Defense looked good playing tight man

Today was the first time in a long time that our D has recorded 6 sacks in one game . My Eye test tells me the difference was our ability to play press and take away the 1st. and 2nd. look. This all adds up as KC doesn't have real #1 or #2 WR'S .

I also liked the play of Allen at Safety he made Mitchell look much better. With that said I hope Shamarko can step in and play Troys spot , if he can I think we have some nice pieces up front and can get some heat if we can get 1 or 2 starting CB'S for the outside. I am also willing to give Mitchell a pass because his poor play to date might have more to do with Troy than anything else.

My point being if Shamarko can play the Safety we are only a couple of CB'S away from having a dominate defense again . Our front guys showed they can get there if we can only cover for a bit . Very glad to see us man up and get after it today ...

On the bad side though Shazier and JJ both looked very bad today I hope they can pick it up going into the post season.

 

I think we are more than a couple of CB's away from a dominant defense. I think we need a couple of dominating OLBs to be a dominant defense.

If we can get Cordez Allen to resemble a cornerback we might be ok along with Willie Gay.

 

I may have seen something different, but it looked like we were still giving way too much cushion to the receivers...

If that`s "man press" coverage, I don`t understand the term..

They were KILLING us, at least in the 1st half, with quick out passes, "bubble screens"(even if they didn`t always use blockers, to make it a true "sceen"...

Hitting short passes ovr the middle...

At least we were USUALLY making the tackle...

Same thing Dick always does...

Sit the cb`s, safeties, too far away from the rcvr`s/ tight ends...
Trust them to make tackles...

At least got some pressure, from the LB`s today, even if they couldn`t SACK Smith, (which they did 6 times)...
They WERE hurrying him outta the pocket/ making him throw it away, or throw under pressure..

Welcome back, BLITZBURGH!!!:thumbsup:

 

Very true about cushions in the first half, they got tighter as the game went on and they did a lot of pressing in long distance situations . I get more info after I watch rewind. I consider anything within 5 yards as press coverage , most of the time we are 10 to 12 yards off I don't recall much of that today .

 

TRUE, specially when the chiefs don't throw long passes. The one time they did get open deep Alex Smith missed him. Couldn't understand why they didn't play closer to the line today. They were giving their receivers too much respect. Over all we can't complain though because they held them in check most of the day.

Question of the year why hasn't Shamarko played some this year......???

 

I give the defense credit, but they weren't playing against Peyton, they were playing Alex Smith. He is not a deep threat. Seems to me, you begin off the line to avoid getting beat deep. You sacrifice stuff underneath. KC matriculated the ball down the field, but who cares about yardage, they gave up no TD's. Would have been nice to make a few more plays on 3rd down and they wouldn't have had as many FG's. That and taunting

 

Truly great defenses get off the field. Our defense spent a lot of time on the field. I am SO SICK AND TIRED OF THE CUSHION! I can not even put it in to words. Yes I know we won but if we give up those easy passes to Brady or Manning we might as well just forfeit the dang game. We do so many asinine things like playing 4 o 5 yds off on a 3rd down stick route! WHY?! Is it because we don't have speed? I love Dick Lebeau and I have not once hoped that he would be fired but I can honestly say that if this ridiculous cushion is gonna stick around I am gonna be in favor of him turning in his playbook. Our offense is near elite level and if we can just fix this dang defense to what it used to be I have no doubt that Ben will get at LEAST one more ring. As it stands right now though, as happy as I am that we made the playoffs, I say that until we truly fix this defense we are not gonna win another Super Bowl.

 

Tuitt was really good too but I would have loved to have seen Da Beard in there too. Actually in the locker room they were asking Tuitt about his comparison to Aaron Smith and he talked about what an honor it is to be mentioned among him. Sounds like that dude really knows what kind of legacy he has to live up to.

 

I think the cushions get tighter and the D plays better when they have a lead. Until they have a lead, our D plays very conservative. Once up by a touchdown or 10 points, things get much better. I think that is part of the overall plan.

