Defensive rookies gear up for high-octane Giants
PITTSBURGH — The last time the Steelers beat the New York Giants in Pittsburgh, Archie Manning was a rookie.
It hasn’t happened since 1971, and the Steelers are a surprising 6.5-point favorite this time around with Archie’s red-hot son, Eli Manning, at the helm.
The 8-3 Giants have won six straight games, with Manning rating at 93.4 throughout. He’s thrown 15 touchdown passes and only six interceptions in those games, and he’s been sacked only four times during the hot stretch.
Manning has three explosive targets in Odell Beckham, Victor Cruz and blossoming second-round draft choice Sterling Shepard.
Beckham, of course, is the main threat with 38 catches for 556 yards and 7 touchdowns in these last six games.
So it begs the question: Is the Steelers’ young secondary ready for this passing attack?
“I don’t know, man. I don’t know if anybody’s ready for this passing-game challenge,” Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler said with a laugh. “They have a lot of good receivers. They do a good job of throwing the ball. Eli does a good job of running the offense. It’s going to be a challenge for the non-rookies, also, including us old guys. They’re a good football team.”
Artie Burns, the rookie corner, will start his fifth consecutive game. He’s intercepted two passes, but has made plenty of rookie mistakes, starting with Mike Wallace’s 95-yard touchdown catch in his first start, and continuing with a scorching by Dallas’ Dez Bryant for a 50-yard touchdown and his poor positioning on Cleveland’s touchdown pass to Gary Barnidge. At Indianapolis, on the fourth-down play before the half, Burns’ man was open but the QB went elsewhere.
While Burns has shown tremendous physical potential, his techniques need polish.
“It’s coming along,” said Burns. “I’m working hard week-in and week-out on it. I’m covering the best in the league every day in practice, so that’s helping me.”
How are the coaches helping?
“They’re just giving me help with the details,” he said. “There’s not really too much time to reform it because we’re too deep in the season to re-create it. They’re just giving me details here and there to help me out.”
Sounds like a scary proposition against a guy like Beckham, who needs nine receptions to pass A.J. Green (260) for most receptions through any player’s first three seasons.
“Scary?” asked the unflappable Burns. “Nah, it’s not scary. I’m ready for the work. It’s football. You go out there and compete.”
On the other side, the Steelers have more polish in Ross Cockrell, but perhaps less athleticism.
“Ross brings a more cerebral approach,” said Mike Tomlin. “Ross is as flat-lined a guy as you’re going to come across.”
Flat-lined?
“I guess what he means by that is I’ve gone through a lot in my short career,” Cockrell said. “Just trying to weather storms, whether it was at Duke, Buffalo or here in Pittsburgh. So it may have something to do with that.”
Cockrell gave a similar answer as Burns when asked about covering Beckham and Co.
“Antonio Brown is probably at the top of it, so as long as we’re good covering him in practice I think we’ll be ready for any matchup we have,” Cockrell said. “And I think we’ve prepared well during the course of the season. We’ve played a lot of good receivers, whether it was Brandon Marshall, A.J. Green, Dez Bryant, a lot of guys who are names and faces people recognize. And this week, with Victor Cruz and Odell Beckham Jr., it’s no different.”
The third new starter in the Steelers secondary, second-round draft pick Sean Davis, has always been more confident than the others, and that’s saying something with Burns and Cockrell.
“We’re all just trying to hit, man. We’re just going to fly around,” Davis said when asked about Beckham in particular. “If he gets off his schedule, he gets, I guess, mental breakdowns and does different things out of his game.
“We’re not initiating something to (tick) him off,” Davis added. “But we’re going to hit him. We’re going to smash him. Hopefully we’re going to break him down.”
NOTES — Slot receiver Eli Rogers explained how he, Cobi Hamilton and Sammie Coates are all playing the No. 2 WR spot opposite Brown in different packages. And when asked which player fantasy football players should choose this week, Rogers said, “In all honesty, I think you should always play me. Always.” … The Steelers practiced Thursday without RG David DeCastro (illness), along with WR Darrius Heyward-Bey (foot) and RB DeAngelo Williams (knee). … Punt gunner Shamarko Thomas and TE Xavier Grimble were full go.