Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

Defensive Development Will Define Pittsburgh Steelers' AFC Title Hopes

Brent Sobleski

Defense wins championships. 

For the Pittsburgh Steelers, this wasn't simply a cliche. It was a way of life. The organization built its reputation for decades around an intimidating defense that started in the 1970s with the Steel Curtain and continued into the '90s as Blitzburgh and well into the new millennium under the watchful eye of defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. 

The Steelers have recently lost their way. 

In order for the franchise to be considered a legitimate contender in the AFC this fall, new coordinator Keith Butler must adjust to today's NFL and instantly improve a corroded defense. 

Pittsburgh finished among the NFL's top 10 in total defense every season from 2000-12. Thirteen straight seasons of excellence establishes certain expectations. Just three short years ago, the Steelers finished first overall in total defense. This became a regular occurrence during the aforementioned stint. 

This stellar run ended when the unit fell well short of expectations over the past two campaigns. In fact, the Steelers defense surrendered 353.4 yards per game last year. This became the team's worst defensive effort since the 1988 season, in which the team gave up 362.8 yards per game and finished dead last in total defense. 

Aging stars, injuries, a lack of playmakers and even less creativity eventually led to this downfall, as did a poisonous combination of the organization's insistence on loyalty and stability and poor drafting. 

As a result, LeBeau, who helped create the team's famed zone-blitz scheme, stepped down (or was quietly forced out) after the season. LeBeau spent 11 seasons (2004-14) as the team's defensive coordinator in his second stint with the franchise. During that time, Pittsburgh finished first in total defense five times. 

But the end, even for a highly successful era, can come swiftly in the NFL. Pittsburgh provided LeBeau with one more season to improve upon the unit's 2013 effort. Instead, the defense only worsened. 

Keith Butler is now tasked with improving the glaring weak spot on the roster. Pittsburgh's offense will be capable of scoring many points with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, running back Le'Veon Bell and wide receiver Antonio Brown forming arguably the best set of triplets in the NFL. The Steelers staff certainly don't want to get into a shootout with opponents every week, though. 

The new defensive coordinator's solution is to become more multiple with his defensive packages. The Steelers' scheme will no longer be considered a pure 3-4 base defense. Instead, the team plans to sprinkle in far more four-man fronts with Cover 2 in the secondary instead of heavy doses of Cover 3. 

"We are not strictly anything," Butler said, via the Pittsburgh Tribune Review's Mark Kaboly. 

Any team that stays in its base package too much of the time often becomes stale and predictable. In today's NFL, the league is already slanted toward the offenses. The league's best quarterbacks have already seen almost everything that can be thrown their way. As such, the ability to switch it up to create more confusion is key for any defense. 

Gary Wiepert/Associated Press

This is especially true for the Steelers after once being known as the league's most innovative blitzing defense. Last season, though, the team finished 26th overall with only 33 sacks. The defense managed 34 sacks the previous year.

"At this level, if you do too much of anything, you expose yourself to be attacked," Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin told Kaboly.

The team's entire scheme was predicated on creating pressure, disguising coverage and making a quarterback very uncomfortable in the pocket. None of these goals were achieved at a satisfactory rate over the last two seasons.

Butler plans to mix it up this fall to counteract the league's explosive offenses. 

"We just can't be a 3-4 team and can't just be a 4-3 team," Butler said. "I don't think you can get around that. Offenses are multiple, so you have to do what you have to do to stop them. In order to do that, you try to match up your people with their people."

Defensive end Cameron Heyward added, "Nobody really cares how we do it as long as we do it. We are going to mix things up so offenses can't get a bead on us."

The move to different looks, particularly more four-man fronts, became a necessity due to the natural liabilities built within a two-gap, read-and-react scheme.  

During the Steelers' recent preseason contest against the Buffalo Bills, Butler mixed and matched his defensive front. On Pittsburgh's very first defensive snap of the game, the Steelers were in a traditional 3-4 base set, as seen below: 

Pittsburgh Steelers' first defensive play against the Buffalo Bills Credit: NFL Game Rewind

The coordinator disguised his fronts later in the game. 

In the following example, the Steelers appeared to be in a base 3-4 front prior to the snap. The key was strong-side linebacker James Harrison, who initially lined up wide of the left tackle near the line of scrimmage: 

Pittsburgh Steelers originally show a traditional 3-4 look. Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Once Buffalo actually snapped the ball, Harrison dropped into coverage, so the Bills offense faced a traditional four-man pass rush:

Linebacker James Harrison drops into coverage. Credit: NFL Game Rewind

The Steelers even lined up in a four-man front at times: 

Pittsburgh Steelers provide a 4-3 look against the Buffalo Bills. Credit: NFL Game Rewind

While Alvin "Bud" Dupree (toward the top of the screen shot, lined up over the right tackle) is technically an outside linebacker, he became a defensive end in this particular instance. The edge player just lined up in a two-point stance instead of a three-point one. 

