Defense

Let's not give a pass to LeBeau here. He sets up the Defensive strategy right?! And Ike is his boy. It seems Tomlin is not happy with the gashes in the pass defense and I believe Ike will not see the field as a starter, or better yet, the rest of the season. McCain takes the starting nod as he should. As far as pass rush, or lack there of, why is Jason Wourlds out in coverage so much? HE IS A PASS RUSHER! It would be nice to see some pass rush! But the old scheme is worn out and opposing Offenses know what's coming. Let's hope the Offense doesn't struggle going forward because this Defense cannot be relied on.

 

fyi ... Cortez Allen is owed a $3 million roster bonus next March.

 

Yes. And he said as much in his Tuesday press conference. When asked about the 40+ yard plays given up to the Bengals offense, Tomlin said the fault was everywhere. I took that to mean it was player detail, scheme and coaching...

 

And that means that Cortez Allen isn't going anywhere. Just got to hope he can move on from his difficulties and have a better 2015. I would project that the Steelers plan on having him be one of the starting corners going into camp next year.

 

I don't mind a little re-structuring, but personally I would like to see them do very little. I think they need to eat most of that re-structure and move on. Pushing the payment into the future is the sort of thing that has crippled this team's ability to make deals in the future for possible free agents and current players.

Near future you got DeCastro, Bell that are going to have get paid. I would rather see them take their lumps a bit and suck it up and deal with the pain now as opposed to pushing it into the future.

 

It would be absolutely embarrassing to cut him right after signing him to an extension. I can't see it happening. Especially since it would only save ~ $1.5 mil. We made our bed. Live with his cap number next year, and then if he doesn't get his **** together come back in 2016 with an ax and let him choose whether we take it to his salary or his roster spot.

 

And Heyward ... and Ben.

 

The crazy thing with Allen this year is there were quite a few plays where his coverage wasn't that bad it was more his technique in defending the receiver. It seemed like often times like he would do about 75 to 80 percent of the work and then forget to actually make a play on the ball. So my hope is he can rebound some with a fresh start.

 

The crazier thing was he was benched. With a nice fresh contract. I don't ever recall a player on the Steelers signing a new contract that has ever gotten benched. And to think he is going to restructure after the ink is still wet is crazy. He has not impressed me that much to see a 3 mill bonus being dolled out. It was a rush to sign him.

Blake, McCain have stepped up. They are keepers as well as Gay. Draft 2 CB's and bring in a FA.

Going to have to resign a few keepers next season.