Rookies Playing in a LeBeau Defense?

First, new to the board. Great forum. A lot of interesting discussion. Perspectives I had not considered.

Monday night three rookies played signifcant snaps on defense. Jones, Williams and Thomas all played. Not sure if they were all on the field at the same time but they all played. When was the last time that happened? This is a defense that is supposed to take a while to learn. So my question, is this a bad thing because we don't have veterans that can play (hurt or otherwise) or is this a good thing becasue now they have to learn faster and will be ready sooner? I say good thing. Clearly a team in transition. Let them play.

 

first off, welcome aboard.

sure it's good in a way if your going to get rid of so many vet's, but that doesn't mean they will learn it faster. there will be mistakes made. their speed and physicality will also help at times.

 

Thanks , good to be here. So sacks and turnovers are a problem. Expect more of the same with rookies? My guess is that they will gamble less.

 

i'm glad to see it. It's about time. i guess he watered it down so they can get on the field.

 

hopefully the vets won't feel the need to overcompensate and play their positions with discipline. like clark on the eifert catch. even the vets gamble when they know better.

 

Welcome aboard, yeah it's unusual for rookies to get much playing time under LeBeau, they have to play some of these guys, the defense needs to get younger so it could be a good thing.

 

it could be a very sloppy field come sunday night. maybe fangupo gets a hat this week? the two ILB'ers Wilson and Williams will have to come to play, as I hope Timmons does.

 

Let's hope they all come to play. At this point I might even think a loss is OK as long as they show that they are building toward something. The last two games, it was hard to find positves.

Kaboly article in Tribune says LeBeau made Wilson and Williams responsible for setting the D and they made mistakes. I wonder how long that will last?

From the article;

But a few key communication mistakes overshadowed their otherwise good all-around play.
“We had a couple of breakdowns that were very costly,” LeBeau said.
The most costly one came in the third quarter on Giovani Bernard's go-ahead touchdown that was a result of a missed call by Wilson.


Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/4733692-74/wilson-williams-job#ixzz2fTZba4mk
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