Steelers Defense - Is it Coaching, Scheme or Players?

If Ike Taylor could have just pushed Thomas out of bounds at the 10 yard line we could have had held the Broncos to a FG and gotten the ball back with a chance to tie the game and extend OT or win with a TD.

 

We are below average in drafting and/or developing players. We have had only a few players signed to a two or more year contract since 2018, that we drafted.

 

We keep hearing the Steelers wasted the second half of Ben's career, against the Broncos the offense scored 6 points in the first half .

 

He had a high ankle sprain in that game...Still score 23 points in that game

 

When I said it was a terrible gameplan,this is one of the example....No reason to put any corner against a top WR on island like Taylor was for most of that game vs Thomas....If the steelers would play the tackle the catch strategy in that game,it would been a easy win since Tebow was bad to even make routine pass

 

A big part of that was the safety biting on the run fake over and over therefore Ike had no support

All because Ryan Clark was out

 

Tomlin won’t put up with that. He likes full control.

 

Haters gonna hate.

 

SF took a team that went to the SB in the 2023 season, and then went 6-11 last season.
Their defense was 29th in the league for points.

Maybe they do have a large, well-run coaching staff.
But then we shouldn't say that all defense woes are due to bad coaching.

 

And they fired their DC after the 2024 season and they bring back Saleh as DC....The steelers keep Canada,one more season despite 2 awful years on offense in 2021 and 2022 and Butler or Austin have been our DC for the last 10 seasons despite underperform so many time especially come playoffs time

 

I took a random year 2010 vs 2024. In 2010, Steelers defense had 20 turnovers against their opponents.
In 2024 Steelers had 33 defensive turnovers (1st in the NFL.)
I think yards and points may not be the only indicators of what makes a good defense. I'll take turnovers over ypg all day.
Steelers defense is very solid. It seems underwhelming because the offense never sustains drives and doesn't score enough points.

 

The offense had 6 points until late in the third quarter, I'm sure you will somehow blame the HC for the slow start .

 

If that was the case they would've kept Grady Brown, his group was the one mostly responsible for the communication issues last season.

 

I hear what you're saying but there's other factors indicating that the defense is underperforming: 3rd Down defense, YPG, PPG, RYPG, PYPG and so on. Creating turnovers is definitely a bonus.

With that said, I'd say there's been a huge change in philosophy/scheme since the Covid season. The base is more of a 4-2 Nickel as opposed to a 34 defense. Sure everyone claims the is 34, but how can it be the base when they ran 34 26% of the time. Slot CB/#3 S is more of a starter than a NT.

There's a lot of talent on the defense, but it's hasn't been the right talent for what Tomlin/Austin wants to run schematically.

 

JMO, but in today's game, again JMO....I think turnovers, and points are the only things that truly matter.

 

Exactly

 

Winner winner liver and onions dinner

 

I remember when my mom used to make liver and onions for dinner, I would make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead.

 

Our local restaurant does Liver and Onions about once a month as the special and you can’t even find an open seat in the place. I won’t go near that stuff.

 

I love me some liver, and onions. There was a time I ate it once a week.

 

We had a top 10 defense paired with a prolific offense loaded with talent and a HOF Qb and all time receiver. We shouldve won more than three lousy playoff games in that 10 year span.

Poor scheme all the way

 

I think it is a mix of all 3. Would Bud Carson have been great without those HOF players?? Although from what I remember he got along well with those bums we had on D in the early 70's. Did Carson have full reign of D???? Can't recall those days to well. I would think Noll had great confidence in him.

Funny, I think we beat Carson's D in the SB when he left us. Can't remember who replaced Carson.

 

So then why are people high on teams like the Ravens, and the Bills???
Is their scheme bad also??
They've had number one Defenses, and MVP Qbs, and yet they haven't reached a SB yet with those teams.
Simply, sometimes stuff happens, and other teams scheme, and get paid too.

 

The Bills defense have the same problem that us in the playoffs...Very good stats in the regular season but I can't trust this defense in high pressure moment...For your question,the answer is yes for the Bills on defense....For the ravens,if you look at the last 2 years,their OC who is a great OC but had a awful game vs KC when he forget to run the ball for some reason....Lamar was awful too.Last year vs Bills,it was a coin flip game that it could have been either way but Andrews had a major choke in the fourth quarter on 2 occasions

For your question for the ravens,yes in 2023 and no in 2024