Offense:
Runs primarily 2 WR strong sets. ABUSES drag routes out of this formation. he only went deep once vs me so play his short game. His first reads are his drags and then he usually has a few squat routes as fallback reads to the right side of the field. He is overly paranoid about heat so he usually leaves 1 or two guys into block regardless of the formation he is in. He picks up A-gap heat well and he knows big ben will usually shed DB edge heat so he just sits in the pocket and waits for his drags to side through zones when he passes the ball. Show heat early and often and set him up for some max protect in the 2nd half. When he runs he will throw toss if OLB is inside/even with TE, he will run a counter if you slide Dline to strong side and he will run a dive if you spread the line. If he moves his WR in motion toward the line he is running blast. If you are in man coverage and he is in a 3wr/1te set he will look for the c-route to the far WR on the right side. If he has 2wr on the left and the lb/cb isnt over top his first read will be the quick flat to the slot and then the dragging WR/TE on the same side of the field if you take that away.
His offense is VERY vanilla and is set up to play for long sustained drives. Take away his run and force him to beat you with the pass.
Defense:
Runs primarily 1-5-5 most of the game. On passing downs he uses A-gap heat VERY OFTEN so powerblock to pick up the heat. He is paranoid about c-routes and can be baited over the top when he is in zone in 1-5-5. He will concede the running game so pound him hard and early. Steelers LB's are very good so a fast back would be more effective. He is sloppy with his manual hotroutes on defenders so you can read who he is adjusting and can base whether he is bringing heat or playing phag D out of his 1-5-5. I did not have much luck picking up his A-gap heat out of singleback formations when he was in his 1-5-5. If he comes out in 4-3 he is bringing heat so the slots will be there as will an outside toss. His user skills are average at best so dont be afraid to attack him and his user safety or 1v1 over the top vs a CB. He usually has at least 1 qb spy in coverage. RB screens are effective against his defense and i'd suspect his defense would be weak against shotty snugs scheme with a powerblocking RB to take away his 155 A-gap blitz.
Portal 