When Steelers secondary coach Gerald Alexander was asked for a timeline on the return of injured cornerback Jalen Ramsey, Alexander deferred to his boss.
"That's a head coach question," Alexander said. "I've got no clue."
Not that anyone expected Alexander to research the topic, since he's getting used to game plans with new personnel just about every week.
And each game plan has been rich with moving pieces in his star-studded secondary.
How does he manage it?
"Well, they're all in the same room together, hearing the same information," said Alexander. "So, with that being said, everybody's kind of developing at the same pace, understanding what to say, what calls are being made, what communications are being made, the emphasis that we put on them. So, it's just a matter of everybody always being prepared for when their number is called, because due to any type of circumstances guys can be inserted in there and they're expected to perform at a high level."
Mike Tomlin couldn't wait to unveil his new secondary this season. In the offseason, the Steelers added perennial Pro Bowlers Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay, young up-and-comer Brandin Echols, and long-time NFL starters Chuck Clark and Juan Thornhill. And then they added the renowned Jabrill Peppers during the season. Of course, pillars Joey Porter Jr. and DeShon Elliott were back, and James Pierre once again rose up off the practice squad.
The additions added versatility to the group and had the defensive coaches scheming in their dreams.
Then injuries hit and the schemes were instead built out of what was on hand.
So, excuse Alexander if the loss of Ramsey for a stretch doesn't have him in a panic.
"The beauty about the personnel," Alexander said, "we can look at it a couple of different ways – from a matchup standpoint or just we want to be able to utilize the personnel that we have. And so those are things that we're going to talk about on a weekly basis. And just to see who we're matching up against, how can we utilize our talents that we have in the room, what specific things can we put them in positions to do to help us from a game-plan standpoint. So that's always going to be a topic of conversation with the personnel that we do have, and we have the fortunate ability to be able to have those kinds of conversations in our room."
Injuries have cost both Porter and Elliott chunks of playing time. But Elliott returned Sunday in Ireland and was one of the stars of the game for the Steelers. He not only intercepted a pass to stop a first half Vikings drive in Steelers territory, he had a midfield strip-sack of Vikings QB Carson Wentz in the third quarter. Elliott was third on the team with 6 tackles.
"You see the impact that he had in the game just recently coming back from his setback," Alexander said of Elliott. "He's always going to be a guy that we're going to always look to have a big role in."
Ramsey could miss time, but Porter could be back soon as the merry-go-round of Steelers DBs spins around.
"It helps out tremendously," Alexander said of Porter's return. "Joey's a really good player. He's a significant player for us that we know can be a contributor when he's on the grass. And so getting his services back is going to be big.
"Again, it goes back to the conversation that we're going to have with what personnel do we have available, how do we best deploy our individuals out there to be able to help us achieve the game plan that we want to achieve out there on the field."
It's fluid, so stay tuned. The names will change to protect the game plan.
