On The Beat: 5 questions with Pittsburgh writer Christopher Carter

This week’s edition of “On The Beat” is with Christopher Carter of DKPittsburghSports.com. Check out his work here, and follow him on Twitter here.


1. What sort of impact has the Ryan Shazier injury had on the roster, both from a practical and emotional standpoint?

Ryan Shazier was a cornerstone to everything the Steelers did on defense. Beyond his athletic ability, he's a smart football player that understood the purpose of their schemes. He could not only recognize adjustments to make the audibles at the line of scrimmage, but he was a key communicator of hand signals across the field that kept the entire defense in order as they made their adjustments.

When it comes to his skills, Shazier was on pace to potentially be the best linebacker in the NFL for 2017. Even after missing two games, he leads all linebackers in passes defensed and interceptions and was a key piece to taking away underneath passes over the middle by opposing quarterbacks.

To show how much of a student of the game he is, I'll take you back to the Steelers' 20-17 over the Colts where his interception of Jacoby Brissett turned the game around. When I asked him in the locker room after the game to break down what he saw on the play, he explained that he knew the Colts' tight end, Jake Doyle, was their leader in receptions and often was a security blanket for Brissett. So when he saw Doyle leak out, Shazier broke off his blitz assignment to make a play he anticipated.

Spiritually, Shazier has made himself a leader for the entire team. His ability to make plays and inspire others quickly accelerated him to being one of the most recognized faces on the team. When the linebackers did their pre-game hype rituals, it was Shazier in the middle leading the group. Losing him was bigger than just losing an important playmaker, the Steelers lost one of their key catalysts.

2. Is there someone on the Pittsburgh roster who’s an under-the-radar presence — someone we’re not talking about now but could be a factor?

Mike Hilton is the guy people should be talking about. Last year's AFC Championship game exposed just how liable the Steelers' defense was with Ross Cockrell as a starting cornerback outside the numbers and William Gay as the starting nickelback in the slot. Julian Edelman and Chris Hogan were able to cut all around them whether they were in man or zone coverage.

The Steelers acquired Joe Haden to solve the problems outside the numbers and Coty Sensabaugh to help in the slot, but it was Hilton who stepped up all training camp to earn the starting slot cornerback role. Don't look at his 5-foot-9 height as a liability, as he used it as a motivating factor all season. Any time he made a play through the preseason and training camp you could hear him yell, "But I'm too small!" to the Steelers' bench.

What's ironic is that Hilton essentially took on the role which the Steelers' expected his old teammate at Ole Miss, Senquez Golson, to assume when they drafted him in the second round of the 2015 NFL draft. While Haden is the obvious story to watch and see if he can return, Hilton being able to bump and run in the slot could make him an unsung hero or an obvious goat for Steelers' fans in this game.

3. What is the biggest weakness on the Steelers offense you expect the Patriots to try and exploit?

If you would have asked me this question about five or six weeks ago, I would have told you that Bill Belichick would force Ben Roethlisberger to find targets other than Antonio Brown. Early on this season we all saw Roethlisberger often stare down Brown as he ran his routes and not look as sharp at processing his reads.

Roethlisberger is a quarterback that improves in his offense as he develops chemistry and history with his teammates. Last year the Patriots double and triple-teamed Brown and forced Roethlisberger to find other targets, and it worked. But in that game the Steelers were missing Martavis Bryant, Markus Wheaton, LaDarius Green, eventually Le'Veon Bell and virtually Sammie Coates due to his hand injuries. They were eventually forced to rely on practice squad receivers like Eli Rogers, Demarcus Ayers and Cobi Hamilton as their playmakers and Roethlisberger couldn't do that for an entire game.

But now the Steelers have Bryant, Juju Smith-Schuster, Bell, an improved Rogers, an improved tight end in Jesse James and a much more confident Roethlisberger. Last week Roethlisberger threw 149 yards just to his tight ends, something you would expect from in the days of Heath Miller, not James and Vance McDonald.

