Disturbing Trend

I posted my feelings in a different thread but I decided to post this for those that thought perhaps the team was slacking against the Browns because it was a useless game. After the 4 loss streak was over and we began to win, the defense was stepping up when the offense fell apart and all I saw was analysts talking about the play of the defense and even myself, Mr. Skeptical was beginning to buy in but not now. The last 3 weeks, not just the Browns game but the last 3 weeks the defense has played poorly and it began with Cincinnati, and then we made Joe Flacco look like the second coming of Joe Montana as we coun't stop the Ratbirds, good thing for bad throws every now and again. We needed the offense to step up and they did, but every time they got a lead late in the 4th it would be for not as the very next possession the other team would march effortlessly down the field and score so we needed last minute heroics. My point is this game wasn't an anomaly, this defense, despite the fact the team is winning, is playing like it did during the 4 game losing streak and I honestly believe we give up 200+ yards on the ground to Ajayi next week, and don't say if we have Tuitt back all will be right, it won't. The extreme swings in the way this team plays is why Tomlin has critics, the team I saw the last 3 weeks looks as if it doesn't practice or game plan, I understand the offensive stars didn't play but the first team defense played the entire game and looked even worse than they did the previous 2 weeks, the difference being they played a team that is beyond bad. The secondary play has really regressed, no passes are being defended or even contested, Cocrell looks like he is either hurt or wearing shoes made of lead and he can't tackle to save his life, Artie Burns is now trying to jump routes and getting beat badly doing it, and I'll throw Shazier in the mix too, he is always around the ball but misses more tackles than he makes. This team came very close to being 8-8 the last 3 weeks as the offense was struggling and the defense can't stop anyone, the only hope we have of winning anything against playoff teams is to win in a shootout with no mistakes and hopefully a poorly throw ball on a 3rd down that lets the defense off the field for a possession or 2. The problem with that scenario is we commit far to many penalties for that to happen, either holding calls, false starts or dropped passes will doom us from winning a shoot out, and that lack of discipline is another reason why Tomlin gets criticized. So as the defense gets worse by the week, I can only hope Ajayi misses the flight so I can get an extra week of high blood pressure while watching 18 yard cushions and holes for RBs that you can drive a truck through while the offense heaves long bombs in desperation. I hope one of the coaches can patch this team up to at least make a run and if not, at least keep the score respectable.

 

The thing is, we just aren't going to get any pressure on Moore this Sunday.
The good news is that Ajayi is nursing a shoulder, but Moore can get him the ball in space.

Bell should have a good game against Miami, so the running game is a push.

Ben needs to be the difference maker, but I think the Browns sacked Landry 4 times on sunday, so the O-line needs to step it up and protect Ben on sunday.

I think Ben is going to be off his game this week because he sat out last week.
And the Steelers won't be coached up and play down to miami's level.

This looks like a 23-20 game.

 

Do you realize that with a 7 game win streak, the Steelers are the hottest team in the NFL right now. Even over the, "I think we can run the table" Packers

 

It's really not that disturbing that the Defense is really not top caliper yet. They have their moments but consistency is lacking.
I'm concerned about the Hargrave concussion. With a top rung back coming in they will try to run it down the throat.
And why, why was Timmons out there the whole game? Where was Vince Williams?

 

Actually I thought the offense has played poorly the last 3 weeks (excluding this game which was meaningless), and the defense has kept us in it.

You can't rely on 6 FGs ala the Bengals game and win. When that happens then your defense is doing their job. The offense finishes half those drives and the Bengal game would have been a laugher.

Ben put the defense in terrible positions with his INTs against the Ravens. Giving up the late drive was disappointing, but that happens to all teams in the NFL. That grey area of the clock where you play prevent and get out of your normal calls on certain down and distances. It's easy to say knowing we won, but even with the last drive I thought the defense was fine against the Ravens considering how the game played itself out

 

The offense did play poorly against the Bengals but if you thought they played good, well maybe you just never saw good defense. The Bengals scored on every single first half possession, EVERY SINGLE ONE!!!!! Not a stop to be had and that forced the offense to be sort of one dimensional, not an excuse but that is tough for any offense to do when you need to match score for score when the defense can even muster field position. Not excusing the offense but you are looking at teams with QBs that are ok but not great and the defense has no answer, Dak Prescott has 1 300 yard game, against our great defense. I don't care for stats except the score but when you say you thought the defense played well in a game that they couldn't get a stop in an entire half, well if that is good play I'd hate to see the bad play. The Ratbirds game I agree, Ben had 2 picks that put the team in a bad situation but then they get the lead late in the 4th quarter only to see Flacco look like a hall of fame QB and go right down and score and what makes it bad is it looked effortless, that game the defense only had 3 stops, if not for a bad snap and to bad passes the teelers lose that game and not because of INTs but because the defense allowing long drives that lead to scores. Now one can argue that they did limit the Ratbirds to FGs instead of TDs but it wasn't the defense, it was a penalty followed by a poorly thrown ball, the defense did nothing to stop the Ratbirds and that is my point. This defense has to rely on mistakes made by the opposing team to get off the field and to not score, and not just small mistakes, the QBs have either have a really bad throw or the receiver have to drop passes and even the KC game, we would have been in trouble if it wasn't for their guys getting the droppsies early in that game. This defense stops no one, and now the team faces play off caliber teams, and it was evident yesterday that we either have to sell out with 10 guys in the box against the run or rush 2 and drop everyone in coverage against the pass because like it or not, that unit is horrendous.

