Steelers nation went into the Divisional Round knowing that if they survived the Kansas City Chiefs, all indications were that the New England Patriots would be the next stop on the road to the Super Bowl. They could not rely on the Houston Texans and their offensive offense to even give the Patriots a scare, let alone shake up the playoff picture with a win. However, there is something that the Texans defense provided on Saturday that the Steelers can learn from, and take into their Conference Championship matchup with the vaunted Patriots.
Pittsburgh Steelers Can Beat Tom Brady by Attacking the Interior
The Patriots have a kink in their armor. It is the interior offensive line. At right guard, Shaq Mason is in his second season, and by all indications, he is not the problem. Mason started all but one game and has been the only consistent asset in the middle. However, at center, undrafted free agent David Andrews has seen his struggles, and left guard Joe Thuney is a rookie who is clearly not quite ready to take on the best of the NFL. The Texans noticed this and used it to keep the Patriots within reach in the first half of their game.
Jadeveon Clowney is a breakout player coming off of the edge this season. He finished with six regular season sacks and is even more impressive in terms of hurries and pressures. However, the Patriots tackles have not allowed a sack since week 11, and have been the two highest graded tackles in the league in that span. Rushing Clowney off of the edge would neutralize the star talent. What the Texans did, was moved Clowney, and his pass rushing partner Whitney Mercilus more towards the inside and had them burst at the interior to create pressure. Here are two situations in which it paid off:
Mason has been strong, but in a matchup he does not see often, and one that could have confused him, he got destroyed. David Andrews gets blown up on both plays, and Thuney gets shoved to the side by Clowney on one. One play resulted in an off-balance incompletion, the other a sack.
The Steelers had trouble providing pressure from their outside linebackers through the first 10 games. However, after a loss to the Dallas Cowboys that extended a losing streak to four games, the Steelers benched Jarvis Jones, brought Bud Dupree back from injury and abandoned a rotation of players to exclusively play Dupree and James Harrison at those spots. Since then, the team has won nine straight games. They have also experimented with similar alignments to what the Texans did with Clowney, and Mercilus.
They positioned Harrison to take on the Bengals weaker interior lineman, rather than All-Pro left tackle Andrew Whitworth all game. Harrison lined up all over the place to create havoc against the New York Giants weaker offensive line. Even against the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round, Harrison saw a few snaps lined up over and rushing the interior.
Against the Chiefs, Dupree and Harrison were the biggest difference makers. Dupree had a pressure on Alex Smith that forced an interception, had a bat down and four tackles. Harrison drew the holding penalty that essentially sealed the game. These two will be the difference makers again this week. However, while they typically do it as rushers from the edge, this week, they will have to do it rushing Tom Brady straight up the gut. The Steelers have shown their willingness to do so, and the Texans gave the Steelers every reason to do it this week when it matters the most.
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