What a world it is, Steelers fans.
In our current reality, Tom Brady has been to four Super Bowls since Ben Roethlisberger has won his last playoff game. The Steelers have longer odds at the Super Bowl than the Cleveland Browns or Miami Dolphins. And their “retired” former offensive coordinator totaled more playoff wins this postseason than their current head coach has in the past decade.
And you thought 2020 was a weird year.
Now the Steelers, a former paragon of an NFL franchise, must look to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — the team with the worst franchise winning percentage in NFL history — for lessons on how to win a Super Bowl.
You might think the only lesson is, “Sign Tom Brady whenever he becomes a free agent and you have the salary cap space and a need at quarterback.”
If you want to make it that simple, fine. Then keep that in mind after 2021 when Brady hits the open market again, Roethlisberger retires, and the cap perhaps goes back to its normal level.
Between now and then, though, there are plenty of other things the Steelers hopefully picked up by watching the Bucs march to Super Bowl glory, while they languished in a fourth straight offseason without a playoff victory.
1. Control, alt, delete: The Bucs showed that NFL teams can do a successful rebuild quickly. From 7-9 and out of the playoffs last year to 11-5 and Super Bowl champions this year.
A large part of the winning equation is getting the right quarterback in a hurry, as the Steelers did when they drafted Roethlisberger in 2004. But they also have to be willing to take a few other big swings along the way, like scooping up tight end Rob Gronkowski, wide receiver Antonio Brown and running back Leonard Fournette when they became available.
Of course, that means taking risks on salary and attitude. But if the organization is as reticent to enter into a full-fledged rebuild as it seems to be, once the cap number (hopefully) goes back up again in 2022 and Roethlisberger and Maurkice Pouncey retire, the Steelers will have some room to buttress the roster in free agency for whomever the new quarterback is.
2. Honor your run game: I’m not saying harken back to the days of Franco and Rocky. I’m not even saying, “rev up da’ Bus,” n’at.
I’m saying at least have a capable, present run game, instead of this “short pass game replaces the run” nonsense.
Do you know who else learned that lesson? The Bucs themselves. They were actually one of the few teams that ran the ball fewer times in the regular season (373) than the Steelers (369). And their yards per game average (94.9) wasn’t much better than Mike Tomlin’s team (84.4), which was the worst in the NFL.
In the playoffs, Tampa Bay jumped to 122.5 yards per game in their four postseason contests, including 145 yards in the Super Bowl on 33 carries.
That allowed the team to control the clock, while assuming lower risks for turnovers, sacks and dropped passes. It also set up play-action which Brady — unlike Roethlisberger — welcomes and uses as a weapon.
Via NFL.com’s NextGen Stats, in the Super Bowl on play-action throws, Brady was 10 of 13 for 135 yards and three touchdowns. The play-action slowed Kansas City’s pass rush, as they pressured Brady on just three of 21 dropbacks in the first half.
Thus, Tampa’s passing attack was — wait for it — diversified! What a concept.
Again according to NFL.com, Sunday night the Buccaneers were 13 for 17 for 76 yards on throws of 10 yards or less in the air. They were 3 for 3 for 64 yards on throws of 10+ air yards.
3. Right place, right time: The Buccaneers finished with 48 sacks on the season, good for a fourth-place tie in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals. The Steelers led the NFL with 56. They also did so in 2019 with 54. They tied for the top mark with Kansas City at 52 in 2018 and had the league lead again with 56 in 2017. And they were ninth with 38 in 2016.
Yet they got just two sacks of Brady as a New England Patriot when the team was eliminated in the AFC Championship Game in 2016. None on Blake Bortles when the Steelers lost at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2017. And none again on Baker Mayfield during their lone playoff game this postseason.
Tomlin‘s defense had just three total sacks combined over their two crucial late-season losses to the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets in 2019. They missed the playoffs entirely that year. As they did in 2018, thanks in part to just two sacks in 40 dropbacks of Drew Brees during that pivotal Dec. 23 defeat in New Orleans.
Meanwhile, Tampa had three sacks of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl on the heels of five against Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers in the NFC Championship Game. That same NexGen piece claims Mahomes was harassed on 32% of dropbacks in the game. On 16 of 47 attempts against only a four-man rush, he was pressured leading to some pretty amazing numbers of how Mahomes had to scramble to buy time.
The Buccaneers pass rush forced Patrick Mahomes to bail out of the pocket and scramble all over the field.
Mahomes traveled 497 yards before throwing the ball or being sacked, the most scramble yards in a game by any QB in the NGS Era (since 2016).#SBLV | #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/pHhXrYxadX
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) February 8, 2021
It’s one thing to have a good pass rush. It’s another to have it show up when it counts.
4. It takes more than one: Here’s one I mentioned during “Madden-Benz: Unfiltered” this week.
As the Steelers defense continues to wander through its post-Ryan Shazier existence, it appeared that Devin Bush was improving nicely in his second year before an ACL injury derailed him in Game 4 of the regular season.
But even prior to that mishap, “the other Devin” from the 2019 draft at inside linebacker — Tampa Bay’s Devin White — was fast-tracking to superstardom. He was named a second-team All-Pro in just his second season.
The other starting inside linebacker on the team — Lavonte David — is also a second-team All-Pro. He brings a lot more versatility than just Vince Williams’ blitz and run-stop complement to Bush.
Those two players patrol the middle of Tampa Bay’s defense with devastating effectiveness and allow that four-man pass rush to do its thing. In the postseason, those two combined for 49 solo tackles, a sack, two interceptions, two fumble recoveries and six passes defended.
For the Steelers, it’s not just about finding one guy in hopes of replacing Shazier. Hopefully, Bush can still be that player. But it’s about finding two guys akin to David and White.
Good luck with that.
5. Start rebuilding the offensive line: All of the Buccaneers starters along the offensive line are still in their 20s.
That includes 26-year-old Aaron Stinnie who started for injured guard Alex Cappa the last three games of the postseason.
As a whole, Tampa’s line only allowed Brady to be sacked at a 3.54% rate, trailing only the Steelers and Indianapolis Colts. All three of those teams relied heavily on their quarterbacks’ quick releases to reach that number.
But the Bucs finished with 30.8 points per game and 289.1 passing yards per game, both second in the NFL. The Steelers had 26.0 points per game (12th) and 250.2 passing yards per game (15th).
Four of the five regular starters are homegrown Tampa Bay draft choices, starting with the two tackles — Penn State product Donovan Smith and Iowa rookie Tristan Wirfs. In his first year, Wirfs was only tagged with one sack in 799 pass-blocking attempts according to Pro Football Focus.
So, yes, a rookie first-rounder can start at the position with some success if the Steelers elect to go that route to replace Alejandro Villanueva. The Bucs inked a veteran center — Ryan Jensen — from Baltimore. Perhaps the Steelers can go that route again as they did on Super Bowl-winning teams with Justin Hartwig and Jeff Hartings this year or next — depending on what becomes of Pouncey. And they’ll already have a young, but polished, 25-year-old second-year guard in Kevin Dotson, like the Bucs have in Cappa.
The five parts along the offensive line are in a state of flux we haven’t seen for a while in Pittsburgh, with more questions than answers. It’s time the franchise starts addressing them.
And a lot more. Maybe watching the Bucs’ success can help.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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