How The Steelers Defense Fell Apart On Third Down

Breaking down how the Pittsburgh Steelers defense couldn't get off the field on third and long against the Indianapolis Colts.
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[@Justin_Watson23]

The last play call on the Down's catch & run was just masterful coaching. Jackson, as an outside CB, rarely - if ever, sees a directly horizontal route halfway through the receiver's release phase of the route. You see it freeze Jackson for that millisecond, & Josh Downs is a heck of an athlete, what you hope an Austin or Wilson develop into. Tip your cap to Shane Steichen, Dino Tomlin's grandfather, 🤣.

[@js2003]

I’ve been really disappointed in Patrick Queen this year…it seems to me that our linebacker core last season (when healthy) was better than this year so far. Kwon Alexander,Holcomb and Roberts really were something special together.

[@Alex_Kozora]

We're still 4 games in. It's been up and down. But hoping for a better game this week.

[@silverthree7730]

he looks lost when in coverage

[@jeffreywalzer6968]

Queen playing terrible, can't cover,can't even takel......💩💩

[@selaxlife7621]

This game had many mistakes but all in all coaching had a VERY BIG PART in it.

[@mattburton3233]

when the backup QB carves up your defense that is coaching.

[@djcook]

that makes no sense..

[@mattburton3233]

@@djcook probably because you don't know shit about football

[@quantum_dongle]

The colts WR corps with Flacco's experience is a nightmare. Splitting five guys out and seeing man coverage is just asking for him to pick winning matchups on every down.

[@rick.d]

Excellent breakdowns. Blueprint on how to let Jose Skinny beat you... again.

[@DougShauger-ov8pj]

Cory Trice Bigger loss than I expected

[@514140mgk]

Hey Alex. What do you think about Mason coming in and leading the Titan's to a 30+ win? They had not had a 30 point win since Jan 2, 2022. Mason did it again.

[@Alex_Kozora]

Ha, yeah, I'm not surprised. That's just what that guy does. Comfortable coming off the bench.

[@514140mgk]

Alex, why is it that Fields can't do a simple QB sneak? That is one thing that Kenny Pickett did well. A QB sneak.

[@Alex_Kozora]

They have this year. Maybe snap issues are scaring them. But they needed to on that 4th and 1 Sunday.

[@pranavdarbha6188]

Hey Alex, do you think we’ll ever see man-match principles within the zone coverages? Feels like the whole league has embraced it as the meta. I understand the youth in the secondary but they’re playing this stuff at the college levels too these days. Is it just because the pass rush is so good they’d rather just avoid coverage busts in the backend by keeping it simple?

[@Alex_Kozora]

They match to a degree but sure, it's a lot of spot dropping. I think they prefer to play simple and fast, even when they have vets in there.

[@pranavdarbha6188]

Thanks for the reply Alex! To me it feels like we need some better blitz plans or coverage looks because winning with 4 in under 2 seconds against some of these QBs/OLs is not going to be possible

[@niyidelano]

My Thoughts are Brian Flores should have been retained and made the DC.

[@richstafford1245]

I remember everyone saying they didn’t have the personal to play man to man D against Tom Brady after he would carve up their zone BS over and over. Finally they decided to play man coverage and were actually able to compete. Virtually the same personnel. These are Tomlin issues. It is and always has been his show on defense. There have been fall guys but make no mistake it’s solely on Tomlin…

[@wv4776]

Then give him the credit when they play good. With the exception of the peak killer B years the Steelers defense has been good to excellent with Tomlin. Yet he never gets credit for his schemes on defense and somehow is always blamed for offense which he is pretty publically hands off of. This defense was the best in the league through the first 3 weeks and all the credit was given to the players but now they have one bad game and its Tomlin’s fault?

[@nickhendo3960]

Flacco is hands down a better qb than Richardson lol

[@EdmacZ]

The Defense is the most concerning to me in how completely useless it was. Is this what we're going to see the rest of the year? History says yes. I remember 2017. Reality slowly creeping in after that 3-0 illusion.

[@Alex_Kozora]

Let's see how they play against Dallas.

[@volumeturneddown9600]

They were terrible against Indy last year too. Hopefully they rebound like they did last year.

Defense sucked.

[@runuldmcdunuld3756]

Thank you for your valuable insight!