LAST-MINUTE Steelers Week 9 News: T.J. Watt Says PIT Made A HUGE CHANGE To The Defense This Week

LAST-MINUTE Steelers Week 9 News: T.J. Watt Says PIT Made A HUGE CHANGE To The Defense This Week

Welcome in to Steelers Talk. I’m your host, Jack Sperry. We are now less than 24 hours away from the Pittsburgh Steelers’s week nine matchup. This week they’re going up against the Indianapolis Colts at home. Uh tomorrow we’ll be going live here on Steelers Talk in studio for our live watch party. Uh we have the largest watch parties for Steelers fans anywhere here on the YouTube platform right here on Steelers Talk. Over 200,000 people tune in every single week. If you guys want to be one of those 200,000 plus uh that come watch the game with us, make sure you guys click that subscribe button and join us at 12:00 p. p.m. Eastern time tomorrow afternoon. We’ve got an hourlong pregame show getting you guys ready for the game, super chat promotions, all that great stuff. Uh then we got live playbyplay and analysis of the game itself. Then we’ve got our extensive postgame coverage as well. So, if you guys want that complete game day experience as a Steelers fan and you want to come hang out and watch the game and react to the game uh with your fellow Steelers fans here on YouTube, uh Steelers talk watch parties are the best way to do that. So, click that subscribe button, join us, and of course, we have u two Steelers videos that come out on this channel every single day for free. So, if you guys want your daily news and rumors updates on the black and gold, that’s also where you guys um can get that content right here on Steelers Talk. But today I wanted to talk about some lastminute updates uh for week nine here. It’s a really big match up for the Steelers. If they can get a win versus the number one team in the AFC this week, even though they’re at home, I think that’s going to really put a jolt of optimism and hope not only in the fan base, but also in the locker room after two straight tough losses where frankly the defense has played, you know, terribly, you know, and that’s just something that I think that the people inside the locker room, everyone from Mike Tomlin, the Terara Lawson to the players like TJ Wad and Cam Hayward fully acknowledge and kind of own and, you know, they’re trying to get this ship figured out and kind of steered in the direction. If they can do that against the number one offense in the National Football League here through the first eight weeks in the Indianapolis Colts, well, I think certainly you can go into the rest of this season with some of these tougher games, the Chargers, the Bills, the Ravens twice, you can go into those games with a little bit more confidence. Um, but if you lose this game and once again the defense stinks, you know, you’re looking at three straight losses, three uh really tough performances on the defensive side of the ball, all that stuff. So, I think that this is going to be a very pivotal week for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And we did get some more injury updates today. Uh, safety Chuck Clark and linebacker Cole Hulcom, both are sick, both are dealing with illnesses, have already been declared out for tomorrow’s game. Um, so hopefully those guys can get better. Uh, it is a little bit concerning because there is a bug going around the Steelers locker room at this point in time, obviously, with two players getting sick. uh it sounds like it’s the flu and you know that that could put some other players in jeopardy of playing tomorrow if they all of a sudden catch this virus and then all of a sudden they’re out of the lineup. So hopefully that’s not going to be the case. Um but it is something to keep your eye on because we have had multiple players now in the Steelers locker room get sick. So hopefully um you know that doesn’t happen. But then Malik Harrison who’s been out of the lineup since week one. He hurt his knee. um he is back in the lineup this week, finally taking him off of IR and he’s going to be taking Cole Hulkcom spot as that number three um you know linebacker in the offball linebacker rotation where uh obviously Patrick Queen and Pton Wilson will be your top two. And honestly, I think we see a lot of Pton Wilson tomorrow with Tyler Warren’s kind of uh you know versatility and his threat that his that he poses in this Colts offense. I think they’re going to want that um you know that pass coverage type of weapon in this defense and Pton Wilson out there a lot. But when they do take him off the field um on some of those early down situations, runheavy situations, Malik Harrison is going to be that thumping kind of early down presence that Cole Hulcom usually is. Uh but you know, it’s it’s nice to have a guy like Harrison being brought back into the lineup the second that Cole Hulkcom