PITTSBURGH — There’s no two ways around it, Pittsburgh Steelers rookie cornerback Beanie Bishop had a tough game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
According to charting by Pro Football Focus, Bishop was targeted eight times by Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, and six of them were completed for 90 yards. That’s a 111.5 passer rating against — not a a figure that Bishop is likely to hang on his wall.
Bishop plays slot cornerback in the Steelers’ standard Nickel and Dime packages. He does not play in the team’s base 3-4 defense or in its three-safety Heavy Nickel. So going forward, the Steelers have the ability to minimize Bishop’s role, if they want to.
But defensive coordinator Teryl Austin sounds like he’s sticking with his undrafted rookie.
“I think when you’re talking about Beanie, I think what he ran into is what happens to most young guys,” Austin said on Thursday. “There’s going to be a game where you’re tested, and it doesn’t go your way. I don’t think that’s going to be a recurring theme. But a lot of that’s going to fall on Beanie and how he reacts to the things that happened to him last week. But I think he’s handled himself well.
“Like everybody, there’s probably a game where everybody would look at and go, ‘Boy, I didn’t play very well that game. I didn’t do what I wanted to in that game,’ or whatever it may have been, and then get back to the drawing board. I think that’s where we are with Beanie. I think he’s a young guy that got tested, and I think he’ll bounce back this week.”
This week, the Steelers will likely be without safety Damontae Kazee, which will make running their Heavy Nickel package more difficult. The Raiders play with three wide receivers on the field about 75% of the time, which means base defense won’t be much of an option, either.
Vegas has two talented receivers that play out of the slot in Tre Tucker and D.J. Turner.