Steelers and Mike Tomlin Need to Adjust Out Of Tampa 2 Defense

The Pittsburgh Steelers were once a revolutionary team when the zone blitz became a thing in the mid-90's. With Dick LeBeau leading the zone blitz, and later on, Mike Tomlin bringing the Tampa 2 scheme he learned with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Steelers tortured opposing defenses with odd looks and free rushers, leading to two different players winning Defensive Player of the Year, as well as a Super Bowl win. However, times have changed, and offenses have been able expose predominately zone defenses. The NFL is adapting to the modern game, except for Tomlin.

Why does zone defense not work in the modern NFL?

Down to small schools in the FCS, zone coverage has been getting more and more exposed as the years go on. Option routes have become more popular, as well as flood concepts with a bootleg out, allowing the receiver to find the areas that zone defense can't cover. As long as the quarterback and receivers are on the same page regularly, it's almost impossible for teams to not let someone go wide open. Due to that, man coverage has gotten more popular for defenses, and zone is normally left to the deep safeties.

For zone coverage to work, you need a quality pass rush. The thought is that the quarterback would make a bad throw, and one of the seven players in coverage will be able to intercept the ball. However, RPO's (run, pass, option) have started becoming a focal point of some offenses, which makes it easier for the quarterback to get the ball out of their hands quicker, while still finding an open man. 

Why won't Tomlin adjust the Steelers defense?

As mentioned earlier, Tomlin was a part of Tony Dungy's legendary Tampa 2 defense, when he was the secondary coach. He was hired by a Steelers team that thrived on their own version of zone defense. Combining Tomlin's experience with Tampa 2 with LeBeau's legendary zone blitz, the Steelers defense was borderline unstoppable, leading to a Super Bowl victory, as well as another Super Bowl appearance two years after that. 

Unfortunately, in LeBeau's later years, the zone blitz became outdated. Teams started learning from Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Quick passes and checkdowns brought the zone blitz era to a halt. Despite that, Tomlin continued trying the zone blitz when he started calling defensive plays in 2016. He finally stopped trying force zone blitzes into his defense when the front office wanted to shift to man coverage, which newly-signed cornerback Joe Haden echoed. Yet, to this day, the Steelers play a lot of zone coverage.

Why should Tomlin adjust his defense?

Some people would see all this and claim that the Steelers are ok with sticking to zone. Not only is the defense normally good, but they have the pass rush they need to execute it, led by TJ Watt. Many fans have also seen how lackluster the pass rush is when Watt is out. When the Steelers pass rush isn't there, the coverage gets exposed more often. There's nothing wrong with making a generational talent, but this goes far beyond that. 

The stats and film can all tell you that the Steelers defense is carried entirely by TJ Watt. A defense with Minkah Fitzpatrick, Alex Highsmith, Cameron Heyward, and other quality players should not be entirely reliant on one player. It doesn't help when guys like Malik Reed and Taco Charlton are expected to single-handedly fill Watt's shoes. Expecting generational play out of depth players while refusing to adjust is just setting yourself up for failure, and that's what Tomlin's doing with the most expensive defense in football.

Some might ask "why would Tomlin shift to a scheme that he hasn't experienced before?" Well, in 2018 and 2019, they did play man coverage. When linebackers weren't in man coverage against wide receivers, it worked well, especially when Teryl Austin was hired as the secondary coach in 2019. Haden found his second wind and was able to shut down high-end receivers, Steven Nelson put up stats that rivaled 2019's DPOY, Stephon Gilmore (minus the interceptions). Cameron Sutton also quickly developed from yet another failed CB pick to a quality corner. 

Despite man coverage proving to be the stronger scheme, Tomlin switched back to zone defense in 2020, where the pass rush had to carry the Steelers. Nelson went from being a shutdown corner to borderline liability, Haden regressed quite a bit, and TJ Watt put the team on his back. Unlike in 2021 and 2022. Watt remained healthy, which allowed the Steelers to win their first 11 games and win the division, despite a terrible end to the season. 

In the previous two seasons, Watt missed at least a half in at least 10 games, while missing 7 games entirely in 2022. When Watt misses at least a half, the Steelers have managed to win a single game, and that was when everyone realized Brady lost most of his ability to throw a football.

Everything is so clear. The Steelers play better in man coverage than zone, many schemes have become popular to counter zone defense, TJ Watt doesn't have to put the whole defense on his back, and the corners that Kevin Colbert and Omar Khan have acquired are primarily man coverage corners at an attempt to shift to the modern game, yet Tomlin stays stubborn and sticks to the standard.

What do you think of the Steelers and their zone coverage? Let us know in the comments below.

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