The Pittsburgh Steelers made a big splash this summer, sending Minkah Fitzpatrick packing and acquiring Jalen Ramsey. Being one of the best cornerbacks in recent memory, that move of course brought some high expectations for the defense as a whole, with Ramsey playing a Swiss army knife type of role.
Before the season began, former Steelers’ CB Steven Nelson did not like the move. Regarding Mike Tomlin claiming Ramsey would cover WR1’s in training camp, Nelson called Ramsey “easy money”. Now that Ramsey had a poor game against Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins on Thursday, Nelson feels vindicated.
“Boy that was not you,” Nelson said in a YouTube short uploaded Saturday. “That wasn’t five [Ramsey’s number], that wasn’t cinco. Yeah, that was five plus whatever he [Chase] put on your head, boy. Pause. That boy Ja’Marr Chase, 161 yards, I mean, it was pitch and catch, ladies and gentlemen. It was pitch and catch.”
Ramsey’s been all over the place this year. Mike Tomlin assigned him WR1 duties before the year began, which certainly made sense given his pedigree. But he’s done much more than that. Throughout the season, we’ve seen Ramsey play both outside and nickel corner, and at safety as well.
Perhaps all that moving around is getting to him. It’s not easy to do so many things at once. Not only does Jalen Ramsey need to be physically ready for each different position, but they all have a different level of communication as well. Some speculate that he simply has too much on his plate.
Whatever the issue is, Ramsey’s not been good statistically. He’s allowing a career-high passer rating when targeted of 127.4, which is coincidentally just lower than the 127.6 rating Fitzpatrick allowed last year.
You can do with that information what you will, but some of the evidence leads to coaching playing a role. To exchange one defender who seemed to have lost it against the pass for a future Hall of Famer just to have him struggle in similar fashion points to coaching. Especially when Fitzpatrick has been significantly better against the pass down in Miami, with a career-best 62.3 rating and just nine completions allowed through six games. Ramsey doesn’t spend all his time at safety like Fitzpatrick does, but the entire secondary just hasn’t been consistent the last two years.
Ramsey also isn’t physically way past his prime, either. He’s making some key, impressive plays throughout the year. He’s just not doing it consistently enough, but it’s likely not all his fault. Mike Tomlin and Teryl Austin failed to make any adjustments while Chase and Higgins were burning them on slant routes all game long.
Regardless of the issue, the Steelers need to get it fixed quickly. They now enter a tough stretch in their schedule, and only have one more win than the second-place Bengals. Whether it’s Jalen Ramsey or the scheme that’s the problem, something’s got to change in a hurry.
