Maddox has to avoid fierce Tampa Bay pass rush
Steelers have to run right at Bucs PITTSBURGH – Tampa Bay leads the NFL in total defense by a wide margin (13 percent of its total allowed), and in pass defense by an even wider margin (16 percent).
And the key to that defense?
“Their front four gets after you and allows them to defend the pass with seven,” said Steelers running back Jerome Bettis.
But the Bucs’ defense can be penetrated. Last year, the Pittsburgh Steelers rushed for 220 yards on 35 carries for a whopping average of 6.3 yards per carry. Last week, the Detroit Lions gained 144 rushing yards on 26 carries (5.5 average) by guys not named Barry Sanders, or even James Stewart. Aveion Cason and Rafael Cooper combined for 112 yards rushing against the Bucs last Sunday.
It’s not a weekly occurrence, of course. The Bucs allow only 3.8 yards per carry, eighth in the league. The job the Steelers did last year was the best rushing performance against the Bucs in two seasons.
How it carries over into today’s game will depend on a couple of subtle changes. One is that Tommy Maddox will be the Steelers’ starting quarterback and not Kordell Stewart.
Stewart rushed for only 32 yards against the Bucs last year, but was sacked only once and represents the type of quarterback with which the Bucs have had trouble.
Not only did Stewart lead a win against Tampa Bay last season, so did mobile quarterbacks Daunte Culpepper, Brett Favre and Donovan McNabb, whose Philadelphia Eagles beat the Bucs twice, once in the playoffs.
This year, McNabb and Aaron Brooks have directed their teams to the only three wins against Tampa Bay. The Bucs did handle Michael Vick and his one-man gang, the Atlanta Falcons, twice this season, so non-pocket passers have combined for a 3-2 record against Tampa Bay and a passer rating of 70.0. Pocket passers – including Culpepper and Favre – are 0-9 with a passer rating of 35.1 this season.
Knowing all of this, the Steelers will stick with Maddox, whose rhythmic style resembles that of St. Louis quarterback Kurt Warner, and Tampa Bay plays well against Warner. The St. Louis quarterback has a career passer mark of 98.2 but it’s only 53.0 against the Bucs.
By the numbers, Stewart would appear better suited to play against Tampa Bay, but it will be Maddox, with whom the Steelers hope to enter the playoffs. He’ll first have to survive a Tampa Bay pass rush that includes the NFC’s top sacker, Simeon Rice.
“The teams that have moved the ball against them have been patient, and that’s what we’re going to have to do,” Maddox said.
The key will be to run right at the Bucs.
“The key to that last year was the offensive line,” said Bettis. “They controlled those down linemen.”
And Tampa Bay’s best run-stopper, Anthony McFarland, was one of those down linemen last season. The 4-3 tackle, dubbed “nose tackle” in Tampa Bay’s lexicon, will miss Monday’s game with a broken foot. The 300-pounder will be replaced by 270-pound Chartric Darby, who’ll join similarly undersized ends Rice (268) and Greg Spires (265) on the line alongside Warren Sapp (303).
Without McFarland, the Bucs are Sapp and a group of pass-rushers who hope to stop the run on their way to the quarterback.
“Oh yeah,” Bettis said in agreement, “and then you have the three linebackers who pick up all the leftovers, so to speak. The philosophy of their defensive line is just to destroy and take the timing away. If they can come in there and just blow it up then they feel they’ve done their job and it allows their linebackers to run free.”
Tampa Bay is a team that was built to beat the St. Louis Rams, and has this season. And in Maddox, the Bucs have another Warner in the crosshairs. So the Steelers’ chances rest with their running game, one the Bucs know is coming.
“They’ll change a little bit, probably do a little more stunting with the front line and maybe blitz the linebackers a little more to kind of disrupt the running game,” Bettis said. “I’m sure they’re going to do something different because we had a lot of success. It’ll be the No. 1 priority. That’s what they’re getting ready to stop.”