Tim Benz: Steelers return to school to defend their roads

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"Jet streaming" and "exhaust pipe". Get used to these terms.

You will hear them a lot this week from Pittsburgh Steelers defensemen.

And probably a lot during the rest of the season.

Maybe the more they master these techniques, the less you'll hear these terms: "pick plays", "rub routes" and "below".

The receivers of the New England Patriots performed these pieces to perfection on numerous occasions against the Steelers on Sunday night, en route to their 33-3 win.

Run short on the middle. Pass in front of the quarterback. Create traffic. Do it for easy pitch-and-catch opportunities.

New England has executed these plays so efficiently, so often, that it would be wise to assume that the Seattle Seahawks will try to do the same thing on Sunday in the second week.

"I'll let them know if they're competent," said Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin about the Seahawks. "We have to improve to defend it on the basis of our last performance."

And that's where the Steelers defensive defense technique comes in.

"Jet stream" or "exhaust pipe," she called, "said cornerback Joe Haden." When you see guys running on these drag roads, you end up right behind them as this is the only way to not be chosen, if you run right next to them you can obviously be chosen, so you are trying to just seal right behind your receiver. "

Then, when the receiver slows a contact to prepare for the reception, that is to say that the back of the defense stops to break the pass at the point of capture?

"Exactly," exclaimed Haden. "Alert (one of them). Know that it comes. And know that you must jump into this position.

Here. As simple as that.

Unless you are playing against Tom Brady and Julian Edelman and the rest of Patriots Patriots who have been following these routes to perfection for years. Especially as Brady is often so precise in his throws that even if you are a jet stream, the catcher can stay perfectly in the stride without slowing down to receive the throw, thus limiting the defender to simply tackle after goal .

All teams can not operate as precisely as the Patriots. Seattle head coach Pete Carroll is well aware of this after coaching New England in a Super Bowl loss. He admits that there is a danger for some coaches when they meet an opponent a week after the Patriots put this team in a bad position.

In other words, it's not because New England can do anything against Team X that you can.

"There is some wisdom in this thought," Carroll admitted. "It's a unique experience to play (New England). And you can not measure and compare other teams. They are very unique. "

But Haden insisted that the Seahawks "made a lot of roads too." So look for quarterback Russell Wilson to test the Steelers ability to master their technique after Brady has exploited it.

Now, technically – technically – many of these selections are illegal. The Steelers and Patriots were scoring one for each last week. The two clubs, however, ran a lot of others that were not whistled.

Therefore, instead of complaining about what other teams are getting, should not the Steelers be content to play some of those games themselves?

"We have plans," said receiver James Washington. "But everything depends on who we are opposing. Against (the patriots), that was not what we really wanted to do. But once we face teams (which will allow us) to cross routes … we will do it. "

Washington said Seattle was a 50-50 man / zone defense team, and that she was leaving three linebackers on the ground.

This sounds like a chance for the Steelers to try some dead ends, but not a chance to really rely on the idea.

Last week, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton had 418 yards passing with 8.2 yards per game against the Seahawks.

Ben Roethlisberger would be happy to take these figures on Sunday. And the Steelers defense will gladly accept less than Brady's 24 assists in 36 passes, for a total of 341 yards and three touchdowns.

If the reason is "streaming" and "escape", so be it.

Tim Benz is an editor of Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be republished. All emails are subject to publication unless otherwise noted.

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