Tim Benz: By need or design, Steelers’ 3-man weave at outside linebacker needs to stay
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For the Steelers, it could have been a case of necessity being the mother of invention.
Or maybe a successful rollout of a grand plan.
Either way, Mike Tomlin doesn’t want to talk much about the three-man rotation at outside linebacker we saw from his defense during Sunday’s Week 1 win in Buffalo.
“I’m not going to be coming in here every week explaining to you guys why the three guys got the snaps that they got. It’s our job to keep all three men fresh and engaged and in a position to make plays for us,” Tomlin said this week. “That’s what we intended to do, that’s how it unfolded, and that’ll be our mentality moving forward.”
The three men in question are All-Pro T.J. Watt, three-time Pro Bowl free-agent acquisition Melvin Ingram III and second-year player Alex Highsmith.
“We’re not going to be a slave to snap distribution. … They’re all varsity. They’re all going to be significant. We’re excited we’ve got all three of them, and we intend to utilize all three of them. Maybe, from time to time, all three at once,” Tomlin said.
In past seasons under Tomlin — even under Bill Cowher — the Steelers would usually have two starting outside linebackers who ate up the lion’s share of snaps, with a young backup or two who could spell those players and be groomed as a starter.
Take, for example, the offseason conversation about Watt removing himself from games for extended drives and then opponents seeming to exploit that.
Watt still accounted for an 88% percent snap count per game last year during his 15 regular-season starts and dipped below 83% just once — 77% in a 36-10 blowout over the Cincinnati Bengals. But his tendency to head toward the sidelines at inopportune moments was a frequent tangent of conversation among those who wondered whether Watt should be worthy of a contract that eventually ended up guaranteeing him $80 million.
Could he find a way to stay on the field for nearly every play of close games that demanded the presence of the franchise’s most expensive and seemingly most important asset?
Based on one week of 2021, the argument of “(slightly) less is more” could be made.
On Sunday, we saw as much of an intentional three-man weave as we have seen in some time.
The results were positive as Watt, Ingram and Highsmith combined for eight tackles, two sacks, six quarterback hits and two tackles for loss en route to a 23-16 victory over the defending AFC East champion Bills.
Along the way, Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen was harassed to the point he was 30-for-51 for 270 yards and one touchdown — well off from his 2020 statistics.
The fearsome rush on Allen from the three outside linebackers and the rest of the front seven also gave receiver Stefon Diggs limited time to get open. The pass rush complemented pass coverage to the tune of only 69 yards on nine catches with no scores and a long of 13 yards for Diggs. He torched the Steelers for 10 catches, 130 yards, a touchdown and a long of 23 yards in 2020.
“I felt really fresh,” Watt said after the win. “I felt fresh all week. … The three-man rotation that we have with Alex and Melvin is something that is going to be really special. We are a very unselfish group.”
Whether Tomlin wants us to or not, let’s look at snap counts. Watt was on the field 81% of the time (69 snaps), Ingram 64% (54 snaps) and Highsmith 54% (46 snaps).
Compare that to last year’s 11-game win streak to open the season. Over the first 10 contests, Watt and fellow OLB starter Bud Dupree combined to absorb almost all of the snaps at the position prior to Dupree’s season-ending ACL injury during the 11th game.
Watt was at 86% per game by that point. So was Dupree. Highsmith hit 30% just once. Ola Adeniyi got over 20% just once.
With the only backups being Highsmith as a rookie, Adeniyi and Cassius Marsh, Tomlin and defensive coordinator Keith Butler never appeared to be interested in getting Dupree or Watt off the field. They were afforded that option Sunday in Orchard Park. Actually, it was more like a requirement. Watt essentially had two full practices before the game because of his contract “hold in” throughout training camp. Meanwhile, a leg injury to Highsmith didn’t allow him to practice until Friday.
So the coaches knew that playing Ingram a bunch was important. The different looks and bursts of energy and formations presented by that combination generated lots of pressure. The arrangements occasionally included Watt and Ingram rushing from an off-the-ball, stand-up, inside linebacker position — akin to how the Steelers deployed Kendrell Bell during his first two years in 2001 and ’02.
“Most offensive linemen come up and identify what we call the ‘Mike,’” Butler said. “Who’s the Mike linebacker. They do that in order to set their protection. We want to confuse them a little bit.
“We’re gonna do some things with them there as long as they can handle it mentally. If they handle it mentally, we’ll do it. … We’ve got to give them enough where we can be versatile, but at the same time, we don’t want them making a lot of mental mistakes either.”
Ingram, who rushed from that inside position a bit when he was a Los Angeles Charger, wasn’t sure whether the look confused the Bills as much as it freed up the Steelers linebackers to do what they do best — attack the line of scrimmage.
“I don’t know if they were taken by surprise. We just came out here and rushed and tried to win matchups,” Ingram said Thursday. “I know I can rush from anywhere on the field. It’s just bringing more versatility to the defense. I feel like all of us can do that. It’s something that is going to help us out a lot.”
If Tomlin does follow through on his promise of implementing a steady package of Highsmith, Ingram and Watt on the field together, whoever does provide pressure inside will likely attract protection toward the middle of the field and allow the other two linebackers to do damage on the edges.
“If a package does come like that, I know it can be special,” Highsmith said Wednesday. “If we do end up implementing that, it will be awesome. I look forward to that.”
Based on what we saw in Buffalo, I think we all should. Here’s to hoping desperation because of injury and contractual debates doesn’t have to be the catalyst to such creativity moving forward.