Despite Win, Struggling Secondary Still Major Problem for Steelers

First off, let’s celebrate the fact that the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled off a huge road win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. The 27-20 victory by the Steelers put them in a great position to make the playoffs with a win over the Kansas City Chiefs next Sunday.

However, even in a win, things were far from stellar for the Steelers defensive secondary. Once again, the worst unit on the Steelers roster did all it could to allow the Falcons to stay in the game until the very end.

This isn’t something new for the Steelers. Pittsburgh has been hemorrhaging long plays all season long. On Sunday, Pittsburgh allowed two plays of 40-plus yards, bringing their season total to 15, per Dale Lolley of the Observer-Reporter:

"

The #Steelers have now allowed 2 passes of 40-plus yards today - both catch and runs. 15 for season

— Dale Lolley (@dlolleyor) December 14, 2014"

These sorts of lapses in coverage and fundamentals by the Steelers secondary could really hang over them, should they make the playoffs. On the first play, the Falcons drew up an excellent screen pass to wide receiver Devin Hester. The Steelers defense was in full pass-rush mode, and multiple defenders just ran past Hester, trying to get to Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

Once Hester got the football, it was simply a case of his superior athleticism against a hobbled and slow secondary. Pittsburgh was fortunate that the play didn’t go for a touchdown. The Steelers defense stiffened and held the Falcons to a field goal on their first drive of the second half.

On the second play, Falcons wide receiver Harry Douglas took advantage of soft coverage and his physical advantage for a 41-yard catch-and-run that set up a short touchdown catch, by wide receiver Roddy White. This was another case where the Pittsburgh secondary didn’t have the skills to contest the throw and the athletic ability to tackle the route once they gave up the catch. Douglas sped up the sideline for a big gain.

In fact, to illustrate the problems with the Steelers secondary, let’s take a closer look at the White touchdown. All you have to do is look at the physical comparison between the Pittsburgh defensive backs and the Falcons wide receivers, and you get a clear picture of why things are going so wrong.

The physical advantage is terrifying. White just overwhelms cornerback Antwon Blake, but even at the snap, you see how the Falcons wide receivers towers over the Steelers defensive backs.

And beyond the big plays, the Steelers secondary is making opposing quarterbacks look like stars as well. According to TribLive host Ken Laird, Sunday’s performance by Ryan is a growing trend:

"

The #Steelers D held Atlanta to 20 points & scored 7 on Gay Pick-6 but allowed opposing QB rating of 100+ for 5th straight week (Ryan 102.3)

— Ken Laird (@Ken_Laird) December 14, 2014"

Fortunately, the Steelers defensive backs get something of a reprieve next Sunday as the Kansas City Chiefs come to town and bring with them a streak of no touchdown catches to a wide receiver that has lasted over a year. Mike Jurecki of Fox Sports 910 sent out this tweet:

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#Chiefs are the first NFL team to go through 12 games of a season without a receiving touchdown from a wide receiver since 1977. (via @espn)

— Mike Jurecki (@mikejurecki) December 4, 2014"

This record was extended this Sunday as the Chiefs were denied a wide receiver touchdown for another week.

It is hard to look at the next two games and hypothesize a quick fix. Cornerbacks Blake, William Gay and Brice McCain are just too slow and too small to be competitive against the top wide receivers in the league. This forces the defense to play very passively in terms of coverages and pressures, which leads to big play after big play.

The best thing this team can do for the secondary is just to score a truckload of points every week and account for the yards and points the defense is going to give up. I hate to think about playoff shootouts, but this team has enough weapons on offense to hang with any team in the NFL.