On further review - A team out of balance

After calming down after last week's game end reflecting on the past few years, I think the big picture is the Steelers are a team out of balance. Through evolution and decisions, the Steelers have switched from an defensive oriented team to an offensive one, and the balance has swung too far in that direction. Some of this is not their fault - they have lost too many good players on defense to either age, injury, retirement or all of these, and are left with a young and not very talented defense, especially in the secondary. They avoid man-to-man coverage, probably because they don't have the talent, and are left with zone coverage. Given enough time, any quarterback in the league can find holes in the zone (we have too much evidence for this), and that is what has happened. The front 7 are not able to get consistent pressure to create mistakes, even with rookie or 4th string quarterbacks, so our defense is the weak link.

Or so everyone thought. Our offense has the weapons to be a juggernaut. Best wide receiver in the league, a deep scoring threat, a consistent tight end, a veteran and top-flight quarterback, and a tandem of running backs that must make other teams jealous. No wonder we have switched to an offensive-oriented team. The current talent demands this.

But, the offense can't be counted on. Sure, they have been plagued with injuries. But, even when healthy (as far as we know) they are inconsistent and unreliable. I think they have become too pass-happy, which makes sense given the weapons at their disposal, but they overlook the run too quickly. We will never know if it is Haley or Ben (or Tomlin) who is making the final decisions on what plays get run, but it seems to cater to Ben's tendency to go for the big play, throw the ball, deep, even when that is not the best option. And when Ben is off, the team is sunk, as they don't seem to have or rely on other options (e.g., the run game). When he is "on" he is spectacular, but he is often "off" quarters, halves, or sometimes full games. And Ben is off often enough to lose 2 or 3, often critical, games a year, Usually against inferior opponents. And that puts us in a big hole. And he no longer has a defense to back him up.

There is often blame that Tomlin does not have his team ready for weak opponents, and this is likely true. But the star quarterback is often sub-par in these games, and he needs to be held accountable. And I don't mean hearing him at press conferences saying "I take responsibility for those interceptions"; I am tired of hearing that - I want them to stop being stupid interceptions. No more, "Oh, AB is in single coverage - I'll send it deep. Oops - didn't see the safety - now it is double coverage and he isn't open. Interception. My bad". Or, "Third and short - I think we'll go for the bomb instead of hitting Heath for the first down. Missed. Fourth down. Oops. My bad". Or, "Third and short in field goal range - I know I can keep this alive until someone breaks open. Sacked. Oops. Out of field goal range. My bad".

I have heard people say that Tomlin has wasted Ben's prime years. I think Ben has wasted Ben's prime years. His inconsistency has created an inconsistent team, and this has been exposed more dramatically by the sub-par defense.

Sure there is plenty of blame to be spread around - players not executing, players being dumb, coaches making odd decisions, team seeming not ready, bad game planning, poor play calling - all is responsible for this team's mediocrity this year and the past few years. It is the ultimate team game, and teams lose games, not individuals - coaches and players alike.

I fear more years of stellar play and abysmal losses to poor teams until the defense can right itself or Ben retires. Sure, much can be laid at Tomlin's feet as well, as he has shown no ability to correct this issue over the last few years - isn't that what a head coach should do?

I still bleed back and gold.

 

Nice read but I rue the day Ben retires. They just don't have the Defense to complement the Offense. I'm not giving Ben a pass here and he does have those head scratcher games but the Defense is pitiful. Stop someone. That's your job whether a pick was thrown or not. Lot's of Defensive ill's going into the off season unless by some miracle the Bills win, oh and they don't get embarrassed by the clowns...

 

Very well said. I would point out also that we have four first rounders at LB and a first and second rounder on the DL and we still can't generate enough pressure on the likes of Ryan Mallett, Brock Osweiller, AJ McCarron and Johnny Manziel to force them into mistakes to help our lackluster secondary. In fact, they all had career high passing days against us. That is NOT all on the secondary!

 

Whiffing on Jarvis Jones hurt us big time. Lord do I miss the days of having Woodley(pre hamstring issues) and Harrison at OLB. Back then our OLB's were good for 25 sacks a season, now we've got 14 between 4 of them. The way I see it the Steelers have two options for the 2016 season. They either draft immediate impact players at OLB and CB(minimum one each,preferably two) or they sign proven impact players at those positions. We could use help at Safety, but I'm still hoping(probably foolishly) THomas will pan out. He's got the physical tools, he just keeps making mental errors.

 

I totally agree on Woodley. Man I really loved him when he had his crap together. I honestly consider him our best pick at the position since Tomlin got here. Timmons is solid but I thought of LaMarr as more of a true "playmaker" than him. The players say that Timmons is Tomlin's absolute pet and favorite player on the team though.

 

Agreed - not all on the secondary, but on the defense (and maybe the scheme) overall. I don't see too many pro-bowl appearances for any of our defense in the next few years, and we used to be stacked.

 

or... continue transitioning to a Cover 2 defense. Focus on improving the secondary, it cannot be ignored any longer

 

Butler and Tomlin don't ask the DBs to cover tight because they know they don't have the talent and will get beat.

 

Cover 2 isn't exactly something new for the Steelers. They've always run it to some extent. I seriously doubt we're making the shift to a pure cover 2 team. It's just another thing they can do.

 

nobody is really a "pure" anything team. But we have definitely shifted significantly from relying heavily on Cover 3, to being much more of a cover 2 defense. And the limit in spash plays against from the last few years to this year is a result of that. My favorite cliche is "being multiple" but it's absolutely true in today's NFL.

 

I agree the team is out of balance. Ben has completed 70% of his passes the last 3 weeks. Ben is playing better than people think or will admit.

Fact is that the Steelers play a style that lends itself to turnovers and mistakes. Haley's short yardage game is played less and less as the Steelers fall behind or are in 3 and long.

 

The defense has complemented the offense at times this year. The defense stopped teams. The defense only gave up 7 points to the Ravens in the 2nd half. At times, the defense probably played better than anyone expected. Overall they've probably played better than anyone expected. They've given up an average of 20.5 points pg. That's good enough for 11th in the league. The best ppg defense gave up an average of 17.5 ppg. The defense may not have been as pitiful as you believe.

The Steelers would probably have a better record if the offense had taken care of the football in a couple of games.

 

I think they have shown this year when the defense as a whole is aggressive and Butler is taking a risk/reward approach they get good pressure on teh QB and the sacks and turnovers are there. When he gets conservative and sits back in that rush 5 (3DL 2OLB) with zone behind it they get picked apart. So going forward for whatever its worth they should be ultra aggressive

 

Its cool if we are a offensive 1st team, but I think what we have seen recently, in the past couple weeks, is our offense hasn't been too dangerous.

Heath has slowed down, Martavis has not been much of a threat, and AB has been held in check agains the Ravens and Seahawks.

 

Perhaps they actually try to have the offense and defense balance each other. When the offense opts for high risk/high reward (more bombs, chuck it on third and short), the defense plays conservative (play coverage). When the defense plays high ridk/high reward (blitz and take your chances), the offense plays conservative (run and dink and dunk). I'd have to review lots of games, but perhaps this is the pattern. Unfortunately, it looked like a conservative defense in Baltimore and the risk on offense did not pay off. I think they became enamoured with the high risk offense and refused to try to unleash the defense when the offense was sputtering.

 

Or can't do well

 

Don't forget special teams is 1/3 of the team, that needs to be good too to be a championship team.