The Steelers’ defense was the butt of many a joke after two consecutive losses in which they gave up over 900 yards of offense and surrendered 68 points. However, they washed a lot of that stink off with
a tremendous performance over the NFL’s No. 1 offense.
Pittsburgh forced six takeaways against the Indianapolis Colts (three interceptions, three fumbles), sacked Daniel Jones five times, and held Jonathan Taylor to just 43 yards on the ground and zero touchdowns. There were several adjustments made to the defense – some by force, and some by choice. The Steelers moved Jalen Ramsey back to safety and had Kyle Dugger play 72 snaps because of several injuries. Lo and behold, though, that worked really well. Another tweak they made, though, was deploying coverages they rarely run.
Steelers usage of Cover 6 was uncharacteristically high vs. Colts
Per SumerBrain, the Steelers entered the week having deployed Cover 6 just seven times in Weeks 1-8. Pittsburgh ran that coverage six times (roughly 11 percent of snaps) against the Colts and had a success rate of 66.67 percent.
For those who don’t know what Cover 6 is, it combines Cover 4 and Cover 2 (hence where the six comes from – 4+2). The goal of the defense is to have its cake and eat it too. The Cover 2 side of the ball allows the defense to double-team the offense’s top receiver in zone coverage. The Cover 4 side takes away deep threats due to there being four guys back.
Considering that Daniel Jones is fourth in the NFL in intermediate and deep completions, this was clearly something the Steelers gameplanned for to keep the lid on the Colts’ passing attack, and it worked.
In addition, the Steelers also ran a high number of Cover 4. In total, they’ve run 48 plays out of Cover 4 this season – 12 came against the Colts, and again, they were largely successful. The Colts had a negative EPA per play when the Steelers were in Cover 4. Despite not running it a ton, they are very successful when they run quarters, notching a success rate north of 58 percent.
While the Steelers still played the majority of their snaps in Cover 3 and Cover 1, they made necessary adjustments, including more diverse coverage looks, and it helped them get the win. Hopefully we see more of this going forward.
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