Steelers Players Want To See 1 Certain Thing From Coaching Staff Moving Forward

The Pittsburgh Steelers may have found something defensively during their Week 9 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. Fans were not very optimistic going into the contest due to the fact that Pittsburgh had put up some embarrassing defensive performances in the weeks prior, and the Colts had the best offense in the NFL. They were also the league's hottest team. The Steelers were able to slow down every facet of Indianapolis's offense, which included shutting down arguably the league's best running back in Jonathan Taylor. Pittsburgh came out and surprised a lot of people, even its own fans. It's something that needs to continue as the season moves along.

The Steelers were facing the league's best offense with a good amount of injuries to deal with on the defensive side of the ball. DeShon Elliott and Daniel Ekuale each suffered significant knee injuries the week prior, which forced the team to trade for safety Kyle Dugger. He was brought in and forced to start with Jabrill Peppers being ruled out and Juan Thornhill seemingly benched. That made it so the starting safeties for Pittsburgh were Dugger and Jalen Ramsey, and it worked. Dugger was new to Pittsburgh and Ramsey had only played some safety, so the defense had to be simple, at least from a coverage perspective.

Team insider Ray Fittipaldo was on 93.7 The Fan on Wednesday morning, and he shared that the players want to keep the changes that were made for the game against the Colts. This was something he noticed in the locker room after the game, and it is something that should happen based off of the results.

"It was done out of necessity because of the injuries," Fittipaldo said. "But I think the byproduct of that was they played a much simpler defense against the Colts. In the locker room after the game, I could tell you, a lot of players on that team want them just to go forward with that approach. I just think when they were trying to play a lot of man and they were trying to disguise things and be really intricate, a lot of the guys on that defense, maybe they were just a step off, didn't know the assignment, or were late getting that communication. Just by simplifying things, I think a lot of guys were better because of it."

Pittsburgh had no choice but to make things simple from a coverage perspective, and it clearly worked. The coverage unit held up well and allowed the pass rush to get home as the Steelers sacked Daniel Jones five times and forced six total turnovers.

Unfortunately, Pittsburgh cannot just copy and paste this defensive scheme and performance into the next game. This defense is now on film, which means teams in the future will be ready for it. It is still going to be about week-to-week execution, and the coaching staff throwing in some wrinkles from time to time to catch an offense off guard.

It is clear that some of the players liked what the Steelers were doing during their last game, and that is something that should seemingly continue for the most part. Head Coach Mike Tomlin already declared that Ramsey will be staying at free safety, which is a step in the right direction.

Steelers Also Invoked Some Personnel Changes Against The Colts

Pittsburgh simplified its defensive approach, but the group also made some changes with the personnel. As mentioned, Thornhill was affectively benched as he played zero defensive snaps. Ramsey obviously moved to safety, which forced Brandin Echols to play more at cornerback, and he had a pretty good game. The same can be said for James Pierre, who had to play more than expected due to Darius Slay leaving the game multiple times for injuries. Nick Herbig was also mixed in some more at outside linebacker, and the same can be said for Jack Sawyer.

Personnel decisions vary week in and week out, but what Pittsburgh was doing against Indianapolis worked, and the players want more of it.

What do you think the defense will look like moving forward? Let us know in the comments below!

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