Steelers Now
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers have had several coverage busts in the first two games. In fact, two of the three touchdowns passes allowed through two games were the exact same play.
In Week 1, the New York Jets ran a play out of 12 personnel with condensed splits, and sent outside receivers Garrett Wilson and Josh Reynolds on paired post routes, with one crossing in front of the other right in front of deep safety Jalen Ramsey.
The following week, it was more of the same, as the Seattle Seahawks ran the same concept, again out of 12 personnel, this time making it a play action and keeping the back and both tight ends in to max protect Sam Darnold.
“I thought we had it fixed,” safety Juan Thornhill said about the touchdown given up to Seattle. “Me communicating with one guy, I guess he didn’t see the communication. It was frustrating.”
Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin also blamed communication issues for the coverage busts in the secondary.
“When you look at it, especially in the secondary, by the time we got about halfway through the game, I don’t think there’s anybody that had played for us last year,” Austin said during his media availability on Thursday. “And so those things take a little bit of time. It’s not an excuse. We have to get it done, so that’s what we’re really working on. We always have something to do and something to work on, and that’s something that sometimes those things happen because, in the heat of battle, things move a lot faster than they do in practice. … I think the more game situations these guys have together, I think we’ll start jelling and playing better and making the right calls and getting in the right spots to give ourselves an opportunity to be successful.”
Starting cornerback Joey Porter Jr. (hamstring) and strong safety DeShon Elliott (knee) were inactive for Sunday’s game.
Thornhill and Chuck Clark were the safeties, while Jalen Ramsey and Darius Slay Jr. were the cornerbacks. All four were acquired this offseason, with Clark added in training camp.
“It’s just different pieces everywhere now,” Slay said. “We don’t want to blame that because we’re still professionals. We have to communicate better. But we had Joey go down, Elliott go down. We had some guys come in in the middle of training camp. It’s a whole new secondary in the back end.”
Thornhill also said playing in front of the home crowd hindered communication for the new secondary.
“When you play at Acrisure, you can’t hear anything,” Thornhill said. “The fans are crazy loud. We have to get to the point where there is more nonverbal communication. We have to make sure we’re on the same page so we’re not making the same mistakes over and over again.
“Payton [Wilson] looking back was me making sure he knew what I said because if you’re speaking or trying to yell, you can’t hear anything. When he...
