When it comes to rookie quarterbacks against the Steelers, you already know the drill.
The Steelers have dominated games when a signal caller is in his first season, and Sunday in the city of Brotherly Love, that will be the case for the Eagles when they run new NFL wonderkid Carson Wentz out against the black and gold.
The new wrinkle in the Steelers dominance over rookie QB’s is the fact that it’s now Keith Butler at the controls and not former defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, who is patrolling the sidelines in Tennessee for the Titans.
So what do the Steelers do well against rookie QB’s? Let’s break it down.
1. Sacks – The Steelers have put up 65 sacks in 21 games against rookie QB’s under Dick LeBeau and now Keith Butler. Putting pressure on Wentz will be a point of emphasis on Sunday, as pressure is something he hasn’t seen much of in his first two games against the awful defenses of the Browns and Bears.
2. Turnovers – Getting to Wentz with pressure should result in poor decisions, which lead to…you guessed it – interceptions. Under Lebeau and Butler the Steelers have picked off rookies a total of 24 times. Get Wentz rattled early, and you can see the secondary have a big day with some takeaways that could give Big Ben and the offense some short fields.
3. Disguising Coverages – LeBeau was great at making sure rookie QB’s never knew where pressure was coming from, and even more what players may end up dropping into coverage. It’s part of the reason the team has been able to pile up both interceptions and sacks against rookies, and they need to make sure to do it again Sunday.
4. Not Giving Up Big Plays – This season the defense has had a ‘bend but don’t break’ mentality, and they have kept things in front of them not allowing the big plays to happen. Sunday it worked against the Bengals to the tune of allowing them just 9 points in the first 54 minutes of play before they finally cracked the end zone. Don’t be surprised to see Wentz get yards on Sunday, but have to work very hard to do it.
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Dave B.
September 22, 2016 at 6:32 am
Can we please stop with the comparisons between Wentz and Roethlisberger . The Post Gazette and Steelerslive both have articles comparing Wentz to a young Ben Roethlisberger . Its way to early in this kids career to make such a comparison . Carson Wentz has played a grand total of 2 games in the NFL . In addition , he played them against two of the leagues worst teams . This is no disrespect to Carson Wentz because for a rookie he has played well . However , his first real test is coming Sunday against the Steelers . The Steelers are not the Browns and Redskins . The level of competition is getting ready to get much harder for Wentz . At the end of the day to compare a kid thats played 2 games in the league to a future Hall of Famer and two time Super Bowl winner is a little much .