So what's correctable?

Queen is NOT a run stuffer - most here get it. Jury still out on Wilson.

middle of run is weak. Teams right now can run LEFT ALL DAY LONG.

 

Tomlin does the opposite of everything he says 1.we are going to raise hell.------they did on themselves---2.we do not live in our fears----He does constantly not going for anything --not even 1 stupid yard..3--Now saying our def. will be historical---OR did he mean hysterical---WTF Tomlin just resign...

 

I've seen the past few years when a man goes down for the Eagles the back-up steps up. The Steelers need HEALTH if they are to compete.

 

Seems a lot of college educations are wasted in the NFL.

 

Porter, Elliott, Harmon and Highsmith for the most part were all injured last week. That's basically 40% of our starting defense. I don't like the excuse either, but that is not a small number.

 

On Offense we need to I hate to say it ,but bring back the bubble screen. We need positive yards on 1st. down pass plays and we have an elite YAC guy and monster TE'S who can block and would be hard to bring down. Of course we need to run the wheel off that screen and also run the fake screen draw, the quick pitch behind it and to the weak side and the Inside trap to wideout after the fake pass.. Oh and the backside passing game to the TE .. So really that entire play package. This should spread the D and help the OL a bunch plus take advantage of the mismatches..

On Defense first of all we need the lead that would be huge..lol is why I started with the Offense , after that we need to stunt and blitz our guys are to small and not built to take on blockers so they should be on the move at all times. Less cover 2 and cover 3 Teams simply design the routes that forces man coverage and keep attacking that guy the crappy part is they get a free release . More cover 0 and cover 1 with press to stop the free releases .

 

I don't get the Patrick Queen bashing.
The problems are much larger.

We play a base 3-4.
Good 3-4's have an anchor in the middle... the Casey Hampton or Gilbert the grave digger types.
We have Benton. Yahya Black looks promising.
The anchor needs to push into the backfield and clog that middle up. I've seen Benton 5 yards down the field.

Our DE's are fine except Cam should not be an every down player.
But the old guy probably had the better plays of the 3.
That is not good.

Our LB's in the 3-4
Usually you have at least 1 in the middle who can clog up the middle and be speedy enough to shoot gaps and participate in the twists and slants.
We have Queen, kind of on the small side but fast enough to cover side to side.
We have Wilson who is also more of a cover guy and he is needed to match up with those TE's in the middle.
Highsmith is a disappointment to me. I think he's mostly disappeared since the contract.
Herbig comes in and is ok as a rotational player. Also smallish.
Cole Holcomb was a MLB in Washington but did play in the 3-4 versions. His knock is coverage and not quick enough.
I kind of like Jack Sawyer, he's the right size but I am don't know how quick he really is.
TJ is a game wrecker. Offenses focus on keeping him busy and he doesn't have the size of his brother.

I think there is a lot of experience and talent in our front 7 but I also think upgrades are needed.
I also think Austin's defense is not utilizing personnel very well and not forcing offenses to change any plays at the line.
We get to the QB sometimes, but we can't stop the run. Very frustrating.

What does Pittsburgh want to do?
They want to take away the run and apply pressure on the QB.
The 3-4 was designed to keep the offense guessing which LB is coming. Well, we have TJ and Highsmith playing like DE's.
Same thing, over and over and over and over.
If they are going to double up TJ, then Highsmith or somebody has to bring the pressure - they can't.
Combined with the interior not playing on the offensive side of the line of scrimmaged... we have what we have.

How do we fix it?
A better DC for sure.
I am of the opinion a better GM to scout and find players that actually impact the game.
Maybe this is the year that forces Tomlin out, you still have to have a front office that can find a coach.
Not sure I want Omar in on that.

 

Apparently we all thought he meant historically great, but now we know he meant historically awful !!

 

I'm sure they did maybe he just had a brain fart.

 

Highly possible. A bit of panic when the ball bounced in front of him.

 

Twinkies and protein powder......lol

 

Everyone knew that DeMarco was going to be a head coach. At the time, Tomlin was in his contract window. I was really hoping that we would pick up DeMarco as head coach. But it was not too be.