 

My question is Ike better than Blake? Once Ike gets healthy is he better for the D or is he more of a liability. I realize we don't have a great CB right now but who is better for our run?

 

I guess I was watching a different game?

 

First half stats I just counted DB'S on all snaps the snap count I got was 44 plays. Of those 44 plays the Defense was in full press coverage 6 times . The defense was in half press on 15 snaps . Mainly the slot WR. Notes the First sack was from No press a zone blitz. The Second sack was from Full Press and they flushed the QB.

So that is 21 of the 44 snaps in some sort of press in Half #1 . A lot more than normal.I be back in a bit with second half numbers.

 

People always paint themselves into a corner to be incorrect when they believe that doing "this or that" is the reason why the defense or offense had success. It's usually never that simple. There are many variables involved from game to game in regard to why the offense or defense had success.

I believe the key to yesterday's defensive performance was stopping the run, applying pressure, and a defense that bent but didn't break in the red zone.

 

No paint in the corner just simple #'s . Now to half # 2 I get a snap count of 41. Of those 41 the Steelers are in press man only 5 times . They where in half press again 7 times. They added what I would call a 3 Quarters press where they pressed all , but 1 guy . They ran that 5 times and the man who was giving the big cushion was Blake .

Notes the 3rd. 4th. and 5th. sacks all came from press coverage . I know I missed one . I will try and go find it . So in total of the 41 snaps in half #2 with 17 looks in some sort of press coverage.

Of course I understand that it all works together , but the numbers even show that at least 4 of the 6 sacks came from full press coverage . Also nice Article on Steelers Depot on how this Team has been just a fraction off in sacks so I do draw a straight line to the added Coverage allowed the Pressure to get home ..

 

I was happy that they focused on the run but they moved the ball with ease and I loved the sacks but remember, this was against Alex Smith who hasn't thrown a TD pass to a WR in over a year. The guy is really good game manager that relies on check downs and dump offs and he threw for 311 yards, I know they didn't get into the end zone and that is a credit to the defense but still, a lot of yards for a game manager that rarely gets to 250 yards. I was worried it would be a long day if we couldn't stop Charles and the first possession seemed like it would be a long day but they pulled it together. The Falcons killed the Saints because they were able to take away the short pass from Brees, the Jets should have beat Brady by doing the same thing, that lead to sacks and pressures but with our CB play it is impossible to duplicate that as our DBs are too slow which is why they get beat for big plays as often as they do so it forces them to play off and just keep everything in front of them. I hope they get better for the playoffs.

 

I don't know why we don't bump guys at the line more often. It can take be disruptive to the timing. Yes, it can also result in the CB getting beat, but that's why we need our safeties to be back there in coverage. When we press guys, we disrupt the quick, short throws and it allows us to pressure the QB. When we give up 10 yard cushions, it let's the offense play catch with ease. Look at the 3rd and 16 that KC converted, we allowed the WR to run almost a 20 yard route without ever pressuring him. Of course they're going to convert when you give a guy 20 yards to work with. There needs to be more of an effort to lock either jam a guy at the line, or at least stick right with him while he runs his route. Make the QB fit the ball in a tight window. Alex Smith doesn't like to do that, he prefers safe throws, and we gave him lots of safe throws throughout the game.

Our CB's aren't great, but they can be better than what we've seen. They are playing too far off and they don't seem to have any concept of disrupting the WR's route.

 

Keep Ike Taylor off the field by any means necessary. Guess I missed Blake denying Bowe a TD? Allen is an upgrade over Troy.

 

It was interesting what Steelers showed against the Chiefs. Most of the game they played without a NT out there. It was just Tuitt and Heyward on the line for most the game.

Shazier and Jarvis only got a few snaps in the second half, with Jarvis playing special teams.

I think the defense is better without Troy and Ike.

 

Yep.