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.
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.
The Steelers basically play 2 fronts. They play their 4-2-5 and go to a big package at times when they go 3-4. That's what they do. They don't change much each week and they play fast. They do like to play a ton of man free with this front but they play off man which allows their dbs to be factors in the run game. They often play combination coverage.(See my other post)
In this game, you will see how the Steelers matched personnel with different fronts and looks.
After watching them all year, you knew Butler would commit to stopping the run. That's what they do.
Here's my YouTube video on their run schemes:
The Steelers did what many thought they would do against the Titans and go to their 3-4 look vs 12 personnel.
When Keith Butler gets 12 personnel 21 you will often see the Steelers in the 3-4 look. They prefer go to a bigger package while other teams will stay in nickel and that gives teams an advantage in the run game.
The 3 fronts they play the most out of it are :
1. 3-4 defense with 2 de in 4i tech with Dupree and Watt as OLB. They rarely slant or move in this front. Looks like the nose is either a 2 gap player at times or he falls back into the backside A gap
In the 3-4 The OLB become Dupree and Watt and they bring an extra defensive lineman in the game and play the 2 de in 4i technique . It makes it very hard for teams to run the football against them on early downs.
2. They will play an under front with a shaded nose a 5 tech and a 9 tech. They will play this to 12 with an on the ball te wing situation.
3. Swarm front-( ( dont know what they call it but it reminds me of the old desert swarm front)They play some unique looks with Watt and Dupree, either blitzing one of them or putting them over the center and disrupting things. Still with 3-4 personnel. You see Dupree 48 over the ball and will blitz the A gap. Rarely do they ever drop him or watt into coverage with this look.
They do it often as shown vs The Titans and Browns in several clips down below and go into each game with a unique swarm look with either Dupree or Watt being the blitzer.
4. The last thing they will do is go nickel on early downs and send the Sam lb and play man free.
1st and 10, 1st series of the game.
The Steelers go 3-4 vs The Titans who are in 12 personnel with a tight wing set. They roll weak with the Safety
The Titans They get 5 yards but holding penalty brings them back. See Video A.
After an incompletion its 2nd and 17.
The Titans go 11 personnel and the Steelers go to their 4-2-5 look.
The Steelers hold them to 2 yards playing solid gap control defense . The Sam fold inside and plays C gap and watt is the contain edge defender. see video A
The clips are shown below:
Video A
1st series 2 carries for 7 yards but the 1st 5 yard carry was negated by the holding call.
2nd offensive series for the Titans
1st and 10
They go 21 personnel and the Steelers stay in their 3-4 front and go to a cover1 man free 1ook. Titans go play action. Haden makes a great play at cb
The next play after a completion the Titans go 11 personnel.
The Steelers stay committed to the run and stay 3-4 with Dupree and Watt. They play Cover 1 with it.
Vs 13 The Steelers play an interesting look.
1st and 10
You can say it becomes a bear look with the ilb blitzing a gap.But the LB is their all pro Dupree.
This really disrupts things as he gets great penetration, blows the center up, but Henry makes him miss and they get a 5 yard gain. The video is in video B.
See Video B below(There are 3 clips.)
After a completion, they go back to their 3-4 big package vs the Titans 12 personnel.They run split zone and have the hback come across and block dupree.
Tough assignment as Dupree attacks it real hard and blows it up.
Dupree does a good job and takes away the cutback lane. (see video B below )
After a 3 yard gain.
2nd and 7,
Titans go back to 12 and the Steelers go to their under front. The Titans run Jet with Power behind it but no one blocks TJ Watt.
He runs it down on the backside and forces a 3rd and 9 situation. (See video B below)
Video B
After a lucky reception, its 1st and 10 on the 22 yard line
Its 1st and 10 and the Titans go 21 personnel.
The Steelers go back to there 3-4 scheme and hold Henry to 2 yards on an iso weak. The discipline of the ilb to take it on,blow it up and force it back.
1ST AND GOAL
TITANS BALL ON The Steelers 8
The Steelers go man free.
#56 the linebacker does a great job squeezing down giving the h back no surface to block him.gets a piece of the tackle, squeezes and blows it up.
They stuff it and the next 2 plays The Titans throw the ball and score and make it 14-7
The Titans get. it back late in the 1st half with about 3 minutes to go. They run on the 1st 2 possessions.
