Steelers Defense 2020 man free coverage with 5 man pressures & issues

The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the top teams in the NFL. They run a 4-2 nickel scheme, some 3-4 schemes and some dime personnel at times. That's really their personnel groupings in a nut shell. They are very good at what they do. The Steelers tweak things a little each week but play fast because they do what they do.

They make you adjust! They don't sit around and say what if they do this, what if they do that. They dictate the tempo and play fast. They have their rules and can line up to anything. 

The number 1 thing they emphasize is stopping the run.A great article by Keith Butler goes over his philosophy.

https://steelersdepot.com/2020/09/keith-butler-its-still-very-very-important-to-us-to-stop-the-run-and-make-offenses-one-dimensional/

Their favorite blitz is sending the sam off the edge. They use it with a few coverages but I wanted to focus on man free. 

 The Steelers play man free in various ways. I is one of their staple coverages. They send the sam linebacker and love to combo the mike and will on the back and tight end. 

Here vs the Cowboys They are in their 5 man big front with Watt and Dupree on the outside They play this vs at times 11 and 12 personnel.

Out of their 4-2-5 front 

They love  sending the sam linebacker vs 2x2 formations or when the set is 12  with 2 tight ends. They can also run it vs 11 and 3x1 sets with the tight end attached or in a h back position.

Here's the rules vs The Browns. They combo with the lb and the safety

                           

They love to send the Sam and put the 2 inside linebackers on the hback/tight end and the running back.As you can see from the film,  the Steelers love to combo the running back and tight end depending on the formation.

 If you see a tight end in 12 personnel. They put the cb on #1 and the lbs combo 2 and 3.

Steelers vs Browns

2nd +8

Browns try to run a screen  on 2nd and 8 and then a screen on 1st and 10.

Very hard against the way the Steelers play man free.

Watch the discipline of the 2 inside linebackers communicate and pass off the rb and tight end.

Now when they get a wide 2 and a h back the combo is between the 2 inside lb

 

Here are some more clips and explanations of the strike blitz with man free and how the steelers play it. 

watch the 2 clips and how they pass of the underneath routes. Great combo coverage in man free underneath.

Here the Steeler's run the sam strike vs the Eagles

Here are some additional  Sam pressures vs. The Broncos.

Notice the combo of the inside lb's on the tight end and sam. The safety and cb also combo up top. They sort it out.

Here they run the stunt with the lb. Looks like the mike is blitzing c but he could be playing combo

with the other inside lb

Steelers vs Jags Here is the Steelers bringing the mike vs empty. Good blitz design 2 clips below!

A similar blitz bringing the inside lb is below.

Giants/Steelers:
I apologize for the sound but you can see some of the blitzes vs the Giants. Again, the man free concepts is shown. This is different than the traditional way many teams play it with the 2 lbs as underneath players unless the back releases. 

Weaknesses:
At times you may get a mismatch with rotations. If you motion the wr to the weakside at times you may have the ilb cover the #2  man in motion. I'm surprised you don't see more teams throwing the ball to the man in motion on a wheel route with Jet Motion. Rather than motion a tight end, maybe motion the #2 wr. 

#2 Put an athletic rb weakside and you should be able to hit the rb out of the backfield. 

2 more clips from the Steelers in man free:
Notice they send the will and they play man free with the Sam on #2 and the mike on #3

In the 2nd clip, you will see the Steelers in/out concept.

The Strong Safety and Cb will play in out at 7 yards with a stack formation at wr. Its a match up concept. The cb takes the wr going out and the safety takes the in breaking route. They play this vs. stack formations. 

This makes it easier to sort out. They really do a nice job sorting the routes out at the bottom of the screen.

Other Variations:

Steelers play man free lurk vs the Browns:

They bait Baker into a pick 6 on 3rd and 3. They show 2 high and the safety to the side of the 3x1 comes down and robs the slant route. The lb blitz engages the rb when he blocks.

Watch the free safety on the right anticipate and get the pick!

The Steelers are in dime. play man free and double Hopper. Looks like its a predetermined 3x2 concept but its man free. They end up doubling Hopper the tight end.

The Steelers will send the will linebacker   and play man free as well. They combo if it is there are 2 wr on the weak side with the mike linebacker and the free. Safety. 

                           

Here you see the stunt vs the Texans. The will rushes b gap in the game vs the Texans.

Rule #1 if tight end releases inside the mike will take him and the free has the rb

Rule #2 if the tight end releases outside the free safety will take him and the mike has the rb. 

You see another clip off it with the free safety taking the rb who is 2 weak and the mike taking 3 strong. 

Updated Dime pressure:

They walk the lb up over the center forcing 1x1 situations.
They are in dime with the weak safety on #2 weak.

They combo with dbs on 2/3 inside because of the tight split.

The pocket collapses and with good coverage get the sack downfield

vs Bengals

Man free see the combo coverage. At first they are comboing the hback and te with the cb and ss. 1st in and out. Then they motion and the ss and lb will combo the rb and the h back.

Great technique and execution on 1st and 10 for a 2 yard gain.

Issues with man free pressures:

1. Back check releases, the linebacker adds in and the back or tight end is wide open.

In the Bills game, the Steelers got caught a few times with this concept.

Steelers get caught with some play action and the lb who has 2 weak gets caught.

On 3rd and 8.

The Steelers go man free again sending the edge pressure. LB has the h back in the backfield, falls asleep adds in and the Bills dump the ball to the h back for a 15 yard gain. The TE bluffing and slipping out really caused issues when you add in.

2. Combo routes with the back and lb cause an issue! Here they run a clear out with the te and a sneak/cross route with the rb. Causes issues once the te clears. Tough to defend.

3. matchups 

run game issues 

The WFT use jet motion to create issues in the run game. 

The WFT are 3x1 and the steelers are man free.

THe Steelers are bringing the will lb c gap. But the #47 ILB/SS rules are to combo #3 and the rb.

Well the jet motion the mike has to play the jet man in passing game  and it puts the SS as a box defender having to play run because he now has the rb but also a b gap player taking on the OT in the run game. Good scheme 14 yard game.