Steelers Defense - Is it Coaching, Scheme or Players?

This is what Tomlin wants...he'd rather have 5 CB's out there than Safeties... and we also got light quick ilb who can run.

We should do better against the pass, we will probably struggle against Derrick Henry and a power run game though.

 

STD you know better than this. It doesn’t really matter to me wether Tomlin calls the plays on defense on game day or not. His hand prints are all over the defense. He is a defensive minded head coach. He allows the current DC to still be employed year after year without replacing him so either way Tomlin is still culpable for the product and results on the field. Do you think the OC’s get credit under Reid, Shanahan or McVey? I will say it looks like we are entertaining change with moving Watt around and moving Ramsey around and even blitzing him some in practice. Obviously its very early and we will see if they start to become more aggressive on game day. Tomlin has done a great job of assembling talent in particular on defense we will see what they can do with it.

In addition I do not complain when we give up big plays when we are being aggressive eon defense. I do complain when we give up big plays for being vanilla and predictable as we did countless times last year in the second half of the season. I would rather we lose being aggressive than being vanilla.

 

I don't think they trusted the coverage in the secondary to be aggressive last year, I expect that to change this season.

 

I just hope Slay can still run....

 

I don't want Slay trying to cover Chase or Higgins.

 

For the umpteenth time. All HCs have a hand in the scheme of things.
Answer this, If Tomlin was doing it all, then why has the plays being called, and the scheme changed from DC to DC??? For a small example....Butler blitzed all the time. Austin doesn't. Yet Tomlin has been the HC over both, and this is really small examples. Our D has changed under every DC since Tomlin has been here. The problem is most don't know what they are looking at.

 

The D has migrated or morphed into Tomlins Defense from when it was under Lebeau to now. Yes Butlet blitzed more than now but I think that was during a transition to now and one of the reasons he got squeezed out. Now it is decently all Tomlin with Austin being a DC in name only. Heck Butler was frustrated and voiced this during his last years (that he was pretty much being demoted and Tomlin was calling the shots). We blitz less under Tomlin because he thinks with Watt and Highsmith and Heyward we don’t need to blitz and because he didn’t trust the Secondary. I do think the defense will be more innovative this year and blitz more because he has the secondary in place that he can trust. Adding the rookie 1st round pick in place of Ogunjobi will be huge too.