Sure no love for the D, but what about the O?

About 80% of the threads seem to be bashing the defense and Dick Lebeau, and how the game has passed him by. That may be true, but consider:

• Three defensive players hurt and out this game
• A mix of old, experienced, and slower folks (Troy, Harrison, and Keisel) and young inexperienced guys are trying to keep things pieced together. With this mixture of veterans and youngsters, mistakes are going to happen
• The offense gave up short field to start the game.

Sure the defense is not dominating at all, and gives up big chunks of yards, but they have few playmakers anymore, and "adequate" is probably what we can hope for. Sad, but true, and somewhat understandable. I don't expect dominating performances from the D - they don't have the players.

On the offensive side, we have a top ranked QB (I am not sure I agree with this status, but many do), a stellar wide receiver, a top notch tight end, and a gifted pair of running backs. This group of supposed playmakers can't seem to put teams away, and when we need them to set a tone early in a game, or get a first down to seal a game, they can't seem to get the job done. Not sure if it is coaching, game planning, play calling, or execution, or all of these.

Blame for a loss can go all around, but the league is an offensive league, we have offensive stars (maybe not at left tackle), and much of the Steelers struggles can be put at their feet.

 

Plenty of truth here but when you give up 265yds passing in a half to Glennon it's pretty hard not to point fingers in that direction. I will say though unlike last week we lost the game in all three phases. That's how you lose to a team as putrid as the Bucs.

 

The number one issue for the Steelers lack of success is their pass rush, in particular the D-Line.

That said, whoever is coming up with the "run up the middle on first and second down when the running game isn't working" gameplan needs a new job. The Steelers move the ball and score when they pass, then use the run in token situations where most coaches would use the run, like 2nd and less than 5.

Our intermediate passing game is probably our most effective element of the team, yet we use is rarely. We have a lot of guys who are good at 10-20 yard pass routes. Use them and score TDs. Also, when the Steelers get inside the redzone, they seriously need to stop with this glitz and glamor and just throw the ball INTO the endzone, our pound it in if they are within the 5. Little dinky dumpoffs on our own 13 are not effective, yet they continuously use that strategy.

But alas, 24 points should be about enough to win most games against bad opponents. The D-line is our biggest bane.

 

With this defense (Gay and Allen at the corners) we will to need score 30 every game to win.

 

Many drops today

 

That's the point - we rarely do this, even with our exceptional offensive playmakers. To me, our offensive performance is often more disappointing than our defensive performance, because our offense seems like it is much more talented.

 

There was a time that if our offense had put up 24 or 27 we would win handily. That time has came and gone. We ARE gonna have to pick it up on O though because it is obvious we aren't gonna pick it up on D. I say go no huddle the whole game and establish the pass BEFORE the run because it seems that really opened things up today. Also it seemed to help last week too. It doesn't seem that we do as good when we are run run pass run run pass. When we mix it up it seems to really throw teams off balance.

 

My biggest peeve today was we had the ball in the 3rd quarter, I forget which drive, but we were up by 7 or 10, ... the play calling was awful on that drive. The game was in our control, and we attempt a reverse on the first play, and a flea flicker 2 plays later... this isn't Tecmo Bowl, what are they doing????

If we would have gotten 2 first downs, or scored on that drive, the game would have been out of reach.

 

ben missed a couple of deep throw but the offense played well , tampa has a good defensive line with johnson and mcody back

 

the flea flicker was a great call. Brown just dropped the ball. And I do like Haley. But, give him credit on that call

 

When all you need is a first down to seal the game, the offense has to get it done. Rules favor offense, can't give a team 8 tries at the end zone and expect them not to get it in.

 

EXACTLY! Thats all i was saying was get a first down its ball game. Once you get youre foot on their throat you gotta keep it there. Cant let up like they always do!

 

I was wondering about this as I was watching the game. Why aren't we throwing the ball in the endzone when we are in the redzone?

 

Part of the reason I'm sure is that Ben struggles in the red zone. He's just not effective with the compressed field and tighter windows

 

How many thought the Defense would come out of the gate and dominate? Not me. I figured the Offense would have to score and score some more until the Defense clicked. Penalty's, bad play calling and a left tackle who gets manhandled almost on every snap is what we see. Haley is wearing thin. Talk about the D line? From what I saw yesterday they were pressuring. The brutal secondary is the issue here. The supposed best player Toast Taylor is out. If anyone watched the Orleans/Cowpokes game last night, Keenen Lewis is doing quite well. But, Cortez Allen had more upside. The secondary has been overlooked for the longest. Amazes me since LeBeau and Tomlin are secondary guys. Playing 10 yards off the receiver is part of the scheme. Stay in your lane and everything will work. Well it ain't workin. The talent is not there. And Troy is a liability in coverage. Give Thomas some snaps. This is what they have. If the Offense isn't scoring and keeping the pedal down it's going to be a long season. No huddle and no huddle some more. Frustrating game but I believe the frustration is only starting. I'm sorry, I would like to see Coach LeBeau retire after this season. Need a fresh approach.

 

I still think Ben is a franchise QB, but I have to agree with you here. It just seems that Ben doesn't make reads fast enough to just get it in the end zone enough.

 

Haley blew it with that conservative play on 3rd down, can't ask this weak defense to keep them out of the endzone especially when they get the ball on the 40 yd line.

 

Lewis may be better than the CBs on the Steelers, but what I saw last night was the Cowboys throwing at will on Lewis. He had a few good defenses, but also had easy TD passes against him.

 

the flea flicker was a great call. that should of been 6. its tough when your all pro wr drops an easy td. i found that play tough to be critical on. everything was perfect except for the catch. AB doesnt drop that pass, but once every 100 times. that was the once.

the reverse was a terrible call. when your oline is being pushed around calling a slow evolving reverse is not a good idea. that play had zero chance from the snap of the ball.

 

You talk like the O can score anytime they want to score, the O can only drive the ball on what the opposing defense gives them, in this case lovie smith is a defensive coach who had 10 days to devise a good defensive game plan to keep our O from scoring more than 24; so if 24 points was all we was going to get, it's up to our defense to protect the lead for a win, 24 was enough to win the game if the defense didnt give the game away in the last minute...

 

Pit was shut out in the 4th quarter, TB scored 10 in the 4th, TB did a good job of shutting down the run, and had the better pass rush getting 5 sacks, it's obvious to me that TB had a better defense yesterday than we did, and it cost us the game along with 13 penalties, this team is in a bad place right now, and honestly I dont see any solution to it's problems other than a changing of the guard....