In the first preseason game against the Giants Friday night the Steelers played a variety of defensive coverage schemes. But one thing the Steelers did not do was play a lot of press man coverage.
Defensive coordinator Keith Butler would like to change that in the coming weeks before the games start for real, but injuries to some of his most important defensive backs have put those plans on hold.
Starting free safety Mike Mitchell has missed most of camp with a hamstring injury. Starting corner Artie Burns missed the past week with a knee injury before returning to practice Sunday. In addition, Senquez Golson and Cameron Sutton, two players who were going to compete with William Gay for slot corner duties, have also missed most of camp with lower body injuries.
The injuries have allowed Butler to discover some other players – most notably undrafted corner Mike Hilton – but in the end they have prevented him from answering the question he wanted to know more than any other this summer. Will man coverage be a viable option for him this season?
“We played some matchup zones,” Butler said. “We played some single high man. We didn’t play what we call two-man under. That’s something we have to see what we can do. We have to see if our safeties are good enough, if our corners are good enough and if our linebackers are good enough to cover the tight ends and backs. We’re trying to determine that in training camp and see if that’s a viable coverage for us. If it is, it will certainly help us a lot. I want to be able to play man-to-man.”
That makes the next couple of weeks of training camp and the final three preseason games vitally important for those injured defensive backs. Sutton returned to practice Sunday on a limited basis, but Golson and Mitchell remained out.
Butler’s plans for man-to-man coverage depend on their participation in the coming days and weeks.
“Our young guys, we have to see what we have in the secondary,” Butler said Sunday afternoon, two days after his defense did not allow a touchdown in the preseason opener against the Giants. “We have to get those guys back and see what we can do in camp in terms of the coverages we plan on playing. I don’t know what we can do. I don’t know about Cam Sutton. I don’t know about him. I don’t know about Senquez Golson. I have an idea of Mike [Hilton]. He’s playing well for us.”
Butler said time could be running short for Golson, the Steelers’ second-round pick in 2015, to make the team. This is the third consecutive year Golson has missed most of training camp. He had a shoulder injury in 2015 and a foot injury last summer. He suffered a hamstring injury two weeks ago on the first padded practice of camp and hasn’t been on the field since.
“Senquez was doing pretty good until he got hurt,” Butler said. “If he continues to do this… There is a pattern there. If you get hurt and can’t remain on the field you can’t play in the NFL. That’s the plain fact of the matter.
“LaMarr Woodley is the perfect example of that. He was a great player for us, an All-Pro player. He got to the point where we never could keep him healthy, and he was making a good salary. The economics tells us if they’re not on the field playing you can’t pay them and keep them. The same goes for Senquez. If he can’t stay on the field we can’t keep him. That’s just the fact of the matter. That’s not threat or anything like that. That’s just the fact of the matter. It’s just the way it is for all of them.”
Sutton, this year’s third-round pick, is in a different situation. He’s not in danger of being cut, but how much playing time he sees this season will depend on how effective he is upon returning from his injury. Butler went through a similar situation with Burns last year. He couldn’t practice much in camp because of an injury and didn’t end up earning a starting job until midway through the season.
“We don’t know what he can do yet,” Butler said. “Anytime they miss camp they don’t get the reps they need. In this setting, playing with their teammates is the big thing. They learn to play together. They have communication. You get the communication problems out of the way.
“I told Mike Mitchell the same thing two years ago when we went down to New England. It was his first game back. He hadn’t practiced or played with the first-team [in training camp]. He got a baptism by fire. I don’t want that for these guys. I want them to be ready to play.”
Ray Fittipaldo: rfittipaldo@post-gazette.com and Twitter @rayfitt1.
First Published: August 13, 2017, 9:17 p.m.
