{"id":228358,"date":"2025-07-23T00:30:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T00:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/228358\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T00:30:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T00:30:10","slug":"checkmating-you-bengals-center-explains-steelers-smart-strategy-that-makes-them-a-difficult-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/228358\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Checkmating You’: Bengals Center Explains Steelers’ \u2018Smart Strategy\u2019 That Makes Them A Difficult Matchup"},"content":{"rendered":"

For better or worse, the Pittsburgh Steelers aren\u2019t a team quick to change. This offseason has been a little different, but for the most part, the Steelers stick to their identity. Sometimes, that gets them into trouble.<\/a> However, it\u2019s also part of the reason why the Steelers are one of the most consistent teams in the league. Cincinnati Bengals center Ted Karras recently explained why Pittsburgh\u2019s game plan on defense is tough to play against.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe AFC North is a really good division, especially because we\u2019re kind of unique in our offense where we get the least amount of base,\u201d Karras said Tuesday on the Games with Names podcast.<\/a> \u201cBut if you watch an AFC North game, it\u2019s base defense out there all the time. Base meaning, so Pittsburgh plays 3-4. So instead of 4-2 nickel, they\u2019ll be in 3-4 personnel\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cPittsburgh will even say, especially early in the game, they\u2019ll just play base. They just don\u2019t match. If you wanted to run any nickel runs, now they\u2019re kind of checkmating you into passing it with five one-on-ones. Smart strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Steelers\u2019 base 3-4 defense usually consists of three defensive linemen, four linebackers, two corners, and two safeties. However, when they switch to their nickel defense, they substitute one of those linebackers for an extra defensive back. Nickel tends to be more effective against the pass but can also be weaker against the run.<\/p>\n

Therefore, when the Steelers stay in their base defense, they dare teams to throw against them. With their personnel, that makes sense. The Steelers have a great group of pass rushers and several ballhawks in their secondary. Meanwhile, their defensive line hasn\u2019t been as stout in recent years.<\/p>\n

However, last year, the Steelers operated a little differently. According to charting done by Steelers Depot\u2019s own Alex Kozora,<\/a> the defense mostly played nickel last year. 58.2-percent of their snaps came in nickel, while 25.6-percent came in base.<\/p>\n

Before that, the Steelers had a better balance between their nickel and base defenses, but last year saw a significant difference. However, that isn\u2019t too surprising. The NFL is more of a passing league now. Nickel defense is much more common, which is why slot corners are becoming more valuable.<\/p>\n

Mike Tomlin has talked about this<\/a> league-wide change, too, acknowledging that the nose tackle position is far less common than it was years ago. However, AFC North matchups are usually more physical, so it makes a little more sense for Pittsburgh to deploy more base in those games.<\/p>\n

The NFL is constantly evolving, so perhaps base defense will become more common in Pittsburgh again one day. The Steelers\u2019 run defense wasn\u2019t good enough last year, so we\u2019ll see if that influences them to run less nickel. However, with the group of defensive backs that they have,<\/a> it feels like the Steelers\u2019 nickel defense could see a lot of time on the field once again.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For better or worse, the Pittsburgh Steelers aren\u2019t a team quick to change. This offseason has been a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,46996,6,57,11014],"class_list":{"0":"post-228358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-games-with-names","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","16":"tag-ted-karras"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114899728772254068","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}