Film Room: Steelers Unsung Heroes Step Up Big
When injuries hit a position hard on the team, it can often be the death blow to a good season. Nobody would've batted an eye if the Pittsburgh Steelers rested on their laurels and elected to stay with Mark Robinson as their fourth linebacker, but the scouting staff really did their due diligence by not getting complacent and staying vigilant for talent.
The Steelers' scouting staff deserves so much praise for the depth they were able to bring in before and during the season with the additions of Trenton Thompson and Mykal Walker. It is very easy for fans to look at the team's positional depth after a key injury and complain about the lack of depth, even if depth is hard to come by in this league.
Just how good did these Steelers defenders play in Week 12? It's time to get into the film room to find out.
Trenton Thompson
With injuries to Minkah Fitzpatrick, Keanu Neal and even Elijah Riley, there was a gaping hole at already one of the thinnest positions on their roster. Pittsburgh called to their practice squad, where they got some good play in the preseason out of Thompson, and he has done nothing but deliver so far in the regular season.
Trenton Thompson's Relative Athletic Score
Looking at Thompson's testing scores, it'd be hard to imagine getting such key contributions outside of special teams from a player with this level of athleticism. While Pittsburgh has helped mask those deficiencies to put him into a position to succeed, he's been a welcomed surprise in some key areas.
Busted coverage here aside, what is key to note here is how Thompson is communicating to everyone at the bottom of the screen along the trips bunch side and how everyone is able to sort through the play here. Joey Porter Jr gets tripped up here at the breaking point, and Levi Wallace seems to get run right by.
Look at how Thompson breaks on Ja'Marr Chase's corner route, which gets Jake Browning flustered enough to run into the sack.
This is where film study comes in as Browning is known to not have a good enough arm, so he feels comfortable to break on the corner route by Chase as opposed to staying back where Andrei Iosivas runs deep into the secondary towards green grass. These coverage busts can definitely be exploited more by more talented quarterbacks, but knowing your enemy is key to coming up big in these moments.
Thompson had two pass deflections charted in the game against Cleveland, according to Pro Football Reference, and his ball skills continued to shine against the Bengals. While Damontae Kazee makes the key break on the ball here (Browning's tendencies were being teed off of a lot in this game), Thompson sees the ball leave the quarterback's hand and he's able to put himself into a position off the tip to get his hand on the ball.
This is something Minkah Fitzpatrick does game in and game out, and while he will never be confused for Fitzpatrick, it's great to see these types of ball skills show up for Thompson.
The Steelers' defense looks to be in a cover three here, at least towards the boundary side. Darius Rush ends up aligning over the slot in man-to-man along the field side, which may have muddied the pre-snap look for Browning. Thompson has the flat and ends up buzzing down towards Chase's curl route, which delivered a game-changing interception here for Pittsburgh.
The Steelers had delivered some good drives on offense that didn't end up resulting in points, so they were still down in this game at seven to three. This was such a massive play at the time that completely flipped the momentum in the Steelers' favor and ended up delivering a touchdown scoring drive for the offense.
Thompson played a huge part in the victory last week.
Mykal Walker
Walker wasn't on the Steelers roster till the end of October when he got signed to the practice squad. Thank goodness the scouting staff did because there is nobody else in this position group who is currently healthy, and capable of doing what he is in coverage.
Mykal Walker's Relative Athletic Score
Walker tested well coming out of Fresno State, and proved his coverage chops in the pros with Atlanta to start his career. He can handle some of the tougher responsibilities, like being the pole runner in the middle of the field in Tampa 2, or even having to man up on slots and tight ends. This is not easy to find, and it is mystifying that he ended up getting released by both the Falcons and the Raiders.
Nevertheless, another man's trash is another man's treasure and the Steelers will take it after their linebacker position got hit hard with injuries, especially when it comes to losing their best coverage linebackers.
Despite getting sucked down by the play action, Walker shows off his hops and is able to somehow get his hand in the passing lane to make a spectacular pass deflection with one hand. While the ball did end up being completed because Chase has some insane ball-tracking ability, that is the type of play the Steelers have been getting out of Walker as just a normal spot dropper in zone coverage.
What's been very surprising about Walker, though, isn't just the coverage skills but rather how sound his run fits and the communication aspect has been with him. Remember, he had been on the team going into this game for less than a month, yet he was rarely ever out of position.
The Bengals are running power out of shotgun here with the right guard pulling. Watch Walker crack down on the puller here, which creates almost no open gap for Mixon to run into. This is not only great by Walker, but it is a clinic by the Steelers front seven when it comes to doing your job and maintaining proper run fits. Alex Highsmith squeezing the tight end was so key, and even Kazee does a great job of filling the backside C gap to keep Mixon from even entertaining that cutback.
There is no boxscore stat here for the fans to cite, but the defensive coaches are going to see this in the film room and praise everyone here, especially Walker, for doing their job.
Conclusion
The Steelers found some key rotational pieces to their defense in Thompson and Walker. With Fitzpatrick potentially coming back this week, one has to wonder if the coaches could implement some more three safety sets with the level of play he has shown when called upon.
Walker, on the other hand, has looked like a key starting piece for this 2023 team with how quickly he has been able to pick up the defense and play key snaps for them. Whether it was him doing his job in the run game, making plays when left clean, or being sticky in coverage, his role has proven to be a valuable one for this team moving forward.
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