An unfortunate series of injuries to the inside linebacker and safety positions has left the Steelers seemingly using a new defensive player every quarter lately. The film from the 34-11 win over the Cincinnati Bengals shows the Steelers borrowing often from their strength at the outside linebacker position to help cover this area of weakness over the defensive middle. Here, we’ll break down how they managed to do it
The Bengals would call 46 pass plays in the game (42 passes, 3 sacks, one play nullified by a holding penalty) and the Steelers dropped at least one edge rusher into pass coverage on 16 of those plays.