gets uh gets sick. So at least there’s that. But Chuck Clark not being able to go means that your, you know, your your top box safeties in this defense outside of Kyle Duggar are all going to be out. Chuck Clark, Jabril Peppers, of course, Deshawn Elliot, he’s been placed on IR. He’s going to be missing at least uh the next four weeks. So, you know, you got Kyle Duggar and you know, maybe you can put Jaylen Ramsay um at strong safety. I honestly probably would want to play Jaylen Ramsay at strong safety, especially if you’re going to be asking that safety to cover Tyler Warren. one-on-one in their man coverage looks. They’re either going to be asking the strong safety or Payton Wilson as a linebacker to cover Payton Wilson um in man-to-man when the when the Colts are in their 11 personnel packages, which is most of the time. So, um the Steelers are certainly going to have to have a plan in place with a good coverage player to guard Tyler Warren because frankly, you know, Kyle Duggar does his thing. He’s a good run defender. He’s a decent tackler. All those different things. He’s a big body for a safety, but he’s not really a coverage player at this point in his career. So, if they’re planning on putting Kyle Duggar in his first ever game as a Pittsburgh Steeler one-on-one in man versus Tyler Warren, this might be another Tucker Craft situation that we have on our hands tomorrow afternoon. But hopefully the Steelers coaching staff is smart enough not to do that. Um, and I’m hoping that they put Jaylen Ramsay at safety quite a bit in this ball game. And we did get an an indication that that could be the case. Okay, there was a there’s kind of a an assump an assumption that I made and many others made that uh once we heard Chuck Clark was going to be out for this game that they would be bringing on Derek Forest, the newly signed free safety onto the roster uh from the practice squad. And that didn’t happen. They’re actually bringing up Lou Nichols and Trey Surman, two special teams players uh in at the running back position up from practice squad, but not Derek Forest. Now, I know Forest was dealing with a little bit of the flu this week. Um, plus he’s had to get ramped up. So, with all those things kind of combining, I think that probably went into their decision to not play Derrick Forest and not bring him up from the practice squad this week. Um, but, you know, with those two moves, you know, bringing up running backs and not a safety means that the Steelers only have two true safeties on the roster this weekend. That would be Juan Thornhill and that would be Kyle Duggar, who’s been with the team less than a week. So, I think that tells me that we will see Jaylen Ramsay at safety uh quite a bit in this ball game. All right. How much? I guess we’ll have to see. Kind of depends on how big of a role they’re ready to give Kyle Duggar right away. Um like I said, less than a week after joining the team. He’s only practiced with the team twice. Um so, how much do they really trust him and how much of a workload do they give him? I guess we’ll have to find that out tomorrow. But the fact that they’re only carrying two true safeties means that I think Jaylen Ramsey probably gets quite a bit of time at safety or at least they’re comfortable giving him time at safety if Thornhill or Duggar, god forbid, goes down with an injury in this ball game. Um, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do with that safety rotation in this ball game. And uh, I think what it’s probably going to look like here is, or at least what I’m hoping it looks like here is Joey Porter Jr. obviously on the outside and then they’re going to have either Darius Slay or James Pierre on the outside as well on the other side. Um I think that they’re probably going to start Darius uh in this game and if he struggles early on they’re going to go to more James Pierre down the stretch. I really think that Slay’s uh leash is getting shorter and shorter as the weeks go on here. Now, they want him to be able to, you know, play and, you know, earn the money that he’s making this year from the ball club, but, you know, they can only handle so much and, you know, if he’s not going to play better and step up his game, they’re going to have to go to some different options. But then I do expect Brandon Eckles to start tomorrow at slot corner uh quite a bit, especially if Jaylen Ramsey’s going to be playing safety, um, which I’m hoping he does. And then you can kind of figure out whether you want to play Juan Thornnehill or Kyle Duggar at the other safety spot depending on situation. So, we’ll see how they kind of divvy up that work in the secondary, how much they play Darius Slay versus how much they play a guy like James Pierre. We’ll see how much base personnel they go out in. That’s a possibility where you could