Steelers notebook: Tre Norwood becomes latest versatile piece of secondary

The rookie draft class was expected to be heavily involved for the Pittsburgh Steelers in their season opener at Buffalo. Nobody, though, could have predicted that the most-used rookie would be seventh-round defensive back Tre Norwood.

Norwood was one of five rookies to start against the Bills — six if punter Pressley Harvin III is counted.

While first-round running back Najee Harris played all 58 offensive snaps, Norwood logged 68 in the secondary, playing 80% of the defensive plays.

Norwood started at slot corner, a position he didn’t begin playing until after the third preseason game. He moved around the secondary in other packages, trading places with free safety Minkah Fitzpatrick on occasion. Norwood was part of a multi-faceted group that included Cam Sutton, who started at outside corner but also took snaps inside.

“We did it by design,” coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. “We just have that level of respect for (quarterback) Josh Allen and the continuity that they have. Not only to mix our calls, but to mix the utilization of people I thought would assist us.

“When you have guys that are position flexible and have a nice skill set in that regard, like Cam Sutton and Minkah and now Tre Norwood, it allows you to have some interchangeable parts and do some different things and add some complexities that, hopefully, keep the dogs off you.”

The mix-and-match secondary allowed just one completion longer than 16 yards in 51 pass attempts by Allen.

Full day’s work

It wasn’t Tomlin’s intention to have Harris play all 58 offensive snaps in his debut. But with the Steelers being limited to 22 plays and three first downs in the first half, Tomlin saw no reason to take his starting running back out of the game.

“We were monitoring his conditioning and how the game went for him being it was his first time,” he said. “But he’s a highly conditioned guy. We weren’t moving the ball fluidly enough in the first half where it became an issue. That’s where it really captured your attention early in the game. You burn a lot of fuel as a young guy early in the game, with anxiety and so forth. It became less of an issue. As the game wore on, he settled down. We found our rhythm. I was happy with how that transpired and unfolded.”

Besides the linemen, Harris and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger were the only players to take every snap on offense.

Dialing it down

The Steelers have made no secret about relying on the blitz to lead the NFL in sacks for each of the past four seasons. Last year, they blitzed on 40.3% of all pass plays en route to a league-high 56 sacks.

That’s what made their pass-rush strategy so unusual against the Bills.

Allen dropped back to pass 54 times and was sacked three times. According to profootballreference.com, the Steelers dialed up just one blitz. Other sites pegged the figure at two blitzes, which is still a low total for the Steelers.

Tomlin doesn’t expect the same approach to be taken against the Raiders.

“We did what we had to do to win that game,” he said. “What we did is by no way indicative of what we intend our intentions to be this week or our personality to be moving forward. We did what we had to do to win that game.”

Injury report

Aside from linebacker Robert Spillane’s shin injury in pregame warm-ups, the Steelers sustained no notable injuries against the Bills, Tomlin said.

Spillane could be “limited” in practice early in the week, but Tomlin expects the special teams contributor and reserve inside linebacker to be available against the Raiders.

Tomlin said several veterans might be rested early in the week. Roethlisberger typically doesn’t practice on Wednesdays, giving backup Mason Rudolph a chance to work with the first team. Outside linebacker Melvin Ingram III, cornerback Joe Haden and defensive tackle Cam Heyward could be players rested on a defense that played 85 snaps against Buffalo.

“It’s a great day for doing tasks to get elevated and for them to get snaps and grow as professionals, so they can prepare themselves to deliver when called upon,” Tomlin said of the backups. “I just think that’s the essence of team.”