I'm already over the Secondary/Defense

2nd play of the game Watt is out covering Sanu. Ryan just picked us apart down the whole field for 7. Their 2nd and 3rd string have been picking our secondary apart. 3rd and long... William Gay, Burns, and somebody else all miss the tackle and give up a 1st. Cockrell getting torched.

Same weak defense giving 5-7 yard cushions.


Nothing has changed, same result lose to the Patriots two times this year. Why even waste our time watching this?

 

Teams with good QBs are going to light this defense up. You can sack a QB when guys are open 2 seconds after the snap. I know it is only preseason but the last 3 years the secondary looked bad during preseason and never really improved in the regular season, the only hope they have is if guys are dropping passes or bad throws, other than that 3rd string QBs march right down the field on the first team defense, it is going to be a long season.

 

We REALLY need another starting caliber CB. The odds are very slim that we'll being someone in. I would be willing to trade away our 1st rounder this year if we could bring in a solid #2. I would normally be against such a trade but next year Bryant, Bell, and Ben could all be gone.

 

It's funny because when it's our 2nd and 3rd stringers vs. theirs. Our defense looks like our defense of old and they actually look pretty good. Pressing and blitzing. A lot of miss throws from the other teams QB but still.

I'm just tired of this defensive strategy of trying to keep everybody in front of you and not allowing the big play. Pretty much hoping for bad throws or drops. I'd rather press, blitz, safety over the top in case they get behind. A lot harder for QBs to hit WRs in stride 20-30 yards instead of giving them 5 yards all day. Good QBs like Brady just take the 5 yards and inch their way down the field on us. Then missed tackles and assignments from the 5 yards lead to big plays. We got an offense that can put up 30-40 points regularly. So make them actually hit on 4-5 big plays.

 

Dude, you were done with football last year. Went on a rant about it forever and I called you out that you would be back.

Welcome back, although you never went away. LOL.

Relax, It's preseason. Double scoops of vanilla all game long.

 

I know it's pre-season but it's an absolute travesty that the FO FAILED BIG TIME in adequately upgrading the biggest deficiency on our team in the off season. We signed ZERO quality DBs (second rate journeymen who can't stick on a roster don't count) in free agency and we really didn't seem to have much focus on it in the draft. I'm hopeful Sutton can develop into a decent CB but that remains to be seen. If we go into this season with Gay, Golden, Cockrell and company chasing wide open receivers around the field I'm going to scream like a banshee!!!

 

We were missing some guys along the front 7. We'll be okay.

Falcons were also running that stretch zone running scheme that is the Steelers kryptonite.

 

Trade Bell to Seahawks for Richard Sherman...

 

Dupree and Shazier are going to help, but not THAT much. Hell, they got two sacks early on from Dupree's replacement in the starting lineup and it still wasn't enough to slow the Falcons down.

 

I was more concerned about the run defense, tbh.

 

And many of us have been screaming about this for years and even more so this year. Golden, Gay, and Cockrell were bad last year and dont understand how some thing they are going to be okay..

 

It seems your right.. But it also seems they are faster. Gay, Cockrell, Golden look slow compared to Hilton, Sensbaugh, Allen.. Easier to blitz with the speed. The ILBs are quicker to.. Fort and Johnson play way faster then VW.

 

I am not sure with #7 clock winding down how the Steelers could not have tried to
improve an area on this team that they new was weak and could cost us a possible Superbowl.
Oh well, I guess we will have to go with cards dealt to us.

 

Calm down it's preseason. We've heard it for years. Vanilla defense. They will get better. Well, believe it or not...these are true. But, the one thing that also remain true...is carnell lakes...track record for evaluating db's and developing quality db's to play in this league...Simply sucks! It simply can't be....that every db that come to our team is that bad.

 

Why can't we draft CB's that do not need to be ST stars that run down the field and hit hard, not to much football iq needed for that. Why can't we draft DB's that read the play well, watch the receivers eyes, play down field tight and cover tight threw the attempted catch... Watching catch and tackle is not good, plus the chains keep moving and our offense stays off the field.

 

This reminds me a bit of when a few years back people were asking why our DBs couldn't make interceptions. Then we drafted Holliman, who's MO was interceptions. People were asking why our DBs looked slow against receivers. Then we drafted Doran Grant, whose MO was speed.

Turns out, you need a lot more than one skill to be able to make the NFL, and neither of them did very well at all.

 

We desperately need to improve our pass rush. This will fix most of the issues in the secondary. I'm VERY concerned with he lack of depth at LB. Watt can only do so much as a rookie. I think he's going to really struggle against the run. His strength has always been his ability to disrupt plays in the back field. In Madison he pressured the QB and caught RB's in the back field with regularity against some poor competition. That's college. NFL OT's and TE's are not going to let you just run right by them. RB's and FB's know how to block also. I think Watt needs to get a little stronger before he can handle the NFL running game. If that is the case his pass rushing ability won't matter much. Hope I'm wrong but to think a rookie OLB is going to replace Harrison, especially stopping the run, is wishful thinking.

Our other LB's have shown little ability to pressure the QB. One or two injuries to our LB corp and we are in big trouble. You can pretty much bank on injuries to our LB's.

Our secondary has the same issue as our LB's. Little depth and no play makers. I have hope that Burns is going to be special. If he can break out this year and Watt can have a ROY kind of season then we'll be fine. If not we're in trouble...and yes veteran QB's will easily pick apart our defense. As for making judgments on a pre season game....that's just stupid. You cannot get too excited or down on pre season play.

I guess my one take from the 2 pre season games is our lack of depth in several places. Not playing with a good QB all pre season is IMO a moronic mistake that should have not been allowed. We had to bring in a veteran QB to push Landry. Now we've got an offense that is out of sync. How can you judge players on offense when the QB is garbage? You cannot get sharp if your QB can't even execute plays like they're designed. This is setting up for a slow start to the season IMO. Again hope I'm wrong but the stench of sloppiness has hung around Tomlin's teams for years. Doesn't look like it's going to change this year. Every year I see one or two obvious errors by the FO. This year I see two glaring mistakes... #1 no one behind Ben is going to cost us wins and slow development because the rest of the offense needs a capable QB in practice and sharpen mental skills. #2 Letting Timmons walk was just stupid. We now need 2 LB's to break out instead of just the rookie.

 

I'll wait until the games actually count to get mad.

Plus yes it was the 1st stringers getting torched up and down the field, but also 4-5 guys were out with injury weren't playing as well.

 

You lost me on this point. It wasn't an FO decision that LJ would get injured, and Ben hardly ever plays the preseason. Yes, bringing in a vet QB may have made the offense look better... but this is assuming they don't turn out to be garbage as well. The likes of Gradkowksi hardly made receivers look great.

We need to differentiate between preseason depth and actual depth. Which is not to say that some areas could do with a boost. Safety in particular. QB, I'm less worried about.

And a bit like @troybellringer55 , I'll wait until the games count before getting too worked up.

 

True, but Julio Jones wasn't out there either for ATL. So they had guys out too.

 

It was the FO's decision to be ok with LJ as our only option behind Ben. Gradkowski is irrelevant. You have to bring in a capable QB to push LJ. Practicing and playing pre season games with garbage QB's who barely know the playbook and have zero NFL experience is not helping anyone. We've lost games in the past because of poor execution / sloppiness. It shows up against good teams. Ben will miss some time this year. To think otherwise is just insane. We are preparing for the season with QB's that would probably not make any roster. That IMO is a moronic situation that the FO could have prevented.

 

Okay about Davis getting suckered in, but more important do you think our secondary is capable to be super bowl bound????