And that's where the biggest difference lines in Butler's schemes: A change in philosophy doesn't necessarily require personnel changes. 

Harrison, Dupree, Jarvis Jones and Arthur Moats all have experience playing defensive end during their football careers. Inside linebackers Lawrence Timmons and Ryan Shazier are two of the most athletic players on the team. They can easily switch between the fronts, play the run, blitz the quarterback or drop into coverage. Their combined speed and athleticism is simply outstanding. 

With this flexible front, Butler already showed he's willing to change it up on a down-by-down basis. The defensive coordinator continues to experiment, and the Steelers' second preseason contest against the Jacksonville Jaguars proved to be his petri dish. 

"In 28 plays, the Steelers were in a three-man front 16 times, a four-man front six times, and the nickel six times," Kaboly noted. "Only three times did Butler call the same front on back-to-back plays."

Offenses are getting the ball out quicker. They're spreading defenses horizontally as well as vertically to stretch and stress a defense beyond its limits. As such, defenses must respond. 

"What the league started to do is run these bombs on first and second downs," Butler said. "They are locking up everybody and going deep as a consequence, so you can't sit there and play read defense all of the time, because if you do, you will never get a pass rush, and the quarterback will have all day to throw it."

Any NFL quarterback can pick apart a defense if given enough time to do so. The Steelers have been very poor in creating pressure the past two seasons, which has had an adverse effect on the entire defense. 

Scheme can only take a team so far. Players must still win individual matchups. While there is talent on Pittsburgh's defense, each line of defense still owns a unique set of problems which needs to be addressed during the season. 

Defensive Front

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward Don Wright/Associated Press

Once Butler became the defensive coordinator, a different emphasis was placed on defensive line play. 

As the coordinator mentioned in the previous quote, the team can't simply sit back, take on blockers and then react. The defensive ends/tackles desperately need to be more aggressive. 

Thus, more will be expected of the team's defensive front this season. Casey Hampton need not apply, because these linemen are expected to play more one-gap schemes, which allow them to get upfield and penetrate into an opponent's backfield. 

Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt are long and athletic. Both also have experience as interior pass-rushers. Heyward actually led the team with 36 quarterback hurries last season, according to Pro Football Focus, and tied for the team lead with 7.5 sacks. 

Even Steve McLendon never truly fit the role as a pure two-gap nose tackle (at least compared to the legacy Hampton left at the position). 

When a team eventually sacrifices bulk and strength at the point of attack for quickness and athleticism, other issues arise. Those issues began early in the preseason against the Jaguars and continued into the Bills contest. 

Those offenses created chunk plays via their ground games. Butler is looking for his front to be much more physical during the regular season. A quote after the Jaguars game perfectly illustrates the coach's point, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ray Fittipaldo: 

We can’t allow people to push the pile on us. That’s what I’m most disappointed in. We didn’t keep our feet moving. We kind of hit and stopped, and they didn’t stop. They kept on going. They were turning 2-yard gains into 6-yard gains. We have to do a better job. It happened to us in practice a couple of times, too. Usually, when it happens it will show up in the games. We have to get it corrected and soon.

The team's preseason performance has been discouraging due to the emphasis placed on stopping the run.

"We've got to stop the run," Butler said, via Scout.com's Jim Wexell. "We are going to be sound, or try to be sound in terms of vacillating between the 3-4 and the 4-3. We've got to be able to fit everything in there. For us, stopping the running game is going to be big. It's going to be huge for us."

The No. 1 priority for all defenders is to stop the run first. In doing so, opponents can't grind out yards to make their down-and-distance situations far less predictable. The best way for a team struggling to create pressure is to place the offense in obvious passing downs where the oncoming rushers can pin their ears back and hunt. 

Not only will the defensive linemen be asked to become more disruptive against the run, but the mentality is expected to carry over into their pass rush.

A Cover 2-heavy defense requires its front four to apply most of the pressure. The system isn't set up to present heavy blitz packages. It then falls upon the linemen and whichever outside linebacker is playing defensive end to get after the quarterback on a consistent basis. 

"If we're going to play this and get the nuances right of the Cover 2, so-called Cover-2 Tampa 2, it's just not the secondary," Butler said. "It's the guys up front, too. We've got to be able to win one-on-one battles."

Previously, the Steelers defense placed far more emphasis on its linebackers than defensive linemen. Those roles are starting to reverse under the team's new direction. 

Linebackers 

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Alvin "Bud" Dupree Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Timmons and Shazier are now the heart and soul of this once-proud defense. Both will allow the team to remain flexible throughout the season due to their ability to excel in numerous areas, which is exactly what Butler wants. 

However, the bigger concern stems from the previous lack of production among the team's outside linebackers. 

Harrison, who is a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year, is now 37 years old. While he takes tremendous care of his body and remains one of the NFL's strongest players, he's not the same explosive pass-rusher he once was. 