 

First of all, BK, paragraphs are your friend.

But I do agree with your premise. Our defense has looked somewhat porous of late and to quote a much maligned phrase, Tomlin, Butler and company had better get that "buttoned up" in the playoffs. I just posted in another thread that we've fallen behind by 2+ touchdowns early the last three weeks and if we do that in the playoffs we're going home!

 

Agree our defense has had some tough moments, but they've mostly found a way to get it done.
Getting down by two touchdowns early is not what you want to be doing in any game especially the playoffs, but it's not an automatic death sentence.
As for the paragraph thing, yeah I stopped reading after a few sentences.

 

Not an automatic death sentence, but against the likes of KC and NE, survival chances are extremely slim. Even against Miami who ran the ball down our throats the first time with Jay Ajai we'd be hard pressed to come back.

 

Agree, but I'm not giving up till the final whistle sounds.

 

I think it is more likely the Oline and defense was just mentally flat after that emotional game with the rats, even the rats were flat on both offense and defense yesterday when they let the bungles just cruise by them, so with our flat game behind us it's time to get back on that emotional high for the Fish Sunday.....

 

Our D is OK,not great ,but i think its good enough if given protection from our offense ..
I mean come on ,,versus the ravens they were put in VERY tough spots by our offense all night ,mainly by Ben and Bos..
In the playoffs against KC or NE they will not hold up to such pressure ..

I believe "their best is good enough" to get it done ," if " the offense gives them a little help.
I truly believe our offense is what we should be concerned with ,,eliminate the dumb bonehead mistakes ,don't settle for FG's and be the high powered offense we keep hearing about for a change ,and I think the D will do their part .

 

Yes and then had 20 yards of TOTAL offense in the second half.

 

Yesterday's game was such a blessing in disguise. Forget about the first half, I loved seeing how the various components on O and D seemed to gel in the second half once they gained their sea-legs (1st string D was out to lunch in first half). #34,33,15 and 17 (even 88) all began to excel during 2nd half. Especially liked the way D Will adjusted for 2nd half - knocking off the rust - this will help a lot during playoff run. I wouldn't lump the Browns game in with the do or die games against Balt and Cincy the previous 2 weeks - Browns game was about staying healthy and trying on different personnel. In the end - same positive result - W!

 

In all honesty the D has been par for the course the past few weeks. They've been fairly inconsistent all season, which is what you get when you're sending out a bunch of first and second year players in prominent roles like 3/4 of our starting secondary, 1/3 of our DL starters and guys like Chick and Walton playing some snaps. They've looked really good at times, and pretty mediocre at times... and often in the same game. We are what we are on defense this year. We give up some yards but we manage to buckle down in the RZ more often than not and limit the damage.

A perfect example of this is the Cincy game. We couldn't stop $h!t in the first half, then we completely shut them down in the second half. Literally I can't remember if they had a first down or not in the second half. It was dominant. The Ravens game I thought the D was pretty good too. Ben gifted the Ravens the game but the D managed to keep us in the game by not allowing a TD on Ben's second pick. The fourth quarter go ahead TD was not ideal tho. Same with the browns game. 4th quarter TD to send it to overtime was bad. It did seem like they were a team playing not to get hurt in a game that they knew didn't matter tho.

Basically we've won 7 games in a row (almost half a season) and that's not easy to do in the NFL. The defense must be doing something right because the offense hasn't been averaging 30 points or anything like that. We're going to be up and down defensively in the playoffs just like we were in the regular season. We will win games if they stiffen up in the RZ and not let the other team score TD's tho. Football is a team effort and we're going to need both sides at a high level if we want to win more than a game or two in the playoffs.

 

Here's why we won 7 games in the row: browns x2 , Colts, Bills, Bengals, Ravens. 1 playoff team, the Giants. How many of those games did we win decisively? 3 . That losing streak: Dolphins, Patriots, Raven's, Cowboys. 3 playoff teams. We got our asses kicked in 3 of the 4 games.

 

Elite defense since week 11 brah

 

Many fans did on Twitter after the Kyle Juyzchek score. You know what that means Glenn....


Blame Tomlin!!

 

What is with all this miami and ajai crap.
Miami sucks they are horrible. They only beat us because ben was hurt.
We will score a lot and win decisively. Ajai overrated because of his 3 big games

 

This defense is average, so they struggle to put teams away. Only Steelers fans would be whining and complaining after a 7 game win streak .

 

It's hard getting your heart broken by your favorite team. But dang some people get so scorn that they can't enjoy anything. They're always waiting for something bad to happen. I enjoy watching and supporting the team win or lose. Sometimes it's tough, but some of these fans bring everyone down with their relentless negativity.
I've watched games with fans of other teams and I haven't had any of them talk as much trash on the Steelers as some of our own.

 

Well we is what we is and we got what we got. So we just gotta go with what we got.
I am rooting for us

 

Yep

 

lol I was going to write something longer but I think this was the gist of it.

 

They were out there half arsing it yesterday, trying to not get hurt for a playoff run. Bell is in mid season form. Ben Bell are the new Elway and TD.