The Pittsburgh Steelers made a big splash with the signing of ex-Miami Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores as the new Senior Defensive Assistant/Linebackers coach in Pittsburgh.
With Flores being one of the most sought-after head coaching candidates in the NFL, this comes as a major positive addition to the Steelers’ coaching staff. Not only does Flores bring 14 years of NFL experience to the organization, he also brings elite coaching pedigree as a leader of championship teams in New England and orchestrating an impressive 180-degree attitude shift in Miami. But with that said, anytime you bring in a proven, big-name veteran into the coaching staff, one of the first questions asked is how the synergy is going to work between all the different contributors in their first season together?
Well, it looks like General Manager Kevin Colbert and Head Coach Mike Tomlin are constructing a very unique defensive staff to help address big post-2021 concerns.
To begin the already-eventful offseason, former-Defensive Coordinator, Keith Butler, announced his retirement back on January 22nd. This led to the promotion of then-Senior Defensive Assistant/Secondary Coach Teryl Austin to Defensive Coordinator. If we think back to Tomlin’s history, this path seems very similar to how he became a head coach; Secondary/Defensive Backs coach to Defensive Coordinator. However, where did Tomlin need, and had, the most help on his defensive coaching staff? Linebackers.
This is where I’m seeing the new defensive approach for 2022.
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The Steelers are taking a two-prong approach towards the defense in 2022. With the proven secondary acumen between Austin and Tomlin, the back-end of the defense is set from a coaching perspective. While we have young Grady Brown now as the sole secondary coach, he’ll have enough support at the top to help him in putting together a solid rotation. Plus, with Minkah Fitzpatrick as a solid anchor in the secondary, the Steelers already have a base to build on leading into the 2022 season. But having a secondary-based defensive scheme is not going to help improve the rush defense; and this is where the second prong is taking shape.
In 2021, Steeler Nation saw some of the worst inside linebacker play in Pittsburgh in the past several years. Between Joe Schobert and Devin Bush, we never saw the inside linebacker corps reach its full potential and it showed specifically against the run. Although current Inside Linebackers Coach Jerry Olsavsky has established one of the best linebacker rooms in the league, he missed some time in 2021 after the sudden death of his wife and his absence was definitely felt. Olsavsky has built his success on the ‘next-man-up’ mentality and has been one of the best with it, but we didn’t see this in 2021 within the depleted depth of Ulysees Gilbert III, Buddy Johnson, and Robert Spillane. With Butler’s attention being more on the defense as a whole as opposed to solely linebackers, Olsavsky seemed to be left on an island with the inside linebackers and had trouble getting back into a groove after his absence. This is exactly where Flores is going to be critical.
Not only has Flores flourished in player development, but coaching development as well. To explore that, let’s look at Flores’ brief stint as a head coach in Miami. In 2019, the Dolphins’ defense was ranked in the bottom 3 under then-Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham. In 2020, Josh Boyer joined Flores as another ex-New England Patriots coach at Defensive Coordinator. In just a single season, the Dolphins’ defense went from the third-worst in the league to a respectable, middle-of-the-pack, squad in 2020. To take a defense that allowed 30.9 points per game in 2019 to only allow 21.1 points per game in 2020, then 21.9 points per game in 2021 is an incredible feat in itself as a Head Coach (for reference, the Steelers allowed 23.4 points per game in 2021).
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The point I am making in highlighting that is, Flores has proven he can take one of the worst defenses in the entire league and mold that into a respectable group. Therefore, this is going to be the new defensive mindset of the Steelers in 2022. Although Austin holds the Defensive Coordinator title, it is going to be a joint partnership between Austin and Flores with Tomlin mediating. Austin brings his proven secondary intellect while Flores brings some of the best linebacker coaching resumes in all of football. To take that a step further, the partnership between Flores and Olsavsky is going to be pivotal in getting Bush back to his normal self and recalibrating the inside linebacker corps. In addition, with the inside linebacker position already sitting towards the top of the Steelers’ shopping list this offseason, expect the arrival of either a big-name free agent, or the selection of one the top prospects in this year’s draft; or maybe both.
This new two-prong approach combined with the coaching synergy between Tomlin, Austin, Flores, and Olsavsky is going to result in one of the Steelers’ best defenses going into the 2022 season. We keep reiterating the fact that the Steelers are in ‘win-now’ mode, and it is looking like Colbert and Tomlin agree. I can’t wait to see the talent on the defensive side of the ball in Pittsburgh in 2022.
How do you feel about the Flores signing? What do you think he’ll do to improve the inside linebacker corps? Let us know in the comments!
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