Shamarko Thomas Tape very bad

Yes but he is still not ready to strt is what i meant,

 

Man so disappointing... in both Shamarko and Mitchell really, both of them could not stay on the field to form any kind of cohesion.

Will Allen has been great for us, but he is getting up there in age and has been getting beat this preseason too. Could be a rough year in the secondary.

 

Then they should have cut him, hoping he will turn into a top safety when there is no indication he ever will makes me wonder why is he still here????

 

I said earlier it was Shamarko's year to break out. I have to stick with that but, ain't got no warm and fuzzy about it now. Back me up Shamarko!

 

I always thought they took Mitchell for his work in Carolina. I'm not a fan of him either though.

 

I absolutely blame the coaching staff. Last year shark didn't play any defensive snaps at safety. Wil Allen played both FS & SS in relief of Troy & Mike. He plays well and can be trusted not to make critical mistakes, but with that comes a lack of splash plays also. How were Troy and Mitchell supposed to gel if they didn't practice/play together. Same with Shark...... Poor coaching, plain and simple

Cajun

 

It appears that Thomas isn't ready to contribute because he has difficulty reading and reacting quick enough to plays. It's clear he made mistakes, big play type of mistakes. Those individual mistakes probably had nothing to do with playing with other players. Regardless of who he played with he cannot make those mistakes. If he made those mistakes in practice last season would you trust him in game situations? I know I wouldn't let him see the field if he made those mistakes in practice.

Thomas may never develop into an NFL caliber safety. If he does not or can't develop that's on him.

 

Mitchell did have 3.5 sacks and 4 INT's in Carolina. They had a really good front 7 though. A good pass rush makes for better DB's.

 

I agree 100% about the rush making the backfield look better.

 

I guess my question is why can't the Steelers develop
talent? I am not seeing a whole lot of developement across the board.
My guess is they do not know how to evaluate players at certain positions.
With how the Steelers build thru the draft and are usually not a player in the FA market, this striking out at the DB &OL positions really are killing us. Thank KC & MT.

 

Really? I think the development of AB, Wheaton, Bryant, Bell, Beachum, Gilbert, DeCastro, Pouncey, Gay, Timmons, and Hayward is pretty clear. We've been missing more at CB and S recently (which is why those areas are weaker) but to say that we can't develop players is ridiculous.

 

People see what they want. The perceived weaknesses might turn out to be strengths.

 

Quite.

There is also the possibility - just a possibility - that Shamarko is getting all the coaching and just not applying it on the field.

Last year we were all praising Lake for coaching up players like McCain and Blake for performing above and beyond their talent level. This year - having lost McCain to a contract he would never haver earned without Lake's coaching - we're down on him for not developing any players.

 

I was a ST29 supporter this past offseason and stick by it. I still want to see how he does playing consistently with the #1s. The thing is, will he get the chance? If he is playing only sparingly by week 3/4 and not coming in for nickel or dime situations, then we will have a very good indication of how the coaching staff feels about his progress.

 

I do like Beachum, DD was a high #1 I had him pegged 10 year plug and play, Gilbert sucks, Pouncey again high #1, can't handle the bull rush. Timmons again a high#1.Cam Heyward, again a high #1 or 2. Couldn't wear his dad's jock strap. You better hit on 1 and 2's, it's these mid and later rounds picks that will need the development. Shamarko Thomas, 3 years and NOTHING, CORTEZ ALLEN, stuck with a big fat contract, el stinko doesn't want to hit anyone. How about these later round guys?

 

DD wasn't a high #1, drafted 24th. Gilbert doesn't suck. He's played fairly well. Just because he doesn't meet your standards doesn't means he sucks. Pouceny wasn't a high number one, drafted 18th. Cam Heyward drafted 31st. Heyward's story is still being written. Cam's off to a good start.

The thing is, the Steelers are rarely so bad that they don't have the opportunity to draft in the beginning of the first round. The last "high" first round pick they had was Burress drafted 8th overall. Everyone else was drafted from 11th on down. Some would consider 11th on down to be mid round picks.

Overall, the Steelers have been fairly good drafting 1st round picks. They miss on a few here and there. The Steelers had good 2nd round picks and not so good 2nd round picks. That just goes to show that they don't need to hit on 2nd round picks to be a successful team.

What you don't seem to understand is that the Steelers won't hit on every draft pick. Teams don't get anything out of most of players they draft. Sometimes the "good enough" players move on to other teams for different reasons. Most times the players teams draft are not good enough. This is the way things work around the league.

What seems to be the key for the Steelers is to have a "good enough" core group of players in which they can build around on both sides of the ball regardless of the round those players were drafted. They've done that on offense. Now they are making that transition over to the defensive side of the ball.

The philosophy I believe they have about the core group of players is important because rosters around the league pretty much turnover every 4 to 5 years. The Steelers can't resign every player but they attempt to identify and resign players they want to keep around for at least 8+ seasons. Sometimes they get it right and sometimes they don't. It's seems they've gotten it right quit a bit because they've remained competitive for at least 10+ seasons.

 

Will Allen got absolutely BURNT by EJ Manuel at the Buffalo game. So, the fact that he is evidently better than Thomas, is scary. I know that Mitchell was reportedly injured all of last season. I really hope that was the case, because, otherwise, he is not very good and we are going to be in big trouble.

 

Like others have said before, a new scheme mixed with rookies and what not can brings disastrous results. Its easy to write everyone off based on what was the Pre-season but Rome wasn't built in a day. if certain guys on this team right now can't fit what we're doing there may be a chance they will be productive on another team/scheme. In the meantime, It'll be about the Steelers drafting the players meant for this new defense. It's going to take time to paint this Picasso.

 

Until I see them play thursday I cant imagine the schemes will be a radical change from what it was before, thats too much to expect from these players to digest all at once, having a game plan will help the defense more than anything......

 

we are the only team that didn't have one pick from the safety spot last year. we haven't had one since week 14 of the 2013 season.

 

You can see why they tried out Holliman. A shame that never quite worked out. You'd think if a player was going to learn how to tackle on one team, it would be the Pittsburgh Steelers. Alas not...

 

I think you're being a bit tough on these guys. DD is borderline pro bowl and is a very good pulling guard. Gilbert is a solid starting RT. Pouncey is probably the best center in the game... So there's that. Heyward is one of the better 3-4 DE's in the game right now too. Timmons is a pro bowler, and has been a really good ILB for a long time.

Idk what you're not seeing out of these guys?

 

I wonder if the team would experiment with putting Blake at a safety spot? With Gay, Allen, Boykin and now Cockrell, those four should be adequate at CB and allow Blake to make a switch if needed this year due to injury. He definitely has the athleticism and tackling moxie to make it work. While he is short, he's not small.

I had high hopes for Thomas to make it, but if he can't fix these mental mistakes then his time may be coming to an end here. No guarantee that Blake wouldn't have the same mistakes, but at least it's an in-house option.