Home 2014 Season Steelers’ Patchwork Secondary Stepping Up

Steelers’ Patchwork Secondary Stepping Up

by Steelbydesign

This past off-season it was agreed by most people that cornerback was one of the Steelers’ biggest positions of need going into the 2014 draft.

Many people were pretty shocked when they didn’t select a corner until the 5th round in the draft.

Back in April if you told a Steelers fan that they’d be without Ike Taylor and Cortez Allen was riding the bench, they’d assume this defense would be completely dysfunctional.

Maybe the Steelers knew something the rest of us did not. If you were paying attention there were reports out of training camp that some guys named Brice McCain and Antwon Blake were looking pretty good.

Those two, along with veteran William Gay played a GREAT game against the Ravens. The Steelers are blitzing a lot more than they did early in the season, which means those guys are left on an island.

Multiple times on Sunday night, the Steelers blitzed, the Ravens picked it up, and Flacco frantically scanned the field with nowhere to go with it.

If Ike Taylor returns this season, and Cortez Allen can ever get his groove back, the Steelers’ secondary might actually be a strength of this team. That’s pretty amazing.

Brice McCain has seen a lot of playing time already this season, and played well. His pick 6 in Jacksonville was a huge play. He also handled veteran Andre Johnson with relative ease when Houston came to town. The Steelers would be wise to try and lock him up this off-season.

Antwon Blake is a different story. He made some noise in training camp but didn’t look all that impressive in pre-season action. Sunday night was the first game where he saw significant action with the defense.

Blake was picked on in this game, being targeted 7 times by Joe Flacco. Of those targets, he allowed 3 receptions, and only allowed 1 yard after the catch on those 3.

Despite his lack of size (5’8″) and lack of playing time, Blake looked totally ready for the spotlight that comes with a prime-time Steelers/Ravens matchup.

William Gay isn’t a new face for Steelers fans, but he’s a guy that I feel has been underrated in his career. Gay’s a quality slot corner, who fills in nicely when necessary (like right now). Gay will never be a fan favorite, but he does everything pretty well and is stepping up once again when the Steelers need it.

If this secondary continues to play at a high level, this team could be really dangerous.

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