It’s always easy to play armchair quarterback. Benefiting from hindsight that is 20/20. To sit from the comfort of my keyboard and pick apart the Pittsburgh Steelers’ defensive plan against the Cincinnati Bengals Thursday night. But with a result as ugly as that performance, Chase not only putting up record numbers but doing so in the most critical of situations, everything needs to be evaluated.
Largely, and fans might not like to hear it in the moment, Mike Tomlin and the Steelers do a generally good job of taking away an offense’s best player. Making Plan B, C, and D win. Think back to shutting out Cooper Kupp in 2019. Or knowing Chase hadn’t burned Pittsburgh this badly in the past. Or even flip to the other side of the ball and recognize the work the offense went in to mute Cleveland Browns DE Myles Garrett. In a Week 11 Pittsburgh-Cincinnati rematch that’s not too far away, here’s one scheme the Steelers must use to avoid the same disastrous results.
To do that, the Steelers must thank Bill Belichick. A name that is persona non grata right now. Not only for his history against Pittsburgh but his current state as a fledging college coach. But Belichick is still a historically bright defensive coach who knew how to avoid getting crushed by top-tier wideouts.
The solution? “1 Double 1” must be in Pittsburgh’s vocabulary. The idea is simple. Dedicated double-coverage to a specific player’s jersey explicitly stated in the call. “1 Double” means single-high, Cover 1 with the following number, in this case No. 1, referring to Ja’Marr Chase’s jersey number.
Belichick deployed this coverage throughout his career. Including against Antonio Brown and the Steelers. “1 Double 84” was the call. Here’s a clip of Belichick telling Chad Johnson pre-game exactly what he was going to do. “1 Double 85.”
Here’s what it looks like (credit to Sumer Sports for the photo).
And here’s a look at it in action from the New York Giants against Justin Jefferson.
One concern is – what happens to everyone else? With Chase doubled, the other receivers are singled up. Knowing the Bengals have another stud in Tee Higgins creates added cause for concern. Here’s the adjustment. The “Deion Principle” as Blitzology outlined in a 2019 article recalling his days as a high school coach.
“When Deion Sanders played for the Cowboys, they would sometimes put him on the teams 2nd best WR. They knew he could handle that guy one-on-one, so they erased him with Deion and would then double the opponent’s best WR with two guys. This way, they had some balance in the plan and weren’t completely selling out to stop one guy that the Cowboys lost to their second best guy.”
Something Belichick endorsed, too.
“You can matchup and put your best guy on their best guy, or you can matchup and put your best guy on let’s call it their second best guy and put your second best guy on their best guy and double him,” Belichick, as noted by this 2016 NBC Sports Boston article.
Here’s how it would work in Pittsburgh. Whoever is deemed the Steelers’ No. 2 corner, I would say Joey Porter Jr., would man-up against Ja’Marr Chase with dedicated safety help. Porter would take away the quick game with the safety over the top. Or Porter would take outside leverage with the safety taking away inside leverage. Overlapping coverage is the point to suffocate that top wideout.
Jalen Ramsey, meanwhile, would single-up and take on Tee Higgins man-to-man without true safety help (there’s still a safety in the middle of the field as part of the Cover 1 shell).
Pittsburgh ran some version of it at least once Thursday night. A bracket “Cone” coverage where Jalen Ramsey passed off Chase on the shallow cross to FS Juan Thornhill, who cut it and made a great tackle for a third down stop. A glimpse into how effective these coverages can be.
Are there downsides? Yes. You’re limiting coverages and playing a lot of two-high and man-to-man. This coverage isn’t to be used in all situations. Out of two-high shells, it’s harder to stop the run. An obvious sore spot for Pittsburgh’s defense against Cincinnati.
But critical, obvious pass moments is when this coverage can be most powerful. Times where Thursday, Pittsburgh let Chase run free. Like running zone, Inverted Cover 2, on this third and long. Chase settled into the soft spot and moved the sticks.
Same issue here on 3rd and 5.
Or here, when Pittsburgh opted to double Chase and Higgins. Only there was no deep safety help and Slay was beat on the post by Andrei Iosivas.
Admittedly, this Belichick model would still pit Slay on a No. 3 receiver like what happened above. And Ramsey was beat by Higgins on the downfield pass that put the Bengals in easy field goal range to secure the win. No plan is perfect and everyone must execute for scheme to work. That is true or any concept. But it’s a better strategy.
It’s also in many ways a less complicated one. Pittsburgh threw a lot of mud at the wall to try to keep the Bengals guessing. Versus a veteran quarterback like Flacco, I get why. It’s hard to be static and expect to win. Early on, the Steelers largely opted against shadowing Chase before choosing to have Ramsey on him most of the time later in the game. A lack of speed from him and Slay doomed the team.
Man coverage was the theme of why Pittsburgh invested at cornerback. If man-to-man is supposed to be the meal, “1 Double 1” is the ingredient to make it palatable. Pittsburgh traded for Ramsey to handle players like Chase. It didn’t work. Time to do something else. And the best thing that could happen is Ramsey covering the other guy instead.
No matter what Pittsburgh decides to do, the plan and follow-through must be a whole lot better. Or else the Bengals will sweep the Steelers for the first time since 2021.
