Steelers defense look to fix communication issues
LATROBE 鈥� Sean Davis barked out calls as the new free safety in the Steelers鈥� first practice of training camp Thursday.
That鈥檚 just one fix to an overall defensive problem of communication issues that dogged the Steelers last season, particularly after Ryan Shazier went down with an injury.
Shazier won鈥檛 return this season, but the hope is that a semblance of group intelligence will.
Just how does a team practice to improve its communication?
鈥淏y just rolling the ball out and doing just that,鈥� said Mike Tomlin. 鈥淣ot taking anything for granted, general fundamental communication things that happen pre-snap, things that happen post-play, the quick reviews of route concepts or gap responsibility in the run game. All really good defenses do a good job of that, whether it鈥檚 in pre-play or in the review fashion post-play.鈥�
The Steelers were a mess defensively after Shazier went down, and it wasn鈥檛 just the secondary, where former strong safety Davis has been moved to the more leadership-oriented free safety spot and Morgan Burnett was signed to play strong safety.
The Steelers are also working free agent Jon Bostic in at linebacker. On Thursday he rotated in the base with Tyler Matakevich and replaced him on most snaps in the nickel alignment next to Vince Williams.
No, the problems were in both the pass game and the run game, where the Steelers had their worst yield per carry since 1954.
鈥淩yan鈥檚 our signal-caller,鈥� said defensive tackle Cam Heyward. 鈥淪o everybody has to be a little bit more communicative now. No one can replace the instincts he has, but that means we have to be more sound as a defense. We can鈥檛 take as many risks. Ryan could be a riskier player because he鈥檚 so fast and plays off of instincts.鈥�
Heyward said too much was taken for granted with Shazier running the defense, since 鈥渨e never planned for him not to be there.鈥� Heyward said that a full offseason of work and the acquisition of Burnett and Bostic, as well as first-round draft pick Terrell Edmunds, a linebacker-like strong safety, should help.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen it done before,鈥� Heyward said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been on a team where there were all veterans and I was a young guy, and I saw what those guys did, the work they put in. Who鈥檚 to say we can鈥檛?鈥�
Joe Haden, a quarterback type at cornerback, will help improve the issues, too, since he鈥檚 in his first training camp with the Steelers after being signed late last August.
鈥淲e want to over-communicate,鈥� Haden said. 鈥淲e want to make sure both of us (cornerbacks) are on the same page with Sean, with Morgan, with E-man. So I think what we need to do is just make sure that we always communicate and make sure we鈥檙e always on the same page, and with that we should be good.鈥�
Haden pointed to the playoff loss to Jacksonville for the primary examples of last year鈥檚 problems.
鈥淭here were a couple times that people were just running free,鈥� he said. 鈥淪witches that we weren鈥檛 switching on, stuff like that. We have the ability, we have the players, but we鈥檝e just got to be on the same page and make sure everyone鈥檚 covering their man.
鈥淭here were a couple under routes when the tight end was coming out, and then on the big post at the end with Artie, we had the safety cut it. That means that I鈥檝e got to go high as a single-high safety, so I felt I could鈥檝e been there to help Artie on that play. Just certain little things that we weren鈥檛 doing and we kind of shot ourself.鈥�
The additions will help. Putting in the work without Shazier as a safety net will help, too. The move of Davis to free safety will provide better range in center field, but Tomlin cautioned against expecting too much out of the move.
鈥淭he safety position in the National Football League today is really kind of interchangeable,鈥� he said. 鈥淵our perceptions of free and strong in the traditional sense aren鈥檛 necessarily what it鈥檚 been. You鈥檝e got to be able to do it all in today鈥檚 NFL at the safety position: cover, play half-field, play single-high. It鈥檚 not that drastic of a transition to be honest with you.鈥�
But the new free safety will have to communicate 鈥� or as Haden said 鈥� over-communicate.