Deshaun Watson gives Steelers offseason bulletin-board material they desperately need

The NFL season is months away, but the Pittsburgh Steelers already have extra incentive to defeat their rival, the Cleveland Browns. On his podcast, Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson went over some old tape of his against the Steelers. In doing so, he revealed a bit too much of his opinion.

The Steelers play a base 3-4 defense with zone coverage on the back end. This leaves the secondary vulnerable, but their pass rush tends to get home given they prioritize edge rushers like TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith. However, Watson is hyper-focused on the Steelers secondary in his review, and suggests the base 3-4 actually gives him the upper hand.

"The biggest thing is get the defense in what we want to get the defense in, and that's a base defense, especially a team like Pittsburgh. When they're in a base defense, they don't play too many coverages. They're kind of very schemed (as to) how they play. So once we had this situation, alright cool, we got them exactly how we want it, and then you just run the play and react," Watson said.

Deshaun Watson misses the point with his Browns-Steelers analysis

Watson ended up completing a pass on this play, but the Browns would fumble later in the possession. While Pittsburgh often leaves its secondary vulnerable, they also had one of the highest turnover ratios in the league last season, forcing 27 on the year. Clearly, their method pays off, even if they give up chunk plays from time to time.

The Steelers base 3-4 defense has been a known commodity around the NFL for some time. However, as Watson fails to note in his diagnosis of one play, Pittsburgh tends to force its opponents into unenviable positions more often than not. The Browns know this more than most, as Watson has found out the hard way on multiple occasions.

By describing the Steelers defense as inadequate, even on one play, Watson did Pittsburgh a favor heading into the 2024 campaign. What else is new?