If anything, Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia need to take away the Steelers' ground game with Bell and force Roethlisberger to be that consistent again in targeting receivers other than Brown. The Ravens made the conscious decision to not give their cornerbacks safety help against Brown and paid dearly for it when he recorded 213 yards against them, and Roethlisberger had a career game for 506 yards. I doubt the Patriots will make the same mistake, but if they do make those adjustments, they will have to hope they have the players to run with Smith-Schuster, Bryant, Bell and company.

4. What’s the biggest weakness on the Steelers defense you expect the Patriots to try and exploit?

Obviously the biggest key the Patriots can pick at is the absence of Shazier and the problems it has created. The Steelers tried to replace him with a committee of inside linebackers against the Ravens and it failed miserably.

Between Arthur Moats, an outside linebacker they asked to step in, L.J. Fort, a practice squad player, and Sean Spence, a former third-round pick of the Steelers who was an NFL free agent for eight weeks before the Steelers signed him back, the Steelers never found a consistent answer for what Shazier could do against the run or the pass.

But what the Patriots and Tom Brady should focus on is how they can set up the pass with the run. Between Rex Burkhead, Dion Lewis and James White, the Patriots have the talent at running back to hit holes where the Steelers' gap integrity starts to break down. If the Patriots can establish the run to create 2nd-and-6 and 3rd-and-3 situations, that will force Vince Williams and the remaining inside linebackers to play guessing games with the run and play action.

Playing guessing games against Brady is a recipe for disaster. That's where the Patriots need to force the issue with this Steelers' defense.

5. The Steelers win Sunday if …

...they can do two of three things on defense and one thing on offense.

Defensively, they have to make the Patriots' running game a non-factor and force Brady to target his receivers and Rob Gronkowski. The Patriots' running backs average more than 24 carries per game this year and the team is 1-2 when they rush less than 20 times. If the Steelers can limit the Patriots to about 50-80 yards on the ground, they will have won half the battle.  The other half will be how disciplined they play against the pass.

What the Patriots should be wary of is that the Steelers' interior pass rush is a lot better than it was in January. Stephon Tuitt is healthy and a problem whenever he is facing just one linemen, and sometimes still gets pressure when he is double teamed. But he also has the defensive captain next to him, Cam Heyward, who missed most of last season due to injury. Heyward is the Steelers' leading sack man with nine on the season, but close behind him is inside linebacker Vince Williams with seven. If the Steelers collapse the pocket on Brady, it will limit their problems in coverage.

While the Steelers' secondary has had it's fair share of bad days, that could change if Haden returns to the lineup. Artie Burns is a good cornerback that can run with most receivers in the NFL and Haden is a technician at how to shadow receivers. Between these two and Hilton, they have the athletes to run with the Patriots receivers.

But the key player in the Steelers' secondary will be second-year safety Sean Davis. Davis had a rough day against the Ravens, but is having a solid year overall. He's been the Steelers' answer for tight ends this season as their defense has allowed the least amount of touchdowns to tight ends in the NFL (2) and the seventh least amount of yards to tight ends (534).

If he can limit Gronkowski and Haden is back to full strength, the Steelers' secondary might have what it takes to win just enough to put their offense over the top.

That one thing the Steelers must have on offense is Roethlisberger's ability to process the defense. Over the past five weeks he has been as good as any quarterback in the NFL and has not been phased by disguised coverage packages or the usual follies of his career. He's playing better than he did at any point last year, and maybe at any point in his career, and if he continues to do that, the Steelers will be fine.

Christopher's Pick:

This will be a highly watched shootout which the fans enjoy. There will be plenty of big plays on both sides that lead to a high score, but what may determine this game is who gets the ball last of either half. Both the Steelers and the Patriots have been extremely efficient at the end of the first and second halves of games this year. I say that Roethlisberger is too hot right now to be cooled down at Heinz Field.

Steelers 34, Patriots 30