The Steelers defense showed against the Patriots that it can throw the occasional change up.
Pittsburgh played far more press man coverage against New England than usual, and cut down on their zone blitzes. It worked perfectly.
The Steelers may have to throw something offspeed again this week against Baltimore because of personnel. Their entire 3-4 scheme could be tweaked.
“We might be capable of playing with four defensive linemen,” coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday. “We are not going to leave anything out. What we do know is that our answers generally are in-house. So, if we are out of in-house linebackers, then some of those answers might have to be in the D-line.”
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports LaMarr Woodley will miss Sunday’s game against Baltimore. James Harrison indicated on Twitter that he is likely out, although his agent thought differently on Monday. Inside linebacker James Farrior is almost definitely out, and reserve outside linebacker Jason Worilds is questionable.
The Steelers adapted well last week, but they had Woodley available for most of the game. They could consider moving Brett Keisel to linebacker or simply play a base 4-3 or 4-2 front.
It’s not an ideal way to enter a rivalry game, but the Steelers showed last week they are capable of succeeding with a different gameplan than usual.