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Did you realize our starting D backfield...

Discussion in 'Steelers Talk' started by Watt Wack, May 30, 2018.

  1. Watt Wack

    Watt Wack Well-Known Member

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    Haden, Dupree, Hayward, Burns, Watt, Edmunds first rounders.

    Davis, Tuitt 2nd rounders. 72% of the D. They should be killers with that many high picks playing.
     
    Last edited: Jun 2, 2018
    • Agree Agree x 1
  2. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    That is Hilton. Edmunds would likely be a regular in dime packages.
     
  3. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    if you're posting that to question the front office, keep in mind that Haden wasn't picked by the Steelers in the first round. (Also, note the correct spellings for Haden and Heyward.)

    Heyward has more than paid off. Watt had a promising first season and needs to do more this year. Tuitt needs to be healthy. By the end of the 2016, he was looking like he had been a steal in the second round. My best hope for this defense is the Heyward from 2017 gets to play with the Tuitt and Hargrave that we saw late in 2016. The struggles of the latter two were a big part of the faltering run defense.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  4. Watt Wack

    Watt Wack Well-Known Member

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    If this D underperforms it will either be from injuries or we found no one to play opposite Watt at OLB and our safeties offer little support in pass D.
     
  5. BURGH43STEL

    BURGH43STEL Well-Known Member

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    Not all drafts or first round picks are created equal. Just because a unit has X amount of 1st round picks doesn't guarantee success. There could be other areas of the team that have an impact how one unit performs over another.
     
  6. Watt Wack

    Watt Wack Well-Known Member

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    Obviously, but if a team invests that many high draft picks and the unit sucks, someone sucks at player evaluation and/or coaching. It's one or the other, so someone needs replaced for sucking at their job.
     
    • Agree Agree x 2
  7. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    You're assuming a healthy Hargrave and Tuitt fixes the defensive line and the inside linebacker group that is mediocre at best doesn't sabotage them, too.
     
  8. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    You're assuming a healthy Hargrave and Tuitt fixes the defensive line and the inside linebacker group that is mediocre at best doesn't sabotage them, too.
     
  9. bigbenhotness

    bigbenhotness Well-Known Member

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    You're assuming a healthy Hargrave and Tuitt fixes the defensive line and the inside linebacker group that is mediocre at best doesn't sabotage them, too.
     
  10. Formerscribe

    Formerscribe Well-Known Member

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    That looks familiar. :cool:
     
    • Hilarious Hilarious x 1
  11. BURGH43STEL

    BURGH43STEL Well-Known Member

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    That's not true either. There are more factors involved than coaching and scouting.
     
  12. Watt Wack

    Watt Wack Well-Known Member

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    Please list them.
     
  13. mac daddyo

    mac daddyo Well-Known Member

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    The two coaching changes have already helped this defense. The players are amazed at what is being taught to them compared to before. That speaks volumes. 1st rounders to UDFAs, these coaching changes are helping, it's long overdue. The LBers need such a change as well. It's not as much the players we have but how and what they are being taught that will make the difference. The DBs will be better and the DLine will be better but the LBers have become stale with our coaches. :cool:
     
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  14. uncblue012

    uncblue012 Well-Known Member

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    We've gotta step it up, no excuses. We have a lot of talent.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  15. Diamond

    Diamond Well-Known Member

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  16. BURGH43STEL

    BURGH43STEL Well-Known Member

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    The strength of a draft. All drafts are not created equal. A number one pick this year could very easily be considered a 3 round pick in next year's draft.
    The injury factor.
    The "unknows" regarding players.
    The length of time that players and units have played together.
    The strengths or weaknesses of other players, units, or areas of the team.
    How well do players compliment one another?
    Those are other factors to consider besides coaching and scouting.

    It's not simply, "we have this many number 1 picks so we should automatically be good". Football is a team sport. The success or failures of teams or units could hinge on a number of factors. The Steelers will always have weaknesses. One key is how well can the Steelers strengths over come their weaknesses?
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2018
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  17. Jares

    Jares Well-Known Member

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    I've been a reader for a bit but this is my first time chiming in on a post so go easy.

    First, after watching us draft almost all defense in the first round for a number of years now I am starting to grow weary of the waiting game. We've missed on some guys, some guys just haven't been what I'd hoped. I'm not sure about Burns and Davis. I will also critique my own patience a bit too as I was not a fan of Troy after seeing him in his rookie year and I was wrong to judge too soon.

