How did Steelers halt Colts’ offense in Week 9? | Chris Simms Unbuttoned | NFL on NBC

How did Steelers halt Colts’ offense in Week 9? | Chris Simms Unbuttoned | NFL on NBC

Let’s get into more film review here in this one. The Steelers defense was one of the stunners of the year, honestly. Right. Uh what they did to the Colts offense, Chris, my jaw hit the floor. The main talking point for us on Monday was that they changed from playing so much man to heavy zone. Uh for context, entering week nine, the Steelers played man 43% of the time. That was the third highest rate in the NFL. It’s crazy. Week nine, they dropped that down to 30%. 70% was their highest zone rate of the season. 50% single high and 46.4% split safety. They only played cover zero 3.6% of the time. So all that sounds great, Chris, but what does it really mean against the Colts off? Right. Well, I think the thing they played less man. That was the first thing, right? And you you don’t you’re not convinced they have the personnel to play that. I don’t think they the man’s a pro. It was it was even a problem in this game, right? When they played man, I was like, “Oh, they’re they’re getting open.” You know, there was a few times, too, where it was like, “Whoa, they lucky the pressure got there or one of the edge rushers got there.” But yeah, also within that, yes, I you know, uh I don’t think they’re a great man-to-man football team. They got to be careful. Just dabble in man. Joey Porter holds almost every play he’s in man coverage. You’ve heard what I’ve said. Darius Slay, it’s at the end of his career. He can’t run quite the same way. Eckles is is okay. And the other thing they did is they moved Jaylen Ramsey to full-time safety, which is what they should have done. I mean, that’s that’s what should have been done. You know, again, he’s he’s better. He’s a real good secondary player, like you’ve heard me say for two years now. You don’t want Jaylen Ramsey on an island. You Jaylen Ramsey got traded for a third round pick to the Miami Dolphins. That doesn’t mean Island shutdown corner a day after we just saw Sauce Gardner Island shutdown corner get traded for two first round picks, right? I mean, so that’s not who he is anymore. And and and so that’s where I think that’ll help them as all. their their main theme of the day was zone coverage. Keep them in front of you. The explosive Colts offense for the most part and then their edge guys absolutely whoop the out of the tackles of the Indianapolis Colts which I haven’t seen anybody do with the Colts this year and they just had their way. And I think those would be the the two or three things that were the big difference for the Steelers defense. And I think one of the signature plays of the game was one of those instances in the second quarter. for 11 minutes 27 seconds. First and 10 at the Pittsburgh 38. TJ Watt gets home for the strip sack. If he doesn’t, Chris, it seemed like there was two options on this play for There is. And and I feel like I I don’t know this for sure, but this is just as he’s getting stripped here, but I believe he’s going to throw the ball to Alec Pierce. Now, this picture doesn’t do this justice, but if you waited just a split second longer, he runs by Joey Porter and they have a squatting middle of the field safety. So, I think he was getting ready to throw the ball over the top, but maybe not. I couldn’t tell, but either way, you see Yes, he would have had Pierce. I know it doesn’t look like it here. No, it’s it’s wild. You see it, right? It is wild the step he gets. It looks like he picked a picture where he was like, “Where can I make the guy look as most covered to disprove Chris?” But either way, he does run by him. All good. Okay. But then you see Tyler Warren as well, right? And this is to me, this is where the game was seven nothing Colts and here they were marching down the field again and you went uh oh, if they go up 14- nothing, all the Lanarumo crazy zones come out and now their offense just feels like, hey, we got a lead. We can do whatever we want. And then here comes TJ Watt making an unbelievable play as he did a lot throughout the football game. Him and Alex Tymith were absolutely phenomenal throughout the game. So, I think the question now is Chris, what’s more likely to carry over the rest of the season? Is it the Steelers defense finding something or is it that Daniel Jones turnover issues maybe pop back up? No, I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about the Daniel Jones turnover issue. The offense is too it’s too diverse and too easy. Exactly. Right. Did he make some mistake? You know, the strips I don’t blame the strips on him. That was immediately. Right. Immediately. His strip later in the game is kind of immediately. And he’s about to throw to an open receiver, right? The one in the fourth quarter. Uh, also the one you blame on him is the interception. The interception you blame on him, but if you look at the interception he throws to Payton Wilson, right? He feels pressure. He’s already been pressured a few times. He can feel I can’t remember who was off the left edge on that one on the interception. I think it was Highmith, but he kind of gets off the ball well and he’s kind of getting close to Daniel Jones. And I think Daniel Jones goes, he’s looking to his left and now he’s coming back to the right, but he’s like, “Oh no, somebody’s coming.” and he tries to throw it a little quicker than he wants and he had more time and he would have been able to evaluate, oh wait, Peyton Wilson dropped right there. Watch out, he’s underneath your guy and that of course caused an interception, too. So, the pressure by the edge guys were just a huge part of the football game. The other thing I’d like to know, too, just from you, if you don’t mind, is like how much did they blitz