Steelers Defense

This defense has SIX 1st round starters (take one off if you will for Shazier)
This defense has THREE 2nd round starters.
This defense has one 3rd round starter. Two if you count Spence replacing Shazier.
This defense has one 6th round starter.

Let that sink in... I feel their is some talent but not being used properly. As I wrote in another post this defense gets to cute with all the sub packages. High time for simplifying. I don't feel that with the current coaches this unit will excel doing same as it ever was. With no change in floundering coaches. I hope i'm wrong...the clock is ticking.

 

Philly is an exception. That defense is good from top to bottom and it showed in the way the manhandled the Vikings.

You can hang your argument on the first Jags game but you better go back and look, if you can't remember. Ben had his worst game EVER. No team is going to survive 5 INT's with a porous defense at that time (cue a game stat where someone did it). If I remember correctly there were 2 defensive TD's as well.
The defense was starting to come together when Shazier went down. 6 or 7 game winning streak. To lose a talent like that is one thing but that defense was built around him and his leadership. Not to mention making the calls and getting guys in position. If you don't think Shazier is pretty much irreplaceable then well there must be another Steeler team that you are watching.

 

even with shaz we couldn't stop the run and even with shaz green bay and cincy were killing us. I agree he is an important asset but we have bigger problems.

 

BBH what is the "bigger problem" than the defense right now???

 

Yeah, I've lamented that we seem to have development issues, which I also put on the D staff. Hard to know for sure.

I think Tuitt was playing injured all year so I'll say this... after Heyward, Tuitt, Watt, and Hayden, nobody excites me much. However, I do think Burns, Davis, Dupree, Alualu, Hargrave, Williams, Sutton, Wilcox, and Hilton can be part of a good defense. That's still a ~dozen roster spots we could potentially upgrade in some way.

 

i meant, bigger problems on defense meaning mike Mitchell lol

 

when you're right you are right.

With Shaz AFTER the Chicago game we allowed 3.65 ypc. When shaz went down we allowed 5.18 ypc.

Likely would've beaten jax with shaz.

 

Sounds like me lol.

I’m not betting anything. I love this team. I was hating on tomlin but I’m getting some perspective and I’m willing to accept him a little longer. As long as we make the playoffs we have a chance. In the end I’ve witnessed 3 Super Bowls and 2 wins while some fans haven’t witnessed one. Great owner, great stadium, awesome fans, awesome colors, awesome atmosphere.

I was once that kid who sold his soul for a 2005 ring, although I’m not that hardcore anymore I still love this team with a passion.

 

If I had enough strength to debate you I would. If it upsets your little world that much, I won't bother to respond to your post at all since they are usually wrong which is the only reason I respond. Since you don't know anything about me or what I'm going through don't tell me what I'll be doing next year as far as betting is concerned when it's probably less than a 50-50 chance I'll still be here. You have a point that most of my post are not happy and positive and I can't change that. That being the case I'm just going to quit posting on the Steeler forum. I'll still post on the Penguin thread for a while.

 

Knock yourself out over on the Penguins board, maybe you'll find the pity you are looking for there.[/QUOTE]

You act like a complete idiot that has no idea what back to back strokes can do to a person and you obviously don't care. Remember what goes around comes around. You ae simply class-less. Just go far far away.

 

I wonder if Spence had stuck around, rather than looking for starter money, if he would have been more effective in plugging in for Shazier.

I was disappointed in Matakevich on that front - different kinds of player, obviously, and I believe he was injured at points, but I was really hoping he would use that time to shine.

 

TM was hurt and I am hoping that was why we didn't see him but either way he was not given the opportunity to show what he could do other than the game where both he and Shaz got hurt. I wish we would have seen him more as I would like to know for sure if what I think of TM is right cause I think he is a pretty good player, better vs the run than the pass.

 

You'd almost think that once Shazier went down they would have gone back to a more traditional 3-4 such as when Farrior and Foote manned the middle with the front 3 being stout against the run and the OLB bringing the pressure or setting the edge. Simply because they lacked the speed at ILB to be the focal point of the D

 

Yep he and foster had surgery immediately after our season ended. TM was hurt bad. He really shouldn't have been playing at that point. We should have brought Kelsey up off the PS at that point.