How do we Fix the Run Defense?

You know this is something I complained about back then also....,and I actually agree with this. They slowly change the way we played the 3-4, and what we were drafting.
At 1st I thought Well good because the league is going more pass, but it has killed our run stopping ability, and honestly....if You can't stop the run....who's going to pass on You anyway???
LoL

 

We use to....then our only problem was mainly the Patriots, and then they changed trying to keep up with Patriots.

 

TLDR

 

Heyward, Larry O and Leal should be good enough. Should be…

 

They still don't have a legit NT, I doubt they will re-sign Larry O, his salary doesn't match his play.

 

Exactly. It is feast or famine now. The DL get all the glory and the MLB’s are completely exposed. In addition in todays NFL with the RPO and heavy stress on passing the ball and more running QB’s it even puts more stress on the MLB position. Yet our scheme does nothing to support these guys. Like I said for this scheme Tomlin needs two guys with an “S” on their chest and a Cape. I am convinced we will always struggle at that position until we commit to a scheme a change. If the defensive line falters the whole defense basically fails. The problem is when we had a young Cam Heyward and Tuitt we could pretty much sustain it for 60 minutes. Now Cam is the only talent on the D-Line and he is getting double teamed constantly and he wears down by the second half. Ever notice how our second half defense usually craters? I think it is a very difficult scheme to draft for and team build for. A scheme that asks for space occupiers up front to me would be a lot easier to build for and it would be more sustainable into the second half. Who knows Bush and Mack may thrive in that kind of scheme. I doubt it now, I think we completely ruined Busch. Had he been in that kind of scheme as a rookie and developed under it he probably would have turned out to be really good.

 

Agree 1000% percent. Every since Casey went downhill and left we have not had the dominant line. Additionally we don't have the DB personnel to line up man to man and disrupt short timing routes. Thus T Brady would destroy us every game when Dick Lebeau would line up in Zone and WR's would come off the line free catch a quick slant and pile on YAC. The Giants beat them twice by winning in the trenches on boths sides of the ball. That's what it will take to beat Mahomes and Allen. When will we have a Rod again or a Troy again? If we keep missing in the draft and go cheap in Free Agency we won't fix it. Haden was the one guy that I thought at the time wow, we went and got a guy as well as the Minkah move. That's why I believe this off season is 5-10 years swing if we get it wrong.

 

benchings. make them inactive on gameday. coaches, players, owners, ball boys, everybody who ever thought about defense.

 

They havent been as bad as you might think, but you might want to factor in the sudden departure of some key players over the years that undeniably have impacted what they can do on defense ( i.e. Shazier, Tuitt, even Jason Worilds). Add a aging DL to the mix and this is what you have staring you in the face. Currently they are #22 Total Defense and #14 points allowed so the last two years have been pretty poor as expected. Scouting/Drafting hasn't done the team any favors. Of course that's where the solution to this problem starts.

Team Defense Ranking- Source: Pro Football Reference. Points allowed ranking in ().

2007 - #1(2)
2008 - #1 (1)
2009 - #5 (13)
2010 - #2 (1)
2011 - #1 (1)
2012 - #1 (6)
2013 - #13 (14)
2014- #18 (18)
2015 - #12 (11)
2016 - #12 (10)
2017 - #5 (7)
2018 - #6 (17)
2019 - #5 (6)
2020 - #3 (3)
2021 - #19 (19)

 

I agree as well but the problem is if you run a true 3-4 with a NT then you have one less player on the back end for coverage. This league is a pass happy league and they aren’t going to defend with one less player in the secondary. These offenses are all about spreading the defense and running at a minimum with 3 WR sets. So the Steelers solution is to put in Gap Penetrating DL to blow up the play and get to the QB before the play can develop. This philosophy really leaves the MLB’s out to dry if you ask me. The MLB’s are now unprotected and responsible for multiple gaps and also they have to cover WR’s, TE’s and RB’s within the flat. Show me a guy that can do all of that at a high level. This scheme is not Linebacker friendly. It is DL and Edge friendly so it is really bad when our DL underperform in this system when they essentially have the easiest job mentally. They don’t have to even really read the play. Just pick a gap and go. If you pick the right gap and make the tackle your a hero. If you pick the wrong gap you redirect the RB or force the QB to the perimeter either way you get a pat on the back. All the while a guard or center just ran by you to block the MLB who bye the way was flat footed because he was reading the RPO trying to determine if the QB was keeping the ball or giving it to the RB or if the QB was going to pass it to the WR cutting across the middle who by the way was being trailed by our inept slot CB. It’s just a bad defensive scheme in so many ways.

