The Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football in Week 18 to win the AFC North and move on to the postseason. They did not make it easy on themselves though, as Baltimore had three wide-open receivers score easy touchdowns on deep passes. Those three plays alone counted for 21 of their 24 points in that game. Pittsburgh did a good job of preventing the long, meticulous drive, but they managed to allow all those deep shots. That is not a recipe for success in the future, but it worked this time around.
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The Steelers run onto the field in celebration after a missed field goal by the Ravens in Week 18 of the 2025 NFL regular season.
While helping to host Deebo & Joe after the game, former Steelers cornerback Joe Haden protected the secondary for the most part, as he blamed the front seven for not getting home on the pass rush on the first two big plays. On the last touchdown pass that almost lost the game for Pittsburgh, one of the better defensive backs in the league had to take all the blame.
"I'm looking at Joey Porter Jr. and [Kyle] Dugger. They're on that side of the field; they're communicating," Haden explained. 'This is man-to-man.' It's the worst eyes I've seen. That's not on Jalen Ramsey; that's not on Asante Samuel Jr. They have their men... so when [Zay] Flowers ran that over route and they started scrambling, [Dugger's] eyes were in the backfield. He starts running with the wheel route, which is [Patrick] Queen's man... that's a DB miscommunication play."
Miscommunication was the story of 2024, and it became the story for a large part of the 2025 season as well. It seemed like every week, there was at least one play where someone did not understand the assignment, and it led to a big play for the opposing team. That became less of a problem in the previous four weeks of the season, but it came right back, and it was Kyle Dugger that was not in the right position at all this time.
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Steelers' Kyle Dugger runs on the field before a contest in Pittsburgh.
The trade for Dugger was a big reason why the Steelers' defense saw massive improvements in the second half of the season, especially in the communication aspect. Here, he has a complete lapse of judgement and drops into a zone coverage before helping out with the wheel route, even though he was seemingly supposed to be in man coverage.
The film shows Joey Porter Jr. communicating with Dugger, and then he absolutely plasters his assignment at the line of scrimmage, making sure he was not an option at all. From what Haden said and what the film showed, it looked like the safety didn't realize that it was a Cover 0, and he just sat back as the deep safety like he usually does. Clearly, he was wrong, and it almost cost his team the season.
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Steelers' Kyle Dugger gets involved on a tackle during a game against the Indianapolis Colts in 2025.
Of course, the Steelers did come back to win the game, so no harm, no foul. As mentioned before, Dugger has been great with communication and sticking with his assignment, so this does not seem to be an issue that will hurt Pittsburgh in the future. However, it makes sense that Steeler Nation would be worried about this, as this has been a constant problem in the past as mentioned.
Steelers' Defense Will Have To Match Intensity And Focus
The Steelers will go against a Houston Texans defense next Monday night that has not had as many concerns as Pittsburgh has faced. They play fast, tough, and very physical. They have the ability to completely wreck a gameplan. Of course, the offense will need to step up, but that is also the bar for what Pittsburgh's defense will have to play at if it wants any chance to finally win a playoff game, or at least not go down by 20+ points again early.
What do you think about Dugger's miscommunication against the Ravens? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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