PITTSBURGH STEELERS CORNERBACK JALEN RAMSEY. | PHOTO BY KARL ROSER/PITTSBURGH STEELERS

At the time it sounded like much more than a humble brag. But it was also an assessment that rang as accurate.

And it came from no less of an authority than Coach Mike Tomlin, who announced at the opening of training camp in July how the Steelers intended to successfully navigate the challenges presented by playing defense in “a coverage league.”

“You need unbelievable depth and talent at the cornerback position, because people have it in their receiver corps,” Tomlin maintained. “We use a variety of schematics in an effort to minimize passing offenses. You got to be able to play match-up football, play man-to-man, particularly against the elite and deep groups.

“The talent we acquired in that position, particularly the cornerback position, allows us to do that in all circumstances. When you got guys like Jalen Ramsey and [Darius] Slay, and ‘JPJ’ [Joey Porter Jr.], we can match up and play man-to-man versus anyone…I think it’s going to do nothing but strengthen our schematics, the supplemental things, the zone pressures, the bogus pressure and things of that nature.

“So, I’m really excited about the talent that we acquired, particularly at the cornerback position. You can bring Brandin Echols to that discussion, as well. We’ve done an awesome job fortifying that corner position from a talent and depth standpoint. That’s going to allow us to match up against some of the many explosive units and players within them that we compete against.”

No wonder Tomlin subsequently used the word “historic” back in August in assessing the level of proficiency his defense would be capable of achieving this season.

But it hasn’t worked out that way in September.

DeShon Elliott, a critical component of the secondary as a holdover safety from a season ago, hasn’t played since the regular-season opener against the Jets.

Neither has Porter.

And the Steelers have continued to add to the mix on the back end, most notably asking veteran safety Jabrill Peppers to jump aboard the secondary’s moving train last Sunday at New England.

It all conspired to put “historic” on hold, a complication Tomlin acknowledged this week in advance of the Steelers’ trip to Ireland and their game against Minnesota.

“If you’re coaching and you’re seeing around corners, certainly one injury doesn’t get you off your game and two better not, but it’s the injuries coupled with the fact that players themselves are new in general,” Tomlin explained on Tuesday. “As I mentioned last week, all four of the secondary guys in that second ballgame (the home opener on Sept. 14 against Seattle) were new to the Pittsburgh Steelers. So we got some new people. We got some attrition.

“Certainly, you’re doing what’s appropriate when you take the game schematically to those that are playing. I imagine the more we play in stadiums we step into, the less that discussion is significant, the more we are going to be able to expand our menu and do more things. They will be able to communicate and communicate with great fluidity and understand how we go about our business.”

The Minnesota game is not too soon for the Steelers to finally get down to business because the Vikings are bringing an armada of wide receivers with them to Dublin.

Tomlin’s characterization at the outset of this week was that Elliott and Porter “certainly have a chance” to play this time.

Assuming that’s the case, it’ll be time for the secondary to play the type of ball the Steelers intended.

• Presumably, that’ll mean communicating calls appropriately and accurately, as opposed to the one that got lost in translation against Seattle.
• It’ll mean press-man coverage from the outside corners, something we saw often during training camp in Latrobe but not as much since.
• And it’ll task Ramsey with following Justin Jefferson, the admiral of Minnesota’s aforementioned pass-catching armada, all day long — even to a pub after the game if need be — as opposed to splitting time between cornerback, slot cornerback and safety.

Rush and coverage have to work together, but if the coverage begins to look less susceptible and more impenetrable, the rush will have a chance to do the rest.

If not, it’s a problem — perhaps even a deal-breaking conundrum.

Tomlin was spot-on in his “coverage league” analysis.

It’s time to put the theory as to how to best combat that into practice.

Mike Prisuta is the sports anchor/reporter for Randy Baumann and the DVE Morning Show. He’s also the host of the Steelers Radio Network Pregame Show and the color analyst for Robert Morris University men’s hockey broadcasts.