Moats and Jones, meanwhile, claim a disappointing combined total of 12 career sacks. 

After those three, only the team's first-round selection in this year's NFL draft, Dupree, remains. Over the years, the Steelers slowly developed its ferocious outside linebackers. Greg Lloyd gave way to Jason Gildon, who helped teach Joey Porter before Harrison became the focal point of the pass rush. Dupree doesn't own the same luxury. The team will ask the Kentucky product to immediately produce, particularly when given a chance to win individual matchups. 

Butler doesn't simply expect it, per Wexell, but the defense severely needs edge pressure from someoneeven a rookie: 

We need the outside linebackers to be productive in one-on-one situations. If they get a tackle by themselves, they've got to be productive on the edge and they've got to know when they can come inside and when they can't. They've got to learn. Last week we gave up a touchdown, the quarterback ran for a touchdown, because we lost contain on it. We've got to know when we can have contain or when we've got contain and when not, especially against running quarterbacks who have mobility. We need rush-lane discipline and stuff like that, and that's a little bit new for us because a lot of times we always tried to provide pressure by blitzing. We're going to see if we can not do that. If we don't (need to), then we're not going to blitz as much.

A blitz shouldn't be required to stop the pass or rush the quarterback. It's a defensive strategy best implemented when it's unexpected or properly disguised. 

The Steelers relied far too heavily on scheme to manufacture pressure and create offensive mistakes. Both decreased when the team's linebackers won less often in one-on-one situations. 

Timmons and Shazier are in place to make plays all over the field, but the outside linebackers currently on the roster need to step up for Pittsburgh's scheme change to properly function. The team's secondary simply isn't good enough to erase the mistakes made by the defensive front seven. 

Secondary

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Mike Mitchell Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Ike Taylor and Troy Polamalu are no longer in the Steelers defensive backfield. Both retired after the season, leaving major voids at cornerback and safety, respectively. Even with those franchise stalwarts occupying spots in the secondary, Pittsburgh still finished 27th against the pass a year ago. 

The organization's answer to replace both veterans and create more plays from the back line fell on selecting ball hawks via the NFL draft. 

Unfortunately, this year's second-round pick, cornerback Senquez Golson, has already been placed on season-ending injured reserve, as noted by the Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac.

General manager Kevin Colbert also selected interception machine Gerod Holliman in the seventh round. The Louisville product, though, continues to battle for a roster spot and likely won't make much of an impact if he finds his way to the active roster at some point this season. 

It then falls on veterans William Gay, Cortez Allen, Will Allen and Mike Mitchell to perform far above the level seen last season. 

Mitchell, in particular, proved to be a disappointment as he battled groin injuries after signing with the team during free agency. 

Among the primary starters, Gay was the only one to grade positively throughout the entire season, according to Pro Football Focus

The group is already off to a rocky start this summer and has yet to fully jell due to injuries and one late addition. Continuity and overall understanding of proper spacingparticularly if the team will rely more heavily on a new coverage scheme—is a vital part of secondary play. Pittsburgh is currently lacking in both areas.

This has been a concern of Butler's since early in training camp, according to the Observer-Reporter's F. Dale Lolley:

It’s extremely important for those guys to get out there. It’s easy to sit back there and draw it up on the board and stuff like that. When you get out there and things are happening fast, they need the experience of doing that. This is (Mitchell’s) second year in the system. First year, you’re kind of looking around, figuring out what’s going on. This year, he should grow in the aspect of knowing what we’re doing and what offenses are trying to do to us.

Colbert did complete a shrewd preseason trade for the services of Brandon Boykin from the Philadelphia Eagles to bolster the team's ailing secondary. Boykin is one of the game's premier nickel cornerbacks, and his inclusion instantly made the Steelers secondary better, even if he can't solve the team's problem at outside corner. 

Familiarity, improved health and individual improvement are all required if Pittsburgh doesn't want to be one of the league's worst secondaries again this fall. 

Defense Still Matters 

Two seasons ago, the Seattle Seahawks and their vaunted Legion of Boom defense captured a Super Bowl victory. The New England Patriots required a goal-line stand to take the title away from Seattle this year. 

The last two times the Steelers lifted the Lombardi Trophy, the team owned a top-five defense.

Pittsburgh's offense has all of the necessary tools to capture another title. Roethlisberger and his crew can be overwhelming. The same can't be said of the team's defense, though. 

Steelers faithful shouldn't expect miracles from Butler, but improvement is necessary for the organization to realize its yearly aspiration of claiming another title. It starts with a different scheme that will make the unit much less predictable. The rest falls upon the individuals in said scheme to live up to their ends of the bargain. 

In order for Pittsburgh to truly challenge in the AFC this season, it's all about the defense in an offensive-driven league.

Brent Sobleski covers the NFL and NFL draft for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @brentsobleski.

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