 

oh yaa 4.----next man up----what we lose some starters and seasons over-- next man up--lol lol lol

 

He has a better offense but still hasn't found a way for them to reach potential. That OC is still none the less, promising.

 

Is Highsmith hurt again?

 

Highsmith didn't get injured until practice following last week's game. And the run defense was still awful before Porter got hurt. Lack of depth is a sign of a bad-mediocre team.Teams of the past were able to overcome injuries; teams across the league overcome injuries... so why can't the Steelers?

 

WE ARE NOT A BASE 34. We run a 425.

 

Actually you are a 3-4.
Unless you are being Festious.... then I get it. Queen and Wilson could pass as pass defenders. Ramsey would fit the role as well.
The Nickle and Dime defenses we run can resemble a 4-2-5, especially the Nickle and with Ramsey.
But they do this as situational, not as the norm.
That's pretty much out of Austin's mouth.

 

They run 34 20% of the snaps and 425 80% of the snaps and ly they ran 34 26% of the snaps. 34 is their subset now.

 

I didn't know the %, but I seen it start changing this way more, and more since Austin took over as DC. It's not exactly a 4 2 5, but it's the same basic Idea.
Most don't see this, but they will say we never change anything, and that we haven't changed anything from DC to DC. It's why a laugh so much when some of them try saying what they see, and know.

 

Tomlin should've had control of the Def yanked from him YEARS AGO

If Art won't fire him at a min he should have a quality outside DC AND STAFF forced on him period

 

I would agree only in the Seahawks case since they run a 'spread' or more correctly a quick pass.
They kept Nickel Personnel on a lot of snaps (resembles 4-2-5)
Thornhill got 65 snaps, Clark got 57, Slay got 57, Ramsey got 65, Echols has 23.

But the LB's were slightly lower.
They rotated Queen and Wilson, using Heyward, Benton, Watt and Herbig to get the pressure.
Last season they averaged 50 to 60% of their snaps in 4-2-5
A number they were not happy with.

The base will remain 3-4 that is the desired set.
Ideally they want 3rd and long and use the Nickle/Dime to get off the field.

Looking at the schedule, there's more spread offenses than I thought and given the status of this defense, 4-2-5 is not good.
Seattle ran running plays a bunch against the Nickle with high % rates.

It's neither here nor there for me, I know what they want which is 3 down, 4 LB and 4 DB's.

I also know that in Washington, they tried the 3-4..... and when Quinn came in they went to the 4-3 largely because of Nickle packages.
But they are known to still use a 3-4 - Quinn is a very good defensive coach even though I don't rank Washington top 5 - they got carved up by GB which is on our schedule.

There's 10 teams that employ it or more correctly likely to employ it. I kind of agree with that in today's NFL you need to be versatile.

Tampa for example, put on a Defensive course.
They used the 3-4 60% and got all sorts of pressure. They used the Nickle (4-2-5) somewhere around 30%
That is the more correct distribution.

That said, I guess if you are on your heels, 4-2-5 could increase over the desired 3-4.... to me, it is a solid indicator things are not going well.
To others, well... call it as you will but if you are the "80% bracket" it might be better to watch the game in PIP mode.

 

Until someone convinces Wilson and Queen to NOT try and run around every blocker they see, those two will continue to lose contain on running plays, not fill gaps, and get the defense beat by long runs.

Could Benton and the other big boys up front keep those two cleaner? Absolutely. That is another area of individual technical improvement.

But watch that long Seattle run for the late TD. Wilson tries to go around a block to the inside rather than fighting through/over. Instead of his speed carrying him to the play in time (like it did in college but this is the NFL - everyone is fast), he is late and out of position and the RB gets the outside lane and walks in. Wilson has to turn the RB back inside. Queen does the same thing and is late and behind the play. Herbig also gets knocked out of the play as well.

Other than Watt and to a lesser extent Highsmith, the Steelers entire LB corps gets knocked around or tries to run around blocks. The NFL game is too fast for that to work as often as Queen and Wilson try it.

Someone smarter than me will have to determine what could be done to correct the issue. But even I can see it from my TV and I am not very good at knowing football things.