PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Mike Tomlin said he knew on Thursday they were going to have an issue at safety. DeShon Elliott out injured and sickness took out Chuck Clark and a quad injury eliminated Jabrill Peppers. Only with the team since Thursday, a former Patriot stepped in.
It was really noticeable right before the game when Steelers public address announcer Larry Richert was going through the defensive starters and said ‘from Lenoir Rhyne’ (a Division II school in Wisconsin) and you could see the heads turning in the stands and fans wondering who is that? Then the call of ‘Kyle Dugger’ as a starting safety.
Dugger first appeared at the Steelers facility Thursday and now was starting against the highest scoring offense in the NFL. And after a couple of weeks where the Steelers defense had given up 68 points.
“As a professional, that’s hard to do, I’ve seen a lot of transactions over the years, and I always feel like if you can put your arms around that guy right away, you got a good chance of him kind of jumping on board,” said quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“Fit in well,” said linebacker Patrick Queen. “The guy was in meetings all week, early, after, just trying to catch up on the defense. He went out there, he’s communicating all over the field.”
“I think it had everything to do with my coaches, my coaches and my teammates,” Dugger said. “They made the terminology, as far as what I used to play and matched it up for me and simplified it for meetings.”
Dugger said they would communicate after every rep in the two practices he had before starting against the Colts. The Georgia native put in a lot of work studying the playbook and film, as much of how the Steelers play than what the Colts did.
It’s not that Dugger hasn’t seen a lot, a second-round pick, Dugger signed a four-year, $58 million contract last year with the Patriots. Then when Mike Vrabel came in as head coach this season, he fell out of favor and had a chance to fill what became a huge gap for the Steelers.
“He went from making money and being a starter to being out of the rotation,” Rodgers said. “I saw him in the weight room Wednesday and chatted him up. Felt like the guys kind of just brought him in and said, you’re our guy. Got out there and just be yourself and have fun. But it is not easy to do that at all. I give him a lot of credit as a professional. Glad he’s with us.”
“Dugger just came in this week,” said corner Joey Porter. “He had to learn a lot of the playbook and he came out and did what he had to do. Hats off to him.”
The 29-year-old played for the Patriots at Tennessee on October 19 before the trade to the Steelers on October 28. He was up to game speed, although playing far fewer snaps. In seven games with New England, he averaged 26 snaps a game, Sunday he played 77 (98.7% of the Steelers defensive snaps).
“He's a veteran guy, and that’s why you go get a veteran capable guy like that,” said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. “It’s reminiscent when we acquired Minkah Fitzpatrick. We got him at a similar time in the week. We were in the Bay area, and he fit in instantly. His talent showed. He made plays with us. Felt similarly with the contributions we were able to get from Dugger today.”
The stats will show four tackles, but it was much more than that to this defense. Tomlin presented Dugger with a game ball afterwards.
“I’m not really big on that kind of stuff,” Dugger said. “I definitely appreciate the recognition by coach. The win was easily the most important thing.”
“It’s a special defense. I’m ecstatic to be a part of it, seriously.”