The Reality Is....

We have four 1st round linebackers on the team. I saw Shazier make some stops and Timmons a few times, but nobody from that group made any real plays. If you invest heavily in one area through the draft, you expect returns at some point. Even if they weren't 1st round picks, as a starter in the NFL, you expect them to make plays at some point.

I know everyone is like "just give them time and they will eventually get good". I understand that idea, but in my head, isn't that the expectation of a 3rd or 4th round pick? That you give them time to develop and in a few years they will make plays? I guess we really don't know, since we cut most of our 3rd, 4th, and 5th round picks.

Then the secondary. Oh my.

We knew that it was bad last year, and last year we had Ike, Troy, and McCain. What do we do this year? Draft some guys who looked to have potential. Watch the most talented one go to IR. Watch us trade for an Eagle who apparently is ok but hasn't shown us anything yet. Then cut the other two DBs we drafted.

So out net gain (Loss) for the secondary this season was:

Lost- Taylor, Polamalu, McCain

Gained- Boykin

Even though Taylor and Polamalu were slowed down, look at that list and let that sink in. Let that sink in knowing that the secondary was the weakest area of the team last year.

So it looks like we tried to address it through the draft but failed with the scouting of the players selected.

We even had/have a little bit of cap space. You can go out and find or trade for players that can probably at least offer us potential for the future. Who are we developing right now? We don't have any long term DBs on the team. At all. Gay, Boykin, Blake are all FAs after this year. Outside of Gay playing the slot role, they aren't even worth resigning.

The secondary is a complete mess. We should take a hard look at the draft and players around the league. If we can find a few DBs that we can snatch up for a draft pick, even a higher draft pick, we might want to pull the trigger. Because honestly, the team should have little faith that they have the ability to evaluate and draft defensive talent that can at least make plays, let alone be a HoFer like Polamalu.

Speaking of Troy, we knew he was slowing down for a while and their only attempt to find a replacement was Shamarko? At this point he is a complete bust. 100% unequivocally. Year three and he can't beat Will Allen (and I do like Will Allen) to start. Allen is a year older from last year so he likely lost a step, but he is our starting SS. He is a great backup player. He is someone I want as a backup. He should NOT be the starter.

In addition, Shamarko isn't even good enough to beat out Special Teamer Robert Golden to come in as the 3rd safety? In case you missed it, Golden's blown coverage led to a Gronk TD.

In the end, our offense can carry us as long as the O-line stays healthy and plays the way it did tonight and of course Ben staying healthy. But we will have to completely rebuild the secondary next year. Literally all four starting positions in the secondary could be filled in 2016 by players that currently aren't on the team. That does not bode well at all.

Just my thoughts.

 

did boykin even play? blake is putrid.

 

Never saw Boykin, must be in the doghouse?
Can somebody tell me how you lose sight of the opponents best player
and at 6'6" 260. Can somebody please tell me.

 

ThrowToHeath, I agree and I have to wonder after watching this secondary last night was Grant really that bad???? I know this was talked about in another thread but really cut a 4th rounder who I thought looked ok for this???? Boykin hardly played and our safety play was very bad.

Another area of concern was not just the play of the secondary but also the decisions of the coaching staff. Where was the game planning for gronk, and don't tell me it was to put a cb one on one with him. We had no answer for him and our coaching staff didn't put players in position to stop him, jmo. Hey news flash coaching staff Gronk is a stud and he will eat you for lunch if you don't double him and hit him at the line.

Speaking of coaching staff time to put and end to this 2 fb deal. Why have 2 fb's if you can't punch it in 1st and goal??? Aren't we a passing team now why are we wasting roster spots with 2 fb's when we need secodary help????

 

Thus it is, thus it always has been with Tomlin. The Steelers never look PREPARED, they just "go-with-the-flow." Clock management has been reduced to pee-wee league levels under Tomlin. The game plan is always undecided and confused.

So mote it be in Tomlinland.

