By Friday the Steelers finally had a reasonable idea as to who would comprise their secondary for their home opener Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, even as it allowed for the virtual certainty that game-day personnel would again differ from preferred personnel, something that’s been an intractable reality around here for only about a year and a half.
Based on their overall spending, the cornerstone of this defensive backfield figured to be cornerback Cortez Allen, but one week into the second season of that concept the leading tackler on defense is safety Will Allen, and we’re fast approaching a point at which you would be only mildly surprised to see Woody Allen suited up in the dime.
Ok, maybe not mildly.
Still, it’s quite the jigsaw puzzle defensive coordinator Keith Butler is poring over in his first season calling signals, and this week he blamed Pittsburgh’s suspect coverage on his pass defenders’ lack of familiarity with each other and, again, a lack of communication.
“The times we didn’t cover people [while losing at New England], we miscommunicated,” Butler said. “When you have a defense that’s fairly new, you have to practice with each other over a certain period of time before you start to get good.”
But it was worse than that, by some versions. Robert Golden, who played in the dime package, called it “a lack of miscommunication.”
Apparently in some situations, people were failing to say the wrong things to each other.
That’s when you know you have problems.
But who better to ask about whether the communication has improved in the ramp-up to the 49ers than Ross Cockrell?
“Yeah, it’s improved a lot,” he said. “Just since I’ve been here, we’ve come a long way, as far as hand signals, understanding different things. We’re just starting to mesh as a unit.”
As to your follow-up question, which I presume is, “Who is Ross Cockrell?” Well, he’s not just a free-agent corner out of Duke by way of the Buffalo Bills who has been on the team two whole weeks, he’s probably the guy who’ll be standing on the left corner in the nickel against Frisco gunslinger Colin Kaepernick.
That’s certainly what it looked like on Friday.
“I was there, I was on scout team, special teams; I’ll play receiver if they want me to,” Cockrell said. “I played it in high school.”
The good news, such as it is, is that Butler’s defense wasn’t as bad as some expected at New England, never mind that Pittsburgh trailed 21-3 early in the third quarter. The Steelers did not allow a 100-yard rusher nor a 100-yard receiver nor even a 300-yard outing by Tom Brady.
As vulnerable as they looked at times, they were better than in the previous time they visited Foxborough, Nov. 3, 2013, when the Patriots video-gamed them for 610 yards in a 55-31 dismemberment. And that was against a secondary that included Troy Polamalu, Ike Taylor and Ryan Clark.
Still, “Not As Bad As Many Thought” will never be the title of anyone’s official highlight film.
The chances the Steelers will be any better with Cockrell and Brandon Boykin manning the sub packages than they were with Golden and Shamarko Thomas out there aren’t terribly promising, so it would figure to fall on Mike Tomlin’s offense to put up about three-dozen points today.
Offensive coordinator Todd Haley, talking in general terms this week, made a point that was probably more painfully evident with the Steelers than he meant it to be:
“You have to be able to move the ball in this league,” Haley said. “You can’t count on turnovers.”
True dat.
The Steelers got not a single takeaway at New England, and interceptions still come around as often as a raccoon in the daylight.
There were 11 of them all of last year, the fourth Steelers season in a row with either 10 or 11. The previous time this club was of championship caliber, 2010, it intercepted 21 passes and recovered nine fumbles for a 30-takeaway total. It hasn’t gotten more than 21 since.
That’s what Butler’s guys really need right now, someone other than Willie Gay who can step in front of a pass or two and really change the profile of this defense.
Perhaps it’s Ross Cockrell.
“Cortez Allen has been a great help to me,” Cockrell said.
I’m sure he has.
Just not to this defense.
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