Steelers look to slowdown Bradford, Vikings
MEMORABLE SERIES MOMENT
Steelers 18, Vikings 3
Dec. 18, 2005 at the Metrodome
Gobble up all of the 2005 analogies possible for a Steelers team that went off to the North Country that season after a season-turning win against the Chicago Bears. The Vikes were 8-5 but their mediocrity was personified in QB Brad Johnson. He had few threats and the defense was a year away from the No.1-versus-the-run unit churned out by 2006 defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin. In this game, Jeff Reed kicked three field goals, Ben Roethlisberger scored on a short touchdown run, Larry Foote and Joey Porter tackled a running back for a safety, and Kimo von Oelhoffen blocked a field goal. Defense and running game were emerging in the Steelers’ late-season run.
TALE OF THE TAPE
“The Minnesota defensive front sort of fascinates me. You look at the 41 sacks last year, 30 of them came from that front four. The main hunters are Danielle Hunter and Everson Griffen. They remind me very much of Dick LeBeau’s 3-4 but only they’re a 4-3. They play with great extension and lockout and they eat up the offensive line and create a nice sideline-to-sideline flow for their athletic linebackers. The lynchpin of the whole front four is Linval Joseph. He’s exactly what a honked-off Danny McCullers flipping the switch would look like: extremely powerful and huge. He plays high for a nose tackle, but it doesn’t matter because he’s so stinking strong. Guards looking to double-team him with the center just bounce off him and he just locks out on the center with extreme power. That front four is exceptional.” — Steelers Radio analyst Craig Wolfley.
TOP QUESTION
Can the Steelers shut down an accurate rhythm passer?
With Joe Haden, the Steelers believe they possess more versatility in coverage this season, and they’ll have to play tighter with receivers to throw off Sam Bradford’s timing. That, combined with the improved pass-rush afforded by T.J. Watt, and this game — if Bradford does indeed play with his sore knee — could be an early-season pop quiz for a unit that was exposed by Tom Brady last January.
THREE QUESTIONS: With SS SEAN DAVIS
Q: What was Vikings WR Stefon Diggs like at Maryland?
SD: “He played slot, so yeah I checked him then as a safety. He’s a real good player. Personally, we’re kind of similar. We keep to ourselves, go about our business. We used to meet up late nights and just workout at like midnight, do stuff like that on like a Friday night.”
Q: Did he ever pull your team out of the fire?
SD: “Not at Maryland. We weren’t too hot.”
Q: What’s up with those uniforms?
SD: “(Laughs) I like them. They’re swaggy. They’re different. Since I’m from Maryland, I especially like them because I feel our flag is unique. We get to showcase the flag (on the helmet). Those are the Maryland flag colors.”
GAME BREAKDOWN
What to look for from the Steelers today at 1 p.m. at Heinz Field:
ON OFFENSE:
Perhaps the spread last week was preparation for the Vikings, who allowed only 60 yards on 21 New Orleans rushes Monday night. They’ll be difficult to run against, so Roethlisberger will have to light up Heinz Field through the airways. My hunch is that rookie JuJu Smith-Schuster inside will open up Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant outside.
ON DEFENSE:
The Steelers suffered injuries at the team’s deepest positions, so even if Bud Dupree and Stephon Tuitt don’t play look for similar productivity from Anthony Chickillo and even further down the OLB depth chart, as well as DT Tyson Alualu and the rest of the DL depth. Pressure on Bradford, with help from more man coverage, will tell the tale.
PREDICTION
Not looking at names or numbers, just turning the tables on last week when a team that’s struggled on the road, the Steelers, looked bad once again on the road, and the team that’s thrived in its home dome over the years, the Vikings, looked great once again at home. Never as good as they say you are, nor as bad … Steelers, 23-17.
BY THE NUMBERS
3: NFL rookies to record 2 sacks and intercept a pass on an opening day. T.J. Watt last week joined Charles Gaze and Tommy Haynes from 1987 in that select company.
