The Steelers surprised most by shunning Justin Layne in the dime package for Antoine Brooks on Sunday against the Bengals. Brooks was elevated as a COVID-replacement and had a prominent role throughout the game. He played 28 snaps, or 43%, of all defensive plays for the Steelers. They clearly had a role for him and trusted him the most to pull off the Mike Hilton. How did Brooks do in his first significant snaps?
Brooks Showcases Solid Fundamentals on Sunday
A lot of the work that Brooks was asked to do on Sunday was slot work. While he was drafted as a safety and linebacker hybrid, Brooks did not play at either of those spots. He had experience in the slot at Maryland, so this is not a blindside adjustment for him to make, but it is notable that his first key snaps were as a slot cornerback. The Steelers wanted to keep Steven Nelson on the boundary, and Brooks was the adjustment they saw necessary to do that.
When talking about fundamentals in young defensive backs, it is hard to get much better than this. Brooks is playing with an outside shade on Auden Tate. Knowing his leverage is to the outside, and that he has help to the inside with Terrell Edmunds there, Brooks sells out on his outside leverage. Coverage is basically is a big leverage battle between the defensive back and the receiver. So, knowing where help is and keeping that leverage is integral.
Brooks keeps his eyes disciplined through the receiver’s hips and stays patient. Defensive back coaches will always talk about playing square to leverage and only flipping those hips once the receiver declares the route. Brooks uses his eyes well and lets take dictate the route. Lastly, notice how Brooks gets his head around in case Tate is targeted on this play. A lot of guys like Terrell Edmunds gave up catches because they lacked that trait. Brooks clearly has it down. Overall, even though he is not targeted, this is a great fundamental play by Brooks.
Brooks is playing fantastic situational football on this play. Knowing the one place he can not get beat is outside since that is where his leverage is, Brooks yet again sells out hard to the outside. However, this is great footwork by Brooks. Notice how he is shuffling with the inside stem of the receiver. He is trying not let up too much separation outside here by mirroring the receiver’s steps here. Brooks is playing through the hips of the receiver. Once the receiver cuts in, Brooks drives down inside and allows maybe a step of separation. By showing patience and mirroring with his feet, Brooks takes away any chance that this receiver can get a first down if it’s thrown his way.
Okay, so this is Brooks in match coverage. With a 3×1 formation, the Steelers usually check into their match man coverage rules, which can be straight man coverage or a diversely oriented zone coverage like it is here. Knowing his responsibility is that deep sideline, Brooks bails on it right away. The thing that makes this play strong for Brooks is that he gets his head around right when he reaches that midpoint of his zone. Playing midpoint technique gives him the room to either get more depth or drive depending on the route to the sideline. Brooks is playing this perfectly and using his processing skills here. These rules in a pattern match scheme are not easy to learn, so this is encouraging to see the rookie execute them at this level.
This is the one play where Brooks gets beat. Tyler Boyd does not get both feet down, but Brooks opens the gate here. Brooks does a nice job of using his eyes to read through Boyd’s hips which are peaking inside. However, Boyd is an elite route runner and Brooks fails to stay patient before driving downhill on Boyd to the inside. Brooks gets a bit of a break on this one because Boyd is one of the best route runners in the league and he is a mere rookie, but there are lessons to be learned here. Most importantly, while Brooks has great eyes, he needs to learn to take receivers away with his feet first. With more reps, that should come, as he has already flashed that skill.
In his first significant snaps, Brooks looked like a solid contributor on a defensive unit. His man coverage snaps are incredibly encouraging and it seems he already has the Steelers complex pattern matching coverages down. Looking forward, Brooks may not get a ton of snaps with Mike Hilton, but live practice reps could be key for his growth and development.