in the game overall? The Steelers. Yeah, I could pull that up because it it it certainly didn’t seem like they blitzed very much overall. And I would hope that going forward they don’t have to blitz a whole lot going forward, right? So they could allocate more defenders. They blitzed 29.5% of the time. It was 18 pass blitz blitzes on 61 pass plays, but they were almost all just fiveman. They were five. Like it wasn’t like here we come. It was just here’s one extra guy. Yeah, one extra guy. I feel like those are the few times they played manto man. A few times they blitzed and made might have played cover three. It’s actually a little higher than I would have expected. But one of the other things too from this game I thought that really this is the first time all year I thought this with Shane Stiken with all the coverage they played and zones and soft cover man they just did not stay with the run game. There be another one like we talked about with Kansas City and Buffalo a little yesterday. This is one here today where I sit here and go yeah they let the Steelers off the hook. They did. They could have stayed more consistent. This was a game where the Steelers were like we’re worried about your big plays down the field in the pass game. That’s our number one thing. And I think there was there more to be had in the run game that that they could have took advantage of and that was uh something I felt like the the Colts, you know, messed up on a little bit. Yeah, only 14 carries for Jonathan Taylor. And I mean, you look at it though on outside zone, he had six carries. He was averaging almost five yards a holes were there. Again, the Steelers front played better than we’ve seen, but again, there was a lot of plays where I go, the DTackles are still getting pushed back. their linebackers were aggressive in this game trying to come downhill, but yes, I still looked at it and went in the run game, the Colts are moving the Steelers. Why are they becoming so pass, right? I I I don’t And I think because they thought they were going to get blitz, man-to-man coverage, we’re going to get what we’ve seen from the Steelers all year. So, we’re going to we’re going to call passes and screw them and throw them deep, right? That’s what I think. But, you know, that’s got to change. And let me just say, I wrote this at the end of my thing here, right? Worst day of the season for the Colts offensive line, especially the tackles like we talked about, right? Then the other part is when the Steelers play man, it’s scary. It’s and I mean it’s scary for the Steelers. It’s scary. Like people are always open when they play man, right? Steelers got lucky in this game with, “Oh, we played man and a left tackle got beat and you were about to get a big completion or oh, we played man and thank god somebody tipped the ball at the line of scrimmage because it was about to be another big play.” Right? So that’s where like, hey, this is a good start for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Am I sold that all defensive problems are fixed yet? No, not necessarily. Right. So that’s the other thing, too. And then, yeah, there was a few times where it’s man, and it’s like I think Daniel Jones is spoiled by the first read getting open a few times where it’s like, no, no, come on, get off it. The second guy is wide open in your read, but then pressure would come or he’d get hit just as he was throwing it. So, it was like one of those days, too, where there was a bunch of plays by the Colts who were like, “Oh, oh my gosh, they almost had the Steelers, but the Steelers made a play or the Colts messed it up.” And that certainly was one of the themes of the game, too. Well, their next five games, I think their man coverage is going to be challenged because they are at the Chargers. They are home to the Bengals. They are at Chicago. They are hosting the Bills. And then they’re at Baltimore. Who Who’s that? That’s the Steelers. The Steelers. So, those are five quarterbacks that are going to challenge the secondary and we’re going to see what they can do. No question about it. But like Justin Herbert, say what you want, but Joe Flacco, he’s done it already. What do I need to say? He’s already shown you. Caleb scary. Caleb, Josh Allen. Oh my gosh. Yeah, they they So, I mean, this is kind of the We’re going to see if it’s if this works. This new You know what? Cutting times. It is. These next five definitely is. We’re It’s good. I think this is the right approach, though. As I said, I I just wouldn’t trust some of their guys on islands and play zone, mix up your zones, let make the quarterback get confused, pat the ball in extra time. I got hit by TJ Wat, Alex Highmith, right? I think that’s the way to go going forward. I think it’s their best chance. And then you just dabble in man with a tactical man blitz or whatever now and then. But don’t be like you were in Green Bay or in other weeks where you lived in man and you let Jordan Love like we’ve had conversations with before. Just throw one-on-one shots up, right? Or do that. And that to me does not make sense for for the Steelers defense. Yo yo yo. Thanks for watching, homies. We are now in the NFL season here on Chris Sims Unbutton. Hit subscribe to get our weekly picks, game recaps, film deep dives, and much much more. Thanks again for watching. Subscribe, rate, review. Peace out. You know where to find

Chris Simms and Connor Rogers break down the Steelers’ defensive success against the Colts in Week 9, examining how Pittsburgh was able to cause Indianapolis’ worst offensive performance of the season. #NBCSports #NFL #ChrisSimmsUnbuttoned
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How did Steelers halt Colts’ offense in Week 9? | Chris Simms Unbuttoned | NFL on NBC
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