PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Yes the Steelers won a blowout in the first matchup with the Browns and played a close game despite several starters resting last Sunday, but the defense needs to improve in stopping the run. That starts, but is not limited to, their Pro Bowl running back.
“We needed to minimize [Nick] Chubb and their run game,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin of allowing 108 yards to Chubb this past Sunday. “We gave up too many big runs. I think he’s got the number one make you miss rate or tackle breaking rate in the NFL. That is why he is a challenge, that’s why he was a challenge, that’s why he will be a big challenge along with [Kareem] Hunt this time around.”
So how do you stop a guy with a great ‘make you miss rate’ who is also 227 pounds and runs a 4.5, 40-yard dash?
“We’ve got to wrap tackle,” said Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler. “He is to me, this guy, and if you look at all great running backs and I have had a chance to play against some great running backs and know this as a fact, most great running backs have a great strength in their legs. This guy is no exception to that rule. He has got real strong legs. He is hard to get on the ground.”
“The reason he is hard to get on the ground is he can run through some arm tackles. What are arm tackles? You reach your arm out and try to daggum get him and he is going to run through that stuff.”
“You’ve got to wrap him up and drive your feet. You can’t let your feet go dead on contact. It’s got to be one of those teaching daggum episodes of wrapping up and driving your feet. If we do that, we’ll keep them out of the third-and-threes and third-and-fours and get them in the third-and-longs. That’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to stop him.”
Chubb ran for a 47-yard touchdown Sunday and has touchdown rushes in six straight games. By comparison, the Steelers have 12 rushing touchdowns all year.
It’s not just Chubb the Steelers have to worry about in the backfield, its former NFL rushing leader Kareem Hunt. As the back-up, Hunt has 841 yards rushing this season, that’s 120 more than Steelers leading rusher James Conner.
“When you have two really good backs like that, you’re able to make them interchangeable,” said Steelers defensive captain Cam Heyward. “Of course Nick Chubb is the workhorse but Kareem Hunt is no slouch. Both of those guys are able to get a multitude of plays. There are times they had both backs in last year. We have to be prepared for that. It’s definitely a tall task when you are asked to stop both of those guys.”
Then there is the ability of the Browns quarterback to scramble. Baker Mayfield has 165 yards rushing this year, 44 against the Steelers last week and 437 rushing yards in his career.
“We have to do a better job of containing Mayfield,” Tomlin said. “He hurt us with his legs some (last Sunday). Not only the big run, like the big run in the later part of the third quarter that produced a touchdown drive, but also conversion runs, third down runs when he was scrambling around and converting. We know he is capable of that. So, our rush has to be better, not only in terms of applying pressure, but containing him, minimizing that component of play.”
“He is a guy that you have to consider because he can scramble if you notice what he does,” Butler said. “He prefers to throw when he scrambles to his right and he prefers to run when he scrambles to his left. The thing we have to do if make sure we don’t let him out much and we keep him in the pocket and make him see if he can see over those guys in front of him.”
“They boot him, they do what we call dash or rollout passes and stuff like that to get him on the edge to see people and stuff like that. He’s pretty good at doing it. So we have to be aware of them trying to do that, too. Run the boots and then try to run what we call dashes, too. Those things we have to defend.”
“We have to do a much better job of defending these guys than we did last week. We have to tackle. We have to get them in third and long. We can’t continuously be in third and 4 and third and 3 and stuff like that. We can’t do that.”
“When we are doing it right,” Heyward said of defending quarterback rushes. “I think everyone is cognizant of their rush lanes. It’s a team approach. Sometimes you can get too far up field as an individual and it stresses the other guys. We need to have good communication up front.”
“When we put him in situations where he has to throw the pass, it allows us to be more successful. We get them in a situation where they still have a run/pass option. They will be able to run boots, like they did at the end of the game (Sunday). We are not going to have a lot of success.”