Who Needs Cover 2? Steelers Excel on D without Chasing Trends
The Pittsburgh Steelers are not significant purveyors of the NFL's trendiest defense, but have been having success anyway.
PITTSBURGH — ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. made some waves on Thursday when he controversially suggested a ban of the Cover 2 defense. Kiper’s opinion was lambasted by most of the football media, with even New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers mocking it in his post-game interview on Thursday night. One Pittsburgh Steelers player who asked not to be identified on Thursday said it “sounds like someone who doesn’t know football.”
Kiper’s idea is a terrible one. Not only would it be an officiating nightmare, the Cover 2 isn’t some kind of newfangled bugaboo that must stopped.
The defense, which features two safeties in high zones 10-12 yards off the line of scrimmage, and cornerbacks and linebackers in smaller zones closer to action, has been around since the 1970s. In fact, an important part of the history of the defense happened right here in Pittsburgh, when Chuck Noll and defensive coordinator Bud Carson implemented the coverage in the 1970s.
That was the first wave of popularity of the Cover 2, and one of the player on those 1970s Steelers teams, Tony Dungy, helped it go through another round of popularity in the late 1990s and early 2000s in the form of the Tampa 2, named for his Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Cover 2 has been around a long time. There have been times when it’s been wildly popular around the NFL and there have been times where it’s been seen as an out-of-touch way of defending. Things change with the times.
The Cover 2 isn’t even them most popular defense around the NFL so far in 2024. That’s Cover 3, and that’s the coverage that the Pittsburgh Steelers have been primarily running since they implemented the 3-4 defense in 1982.
Cover 3 has one safety in the middle of the field — Minkah Fitzpatrick — and the cornerbacks have extensive responsibilities all the way down the sideline. The strong safety is up in the box, either matched up with a tight end or helping to stop the run.
Through two weeks, the Steelers have played Cover 3 43% of the time, according to Fantasy Points data. That’s their most-played defense, and they have played the fourth-most Cover 3 by percentage of any team in the NFL this season. With the run-heavy Los Angeles Chargers coming to town this week, expect that number to go up, not down.
Meanwhile, the Steelers have played Cover 2 just 7% of the time, tied for the ninth-fewest of any NFL team. So they certainly aren’t worried about some kind of a ban.
Team coverage rates through week 2 pic.twitter.com/H6C1lh1iWJ
— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) September 18, 2024
But why have the Steelers been stubbornly attached to their 3-4 front and Cover 3 scheme for the last 40 years, while those defenses have come in and out of style? If there’s a defense that’s having so much success in the NFL right now that someone wants to ban it, shouldn’t every team be trying to play it more? Not necessarily.
Different defenses required different skill sets from their players and different mindsets from their coaches. There can be a benefit to playing a type of defense that has strengths against a similarly en-vogue offense. There can also be a benefit to being a master of what it is you do, especially if that thing is pretty good against everything.
That’s why the Steelers have been a primarily Cover 3 team — with other stuff mixed in — for a long time now. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is a Sharon, Pa. native. He knows the history of the defense that goes way before he took it over.
“I grew up in this area, seen a lot of football away from the Steelers, and now being here, and the one thing that I can say is that the Steelers are the Steelers, and we’re going to do what we do and the things that we do well,” Austin said.
“We’ll tweak it and adjust it, to make it fit the guys we have. I think it’s a pretty good formula, because there’s an expectation of how we run things and how we do things, and guys can buy into that. It doesn’t change. It’s not always-changing, ever-changing, because there’s a new coach every couple of years, or something of that sort. So, I think there’s real stability in that, and there’s real you can get some real success out of it.”
One of the tangible benefits to doing what you’ve always done is that it allows teams like the Steelers to exploit market inefficiencies when it comes to personnel. DeShon Elliott has been a hugely impactful addition to the defense this year. Terrell Edmunds appears to be set to provide extremely solid depth at the strong safety position. The Steelers are paying those players a combined $3.2 million.
With a good portion of the rest of the league focused on two-high looks, there hasn’t been a high demand for in-the-box strong safeties. Austin said the stability also helps the Steelers attract players like Elliott, who want to find a good fit for their skillsets in free agency.
“They kind of know what they’ve seen in our football,” Austin said. “Obviously, DeShon was in our division, but guys have seen us, and they kind of know what we’re doing. And so there’s no in terms of surprises, in terms of how we execute. And so as they come in, it’s easier for them to fit in. And I think they’ve all fit in well with what we tried to do and what we do scheme wise. And I think that’s why you kind of feel the impact of the new guys so far.”
Elliott said it takes a specific kind of player to thrive in the Steelers’ defensive scheme and that the team is good at finding ones that fit the bill.
“It takes a ball players, not robots” Elliot said. “Robots don’t excel in Cover 3. Robots can excel in Cover 2. Cover 3 allows guys that can make plays to make plays.”
Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. has a different role in the Cover 3. It generally takes away a lot of his ability to use his size and physicality to press wide receivers, but he echoed Elliott’s sentiments about it improving a defense’s playmaking ability.
“It gives you more opportunities to get the ball,” Porter said. “That’s what I really enjoy. Being man press, you don’t really get a lot of opportunities to go hunt the ball, but sitting in zone, you get to read the quarterback, read the route recognition and go make a play. That’s what I like about it.”
That’s borne out by the Steelers’ defensive numbers, as well. They finished tied for eight in the league in turnovers last year and seventh in percentage of drives ending in a turnover. Through two weeks this year, they’re tied for second with five takeaways and have ended nearly a quarter of the opposition’s drives with a turnover.
The Steelers do what they do, and they probably aren’t going to change. Different styles will come in and out of fashion, but there is definitely value in doing the things that you do best, and the Steelers have been showing that.
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