Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin aims<\/a> to get Dugger ready for Sunday\u2019s game against the high-flying Indianapolis Colts. Dugger is doing all he can to get up to speed.<\/p>\n\u201cStudying, getting with the guys, leaning on them,\u201d he said of getting acclimated to the defense. \u201cAsking questions. Just gotta work at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A reunion with Jabrill Peppers, whom the Steelers signed earlier this season after being cut by the Patriots, is helping accelerate that process. Dugger confirmed he\u2019s willing and able to cover tight ends and could be pitted against rookie Tyler Warren, who is having a strong first season and has found the end zone in three of his last four games.<\/p>\n
Dugger will help ease the loss of SS DeShon Elliott, out the next month if not longer due to a knee injury. At 6-1, 220 pounds Dugger has unique size and was viewed as a hybrid linebacker\/safety coming out of college. He\u2019s largely played defensive back throughout his NFL career.<\/p>\n
That run defense will come in handy against Colts RB Jonathan Taylor, who finished Week 8 as the NFL\u2019s leader in carries, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns. He\u2019s posted 100-yard games in half his contests this season and is on pace to finish with over 1,800 yards. The two-time Pro Bowler is on pace to match the 1,811 yards he posted in 2021.<\/p>\n
For Pittsburgh\u2019s defense to get back on track, it\u2019ll take more than one player to turn things around. But if Dugger can do his job, he\u2019ll help that process and help his market value as a soon-to-be free agent after the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Subject of trade rumors since the summer, safety Kyle Dugger officially moved from New England to Pittsburgh this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,7882,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-488480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-kyle-dugger","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115466990263885894","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488480","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=488480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}