Missed Tackles: Fact and Fiction

Great stuff Blast, one more factor that comes into play about tackling. It is not just missing tackles it's also about wanting to tackle, getting off blocks, and gang tackling. Many times last year Dupree, Burns, and whoever was playing MLB couldn't get off blocks or even took bad angles. Add these to the missed tackles and you got a mess on defense.

 

So of the top 6 defenses by yards last year - Minn, Jax, Phil, Den, Pitt and Ari - 2 are at the bottom of that list, 3 near the top and 1 in the middle.

Kind of makes you think what we could achieve if the tackling was fixed.

 

Our defense isn’t close to being as bad as some people say.
Thanks for posting Blast.

 

As I had shown in another thread, we had the lowest number of defensive snaps in the league. Buffalo had 126 more defensive snaps than we did for example. That adds to our stinkness. Less chances more missed tackles. Not good when you put those two categories together.

 

Nice breakdown, but I saw 149 missed tackled in the Jax games alone.

 

So the Steeler led the league in missed tackles, by a lot. (They were 'only' 10 behind Buffalo, but nobody else was more than 7 behind the team in front of them).
They managed to lead in missed tackles while facing the fewest defensive plays.
They also were near bottom in giving up big plays, and communications problems were abundant.

But some how this is evidence that the D isn't REALLY that bad?

 

Separate point:
The missed tackle stat reminds me of Compubox scoring in boxing. It's not always a tangible action like a sack or a pick. I saw an article that also included 'drag tackles' as missed tackles, but only if the defender was dragged X amount of yards, or something like that.

 

So in other words... the Steelers were the worst tackling team in the NFL. I could have saved you a lot of trouble.

 

Stats are informative, but they never paint a full picture. With those stats Blast posted, you could point to the fact that we were middle of the pack most of the year and only had a few really bad games that skewed the stats. But then when you consider we had the fewest defensive snaps in the league, the missed tackles stats become that much worse.

Stats can never tell the whole picture. Stats also don't take into account the level of competition we face. If we get lucky and face a ton of 2nd string QB's, is a middle of the pack defence really something to brag about? What about if we play Brees, Brady, Rodgers, and all the other top QB's in the league with a bunch of injuries on defence, then suddenly a middle of the pack defence is something to brag about.

The only thing that tells the whole picture is watching every snap and assessing it for yourself. Of course that's not objective and what Blast sees could be different from what I see. What I have seen for many years now is communication issues. We just never seem to be on the same page. I've also seen us struggle with mediocre teams. Worst of all, I'm tired of 2nd and 3rd string QB's looking like Tom Brady every time they play us.

I know what I see and quite frankly I'm not concerned with stats. Our defence hasn't impressed me since our 2008 Superbowl. Ever since then, we've been very mediocre regardless of who we draft or who our defensive coaches are

 

When you’re the worst TACKLING team in the league and the game you’re playing is TACKLE football, you’ve got a problem. For those who are saying our defense is “not that bad”, did you watch our defense last season? We had a habit of making the mediocre quarterback look magnificent, we gave up more big plays (40 yard plus) than virtually any other team in the league and we were the worst tackling team in the NFL as the research above confirms. And some of you want to continue to defend the defense. Face it guys, OUR DEFENSE SUCKED BIG TIME LAST YEAR! Hope it gets better, but if not, Butler’s butt needs to be hotttt!

 

Exactly.....stats never tell the whole story,no matter what you're trying to prove. The coaches on the defense haven't really changed besides DBs and DL and that's only this season so the jury is out on Bradley and Dunbar. Who has remained constant are the HC and the DC. I know on paper Butler has only had 3 seasons but he is very much a disciple of Lebeau. Only now are they trying to incorporate different schemes that seem to be having a difficult time in gaining any traction. We are still faced with communication issues that I'm waiting to see how quickly they can be resolved. I still say scheme and coaching deficiencies are a major factor. To sum it up,guys aren't being put in the best position to succeed. There is talent there for sure. Look at the draft picks on the D....5 number ones (6 if you include TE). 2 number twos,2 number threes and a 6 and a ? at ILB. We should be able to do something with that.....
I honestly like the talent and potential of this defense. Now it's strictly on the coaches to make something out of what we have. I think a major part of the future success of this defense will hinge on the FS position . If Davis can become a true ball hawk and a stopper on the chunk plays it can make the surrounding players jobs much easier and will help to define responsibilities and hopefully lead to more aggression and better tackling than what we have seen. Now let's just see if the coaches can still **** it up....

 

How many missed tackles did Shazier have? How many of those were on plays most ILBers wouldn't have even been in position to miss a tackle? As always with stats there is a lot going on behind the raw numbers.

 

And I think tackling, or lack there-of, will be even more of a problem this season. Seen tentativeness /hesitation in the exhibitions. Heads going up, heads lowering, shoulders raising, i'ts a mess and going to be a hot mess going forward!

It may all come to a head this year. Hear the disgust already

 

I agree that stats don’t tell the whole picture. There is context to every snap of the ball which stats never do justice to.

What I took more from the OP was that the missed tackles stat doesn’t mean too much in terms of where the D gets you.

As you say, communication and coverage breakdown is the absolute killer for us. And when we were slaughtered by Jax and Chicago and their running game, it was gap discipline as much as tackling.

 

Thanks for that analysis. I`m thinking, what if we did win the Bears game that had the worst tackling and therefor got #1 seed? Tackling is important, but isn`t a cure all it seems.

 

Tackling is a cure all. It prevents big plays which leads to first downs which leads to touchdowns which leads to the mighty Blake Bortles nearly putting up fitty on ya. See how that works.

 

Dead last in missed tackles, why, they're similar to the '85 Bears.

 

I think it boils down to the eye test like many have said. We know what a good D is supposed to look like. You can take the stats and try and put them into context all you want but there are too many variables involved. If you give up that many points at home in the playoffs ,it's bad defense no matter what you try to pinpoint as the reason and there are a few....