put base personnel out there, which means just two outside corners and not a true nickel. Uh you could have, you know, Brandon Nichols and Joy Porter Jr. as the outside guys with Joy Porter Jr. playing that kind of hybrid strong safety/nickel slot defender there. Um and then you have a true free safety. Of course, you got your two base linebackers and then you got five down linemen or at least guys at the line of scrimmage, three down linemen with uh two outside linebackers. That could be something that they do to try and limit the run game from Indianapolis in particular with Jonathan Taylor. Um and you know, we’ll see what they end up doing in that regard. It’s going to be interesting to see what their defensive game plan is this week, especially after star edge rusher TJ Watt had a very interesting comment yesterday in his media availability. Uh that kind of echoes what we talked about earlier this week when it came to coach Dunie and what he said on the Cam Hayward podcast about simplifying the defense in order for uh the defense to be able to play faster uh to not think as much you know not make as many miscommunications and that kind of u you know those kinds of mistakes. This is what Watt had to say. I’ll read you the exact quote. He said, quote, “I think there’s ways of simplifying things so we can play fast, as fast as possible, and I think we’ve had a good week of that. We’re trying to fix what we have wrong, and there’s a lot of things that need to be fixed, and we’re just trying to chip away at it.” And I feel we had a really good week of practice, simplifying some things in some areas, allowing us to play fast and physical football, trusting in each other, and trusting the plan. And it’s all lip, but it’s all lip service. if you don’t go there, I’ll go out there and perform.” So, um, this is kind of what you want to hear from TJ Watt, frankly, guys. You know, how he’s saying how they’re trying to make some changes. They’re trying to simplify. They’re trying to make it easier for the defensive personnel to execute what the coaching staff wants them to execute. Uh, but at the same time acknowledging that, you know, until they put out a good product on the field, it’s all just lip service. So, I do like the approach that TJ Watt is kind of uh is kind of taking here. Um, but what I think is very kind of interesting about his comments is that it sounds like the Steelers are going to be trying and simplifying their defensive game plan this week. Now, I think there’s pros to simplifying and there’s cons to simplifying. We talked about this earlier in the week in the Coach Dunie video if you guys want to check that video out where I go more in depth. But the pros of a simplified defensive game plan is that it really it allows the players to play faster. It’s kind of a simpler game plan. So, you don’t have to think as much. You know, you know your roles. you really hone in on those roles in practice that week. There’s not a whole lot of stuff that you have to get right during the week or memorize or all these different rules for different coverages. It’s like you you kind of reduce the number of plays. You reduce the amount of communication and you just kind of get it down to a simplified version of your defensive game plan and that allows players to play fast, play physical, feel prepared, play disciplined, um do all those things that we haven’t seen the Steelers really be all season long. And also another positive to that is that whenever you have a new guy that you are expecting to play, like a Kyle Duggar for example, who’s only had two practices uh with the team, you know, it’s easier for a new guy to pick up a a kind of a simplified defensive game plan as opposed to uh you know, having all these different checks and doing all these different communications and, you know, all these different types of coverage and, you know, your normal kind of uh complicated game plan. Um, it’s if you have a simpler game plan, it’s a lot more digestible for a new guy to be able to pick it up in a short amount of time and go out and play fast, play physical, and play like an actual cog in the machine here that is the Pittsburgh Steelers defense. But I think that a simplified game plan also comes with potential cons, especially when you’re playing against a really good offense, uh, like the Indianapolis Colts. And you know, I think the downsides to a simplified game plan is that you can get pretty predictable. And if you’re just running, you know, a certain set of coverages, um, you know, it’s going to be pretty easy for that opposing coaching staff and personnel to be able to pick up what you’re trying to do pre- snap. Um, especially if you’re not doing a lot of pre-nap disguises, post snap rotations, that sort of stuff. Um, you know, you’re going to be pretty static, which