Steelers’ novice safety tandem limiting big plays
PITTSBURGH — There are long plays, and then there are dadgum long plays.
The Steelers have cut down on both lately, and that’s made their defensive coordinator a little less uptight.
“We got beat 26-14 last time we played these guys,” said Keith Butler. “They got four field goals on us and they got two touchdowns on us, and one of them was a dadgum long play. … Our defense has to play better than their defense this time for us to win.”
If a long play is 40 yards, how long’s a dadgum long play?
“Over 50,” Butler said. And he hasn’t seen one of those since John Brown went 71 for the Ravens.
In the three games since, the Steelers haven’t allowed a play longer than 43 yards, and in the last two games nothing longer than 24 yards.
Overall, the Steelers are allowing 0.6 40-yard plays per game — run or pass. That’s their lowest per-game average since 2012 when Pro Bowler Ryan Clark still had another season as their free safety.
The Steelers’ free safety this year is a novice. Sean Davis played cornerback and strong safety in college, and strong safety his first two seasons with the Steelers. The move to free season this season appears to be paying off.
Not that Davis is all that confident though.
“It’s good hearing feedback,” he said. “I ask my guys, ‘Do y’all feel better with me back there? Y’all feel confident?’ Because I don’t know. I’m new. I’m just trying to do my job by being the factor who helps everybody else. I’m still learning, too, but I feel like we’ve had less big plays. I think so.”
The stats say so. As does the dadgum coordinator.
“When we got Sean here we felt he was a good free safety in that he covers a lot of ground,” said Butler. “He’s got a lot of range, but we had to use him the way he was used the last couple years because of who we had on the team. We tried to fit our guys as best we could according to what they did best and also what was best for the defense. So Sean being at free safety wasn’t necessarily best for our defense, as opposed to this year.”
A decline at free safety began in Clark’s final season, when the Steelers allowed 1.1 40-yard plays per game. Since then the averages with Mike Mitchell, beginning in 2014, were 1.0, 0.8, 0.8, 1.0 and now, with Davis, 0.6.
“The whole position change has been difficult, just because it’s different, different techniques,” said Davis.
“You’re just away. You’ve got sharp angles. Sometimes your speed can’t make up for angles. Maybe I would’ve made up with speed if I was covering on one side of the field instead of zoning the whole deep middle. I’m fast enough to go from zone, from curl to flat, but in that deep middle you’ve got to patrol sideline to sideline, man, and if you get thrown off — if the quarterback looks you off or does something to get you off — then you’re letting someone out to dry a little bit. So I’m trying to learn to not let quarterbacks move me off the initial read, learn how to find the right angles when I’m breaking downhill, when the guys are running away from the corners, my fit. I’ve got different fits now. It’s a lotta little things.”
The little things are adding up, particularly for a defense that’s paired Davis the novice with Terrell Edmunds the rookie on the back end.
“So far so good,” David said. “But I’ve got to start — I don’t know, I need some more splash plays. But I feel that’ll come. We’re still early. But it feels good to hear that we’re doing something back there.”
NOTES: RT Marcus Gilbert left practice early, possibly with knee trouble that kept him out of last Sunday’s game against Cleveland. “He practiced two periods and then I looked around and said ‘Where’s Gil?'” said Maurkice Pouncey, who passed along his findings: “Trainer.” … The Steelers, of course, would use Matt Feiler at right tackle. He started against the Browns and the Steelers allowed only one sack. The Ravens lead the NFL with 27 sacks. … LG Ramon Foster was given his usual Thursday off while CB Coty Sensabaugh (toe) was limited. Artie Burns would be his replacement. … The Ravens were missing five starters from Thursday’s practice: RB Alex Collins (foot), RT James Hurst (back), S Tony Jefferson (hamstring), LB C.J. Mosley (thigh) and LT Ronnie Stanley (ankle). The only limited starter was CB Marlon Humphrey (thigh), who’s missed both games since Jimmy Smith returned.