How the Pittsburgh Steelers contained Lamar Jackson in Week 11

• More blitzes than usual: The Steelers completed 41.7 percent of their passes, down from their season rate of 28.1 percent.

• Storage Lamar Jackson in your pocket: Pittsburgh held Jackson to one scramble for 0 yards, his lowest total in two years.

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Week 11 gave NFL viewers another tense and chaotic showdown between Baltimore Ravens And Pittsburgh Steelers — there’s even more at stake than usual.

The Steelers made a number of mistakes against the Ravens, namely two misses. Justin Tucker field goals, three turnovers and 12 penalties to their fourth straight win over their arch-rivals, propelling them into first place in the AFC North and establishing themselves as a legitimate AFC contender.

What shouldn’t be overlooked by the sloppy play on both sides, however, is that Pittsburgh’s defense did what few others have done in the past few years: shut down. Lamar Jackson. Yes, Jackson was a victim of bad luck (untimely penalties, falls, etc.), but he played his worst game of the 2024 season, posting just a 63.7 overall grade and a 57.9 passing grade.

For Mike Tomlin’s team, Sunday’s performance was another feather in the cap of what may be the league’s fiercest defense and yet another example of how Pittsburgh has found a way to neutralize the two-time MVP. So how did the Steelers perform as Jackson’s kryptonite again?

Let’s start with the coverage provided by Pittsburgh defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. Under Austin, the Steelers did not use reliable coverage, primarily operating from Cover 3 and Cover 1. From Weeks 1 through 10, Pittsburgh used Cover 3 on 44.7% of its defensive snaps, with 27.8 % of snaps were Cover. 1.

However, Austin switched Jackson in Week 11, defaulting to more Cover 1 (45.9% of snaps) than Cover 3 (34.4%). This single-player dominance was also the formula Pittsburgh used in their Week 5 2023 win over Jackson and the Ravens and has worked in the defense’s favor over the past few years.

Lamar Jackson grades by coverage type as of 2021

To put it simply, the Steelers barely blitzed for most of the season, doing so on just 28.1% of their snaps in Week 10. After all, if you can boast two of the top five players in the overall ranking (TJ Watt And Cameron Hayward) And best defensive line in footballthere is no particular reason for this.

But against Jackson, Austin was much more aggressive, with the Steelers completing 41.7% of their passes, the fourth-highest rate of any defense in Week 11. This formula worked phenomenally as Jackson completed just 8 of 15 on 104 passes. yards, one touchdown, one interception, zero big plays, zero turnover-worthy plays, and an overall grade of 63.1 against the blitz in Week 11.

That’s a far cry from his all-season numbers when dealing with an extra hitter, where his 86.9 overall rating led the league.

Even when Pittsburgh wasn’t shining, he got creative with his four-man looks, using more tricks than usual.

On this third down, the edge rusher Nick Herbig gets stuck in loops Keanu Benton Beautiful. Baltimore left back Patrick Mekari is late to catch the turn, which gives Herbig a free kick on Jackson and changes the accuracy of the pass. Ultimately, the play was declared unfinished.

Arguably the biggest foundation of Pittsburgh’s defensive success was the ability to keep Jackson in the pocket, something virtually no NFL defense has accomplished since his debut. Overall, Jackson was held to 0 yards just once, marking the first time the two-time MVP was held to 0 yards since Week 11 of 2022. Yes, that was two full years ago.

Pittsburgh has been the NFL’s best defense all year, preventing scramble opportunities by blocking Jackson and Jayden Daniels for weeks on end in terms of rushing as plays fail. A lot of that has to do with premium discipline in the fast lane, as well as the cohesiveness of the quarterback as he expands.

There are only four people here in Pittsburgh, but the circles Patrick Queenwhich eventually falls into the coverage area. Benton’s first pull pushes Jackson out of the pocket, but Preston Smith does a great job of pushing Jackson out.

Being in the dime formation allows the Steelers to have extra speed on the field, which pays off: Cameron Sutton abandons his grappling hook mission to cut off Jackson, who is eventually fired.

Even when given time to throw, Jackson was unusually inaccurate. His actual decision making based on coverage looks and leverage seemed adequate, but he oddly wasn’t getting the ball where he wanted it. Jackson’s adjusted completion percentage (63%) was his lowest since Week 9 of 2022, and he was particularly ineffective on deep passes, missing all four of his attempts.

With the Ravens at the Steelers’ 30-yard line, Baltimore had a key opportunity to finally get the ball inside. end zone. But Jackson’s poor shooting cost the team in crunch time.

Jackson notices reports on Pittsburgh player and targets him Diontae Johnsonwho beats Beanie Bishop Jr. along a winding road. The problem is that Jackson’s throw takes Johnson too far to the sideline, preventing him from even getting one foot in bounds. Plus Jackson had Zai Flowers wide open for an easy touchdown through the middle of the field (although it probably wasn’t his first read).

This pass was another great example of a strong handling decision but poor ball placement. With Pittsburgh running Cover 3, Jackson knows that a gap will open between the corner of the field and the linebacker down low. No. 8 sees Mark Andrews wide open to hit the seam is a great route to the target – but the throw is nowhere near the tight end.

Even though Jackson regularly bought more time for himself, this was not the solution. The Ravens QB completed just 11 of 25 attempts with a 64.6 passer rating while holding the ball for 2.5 seconds or longer. That’s diametrically opposed to his 91.2 passing grade all season when playing extended games.

On this play, Jackson gained nearly eight full seconds in the pocket to create something in the downfield, working from right to left. Although Flowers was given significant protection from Pittsburgh’s Cover 2, Jackson’s throw was airmailed entirely.

In one of the most important games of the Ravens’ season, Jackson fundamentally did not play at the MVP level we expected, either through the air or on the ground. Much of the credit goes to Austin, Tomlin and the Steelers for disrupting the team’s game plan, preventing Jackson from escaping and disrupting his normal rhythm.

Overall, Pittsburgh’s strong performance against the NFL’s best offense marked consecutive weeks of strong defensive play against scoring offenses, and also gave the Steelers a legitimate claim to being one of the best teams in the AFC.