Patrick Graham - DC

Yeah, but half of us are idiots… and we’re the good half lol

 

Yes.
You gotta give most names another chance with a real DC.
This is your earn your final contract here attempt or your resume for your next team.

 

Part of the communication problems could be how the coaches were getting the information onto the field, how that player with the information was communicating those calls and checks with the rest of his defense, and how the secondary people are communicating with each other. It was going on for a long time, so perhaps some of it isn't players being dumb. Something in the chain of that communication continued to have problems for years without being fixed. It has been a problem for a very, very long time.

We'll see how the players respond to the new coaching staff and the new schemes.

 

If that's your view, then that's your view.

If you think offensive players aren't trying to pile on stats to look good and get paid tens of millions of dollars, then I don't know what to tell you.

 

Nope

 

I know. Sarcasm didn't land.

 

I like the hire, but we shall see. I'm also worried about the bring of AR back. I don't care he can't move, but I damn sure care that he doesn't want to take a hit, and no OL in the history of the NFL can stop that from happening. If You are a pocket Qb , you must take a hit at times to deliver a ball, or allow a play to develop.

 

I'm happy with the hire, but of course we shall see.

 

I like the hire too, but like you said...we'll see.

Everything about his history makes me like the approach he takes to defense where he adjusts scheme to fit the talent on the roster, which is great. In the end, the only thing that matters is if the defensive unit is effective on the field. We need to give all these coaches a little bit of time to get their footing and have the players adjust to what the coaches are trying to get them to do within the systems they are playing in.

Personally, I love it when there is change and I get to see how players do in new schemes with different techniques and responsibilities. I'm sure the coaches are going to learning as they go as well.

 

It's not that I don't think he'll suck in it. It's that any DB will look good in graham system.

Jpj is great at man to man. And that's not something we will see a lot in graham system (unless he's really open to changing it, like some here claim). And a team like the lions will pay for jpj for what he's worth.

 

I mean yeah... If we have last year's version of Graham's defense then we will see a lot of zone. Though that was his least amount of man played in a season in his career (and it's not a coincidence that it was under Pete Carroll who is notorious for being a heavy Cover 3 zone guy). Our corners are better at man, I am sure he will adjust. In Miami he spent over 50% of his snaps in man to man... I doubt it is going to be a huge issue.

I think the Steelers are going to be willing to pay Porter. We've been looking for a good CB for so long... I don't see us deciding to not pay the man when we finally get him.

 

I like what I read about he can use cover 0 .BLITZ attack BLITZ attack you win-- you lose some doing this --but you are a mean punishing def.And what Steeler fan does not want to see us teams more--attack Steelers attack

 

• Las Vegas Raiders (2022–2025): Transformed a 28th-ranked defense (2022) into a top-15 unit by 2023/2024. In 2025, his defense continued to show resilience as a top-five scoring unit early in the season despite personnel challenges.
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• New York Giants (2020–2021): Improved the unit from 30th in points allowed to 9th in his first year, demonstrating an ability to elevate personnel.
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• Key Coaching Strengths: Widely credited with maximizing talent on rebuilding teams, with his 2023 unit ranking 8th in DVOA despite lower-tier defensive spending.

He can coach way better than Austin.

 

Possibly even you could

 

i think we have talent on defense. the thing i like about the graham hire is not only adjusting the defense for players but he adjusts it for opponents. that is something we very rarely saw under the last staff.

 

This hire I can totally get on board with.

I can squint and like the Tolzien hire as well.

I just can't get behind McCarthy. Watching what I watched locally it was sooo bad.

 

As the Packers head coach, McCarthy had a regular season record of 125-77-2 and was 10-8 in the postseason.

Sooooo bad

 

Hilarious how people will trick you with random stats to justify someone’s ability.

“oh, he was ranked at the bottom but that’s because his defense only employed $5 bucks towards the help”

hahhahahhahahahahhaha. Human beings are the smartest most easily manipulated being when they want to believe in something.


Let’s look at the facts of this. His defense sucked ass last year. The man looks like a mouth breather and he has **** locks on top of his head. Everything and anything based of those three things spell exactly what your instincts say. NOT your hopes and dreams.


This is why people have so many bad things happen to them with family members and friends and work related situations. You hope and wish and plead for things to just work out. When if you just listened to your initial instincts and got out, you’d be a much happier and better decision make, thus, hardly ever being stressed and dealing with nonsense.

Steelers needed to invest in a young, up and coming linebackers coach who showed above average ability with lessor talent instead of some comfortable guy who’s great great great brother in law knew Bill Belichick. Next level coaches are forged in doing a lot with a little. Not coming into a situation with excuses on why they aren’t better before they even start.

The most important hire after head coach was this position and they chose a guy who’s defense was at the bottom with one of the worst football teams in the last 20 years.

Way to cheap out there Art.

 

I see the Tolzein hire as a huge plus if it happens. Its EXACTLY what I would want from an OC while McCarthy runs the show. A guy that can develop QB's, be the PGC, and is a young guy with talent that's been a former player and coached under Kellen Moore. He doesn't come from a McVey or Shanahan background, but he still comes from pretty solid offensive minds. Its really a not so large step down from revamping with Scheelhaase IMO. I would take a shot on him in a heart beat.

I get the distaste for McCarthy... I really do... but maybe it will help "ease" us into modern football while still having proven talent on the staff. Graham and (potentially) Tolzein are huge steps forward for the Steelers in modernization, and even McCarthy is more modern than Tomlin (larger coaching staffs, more usage of analytics, etc.). While I would've preferred just ripping the band aid off and going for a full modernization of the product on the field... this still has a feeling of gradual modernization. I at the very least can buy into the coaching staff that is being hired to support McCarthy.

 

I don’t like the McCarthy hire either. However, this is his dream job and he’s a local guy and he does have offensive talent. That little extra energy with him loving the job sometimes will override certain lack of abilities. I’ve see in happen alot. So, I’m willing to see if this happens here.

However, hiring anyone off the Raiders coaching staff after the horrid season and 20 year uselessness of their franchise is alarming on defense. The Steelers really needed to hire someone good there and they ****ed it up really bad. Just sad. I hope I’m wrong but I doubt it.

 

Not sure what the mouth breather thing has anything to do with this (or the other comments). He's a guy. Guys look like guys? Weird.

Patrick Graham is only 47. Its not like he's ancient... plus the average ability with lesser talent thing is exactly what he's done? He's been a top 15 defense in yards allowed the past 3 years for the Raiders. They've won 15 games the past 3 years. The best offense they've had in the past 3 years is 27th. They were dead last last year offensively. The fact that he's had not great talent on his side of the ball and the league's worst offense in that span means he's done quite a lot to have a middle of the pack defense....

I'm not sure who you would've rather had, but this seems like quite a good hire... new DC's can fail too.

 

The best coordinator we've ever had came from a bottom feeder franchise who had poor results. Dick LeBeau came from the freaking Bengals... In his 14 years in Cincy as a DC and HC, he had exactly 3 defenses that were top 10 in points or yards. He never had a defense that was both. His last year in Cincy his defense was DEAD LAST in points allowed. In his 13 years as a Steelers DC, he had 11 years with a top 10 defense in points or yards. 9 of those years were top 10 in both....

He came from a garbage organization and if you look solely at his Cincy stats... he's a below average DC. His time with the Steelers made him a HOF'er. I don't see why him working for the Raiders matters... at all.