Losing Hampton and Farrior killed the defense.

Hampton was the cornerstone of the run defense and clogged lanes for the LBs to get to the QB. Farrior was the leader, playcaller, and one hell of a ILB. We have not, or did not, have replacements for them, thus these two positions need to be addressed first in the offseason.

Chill on the safety and CB and DE and OLB talk until we have brutes at NT and ILB.

That is all. Carry on.

 

I'd say the loss of Aaron Smith was the beginning of the end of the Dominant, punch you in the mouth, Steeler D.

 

No we won and went to Super Bowls during the three seasons he ruptured his bicep. He was not as critical as Hampton on the line.

 

Going with Hampton on this one. He may not have been taking double teams a lot like he did in prior years, but he was a guy they had to game plan for which included those chop blocks on him.

If you have to game plan for the nose tackle it takes some options away from your Offense.

They have Farriors replacement in Williams. (yes I know he wasn't here when he left) He'll get better. He's a rookie out there calling the Defense for god's sake! Farrior was a veteran when he stepped in and started running it.

 

theres some ****ty luck in there too. Spence WAS supposed to take over for Farrior but that's looking more and more like it ain't happening

 

Agreed!
I like McLendon, but he's underperformed as Casey's replacement.

 

I appreciate that the OP may be talking about Casey in his prime, but does nobody remember how awful he was in his last season? Virtually immobile. It's not for nothing people were screaming for McClendon to be put in instead. Yes, teams gameplanned against him, but it was a pretty easy plan to draw up which usually worked.

 

I was pretty excited to see what McLendon could do but, so far, he has been nonexistent.

 

Losing Farrior was key. He was the yelling screaming captain man on defense. He understood Dick L. and he was basically Dick L on the field.

 

casey had 28 tackles last year. 11 solos, 17 assists. mclendon has 25 this year. 16 solo's 9 assists. in half a year. seriously.

 

Losing Troy and Clark has killed us too. And make no mistake about it, we HAVE lost Troy and Clark.

 

Personally I look at this as a reason to criticize LeBeau. If you are that dependent on one guy to run your defense, then you are not doing enough to simplify things for your defense. Also - I do not miss Farrior being routinely burned by a TE or back in coverage as often happened during his final 2-3 years.

 

max bullough. thumpity, thump, thump.

 

It's not the stats. He doesn't require a double team. The NT needs to occupy at least two blockers. McClendon does not. I think he would be better served as a DE.

 

did you watch casey the last few years? he was handled by the center alone a good bit of the time. there is also the push into the pocket that creates for others. casey was great at that early in his career. that faded as the weight came on. I think they fattened up mclendon to much. hoke was effective at 305 with quickness. not that I want him down that low, but less then he is.

mclendons doing well this year. we need better LB'ers. smarter LB'ers. this isn't a D-line problem as much as a LB problem. they are not making plays on a consistant basis, like our LB'ers in the past. take away Harrison,farrior,foote << for his play calling only, and our high paid lead dogs now are not near as good without these guys helping them be good.

 

I agree lack of experience and communication breakdowns at ILB have hurt the run defense more that anything else.

I think what we need to decide is if Vince Williams with time can be the guy or if we need to address it in the draft? Is Foote Gone next year? J. Jones' run defense was suspect as well.

I think we need to wait until the last few games of the year to see if the lights turn on for any of these young guys?

 

Agree on your lack of's (Foote's absents as well) It's a sad commentary that all likelihood it's going to take the entire season before the main breaker is flipped . After last and half of this season the organization should have seen enough to find a cure.. just hope they haven't fallen asleep!!

 

I don't think McLendon is any better than Ziggy. I would think that the more tackles a NT has the worse they're doing because 1. They aren't getting double teamed and 2. They are getting pushed back to where the LBers are and are happening to make tackles. I'd take good ole Chris Hoke. Jury still out in Williams but I would draft over him this yr if a steal is there.
We can and have plugged a free safety in before why not do it again. I am not seeing all the hype and love for Shamarko. I have seen him get shredded in coverage more than once. Rookie or not, you don't learn to cover all of a sudden.

 

Erm... yeah. We'll just "do it again".

 

Well, we've come full circle once again. Wasn't that long ago I couldn't buy Snack any love on the board. As stated then, best NT in the league, even older and in his last days. He was born to be a traditional NT for a 3/4.

Some missing pieces are killing us as we try to get young, but certainly no snack and vet knowledge at buck are huge deficits.

 

I miss the old James Harrison.

 

I miss Rod Woodson, we just have to get over it and find a replacement. Casey in his prime was better than McClendon is today, but I'm not convinced that if he was on the team still, he or the Steelers would be better.