 

I wouldn't call Shamarko a bust. There's a reason he went in the 4th round.

 

We have a bit of cap space but I think something like $16 million of the cap is tied up with Woodley and Polamalu.

 

why wasn't shazier matched up on gronk the entire game?

 

come on guys

it's game 1 of 16 regular season games

the STEELERS were sandbagging

we're not going to show them the true defense we will have for their assses when it matters most.

 

This is a very good question. Did we not draft him for his speed?

At any rate, I saw this coming a mile away. EJ Manuel looked like Montana against our secondary so I knew Brady would have a field day. I was extremely worried about Gronk and, well, we all know how that went.

 

We all knew this Defense needs time to gel. Butler calling his first game (they panned over to him a few times and he had this frozen type smile look). The secondary obviously needs the most attention as well as work on the run defense. Hopefully they can sort it out. The Offense can hold there own but stalling drives and missed field goals as result ain't gonna get style points. The D needs to get better or the result will be the same.

 

We all knew this Defense needs time to gel. Butler calling his first game (they panned over to him a few times and he had this frozen type smile look). The secondary obviously needs the most attention as well as work on the run defense. Hopefully they can sort it out. The Offense can hold there own but stalling drives and missed field goals as result ain't gonna get style points. The D needs to get better or the result will be the same.

 

2 words ... conditional pick

They trade for a guy, and now will keep him off the field to keep the 5th round compensation from turning into a 4th rounder.

 

You are going to see very limited Boykin. If he plays more than 60% of the defensive snaps this season the Steelers
have to send the eagles a 4th round pick instead of a 5th round.

 

That would be very short sighted. IF he is good enough to play 60% of the D snaps then he is well worth the difference between a 5'th and a 4'th round pick.

 

Well it might be, but that's going to be the reason why you only see him 59% of the time.

 

Don't worry, once the Steelers are in a hole, then they'll start playing him all the time, and he'll top that 60% mark anyway.

And you're right, it makes no sense. Once the trade was made, the Steelers should have viewed that 4th rounder as sunk cost. They should hope he's good enough to play 100% of the time.

 

The Steelers should stop worrying about pick compensation and play the best man available. Besides, what does a 4th round pick mean to the Steelers? Don't they just cut players drafted in that round? lol.

 

First game for a lot of guys especially on defense. Add in the fact you are playing the defending SB cheaters in their house and then have headset issues on top of it. I am not going to give them a complete pass but to make it sound like we should cut everyone after the first game is overboard in my opinion. I saw several times Jones push his guy right back into Brady. Part of the issue is you can't get to Brady when his first option is usually open after a 3 step drop. I don't think the sky is falling. Now if these same issues persist into games 3 and 4 then I will be a lot more concerned.

 

My opinion; I think Butler had 1st game jitters, and when the offense let 2 field goals miss and bad play-calling ( wide receiver pass when your regular pass game and run game are killing it) is just bad. So Butler fins himself in a 14-3 hole on the road with the home team getting the second half kickoff when it should have been at LEAST 14-9. Think the collar got a little tight and he was at that point just doing damage control. This new defense either needs to be roll the dice and single high safety with 6-7 blitzers or cover 2 man up across the board. I personally would like to see them roll the dice and lots of blitzers.

 

Jones and Dupree will be our future at OLB, and will be very effective. Of this I am certain. Shazier is already pretty amazing and will be the most lauded of the bunch.

The question/concern I have is how long can we keep them all together? Timmons already commands a huge salary and I suspect Jones will want his pay after a solid year. Could be a difficult decision to face when Shazier is ready for his second contract. Do we cut Timmons in order to pay Shazier?

 

I hope you're right that he has a solid year. I'm not so sure he will.

 

Jarvis Jones is a complete bust. He is lost half the time. I hate to say that since im a Ga Bulldogs fan.

 

No problem. We can put a big pile of cash behind the opposing LT ... where Jones will never get it.