The Steelers philosophy

Earlier this season I posted here about them needing to change their philosophy concerning not drafting CBs in the first round. Then on the game against the Bengals Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts were talking about the big plays given up by the secondary, 4 plays of 65 yds in the last 4 games alone. Then Fouts said the last time they drafted a CB in the first round was 1997, and that their philosophy needs to change because of bad play by their CBs. See maybe I do know what I'm talking about after all. Not all of the bad play is on the CBs, the safeties are worse.

 

Nothing improves coverage like a ferocious pass rush. I'd rather invest the pick on a pass rusher.

 

Yeah thats what I was going to say. Obviously rolleyes the Steelers agree too. If they can get consistent pressure, these guys wont look so bad. I can't tell you how many times Dewayne Washington got credit for a pass defensed because pressure caused a badly underthrown ball to bounce off of the back of his head.

 

Yea and he wasn't that great either..

 

So the other day I was saying to my son I think the sun will come up in the morning. Why daddy he asked me, I don't know just a feeling I have. Turns out the sun did come up, the universe obviously agrees with me, that or I am in fact a God!

Should they take a CB in the first round of the draft if they draft at 30? Should they bundle all seven picks up to jump up to the top five just to get this gift to the football world? With all due respect to what Dan Fouts and Ian Eagle are force fed by the CBS production staff, in order to get a top quality CB prospect in the first round you have to have sucked pretty bad during the regular season. The fact that the Steelers are always competitive means that by the time they pick in the first round the sure fire can't miss talent has been picked and the level of difference between the 19th overall pick and 52nd is small in fact a case can be made that you can get a better prospect at corner in the 2nd round than reaching to get one in the first where maybe there is a BPA that fits your needs more. I have been watching football since about 89 and seriously since Cowher took over and in all that time the highest I can remember the Steelers picking was 11th and that was they year they took Ben so your hope that they get the next Revis or Primetime in the first round is slim but hey I am glad that the CBS sports production crew agree with you.

 

Great point. I just want to draft a corner. I'm not even care what round. Just draft at least two so we can have the potential to get one that will either start or be a valuable back up.

 

That's what I was thinking. LOL.

 

Steelers #! draft pick CB'S


1973 J.T. Thomas 4th overall
1975 Dave Brown 26th overall
1978 Ron Johnson 22nd overall
1987 Rod Woodson 10th overall
1993 Deon Figures 23rd overall
1997 Chad Scott 24th overall


Like another poster said, we're just not often in a position to get the top players at that position. The ones we have gotten out of the top 10 were OK but were they really any better than the 2nd and 3rd rounders drafted after them?

 

Honestly though even the guys picked at the top aren't "guarantees" ya know? It's seriously a crapshoot. The average NFL career is LESS than 5 years! That's an incredible stat. Look at how many scouts, coaches, GMs, draft "experts", and owners evaluate each guy STRENUOUSLY and they STILL miss more than they hit. Look at our 08 draft as a case in point. There are a LOT more "misses" than "hits" in the draft. So it's not really "where" you draft but "how" you draft.

 

Dewayne Washington was probably the last "playmaker" CB we have had. Brent Alexander was also very good back in that era.

 

I don't even think we drafted him. Didn't he come from Minnesota?

I think we need to take a serious look at our scouting department and see who actually evaluates our corners for draft day.

 

I'm with this theory.

when we had Woodley and Harrison in their prime, our secondary was fine. Ditto Greene and Lloyd.

 

To be honest when Greene and Lloyd were on the team they had Woodson, Lake and Scott. I know he didn't last long, but he showed potential before he had his knees hurt.

 

I agree that we need to have a strong pass rush (who wouldn't agree??) but even when Greene and Lloyd were here all you needed to do was have a deep ball. We have been susceptible to that attack for a long long time.

 

We did in Jarvis Jones and so far that hasn't worked out either.

 

Hopefully by next season Huey Richardson will see the field.

 

That's why I said so far. Jarvis was supposed to be a plug and play type player. He was supposed to be able to come in and pressure the QB right off the bat. That hasn't happened. Perhaps it's not the fault of Jarvis and instead is like you say, it's our system. In that case, we need to change our system. We can't have 1st round picks taking 3 years to figure out our system. The CBA and salary cap just doesn't allow such a system to be effective. We need our rookies to come in and produce right away.

 

Not to bang on about it, but the Safety spot is the one that needs addressing. If you're playing Safeties in the box, then they need to be effective in getting to the QB. If you're playing them deep, then they need to make a tackle (rather than fly past A.J. Green like Mike Mitchell did). This season is the worst safety play I've seen from the Steelers in a long time, and it's hurting what is always going to be a CB unit that needs help.

I'm relatively happy with Blake, McCain and Gay, so long as the deep coverage is helping them out. This is why I'm wondering whether Sharmarko Thomas' injury is playing a much bigger factor in our defence's play than is immediately obvious.

 

I don't care if he has to play with a pimp limp, I want to see Shamarko starting next season, and I don't care at what position. Either he can play or he can't, and if he can't, he'll still be an upgrade over Mike Mitchell ... who has a $2 million roster bonus coming up in March.

 

The developing defensive players very slowly needs to end. That lies at the feet of LeBeau.

 

You can find a decent CB in the first round it doesn't have to be a top ten pick, or even find one in the second round. I would listen to what a Hall Of Fame player like Fouts has to say over your thoughts.

 

Yeah I would listen to a front office that has 6 Lombardi trophies in their lobby before I'd listen Fouts but hey he agreed with you so you can add that to your long list of people who have no idea about what the Steelers do that share a somewhat similar opinion with you. That front office job has got to be coming for you very soon.