Football is the ultimate team sport, and nowhere is that more evident than on defense. One player out of position can create a vulnerability that good offensive coordinators will exploit. The Pittsburgh Steelers learned that lesson the hard way last season, as those weak points repeatedly undermined an otherwise talented defense. New defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s job is to shore up those vulnerabilities and get the most out of the NFL’s most expensive unit.
“You can’t count on turnovers every single year,” the P-G’s Ray Fittipaldo said Wednesday via 93.7 The Fan’s Morning Show. “You gotta jump into the top 15 teams in yards allowed if you wanna be a team that’s gonna be thinking about the playoffs. Maybe they can replicate that turnover success that they had for so many years under Mike Tomlin, but I’m not gonna bank on that…I think Patrick Graham can get them there. I think he’s gonna tighten things up as far as communication goes. I think they’ll be more sound. I think it’ll be less freelancing. I think that’s gonna be a good thing.”
Few players can freelance like Troy Polamalu and somehow always be in the right position. And Polamalu himself would have created issues for the defense if not for Ryan Clark, who understood his chaotic play style. The difference between calculated aggressiveness and reckless freelancing comes down to everyone being on the same page.
Fixing those issues starts with communication.
How many times have we seen players in the secondary frustrated with each other after a receiver caught a wide-open pass in the end zone. Those mistakes are commonplace in college football, but they really shouldn’t happen in the NFL. Pinpointing theut if it was a Mike Tomlin and Teryl Austin-related problem
Patrick Queen will once again handle the green-dot communications from the sideline. Graham even decided to keep the terminology the same to lessen the learning curve for his mostly veteran defense. How he communicates and teaches the concepts will make the biggest difference.
The other side of tightening things up is improving individual execution. Every defender has a gap, a coverage responsibility, and a specific job to do. Last season, too many players abandoned those assignments in pursuit of the big play. Keeanu Benton and Payton Wilson were two of the biggest culprits of this issue among the front seven, and it showed in Pittsburgh’s results against the run.
Graham’s challenge is to instill the discipline to trust the scheme rather than trying to do someone else’s job. Fittipaldo thinks he can do that.
He made much less talented defenses look better than they were. That’s the result of sound technique and discipline.
The league’s most expensive defense doesn’t need an infusion of talent. It needs a better structure and more discipline to facilitate 11 players working in concert with each other. The Steelers already have the star power. Now, Graham’s job is to make sure those stars stop playing as 11 individuals and start playing as one defense.
