Our defense is pretty good, better than you think

So I tallied up the numbers on espn stats. The rankings listed are points per game averages.

On defense for points allowed we are tied with new england 7th.

We have faced 2, 10, 29, 32, 16 ranked offense PPG. 17.8 rated opponent ppg offense average.

jets 1st= only played 4 games. 13, 24, 14 31= avg 20.5 rated opponent avg.
denver 2nd= 10, 14, 30, 23, 20= avg 19.4 opponent offensive ppg
green bay 3rd= 28, 18, 14 32 29= 24.2 avg opponent offensive ppg
carolina 4th= only 4 games= 27, 25 21 19= 23 avg opponent offensive ppg
arizona 5th= 21, 28, 32, 29, 30= 28 avg opponent offensive ppg
minnesota 6th= 4 games only= 32, 30, 16, 17= 23.75 avg opponent offensive ppg
new england 7th= 4 games= 11, 9, 27, 22 =17.25 avg opponent offensive ppg
The lower the # the better, as it's a higher opponent average points per game faced.

I know this can skew things a bit but it's nice to know Steelers havent faced pure garbage offenses compared to the other top defenses.

We are good.

 

If Ben can stay healthy and the defense can continue to grow we really could make a run at number 7 this year. Hopefully Shazier stays healthy also.

 

Team is tied with pats in 4th place for sacks with New England. 16 total. Denver in 1st with 22 Green Bay with 20(2nd). NE and GB are the real deal. We can be too if Ben comes back soon. We are 11th in give/take, 15th in rush avg allowed, 20th pass yards allowed. According to team rankings we are #1 in red zone scoring with 78%. We asked for a better defense, we got it. Asked for better red zone scoring we got it. Should be 5-0 at least 4-1 of not for 2 dropped tds and countless missed fgs.

#wearegood
Get well soon Ben

 

After the Cheatriots game and not a good showing in Preseason they have been a pleasant surprise. Aggressive, sacks are up, turnovers. Just have to work on covering the tight end. They stood up, gassed and kept on bringing it in the San Diego tilt. Yea they gave up some scores but the Offense (Vick) kept them on the field. But they kept the score to 20. As said when Ben comes back this team is going to be dangerous. I like it, I like it alot.

 

Like your points about the D and the red zone but we are as close to being 1-4 as we are to 5-0 since the Rams and SD games could have easily swung the other way. Tough to excel on O though with 1 1/2 arms tied behind their backs with 4th stringers at key positions.

 

Denver could be 0-5. Thing is we won, good teams seem to make that trend, and bad teams don't(Balt). You are correct about the 4th stringers lol. We are making due what we have.

Elite teams find ways to win, injuries are no excuse.

 

Part of me wants to think that the D that we showed in the first meeting with the Pats isn't what we'd show them in a re-match. Wishful thinking probably.

 

I totally agree. We get after the QB, we've been generating turnovers, and generally stopping the run. All things that make you a good defense.

I heard Bill Polian mention our defense as one he thought was "one of the best in the league" and that he thought we are legitimate super bowl contenders with a healthy Ben. I tend to agree.

Funny what happens when our younger D players start to develop into good players. We had a big turnover a few years ago, but have replenished the talent really well. Tuitt, Shazier, Heyward, and Dupree can all be really good players. Even Jones is turning into a pretty darn good player as well.... Now all we need is a SS

 

if we had safeties our D would probably be the best lol.

 

Football outsiders has Steelers defense as #15 by DVOA.

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/dvoa-ratings/2015/week-5-dvoa-ratings

 

Nor would the O the Pats showed us in the 1st match up be what we'd see in a second one. Works both ways sorry to say with those scumbags - remember 2004?

 

Yep. They would just scramble our headsets while we're on offense this time as opposed to when we were on defense last time. They're very tricky that way.

 

They are a lot better than I thought they would be.
Heyward and Tuitt have a lot to do with it.
Like the good old days when you had Kiesel, Smith, and Hampton.
They were the reason Harrison, Woodley, Foote, and Farrior were as good as they were.

 

Upon further review........

Pats= they avg 37.... we kept them to 21
49ers= avg 15..... we let them get 18
Rams= avg 16.8 ... we kept them down to 6
Ravens= 24.6 vs us 20
Chargers= 23.2----- 20

Only the 49ers were able to reach their season avg vs us.

Even further!!!!
.......................................Avg T yds.....avg P yds......avg R yds. Vs steelers.... T yds..... Pass yds..... Rush yds

Pats.................................. 423..............331.................92 -------------------------361............281............80
49ers................................ 307................178................129------------------------ 409...........258............111
Rams................................ 297.................183................113------------------------ 258..........187............71
Ravens.............................. 359.................241.................118----------------------- 356.......... 165............191
Chargers............................ 410................ 318................92------------------------- 406............354...........56

Pass defense we kept opponent under their avg 2 Times, same once and 2 times they excelled.
Rush defense we kept them under their avg 4 times.... Only the ravens excelled their run avg vs us.

In short we getting better the RIGHT WAY!!!!! Rush defense is the foundation!!!! Sacks = QB pressure and we're on pace for a solid season as league leaders there.

Improve safety play and get Boykin on the field more and we should see better pass defense.

Cajun

 

Keep attacking and watch mt seats vanish
and watch the excitement come back to the
North shore