    My second point is that I think a lot of this team's problems are not talent but mental. I am concerned by what I heard after the season ended about lack of discipline, interest, focus on the task at hand. Even Tomlin was in on that talking about playing the Patriots before the playoffs even started. That cannot happen again. While not solely a defensive problem, I'd like to see a renewed focus on football. No politics, retirement, playoffs during the regular season, rap albums, playing time, nothing but the game that week and winning. I don't want this team talking about winning in OT to a winless team and talking about how it "feels great" or "we'll take it".
     
  18. AskQuestionsLater

    AskQuestionsLater Writing Team

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    Players are as good as the ones who teach them.


    There are instances where teaching really is not much of a factor, such as Jalen Ramsey, Ezekiel Elliot, Joey Bosa, Joe Thomas or Julio Jones, but those cases are what constitute as extreme circumstances.


    Generally in those cases, you are dealing with a perennial All Pro to Hall of Fame talent.
     
  19. BURGH43STEL

    BURGH43STEL Well-Known Member

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    I think the defense played better than people realize last season. They had some issues stopping the run and giving up big plays at times. I don't believe the defense was as bad as some people believe. They did a good job in several games when the offense didn't play well. The defense gave up 19.3 points per game last year. That was good enough for 7th in the league.

    The days of consistently dominating defenses that people remember are probably over.

    I believe players and coaches were asked questions regarding the Pats. I don't believe that talking about the Pats meant anything. It's human nature to look a head to the opposition whether players and coaches state or not. If it were revealed that the Steelers didn't prepare for the Jags then I could understand that there was an issue. I believe the Steelers prepared for the Jags. The Jags were just the better team.

    Nothing but the game that week and winning? Where do you live in Russia? A win is a win. You realize the team won 13 games last year? That's extremely difficult to do.
     
    • Agree Agree x 1
  20. MeanJoeBlue

    MeanJoeBlue Well-Known Member

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    The team won 10 or more games the past 4 seasons.

    (Cowher's teams only accomplished this once.
    In the last 20 years, teams like the Ravens, Saints, Chargers, and Cowboys have failed to do this.)
     
  21. jeh1856

    jeh1856 Beer is good

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    But, he did it with Cowher’s players.

    Never mind, that’s a different subject.
     
  22. Jares

    Jares Well-Known Member

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    I guess I just still live in a different era where sports personalities didn't indulge the media when they went on their fishing expeditions for quote bait on other teams. To hear you equate the old attitude of focusing on one week at a time to living in Russia, well, I guess I am just out of touch today. That used to be considered the right way to handle those types of questions. It kept your team focused on the task at hand and it did not give your opponent anything extra to work with. Maybe in today's era of social media and self-promotion things are different and I need to just accept that, but as much as I despise the Patriots you don't hear them doing stuff like what our guys did and they made the Super Bowl...again. When we were't doing stuff like that, or rather when the coaches discouraged it, we were going. We'll see what happens this year. I'd like to see less talking and more winning. Yes, we were 13-3 last year but remember 4 of those games could have easily been losses and those were to sub-par teams that we always seem to struggle with. As for Jacksonville, they had a great defense (which we put 40+ on in the playoff game), but we got torched by a glorified, rural-high-school-style offense. You can say that they just have our number or whatever you want to call it, but if that's true, then we're not winning in the playoffs as long as they are still in it. I don't think they have our number, I think we went out in that game and did what we do all too often, we weren't ready to play in the first half. Go back and look at a lot of our games over that past several years, especially playoff games and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's there even in the wins. We play one half of good football and often times it is good enough to escape with. Imagine what this team could be like if their heads were in it for 60 minutes? Scary thought and I'd like to see it.
     
  23. MeanJoeBlue

    MeanJoeBlue Well-Known Member

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    Are you saying that the 2014-2017 teams were all "Cowher's players"?
    (Unless you forgot to use the sarcasm font.)

    A significant number of "Cowher's players" were not Cowher's.
    (Or, if you argue that they were, that same argument would apply to players in the Tomlin years.)
    Not an exhaustive search, but Lloyd, Woodson, O'Donnell, Lake, Dawson, Green, and Mills were drafted under Noll.
     
  24. Watt Wack

    Watt Wack Well-Known Member

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    They paid a high price to sign Haden, and he was a high 1st round pick, even if not ours. He still counts as having a 1st round pick on D regardless. My point remains.
     
  25. jeh1856

    jeh1856 Beer is good

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    Sarcasm font was missing. I wasn’t putting as much thought into it. Good points. Thanks.
     
    • Very Optimistic Very Optimistic x 1

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