Preseason action isn’t about game plans and especially not giving away a team’s schematic secrets. Still, it’s not always straight vanilla, either. Especially for teams with new coaches like the Pittsburgh Steelers had in DC Patrick Graham for Thursday night’s opener. It wasn’t just a debut for many players but this new coaching staff, too.
There will be plenty of time come September to truly examine Graham’s stamp on Pittsburgh’s defense. One Mike McCarthy vowed to make only tweaks to, not wholesale changes. Graham’s already leaving breadcrumbs of how the Steelers’ defense will make some of those subtle changes throughout the year. Here are three of them.
Over Front Against 12 Personnel
In full context, the Steelers have played an “over” front before. A lot of teams do, especially against heavy personnel like two-tight end sets. Shift the defensive line to the strength of the formation to better match numbers in the run game.
Under the old regime, the Steelers most often did this by shifting the defensive line over and walking the strongside outside linebacker off-ball. Like this.
Graham isn’t doing that. Per our charting, he ran an over front four times against the Packers, or just under 20 percent of the Steelers’ base snaps. He kept the strong side outside linebacker on the line of scrimmage.
A small but noticeable change.
Inside Linebackers Off The Edge
Already, there are moments of inside linebackers aligning off the edge. Patrick Queen did it once Thursday night and Carson Bruener twice. All three came in higher-probability passing situations: 2nd and 8, 2nd and 12, and 3rd and 6. Two came with the Packers on field goal fringe, the defense’s own 39-yard line. Here’s a look at two of them.
Check out No. 6 to the left side in the first clip and No. 44 to the left side in the second.
Pittsburgh did this under Mike Tomlin but very rarely. It might become more frequent under Patrick Graham.
Dropping Nine
Dropping eight into coverage and only rushing three is considered a “safe” coverage. Dropping nine is something different. On 3rd and 6 from (again) the defense’s own 39-yard line, defensive linemen Kyler Baugh and Gabriel Rubio dropped into coverage. Green Bay still converted with Kyle McCord finding a hole in coverage to throw around Rubio.
Here’s the rep (and here’s the third snap of an inside linebacker aligned on the EDGE).
This wasn’t a one-off either. Pittsburgh showed it during Saturday’s brief practice with Esezi Otomewo and Kevin Jobity Jr. doing the same.
The Steelers have a history of dropping linemen into coverage. Dick LeBeau’s fire-zone system had plenty of that. But those were blitzes with rushers coming from elsewhere, not an all-out retreat. Don’t count on Graham using this often, but as a changeup after blitzing earlier in the game when the quarterback might be looking to get the ball out quick.
Bonus: Quarters Coverage
I don’t chart coverage and don’t have Pittsburgh’s exact figure. But on the eye test, it feels like the Steelers ran a fair bit of Quarters/Cover 4 against Green Bay. An idea that was teased last year but didn’t translate to the regular season. Through the first 10 weeks of 2025, Pittsburgh was bottom-third in quarters usage at 11 percent.
Here’s one example from Thursday night.
We’ll keep watching to see Graham’s usage of Quarters/Cover 4 this season. It’s a way to stop the run and still protect yourself against the vertical passing game. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi right next store is a big fan of Quarters.