40: The number ditched by Mike Hilton for 31 prior to the opener. “I just felt it wasn’t the best number for a cornerback,” Hilton said. A safety, Myron “Boo” Bell, wore 40, but was the only player in team history to wear the number as a full-time starter. “Forty is like a running back number for me, because of Gale Sayers and stuff,” said long-time equipment manager Rodgers Freyvogel. “Nobody seems to want that number.”
111: Games played by Steelers free-agent acquisition (and today’s likely DL starter) Tyson Alualu out of a possible 113 in his 7+ years in the NFL. “Anytime you can go, you go,” Alualu said this week, repeating what he had said upon his arrival in the spring. “I always had that mentality growing up.”
127: Yards rushing Monday night by Vikings rookie Dalvin Cook.
132: Passes thrown to Vikings TE Kyle Rudolph last season to lead all NFL TEs and all Vikings receivers. He caught 83 of them for 840 yards and 7 touchdowns.
DOWNLOADS
* In 13 games against a Mike Zimmer coordinated/coached defense, the Roethlisberger-led Steelers are 9-4 (.692) and Roethlisberger has an 87.6 passer rating. His career numbers are .672 winning percentage and a 94.1 passer rating. By the latter statistic, Zimmer has had success against Roethlisberger. “I don’t know that I really have,” countered Zimmer. “We’ve had good players. Roethlisberger’s a great quarterback. He’s always been outstanding, so I would say that he’s probably won more of the battles than I have.”
* T.J. Watt’s two sacks and interception in his rookie debut of a Steelers opener sent researchers (me) to the history books to learn that he ranked among the best in team history. Jack Lambert made 11 tackles in his opening-day debut. “Beltin'” Delton Hall, in 1987, intercepted a Joe Montana-to-Jerry Rice pass and also returned a fumble 50 yards for a touchdown. Suffice to say Watt ranks among the top three all-time. “He played really well,” said Ryan Shazier. “He was smooth. He knew everything that was going on. It didn’t seem like we had a young guy out there. If he was unaware of something, he asked us really quick. Other than that, it didn’t seem like we had a rookie out there.”
* DL Cameron Heyward recorded a sack last Sunday in a strong return from a torn pectoral injury. He’s back as a captain, and defensive coordinator Keith Butler explained why: “Because he’s the biggest head in the group,” Butler said. “No, he does a good job. He’s a good leader. He works hard on the field all the time. He doesn’t do it just by saying it, he does it. You always want to be able to have a leader like that on your defense.”
* Roethlisberger opened last Sunday’s game with six consecutive short/screen passes to wide receivers. It was the plan going in. Offensive coordinator Todd Haley was asked about the benefits of scripting plays. “You give guys the chance the night before, the day before,” he said. “We walk through those plays in our final walkthrough. They’re not always going to go as maybe you predicted, but it gives the players a chance to kind of go through what their assignments are, take a little stress off them. Once the game starts, it can all go to heck in a handbasket when you do some of the things that we did – get behind the chains and then getting into second and 3rd-and-25.”
* Antonio Brown caught more passes in a four-season stretch (481) than anyone in NFL history, and he got off to a great start this season with 11 catches out of 11 thrown to him at Cleveland. “It comes from hard work,” Haley said. “He catches a million balls, and I think that one deflected ball was probably the most impressive just because it wasn’t an early tip at the line. It happened three or four yards in front of him, if not less. And the quickness of his hands to catch that ball, to catch it clean with his hands, you just don’t see it. Those are balls you see bounce off people’s face masks. I’ll say it again, the guy — see (points), he’s working right now. He out-works everybody in the world, and it’s really fun to see it pay off for him.”
PARTING SHOT
“You have to try to make it where you’re close enough to the receivers so he’ll hold the ball for a second to give yourself a chance to get to him. We have to do that. We can’t stay in the same coverage all the time. We have to switch up the defense, make him read the defense and hopefully if we can get a sack or we can get an interception or something like that we can damage his confidence a little bit, because he’s a very confident guy.” — Steelers DC Keith Butler on stopping Vikings QB Sam Bradford.