The Steelers entered the game against the No. 1 offense in the NFL, the Indianapolis Colts, with a re-worked back end.
But that new look worked. And now it appears the Steelers can stop shuffling their safeties, a process that has seen five different starting combinations in eight games.
Because of injuries and illness, the Steelers acquired Kyle Dugger from the New England Patriots last Thursday. He was so late to the process that Mike Tomlin wanted to 1.) keep eyes on him for conditioning purposes, and 2.) keep the wandering Jalen Ramsey home at free safety all game to guide the newcomer.
Necessity was the mother of this invention, because Dugger played a whopping 77 of 78 snaps at strong safety. Only Ramsey, Joey Porter, Jr., and Patrick Queen with all 78 snaps, played more on defense against the Colts.
Tomlin not only breathed a sigh of relief at Dugger's conditioning and communication, he's looking forward to watching Dugger against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday night with more than two practices to prepare.
"Certainly excited about a complete week's work with Kyle Dugger," said Tomlin. "Not only in terms of knowing what to do – certainly he displayed an ability to learn quickly and play and detail that component of it – but the communication component of it, the work within groups.
"I thought Jalen Ramsey did an awesome job with him, particularly as we got into the weekend last week, making sure that they were coordinated as safeties. But all that work didn't mean anything. We still had to get in the stadium and make it happen. It certainly was a challenge. It lacked a little bit of fluidity there early on, but I thought as those two worked, and worked together, their experience in the National Football League, even though they're somewhat new to us, and whether it's Jalen's new to the safety position, I thought their global, overall experience and talent showed up as the game went on."
Ramsey, a base-downs free safety through his first seven Steelers games, and a cornerback his entire career, played solely free safety against the Colts, and Tomlin said it will continue.
"We value his play, his positional flexibility. It's an asset to us. It gives a lot of people things to work on," Tomlin said of Ramsey's first seven games. "But certainly, under the circumstances that we're under right now, we deem that appropriate, as we did last week, in terms of nailing him down there. It provides opportunities for guys like Brandin Echols to step up, which he did, and play more snaps as a nickel."
Dugger had started 58 games the previous four seasons for the Patriots, but new coach Mike Vrabel eased him down to four starts this season at an average of only 23 snaps per game. His conditioning had to be in question, but he responded hugely for a Steelers defense that went into the Colts game without safeties Chuck Clark, Jabrill Peppers, and DeShon Elliott. Reserve safety Miles Killebrew had been placed on injured reserve 16 days earlier.
While the Steelers' primary focus against the Colts was shutting down NFL rushing leader Jonathan Taylor, it had to worry about NFL passing leader Daniel Jones against an injury-riddled pass defense.
But while the Steelers held Taylor to a season-low 45 rushing yards, they held Jones to 157 passing yards with 2 interceptions and a 40.6 passer rating through three quarters. The Steelers took a 24-7 lead early in the fourth quarter and Jones and the Colts padded their numbers against a wisely cautious defensive approach.
Tomlin's review of Dugger: "I didn't think there was any lack of fluidity in his movement, whether it was pre-snap adjustments or things that happened at the snap, and I think oftentimes that's an indicator of understanding. I certainly didn't expect him to be a hub of communication. Communication was probably going to be one-sided. But just in general, in terms of putting eyes on him, his fluidity of movement, adjusting the pre-snap shifts and motions, and the hair-trigger that you saw at or just instantly after the snap gave me an indication that he was comfortable he knew what he was looking at, and that he was going to be okay."
Tomlin's analysis of Ramsey feeling at home at free safety: "It's just his relationship with the game. I think some of the things that you talk about when you first talk about the safety position are (that) intangible qualities are not necessarily things that you measure. He's got really good instincts. He's got really good passion for the game. He studies the game. And I think those are some things that really enable him to play back there, and that's such a major component of that position. His talents are obvious: his tackling, his range, his physicality. But the more subtle things, the intangible things are the things that are exciting for us, because as he gains more experience back there it's reasonable to expect some of those talents to show up more frequently."
And on the recent spate of injuries in the secondary:
"It's the National Football League, man," Tomlin said. "You better have a hardcore plan and be light on your feet. I'm certainly thankful that we acquired Kyle Dugger, man. He's a quick study."