means, you know, you’re not really doing any anything pre- or post snap. um you’re just kind of standing there in your kind of spot and then you’re just going out to either your zone or you’re playing man-to-man and that can be pretty easy for an opposing offense to pick apart and kind of know what you’re doing. Um and they can beat you a scheme a lot easier in that way. So even though it could theoretically open up the Steelers defensive personnel to play faster, uh to not think as much, the miscommunications may go down, it also may make this defense even more predictable than it already frankly was. Um, and you know that could mean some bad things for the Pittsburgh Steelers if Daniel Jones is just picking them apart left and right. And you know, of course, it all starts with run defense and you got to be able to contain Jonathan Taylor. Um, but you know, there’s certainly some potential cons with going with the simplified game plan, which could end up making things worse for the Pittsburgh Steelers defense and not necessarily better. Now, I will say with a guy like Kyle Duggar coming in who’s brand new, I think that having a simplified game plan actually makes a lot of sense. And I think um you know, this is something that was very well thought of by Mike Tomlin and Tara Lost as okay, we’re we’re not we’re going to have guys out there that don’t have a ton of experience with us, don’t have a lot of experience with the rest of the personnel here. We’re going to try and, you know, really simplify things this week uh while we continue to get him ramped up. I think that’s probably the right strategy. But the problem, like I said, with that strategy is that it’s it’s possible the Colts just know what they’re doing um a large majority of the time before the ball is even snapped. And then, you know, it makes in-game adjustments easier. Um and it makes it harder on the Steelers defense to make adjustments as well cuz you know what are you going to do? Put in some complicated stuff midame that Kyle Duggar has no idea what you’re trying to do. Like it’s just it’s just you know I think that there’s a little bit of a disadvantage in that. Now hopefully the Steelers talent on this team kind of shows up, you know, and you know, kind of that talent with Jaylen Ramsey and his physicality, his tackling ability, his instincts, the guys up front, hopefully they blitz less this week and put more bodies out in coverage allowing this pass rush, the super talented pass rush to get home easier. Um, you know, hopefully the talent kind of shines through on this Steelers team this week. can um you know, as we head towards this game, I’m really hoping that this that this defense, this defensive coaching staff, the personnel out there uh can figure it out a little bit. So, that’s my hope. That’s my prayer heading into tomorrow. God, I’m I’m tired of losing. Um even though it’s just been two weeks, you know, it seems like every single season now there’s a at least threeame losing skid under head coach Mike Tomlin. And uh you know unless this defense turns it around tomorrow, really has a impressive performance, it it feels like we could be on our way to that Tomlin three-game skid by this time tomorrow. But I’m I’m going to try and keep an optimistic and hopeful mindset heading into tomorrow. The offense has been playing very well. You’re going to have Seamalo out there, so the jumbo personnel packages are going to be active. Jaylen Warren’s playing great football. Um you know, the Steelers have had a lot of success against Lou Anarumo defenses over the years. So hopefully that offense comes ready to play, but something tells me it’s probably going to be a bit of a shootout tomorrow. So it’s going to be entertaining game. I can’t wait to share it with you guys tomorrow and react to it together. Again, we’ll be going live tomorrow starting at 12:00 p.m. Eastern time for our pregame show. Then we’ll have live playbyplay and analysis of the game itself and then our extensive postgame coverage. So if you guys want the complete game day experience tomorrow as a Steelers fan, this is the channel where you guys get that. So click that subscribe button if you haven’t already. Until tomorrow, guys.

Steelers Talk by Chat Sports on Saturday, November 1st, gives you some last-minute Steelers news as Pittsburgh prepares to take on the Indianapolis Colts at home in less than 24 hours. On today’s show, host Jack Sperry reacts to the latest surprising roster moves the Steelers have made in preparation for their Week 9 matchup as well as some interesting comments from star edge rusher T.J. Watt on some potentially much-needed changes to the Steelers defensive scheme this week as this unit looks to turn around their season after a bumpy start to the 2025 campaign.

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