Steelers Now
After being annihilated by the Cincinnati Bengals offense in yet another Thursday Night Football loss, the Pittsburgh Steelers head into the mini-bye week with plenty to fix. Despite more significant offseason investments in that side of the ball, the results have been extremely underwhelming, to say the least. After six games, Teryl Austin’s unit ranks 19th in success rate and 24th in EPA/play despite facing a pretty friendly schedule up to this point. It’s not time to completely panic per se, but there needs to be a real sense of urgency in turning things around before it’s too late. That means it’s time for some difficult conversations about some potential changes that might be necessary, starting at the cornerback position.
Mike Tomlin’s vision for a historic defense was founded on this belief that signing Darius Slay and trading for Jalen Ramsey would give them more coverage stability on the back end to pair with what should be a devastating pass rush. Pittsburgh is currently playing man coverage at the 6th highest rate in the league and operating out of single-high looks at the fourth-highest rate in the league. In essence, this defense is asking the corners to hold up one-on-one outside with extreme regularity in a scheme that doesn’t offer much in the way of disguises.
Ramsey has had his struggles that are worth monitoring as the season continues to move along, but Slay’s film is littered with what could best be described as non-competitive reps. Perhaps the best example of this from this past week came on Noah Fant’s touchdown score in the second half, where Pittsburgh was trying to banjo the release of the #2 and #3 receivers. Lined up in man coverage on Tee Higgins in the slot, the wideout deploys what is called a “bully” release and sends Slay flying across the end zone, making it impossible for him to contest the throw on the in-breaker.
The Steelers are trying to banjo this to counter the potential pick play, but Higgins' bully release sends Slay to the turf. pic.twitter.com/zI8Z7DZrJe
— Derrick (@Steelers_DB) October 17, 2025
Just a few plays before this, the Steelers were running a bracket coverage on third down, opting to double-team both Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, who also went bananas in this contest. This left Slay alone with Bengals backup receiver Andrei Iosivas. The receiver jabs outside to get Slay leaning and uses his hands to discard the jam, thus allowing him to stack him instantly. Joe Flacco sees it immediately and launches the ball downfield with zero hesitation. At 34 years old, Slay clearly no longer possesses the ideal recovery speed and recovery ability to get himself out of compromising positions.
— Derrick (@Steelers_DB) October 19, 2025
Just before that, the veteran quarterback checked out of a play and created another explosive gain for his offense by exploiting the Steelers’ tendencies. So far this season, the Steelers have been turning up the pressure dial on...
