Steelers defense needs some new tweaks to stop Patriots

We’ll probably be hitting on this point a lot this week but the Steelers really need to throw some new wrinkles this week on defense. The problem is their run defense has been atrocious this year and once teams can establish the ground game it opens everything else up.

Aggressive defenses like the Steelers are often burned by misdirection, reverses and play action and when you can’t stop the run the problems of stopping those are even more compounded.

And you can’t get too cute with your pass defense and pressure packages when you can’t stop the run. So the pressure is on the Pittsburgh defense this week, because it’s been a long, long time since they stopped Tom Brady.

I know Dick Lebeau’s zone blitz was revolutionary back in the day but it has not given Tom Brady problems since 2004, and even then it was partially due to a rash of injuries and a sloppy 2-int/1 fumble game from TFB. What would really worry me is if we suddenly see all the Steelers defenders up walking around pre snap like we see from the Ryan defenses.

That would be a sure sign that the Steelers mean business and aren’t too stubborn to stick to their basic defensive plan that works against just about every offense out there.