Keep in mind also that the RPO is designed to really keep the defense in a pass coverage set, spread it out and take advantage of it with the run spending on the QB’s reads. In addition when you have a running QB you essentially now have an extra blocker with the RB. It really presents a lot of problems for todays NFL Defenses. My problem with the Steelers however is in the Baltimore game they really weren’t running RPO because there was no threat of a passing game and yet we still could not stop them.

I get it that NT’s aren’t as important in todays NFL but you still have to have one for situations like this. We have completely abandoned the position. At the very least we need a TUitt type of DT who was much bigger and stronger than Ogunjobi. If we would actually invest in the back end and have CB’s that can cover we could play more gap contain instead of worrying about gap penetration and racing to the QB all the time.

 

Stats never tell the whole story. Take 2011 for example. Anyone who remembers that season knows our defence was average at best, and likely worse than average, which is why Tebow lit us up. We played mostly below average QB's and below average teams all season long. We were a very overrated team and had a very overrated defence.

In 2021 and 2020 when we apparently had good defences, we got pumped in the playoffs. Not to mention giving up over 200 yards rushing to an injured Dalvin Cook last year, with our apparently 3rd ranked defence. 2017 was the same thing, apparently a good defence yet absolutely lit up in the playoffs. 2016 was no better, but we weren't ranked as high and we played Tom Brady. If our defence can't contain backup level QB's in the playoffs, then I wouldn't call them good regardless of what they did in the playoffs.

As for losing players, that happens to every team.

 

I have been saying this for years. The Steelers use to have better LBers on the practice squad than most had starting. Now they are lucky to have 1. Has there ever been a Steeler defense to give up this many 200 yrd rushing games? 200 F'N yards.

 

I agree with some of your rant, but you got some misinformation and irrationality throughout it. They definitely didnt have 3rd ranked defense when Dalvin Cook ran for over 200 yds last year. They were 19 at best and prob worse when they actually played the game. In reality the last two playoff games against Browns and Chiefs they were simply playing better teams (at the time they played them) and it wasn't completely on the defense both times as the offense did the defense no favors in either matchup.

Injuries are a part of the game but if you look at the Browns loss you'll see that there were key players in the starting defensive unit gone by years end including Dupree, Edmunds, Bush (who was actually playing decent at the time), and Haden. Injuries happen to every team, but it depends on how many injuries and how important the players are.

At the end of the day regardless of the teams performance in key games...numbers(stats) don't lie. They just failed to be instrumental when it really really counted...

2017 was a huge disappointment even with the loss of Shazier , which was enormous (equivalent of losing Roethlisberger) , but you gotta get by Bortles. That's the only season I can 100% say for certain Tomlins team completely fumbled the bag. My biggest issue with Tomlins teams as a whole over the years is that I can't name one where they ever really overachieved. It was heading there with the team that started off 11-0 and the year Duck and Mason were leading the team but both those teams fell off by years end and I think it was primarily because the defense was starting to get worn down from overcompensating the offenses.

 

I wouldn't mind the Baylor NT at our 2nd 2nd round pick. I doubt he makes it this far.

 

Have no idea where he projects. Some mocks got him in the 2nd and others in the 3rd.

 

Its not gonna happen. Tomlin is adverse to this position and these types of players.

 

The only way we would take him is if he can play all three downs. Tomlin isn’t about the 3-4 true NT anymore.

 

linebackers. so worried about the pass that we have abandoned stopping the run.

 

Smith plays MLB ? Is he any good Sox need a Short stop ?

 

Wow worst ranked defense under Tomlin while being highest paid

 

Draft better and stop reaching for undersized hybrids. Better coaching , with three so called defensive coaches I think Ike Taylor was the last good corner we drafted and developed.
Our defensive line was very good with Heyward Alualu and Tuitt . Losing Tuitt really hurt and expecting ALUALU to still anchor the middle after an injury and at his age was expecting too much.
When we had Smith Hampton and Kiesel a few years before we had Smith Hampton and Kirschke with Kiesel being developed.
LB's were Haggins and Harrison on the outside and Farrior and Foote on the inside with Timmons and Woodley waiting in the wings.
Does anyone else see the pattern that no longer exists.
Back then we drafted so well and had such depth that players had time to develop.
Now we have one getting old fast Heyward and barely first string talent across the line and we have to hope Loudermilk and DeLeal develop.
LB's we have WATT n HIGHSMITH both very good then in the middle Jack who is decent and Bush who looks like a bust . Behind them is Reed and a few unknowns and a former running back.
I have followed the Steelers for 50 yrs and over a lot of those years if you couldn't get the guy you wanted you drafted best player available. The Steeler have so many needs they need to target certain players in the early rounds and start to fill the cupboard with best player available in later rounds.

 

Steelers haven’t had a MLB for like 30 years.

 

Ok wise guy. Inside Linebacker. Is that better?