1st and 10 (the next 2 plays are in the video below)
The Steelers put Dupree over the center again
show 4-2 but he comes and blitzes. If you see the film, Tannehill checks to outside zone to the right because he sees the look and realizes he has a 3 man surface that way. If 90 doesn't make the play it could have been a decent gain because the Center and right guard handle it.
after that play its 2nd and 14
most teams would play soft zone maybe ,its 2nd and 14 with 2 minutes to go in the half not The Steelers.
They run their mike pressure man free concept. The Titans motion to 2x2 and get 9 yards on the inside handoff. If 98 played it a little more aggressive and spilled it , may have only been a 3 yard gain.
These 2 clips are shown above
After holding them on. 3rd down, the Steelers get the ball back and go up at half 24-7.
STEELERS RUN GAME VS. The Bengals.
The biggest issue for the Steelers is their banged up linebacker corps. It effects the run game, the defensive packages and the rookies are no where near the players they are replacing. #27 Marcus Allen who gets over matched at the point of attack. They gave up a 152 yards to the Bengals run game and their run defense was not at it's best vs. The Bengals.
Vs The Browns in the 1st time they played, the Steelers blew them out. On 1st down you saw the Browns go 12,13 and 21 and run the ball. The Steelers matched and went 3-4. Here they go 3-4 personnel and play a version if what I call their swarm stunt. They take watt and let him be a blitzing lb. This causes a tough time for the Browns to run the ball vs. it. The will lb gets freed up to make a play in the backside a as the guard has to take watt.
On a 2nd and 3 they run the same stunt and get a sack for -7.
They get 13 personnel and go regular 3-4 defense. The Steelers love to play with 2 4i's in this front and make it extremely difficult to run the football.
They do a good job and 97 makes great play on the backside as the Browns can't cut off the backside. No real running lanes for the rb as every gap is taken away.
The last thing the Steelers will do is play 12 with nickel personnel. They will often play nickel and bring he sam off the edge and play man free. They are disciplined and play combo often depending on formation and alignment.
Here the Browns have 2nd and 4.
The SS does a great job on the play below as the Browns try to run boot vs it. Great job by the Steelers defense on the play with excellent discipline.
Another game I analyzed was the Bengals game.
The Steelers linebacker unit has been very beat up as of late. OLB Bud Dupree is out for the year and was replaced by rookie Alex Highsmith. Spillane was replaced by Avery Williamson. Last week the biggest move was the loss of run stuffer Vince Williams and filled that spot with rookie Marcus Allen. This is a huge drop off..
This play looks like a communication issue. The Bengals run zone with rpo action. Williamson #51 chases the #3 wr which usually the steelers would play man free to. The Steelers lose the cutback player. and #27 the rookie gets washed so a nice 11 yard gain. I think this was a mistake by williamson that cost them 11 yards.
Now where is the LB. Steelers would normally combo with the 2 insides on the tb or wiliamson could have him in man so maybe I'm wrong but something isn't right
On a big 2nd and 5, the Bengals run right at the rookie #27 Allen. He gets reached and it leads to an 8 yard gain because he doesn't maintain his gap. The rookie Allen has to be more physical and attack the los.
The Steelers give up 31 yards on 2 plays down 17-10. The first is a simple outside zone running play. Bengals get 8
On the next play 2nd and 2,
Here you see a rookie issue in the zone read. 2nd and 2 , 3-4 defense, assume their in a base call so the olb 56 the rookie has the qb. They are in man free so no help from the secondary. The rookie messes up his responsibility and the Bengals get a big td run on 2nd and 2 for 22 yards.This was a big play late in the game. It put the Bengals up 24-10.
The wr runs the dbs off and its an easy td as the olb doesn't sit and play the qb.
ROOKIE MISTAKE! TD , big play. Bengals go up 24-10.Those were a few of the issues the Steelers had in the run game.
Another game they go 12 against the Eagles and run what I call their swarm front. Older coaches will remember that front. Eagles decide to throw it against the run heavy defense.
Usually against 12 they go 3-4 or their swarm front.
It's there 3-4 personnel with watt/Dupree being a blitzing lb. They do this a few times each game with either dupree or Watt and have a tendency to play more man free out of it.
They do a good job here and get a nice interception.
Later on a 2nd and 6 the Steelers run the same concept, Bring Watt to the 3 technique side and play man free. The coverage rules are the same as if they are in their traditional 3-4. Great scheme and excellent coverage downfield in man free.
Above are some of the concepts you will see from NFL defenses, more to come!
