Play of Steelers' high-profile secondary hasn't 'met my vision,' coach Mike Tomlin admits

If he were viewing the progress of his secondary through binoculars, Mike Tomlin would be continually adjusting the focus knob to get a clearer picture of what he sees in front of him.

Tomlin admitted as much Tuesday when he said the Pittsburgh Steelers’ acquisitions at cornerback and safety haven’t transitioned into the defensive scheme as smoothly as he anticipated.

“It certainly hasn’t met my vision to this point,” Tomlin said at his weekly news conference. “I’m not discouraged. We’ve got good people there, good players, guys who have a good relationship with the game.

“We’re going to keep working.”

The Steelers will get a chance Sunday against the Green Bay Packers to correct the deficiencies in pass coverage that cropped up repeatedly in a 33-31 loss at Cincinnati last Thursday. Not only did the Steelers permit 342 passing yards to 40-year-old Joe Flacco, who was acquired from Cleveland less than 10 days earlier, they allowed wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins to run amok in the secondary.

Chase finished with 16 catches on 23 targets for 161 yards and a touchdown. Higgins caught six passes for 96 yards and a score.

Watching the Bengals’ star playmakers have their way with his defense wasn’t what Tomlin envisioned when the Steelers signed cornerbacks Darius Slay and Brandin Echols in free agency and acquired cornerback Jalen Ramsey in a trade with Miami. It also came at the expense of a safety group that included newcomers Chuck Clark and Juan Thornhill.

It didn’t help that two holdovers from last year, cornerback Joey Porter Jr. and strong safety DeShon Elliott, had missed three and two games, respectively, earlier in the season. Although the Steelers had brought in experienced players, they lacked cohesiveness playing together in the secondary.

“I’m sure that’s a component of it, but we don’t seek comfort or find comfort in that,” Tomlin said. “We’ve got to be better.”

Tasked with defending Higgins for much of the game, Porter was called for a pair of pass interference penalties. A year earlier at Paycor Stadium, Porter was flagged six times, with four penalties being accepted.

“I’d imagine those two receivers got something to do with it,” Tomlin said.

Porter held Higgins to two catches for 15 yards. Higgins had a 28-yard catch with Ramsey in coverage and a 29-yard touchdown catch when inside linebacker Patrick Queen was the closest defender.

Chase had four catches for 38 yards against Slay, who was replaced by Echols at times against the Bengals. Chase also had four catches for 34 yards and a touchdown with Ramsey in coverage.

Ramsey, a three-time, first-team All-Pro selection, accepted responsibility for the overall poor showing by the secondary. Not that Tomlin was surprised.

“He’s got big shoulders,” Tomlin said.

The Packers don’t present the same type of challenges from a pass-catching standpoint — top threat Romeo Doubs is tied for No. 54 in catches and ranks No. 52 in yardage — yet they enter the prime-time matchup with a 4-1-1 record, have the NFL’s top third-down conversion rate and rank No. 7 in scoring offense.

Green Bay, though, could try to duplicate Cincinnati’s precision short-passing game. Flacco’s time to release the ball of 2.27 seconds, according to Pro Football Focus, was the quickest of any quarterback in Week 7.

By comparison, Packers quarterback Jordan Love has been releasing the ball in an average of 2.85 seconds this season.

Tomlin said better coverage in the secondary could help the Steelers pass rushers apply more pressure on quarterbacks. Playing less zone and more press coverage is another factor.

“It’s the disguises, the coverage concepts themselves, the tightness or looseness of the coverage are components of it,” he said. “Minimizing the run game is a component of it. When you’re on schedule, you can run rhythmic passing. None of these things happen in a vacuum.”

Stopping the run was another eye-popping issue against the Bengals, who rushed for 142 yards and averaged 6.2 yards per carry thanks to runs spanning 27 and 37 yards by Chase Brown.

“That speaks to multi-layers of dysfunction,” Tomlin said. “People out of their gaps and us not keeping the ball in a confined space once it gets to the second and third level. Those are two things that have our attention. There is a gap integrity component of it up front. That’s reflected by yards per (carry). The explosion play component of it is about getting and keeping the ball in a constricted space.

“We didn’t do a good job of either.”