Ramsey, even as beat writers downplay the notion.
DeFabo notes he’s unsure if this will become a staple of the Steelers’ defense or just one wrinkle when facing the right opponent.
“It’s just something else that the Steelers have been working on. And until we see it in the preseason, we won’t know how much,” he said.
It’s unlikely to evolve into Pittsburgh’s “base scheme” and the NFL is so multiple it’s difficult to run one coverage and expect to excel. But the more variety the Steelers can counter with, the better off they’ll be. It’s something we’ll closely monitor once the season kicks off.
