DC Austin, almost as bad as Canada !!

https://steelersnow.com/pittsburgh-steelers-minkah-fitzpatrick-use-big-change-secondary/

Moving Fitz was comparable to the Ravens moving Lamar to Running because he can do it. YOU DONT displace your QB!! Fitz is our defensive QB especially on the back end ( secondary ) and in a league geared to the passing game Communication is Key back there. It sucked and Purdy sliced us up!

I get being worried about Kittle and Fitz has the skill set to match up with him BUT is losing Fitz is worse than the 49ers losing Kittle. Bad trade off!!!

Leave Fitz to what he’s best at, QBing the secondary and roaming the backend, put Kazee on Kittle or Neal!! Heck, put Peterson on Kittle and Play JPJ outside I his place!!
Mix it up, Purdy is a year two guy, not a Brady but Austin sure made him look like a Brady!!

Cajun

 

Austin singing To Tomlin

 

I agree and was just thinking about this. While Canada is taking most of the heat, Austin deserves his share of criticism too.

 

The issue would have been he would want to run HIS Defense. Austin is only by title but we know who runs the defensive show. I'm not totally enamored with the Tomlin defense but he is power hungry. Shoved the great Dick LeBeau aside.

 

I think Tomlin may be a tyrant lol

 

My thoughts exactly.


As weird as it would have been for Minkah to have Flores back with him but in a different capacity, it would have benefitted the defense. For that matter, Thursday Night's illustration brings this up to light even more. Yes, Philly did in fact win that game but Minnesota (more so Kirk Cousins) did more to give that game away than Philly did by winning it.


I still believe in Austin but Sunday's loss is equal parts to new pieces in the secondary as it is as much as Austin placing them in unwinnable spots.

 

Austin makes us desirous for Butler

 

Not for me personally.


Austin did have a bad day on Sunday but he exceeds Butler by leaps and bounds.

 

Let’s be honest here. Lebeau was a genius, but when he went the D was desperate for a redesign.

The issue was less Lebeau going and more promoting Butler to run the same scheme with less imagination.

 

He better find away to stop the run quickly.

 

Both Coordinators suck. They are buddies with the HC so they have jobs here. The owner allows it to continue. This has been going on for a while now.

 

Agree Austin just as bad, he never made any adjustments in the secondary that was getting touched last week.

 

Does anyone fear our defense? We have the best defensive player in the NFL, and yet, barely a top ten defense.

 

Meh...The " LB Whisperer " was here last year, and the LB play was atrocious...

And the top THREE...Bush, Jack, Spillane were given their walking papers...

Flores is overrated

 

Also an All Pro Safety…….. who was reduced to a slot corner!!!
Not the kind of innovation that warrants fear in the opponents!!!

Cajun

 

Lots and lots of mullah spent on the D, in comparison to the O...

But it's not good

 

Stopping the run starts with the DL….. and Loudermilk sucks!!! Sadly we’ve lost Heyward but Benton looks like a keeper!!

The tackling machine Holcomb better up his game too!!!

Cajun

 

Must disagree. Cousins went 31/44 (70%) for 364 yds ( 8.27 YPA) with 4 TD & 0 int. If Pickett had those numbers we’d be screaming he’s the North New King dethroning Lamar & Joe Kool!!

Philly RB swift ran roughshod over Flores defense by going 28 for 175 & a TD! Something Flores seems accustomed to as that is what was done to our defense last year.

If Flores was worth all that he should have helped developed at least one of our ILB, instead they were all cut loose.

Vikings defense is currently ranked 27 in the league which is slightly better than last year so he isnt trash………..

Just don’t believe he would be any better than Austin.

Cajun

 

Loved LeBeau!! He took Capers defense to a new level BUT wasn’t very flexible when the league caught up to him. Brady would Bragg that he knew LeBeaus defense better than anyone and proved it many times. His inability to adapt and change is why he was retired and while Butler earned the right to become a DC he was just as rigid as LeBeau in not being very adaptive.

Cajun

 

Matt Canada.... the biggest whipping post and scapegoat the Steelers organization has ever known.

Matt Canada = <snip>

Mod Edit

 

Paul Alexander was talking about this very thing on The Fan yesterday afternoon. I agreed with his point that it's as if Tomlin is loath to hire a coordinator that might be a threat to his authority. Off hand, the only three previous hires he made outside of the organization that had real name recognition were Munch, Arians and Haley. I think Tomlin makes the defensive calls, so what does Austin do during the game? More of an advisory role? As much as I think Canada is outmatched and outwitted most weeks, at times, Tomlin's defenses appear to be over matched. Or at least his schemes are. Cowher had his warts like any other HC, but he didn't mess around when it came to hiring qualified assistants/coordinators. And when he felt they weren't getting the job done, they were gone. This business of Tomlin constantly promoting from within or hiring cheap journeyman has to be revisited.

 

Steelers should have kept Flores and sent Austin packing.

 

The numbers don't scream that. Now if you want to argue Lebeau over either of them, THEN the #s do tell a story. Butler was DC from 2015 to 2022. His biggest "bragging rights" came from sacks, but there is a lot more to defense than sack #s.