Our Q&A preview with Behind the Steel Curtain about the Week 16 matchup between the Detroit Lions and Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Detroit Lions are staring down this final stretch of games with the playoffs still within reach. It’s not totally in their hands, but there’s still a realistic chance of them making the postseason, and that all starts with a pivotal matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers—and an all-too-familiar Ghost of Christmas Past.
This week, we had the pleasure of connecting with Ryland Bickley, Assistant Manager for Behind the Steel Curtain, to give us some insight into this Steelers team. We learned about who castoff Aaron Rodgers is at this point in his NFL career, how a position change Pittsburgh made with a star defensive back has yielded productive results, and how their strategy when it comes to pass rush might look pretty different given their rash of injuries over the past couple of weeks—and more!
It’s been a few years since the Lions last faced off against Aaron Rodgers, so how would you best describe what he brings to an NFL offense in the year 2025?
The answer to that question has fluctuated over the course of the season. Rodgers started off strong, regressed in a big way midseason, and over the last two weeks has switched back to playing winning football.
To be fair, Rodgers’ down games largely correlated with him dealing with wrist and finger injuries. Now that he’s healthy, he’s back to looking like a starting NFL quarterback.
Rodgers’ arm isn’t what it used to be, but he can still generate high-level velocity when fitting throws into tight windows in the short and intermediate passing game. His mobility has obviously lessened with age, but he’s looked less skittish in the pocket as of late even if his last two games have been against subpar pass rushes. Still, if he can’t get a throw off early against pressure, he hasn’t been the sharpest when extending plays.
Where Rodgers hasn’t lost a step is his mental game, and he displayed that in Pittsburgh’s most recent win over the Dolphins, catching Miami with 12 defenders on the field a solid minute before the referees realized.
Pittsburgh has recently added the veterans Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Adam Thielen to the receiving core, and the result has been Rodgers looking more comfortable with pass catchers he can trust. He also started completing more middle of the field passes—a big development—against the Dolphins, which further opened up the offense.
This is far from a dynamic passing game. But Rodgers has been getting the job done in recent weeks.
The Steelers made the move to acquire DK Metcalf this offseason–and also move on from George Pickens. Has Metcalf shown to be a No. 1 guy for this offense, and what other pass-catchers are making an impact for this Steelers team?
Metcalf isn’t a complete No. 1 wide receiver, and he hasn’t been consistently producing like one, but that’s largely been the fault of an offense that hasn’t always been able to feed him the ball. When he’s been given opportunities, Metcalf has proven he still has that unreal size/acceleration combination that skyrocketed him to stardom in the first place. And he’s coming off two strong games against the Ravens and Dolphins.
However, he still hasn’t been the most reliable, especially in contested catch situations, and teams have had success bracketing him on weighty downs as Pittsburgh doesn’t have anyone else close to his talent level in the receiving room.
As I mentioned earlier, Thielen and Valdes-Scantling have emerged as the new WR2 and 3, respectively, in Pittsburgh. Thielen doesn’t have much athleticism left but has been a quality blocker, while MVS still has some juice and scored on a deep crosser against Miami. Honestly, though, Pittsburgh’s secondary pass-catching options have largely come in the form of successful dump-offs to running backs Kennth Gainwell and Jaylen Warren, who are excellent in space, and gargantuan tight end Darnell Washington, who’s emerged as a high-end blocker and yards after catch option in 2025.
Tight end Pat Freiermuth is also a talented name to watch, but his usage has been very inconsistent this season. He’s an athletic playmaker when he’s gotten opportunities this year.
Stumbled across something interesting about the Steelers secondary last week: Pittsburgh moved Jalen Ramsey to safety and the pass defense has improved greatly,going from 24th in EPA/pass play allowed to 6th.
What prompted the Steelers making that move, and how have you noticed Ramsey’s move to safety making a difference for their defense?
Injuries and poor play at the safety position prompted the Steelers to make the switch, with starting safety DeShon Elliott suffering a season-ending injury and free agent addition Juan Thornhill disappointing and eventually becoming a midseason cut. Plus, the Steelers had more depth at cornerback—Joey Porter Jr. and James Pierre have quietly had strong seasons—allowing Ramsey to make the switch.
Ramsey was briefly a safety at Florida State before becoming an elite cornerback, and as he’s aged in the NFL, his skill set has translated well to switching back. He has incredible instincts and the versatility and willingness to make plays in the box as well as in coverage. In short, while he’s still a quality player at cornerback, moving to free safety has allowed Pittsburgh to start its best 11 on defense.
However, Ramsey’s switch to safety has also correlated with Pittsburgh being willing to switch to more two-high shells in its cover-3-heavy scheme, and benching (and eventually cutting) Darius Slay for younger and more impactful names at cornerback. Pierre, Brandin Echols, and even Asante Samuel Jr. have been playing solid football recently. It hasn’t just been Ramsey turning the secondary play around.
Even though TJ Watt was sidelined after suffering a scary lung injury earlier in the week, the Steelers made short work of the Dolphins, allowing just three points through three quarters before giving up some garbage-time scoring.
What is Pittsburgh’s approach to generating pressure without Watt in the lineup, and who, specifically, do they count on to step up?
Pittsburgh managed four sacks against Miami, but the pass rush performance wasn’t quite as dominant as the box score implied. A number of those sacks were of the coverage variety or because Tua Tagovailoa did a poor job in the pocket. Watt isn’t the player he used to be, but his talents — and his gravity drawing blocks — were certainly missed.
To be fair, though, Pittsburgh only blitzed 21.2% of the time against the Dolphins. Instead, they were focused on staying disciplined against a misdirection-heavy Miami offense, which was clearly the right strategy. And the Steelers still have a lot of talent up front despite the injuries, with Nick Herbig being a starting-caliber pass rusher in relief of Watt, and Alex Highsmith and Cam Heyward being Pro Bowl talents in their own right.
Against the Lions, there’s a good chance Watt is out again, as could Herbig with a hamstring injury he suffered late on Monday. That would leave fourth-round rookie Jack Sawyer starting with little depth behind him, which could be a weakness Detroit could exploit.
The good news for the Steelers, at least, is that first-round defensive tackle Derrick Harmon should be back in the lineup for the first time since November. He’s still a little raw but has been a key player in run defense this season.
Pittsburgh is currently 7-point underdogs to Detroit on the road–What will this game look like for the Steelers if they can manage to pull off the upset?
The Steelers’ two-game winning streak has returned the good vibes to Pittsburgh, but both victories have been against questionable opponents. Truthfully, I’m expecting the Lions to come out on top at home this week.
However, Mike Tomlin has proven again and again he can drag better teams down into an ugly game from time to time and escape with a win. The Steelers’ run defense has been Jekyll and Hyde this year, but they’ve successfully shut down the red-hot rushing attacks of Miami and Indianapolis; there’s a chance they can do the same with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, and then win the turnover battle off a Jared Goff interception or two. If Aaron Rodgers can keep the offense on schedule, that could be a winning formula.
Category: General Sports
