Steelers Plan To Implement New Strategies To Counter Elite QBs Like Patrick Mahomes And Joe Burrow

The Pittsburgh Steelers still have a long way to go before being Super Bowl contenders. Both members of Super Bowl LIX had their way with Pittsburgh during last year's regular season, as did the team's most hated division rival, the Baltimore Ravens. That, combined with their inability to make it out of the Wild Card Round yet again puts them squarely in the third tier of the NFL: good, but never a true threat when it matters most. 

While making an appearance on 93.7 The Fan, insider Mike DeFabo spoke about the changes coming to the Steelers to try and compete with these top tier teams. He mentioned a lot of these were recently hinted by slot corner Beanie Bishop Jr. and Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin. One scheme in particular, however, is an attempt to catch up with the rest of the NFL. 

"What they're doing during minicamp and [Organized Team Activities], they're working on some different coverages, and also adding some more blitzes," DeFabo explained. "One of those coverages that they've looked into exploring more -- and I don't know if they're going to lean more into this or if it's just going to be another tool in their toolbox -- is more quarters coverage."

DeFabo explained the concept of that quarters defense. Essentially, it's a two-high safety concept with the purpose of shutting down big plays, especially vertical routes. DeFabo spoke about how Pittsburgh mostly ran single-high safety concepts, which exposed them over the top quite a bit. This is their attempt to limit those big plays and get back to bend-don't-break defense. 

DeFabo continued on by talking about what the Steelers hope to achieve with this new concept.

"There's a couple of advantages to this," DeFabo said. "One of the advantages is a lot of teams are playing from a two-high shell with two high safeties to limit big plays, and especially quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes, quarterbacks like Joe Burrow. This has been a popular way to play them. The other part of this is when you're playing quarters, it's really malleable coverage where you're able to adjust to different offensive formations."

Overall, teams have done well against Patrick Mahomes lately with that shell coverage, as he failed to reach 4,000 passing yards in the 2024 season. Most of the Kansas City Chiefs' wins came on the back of their star-studded defense, with Mahomes stepping up when needed. That kind of defense has forced him to adapt away from being the gunslinger he was early in his career and being more of a conservative passer that plays clock control. 

However, that coverage has not stopped the Cincinnati Bengals from lighting up their opponents. Unlike the Chiefs, Cincinnati thrived on offense and was held back by their historically bad defense. That quarters shell coverage didn't stop Ja'Marr Chase from winning the Triple Crown as a receiver. There needs to be some more tinkering to figure out how to keep that electric unit from putting up 30+ points per game. 

Steelers Have One Big Issue That They Expect To Fix With Quarters

DeFabo also mentioned how easy it is to adjust on the fly in a quarters scheme. That was a big issue with the Steelers, as there were miscommunications all throughout the 2024 season. 

It feels and seems like Head Coach Mike Tomlin is listening to his team and is at least trying to do what's best for them. Only time will tell if the quarters defense will fix a lot of these late-season issues that the franchise has had, but this is at least a step in the right direction. 

What do you think about the Steelers' new defensive scheme? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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