Coming out of the bye week, Steelers players are readying for a challenge like many of them have never seen before. At least not at the NFL level.
Saints tight end Taysom Hill is one of the most unordinary players in football — not particularly great at any one thing, but good at many. And a massive threat.
“He’s a tight end, he’s a receiver, he’s a quarterback,“ Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said with a laugh Thursday. “He kind of does it all, and he does well. The guy is explosive. He can throw it. He does it all.
“He presents a lot of unique challenges when he’s on the field. Where’s he going to be, what’s he going to do? That’s really something that’s had us working overtime in trying to figure that out, and get our guys in best position to defend him when he does show up on field.”
This season, Hill has rushed for 343 yards and five touchdowns, averaging 8.6 yards per carry — more than Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.
“He’s unique,” outside linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “I’ve never faced the guy like that — high school, maybe. Everyone plays everything in high school, but he's definitely unique in what he does. You not only see a quarterback, but he's a tight end, (punt protector) on punts, a receiver, everything.
“We know that when he's in the game, that we’ve got to lock in because something's up.”
Not only is Hill a powerful, explosive runner, but he can also throw is efficiently. A college quarterback at BYU, Hill has over 2,100 career passing yards, including 101 on nine attempts this season. He has started games at quarterback over the last couple of season.
"It's about eye discipline,” said defensive tackle Montravius Adams, who played in New Orleans with Hill. “He's a hell of a player, most definitely physical. At the end of the day it's about eye discipline."
“You’ve got to always account for where he is aligned,” inside linebacker Robert Spillane added. “When he's on the field and when he's not on the field."
Spillane feels that building trust within the defense is a paramount task this week, because one blown assignment can lead Hill to a big gain, or the end zone.
But they do that without much firsthand knowledge of who they’re facing. Hill has taken on Pittsburgh once, a 31-28 Saints win in 2018. He was not a factor, throwing one incompletion without running or receiving the ball in the game.
So Austin, and the Steelers — trying to turn around their season at 2-6 — don’t really have experience to fall back on, and certainly don’t have a player like Hill to try to replicate his abilities in practice.
“Sometimes you do the best you can with the guys you have,” Austin said. “But you’re not really going to simulate it. The guys won’t really feel it until you see him on Sunday.”