Throughout the years, the Pittsburgh Steelers under head coach Mike Tomlin have followed a fairly simple yet effective approach to playing defense. Their goal is not to reinvent the wheel or be overly exotic, but rather to win with consistency and high-level execution.
As a consequence, they repeatedly rely on zone coverage in the backend coupled with an aggressive rush plan up front. One big part of that plan so far this season is using extra rushers to attack the pocket: Pittsburgh is ranked fourth
in the NFL with a blitz rate of 39.3 percent.
The Steelers have found success with their blitz-heavy approach. Even though they have only registered three sacks, tied for 25th in the league, their 26.2 percent pressure rate is the sixth best in football through two games. Based on those numbers, it would make sense for the team to again rely heavily on five- or six-man rushes against the New England Patriots and sophomore quarterback Drake Maye on Sunday.
However, Maye has proven himself quite capable of performing in such situations. In fact, he has been one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks versus the blitz this year.
In games against the Las Vegas Raiders and Miami Dolphins, Maye has been blitzed on roughly one third of his dropbacks (32.1%) and put up some very good numbers along the way. He completed 16 of 23 pass attempts (69.6%) for 173 yards with a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions.
Given his success, Pittsburgh might want to change its plans. However, given the team’s insistence on playing its established defense come hell or high water, that seems unlikely — at least to a significant degree.
Still, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin knows that Maye has the potential to make his team pay for not being on top of its game on Sunday.
“He does a really good job of extending plays and making plays with his legs,” Tomlin said. “The weeks where quarterback mobility is a factor that usually has your attention from a rush and coverage perspective. You have to be real solid in the rush to eliminate downhill escape lanes, etc. You have to be ready to cover, extend it as they utilize their legs to extend plays, and that’s certainly been an asset of his game since he’s been in the league.”
