Fresh off a 33-31 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in which he lit up the game, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase sent a shot across the Steelers’ bow.
Chase stated after his 16-catch, 161-yard, one-touchdown performance that the Steelers did exactly what the Bengals expected them to do as far as coverage and schematics.
The Bengals expected a lot of man coverage with Joey Porter Jr. and Darius Slay on Tee Higgins, and Jalen Ramsey on Chase. That’s what the Steelers ended up doing, and it burned them.
With a few days to stew and study the film, Steelers standout linebacker Patrick Queen responded to Chase’s comments Monday afternoon from inside the locker room at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
“They know what a lot of people in the NFL run, and some defenses are doing better than what we’re doing,” Queen said of Chase’s comments, according to video via 93.7 The Fan on X. “People on the offense know what they’re [Bengals] running. So I think it’s a thing in the NFL. Certain coaches got certain ways they call the game.
“Offenses may know that, but at the end of the day, we get paid to play. Technique-wise, assignment-wise, whatever it is, we could do better.”
Chase’s comments were certainly pointed and didn’t go over very well with Steelers fans. It’s been a major issue with the defensive scheme under Mike Tomlin for the last decade or so. It’s all simple stuff, and teams know what the Steelers like to do. When things go poorly for the Black and Gold like they did Thursday night, it becomes an easy thing to rip them for.
But, as Queen stated, it’s nothing new around the NFL. It happens with every team, it’s just so hyperfocused within this fan base because of the issues over the years. NFL teams know what offenses and defenses like to do in certain spots and formations, how coaches like to call games, and more.
There’s a lot of tape studying done, and when it’s a division game like Steelers-Bengals, that’s only intensified. That said, it’s on the coaches in those matchups to change things up some.
The Steelers didn’t exactly do that. That’s where Queen thinks they could be better.
“I think we just do what we do better. I think you can mix stuff up,” Queen said of what the Steelers need moving forward. “At the end of the day, like I said, whoever we got, we gonna run with it. We got the guys to do it, we just gotta go there and execute.”
Execution is a big part of the issue coming out of the Week 7 loss on the short week. Guys weren’t in the proper gaps against the run, they weren’t good enough in coverage, and they simply lost matchups. That’s the more concerning part, considering the Steelers brought in a bunch of big names in the secondary for this matchup specifically, and those players struggled in a big way.
They looked old, slow, and unable to play against new-age receivers. That’s a major eyebrow raiser.
The Steelers also didn’t blitz much and didn’t really try to heat up Joe Flacco in the pocket behind a bad offensive line. They basically lined up and played simple football, and it got the defense get cooked time and time again.
In the two previous games against the Vikings and Browns, the Steelers blitzed heavily, ran a bunch of stunts up front and really tried to confuse the opponent. It worked very well. For whatever reason, they got away from it in Week 7, and they paid for it. Hopefully they get back to mixing it up this week against Green Bay on Sunday Night Football.
