Time for Tomlin to assert some control!

Mike Tomlin was hired as HC of the Steelers after establishing his reputation as a great defensive coordinator. Quite frankly, our defense has not benefitted at all from Tomlin's tutelage and the reason for that is because of Dick Lebeau's influence. Well, the NFL now has the great DL figured out and it's time Tomlin asserted some control over the defense. Tomlin was a 4-3, cover 2 coach in Tampa Bay and in Minnesota but he decided, rightfully so, to defer to Lebeau's 3-4 philosophy when he became coach of the Steelers and has not seemed to be involved much in establishing the defensive character of this team. Well, I do believe that the time is now for Tomlin to start putting his stamp on this defense. Lebeau's zone blitz scheme has run its course and it's been great while it lasted, but the fact of the matter is the rest of the NFL now has it figured out.

 

While I hate to agree...the majority of the time this is true. The "scheme" still has its moments/etc....but yeah. It seems to be nearing the end.

 

Seemed to work pretty well against the Jets.

 

Mark Sanchez is one of the worst quarterbacks in the league. He drove up and scored the first drive then Timmons gave him *probably* a concussion and he couldn't complete a pass if his life depended on it.

 

It didn't work too well against the Broncos in the wildcard game, the Broncos in the opening game, or the Raiders yesterday. And it didn't seem to work too well in big situations last year when the Steelers needed to get pressure on the QB or needed a big stop in a big game. It's run its course.

 

I agree 100%

I hate when I say anything negative following a loss it's dismissed as "another sky is falling post." Well, after watching Carson Palmer and his cast of no-name receivers tear apart our defense like the greatest show on turf, I'd say the sky IS falling. I also don't think Harrison and Polamalu make much of a difference in that game, and the fact is they're both close to done, so we need to figure out how to play without them.

Lebeau can't stop a team when they go into all out passing mode. And honestly our run defense is a shell of what it was with Farrior and Aaron Smith in there. I love Lebeau and the man deserves his hall of fame spot, but it's time for him to move on.

I love that we got someone that's creative on offense, but we need the same on defense now. It frustrates the hell out of me when I watch a team like Atlanta give Peyton Manning fits, when they have nowhere near the talent on their defense that we do.

 

1) I'm afraid you're right about that. They are mere remnants of what they once were, especially Troy.
2) Absolutely! And IF Keith Butler wants to run the same defensive scheme as DL, he's not that guy.

 

So you saying Tim Tebow and Palmer are great QBs? we should have crushed them yesterday. Even Miami beat them 35-13.

 

Good point. The only thing I can say about us beating the Jets and getting to Sanchez is that we were at home???

 

I think and hope that maybe we see more of a hybrid type run going forward. Be creative and run both of them. We have the DT's to stuff the middle. I think the 3-4 should be the primary D used but change it up to give them a different look. The NFL is about confusion at the line of scrimmage. Yesterday when we blitzed we couldn't get to Palmer. Yet Oakland got to Ben when they needed to.

Right now our d is not good and that is tough since Pittsburgh teams are usually built with defense first.

 

You hit the nail on the head right there. When we were stopping the run consistently we could at least make teams one dimensional to where they absolutely had to throw the ball well to win. Now that teams are having success running the ball against us we no longer have that advantage and it's showing big time.

 

agreed

 

I think that it is to late for a complete change, but DL needs to be ordered to make some adjustments. Other than that it is what it is this year.

 

Steel, I agree with you on DL, but apparently Atlanta does have better talent then we do on defense because they got the job done against Manning. They intercepted him three times in the first quarter of their game. We have one lucky INT in three games. Plus they sacked him like 3 or 4 times. We sacked him once. They are 3-0, we are 1-2 and can't win on the road. The Falcons beat the Chargers on the raod pretty handily yesterday. So I would take their defense before ours.

 

It's been time. At first I wouldn't have thought about DL not being in the Burgh. Now, it is way past his time. His stuff just doesn't work anymore. The rest of the league has caught up to him. He never makes any adjustments that make a difference. Other teams who run the 3-4 are still having success with it, but nor the Steelers. Whats up with that. One thing that I see with the Steelers is that the talent is not good anymore. Timmons, Worlids, Sylvester, Carter, Hood, Lewis, Brown, and Ta'amu are not pro-bowlers or superstars.

Also, this is what is going to piss everybody off more then ever is when Troy and Harrison comes back and the results remain the same. Neither one of them will make a difference.

 

that's the problem , all the players we drafted on defense under tomlin are average at best except woodley that is good but alone .
hood worilds carter sylvester mundy are bust and still on the roster
now le'ts hope heiward c. allen c. brown spence and taamu are serviceable

 

www.brokenrecord.com

Same problems, different year. Yada, yada, yada.

This team is kinda like the election. We are in trouble and have been for number of years. Same problems that do not get addressed year in year out. One side, says don't worry. Keep things the same, it will all work out, eventually. The other side says we need to change course. The same things are NOT working and we need to change course.

I'm for changing course. Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is Einstein's definition of insanity. I guess we can just call them the Pirates!

rutan

 

Tomlin exert control?

Ohhhh, scary ain't it? He really strikes fear in the hearts and minds of the players, right? Not. He's a talker, not a doer.

Wasting challenge calls, which BTW, 80 percent were overturned yesterday, but not Tomlin's dopey challenge with Heath. You would think he never saw an NFL game before. He is as dumb as a bag of hammers. The rule has been for years that a receiver MUST maintain control thru the entire catch. Ray Charles could have seen the ball rolling around on his side. Yet he challenges it.

On and on it goes with this guy. But as usual, he will say something witty and everyone will get that tingling feeling down their leg. Sounds incredibly familiar to another loser who is all talk, but little action and leadership.

Clearly, there is something amiss when the same problems exist year after year without any attempt to fix the problems.

rutan

 

we draft late every year. these teams that are getting decent now, like the 49'ers, texans, miami,cards,seattle to name a few have picked alot of years in the top 10 and 15 of the draft. they should be better. even oakland.

gilbert may be a 2nd rounder but we reached a position or two ahead of where he should have gone. ziggy was ahead of where he should have gone in the slotting. it gets a little muddled at the bottom of the first to the second. we are not very good at picking 2nd rounders for some reason and these low 1st rounders fit right into that scenario. money is tight so you can't have probowlers at every position. there was a time when we had backups that could have started with most teams, well they have aged with the starters and are just not near as good. we are rebuilding, like it or not, and we have no leadership.

it takes me back to august when we cut jerrod johnson. why would we keep two old washed up guys over a player that showed promise? now it's another year later and our old guy broke his hip tripping over his walker and we don't have anyone to replace him with, when JJ could have had a year of learning under his belt by then. why we haven't been stockpiling young o-linemen on our PS is beyond me. JJ could have been there this year and could have been the 3rd stringer next year. now he loses a year of work in the offense. i'm just using him for a for instance. OLB,ILB,CB,S why not keep guys that could turn into something down the road. if cromartie smith isn't going to be good enough to make the team by his 3rd year, why is he on the PS instead of some other new talent? i love malecki, but they know he's just an emergency C. why not then sign another young C/G type guy that could end up better then he or legursky at some point? my point anyway in all this is, it's poor management of players and scouting. there's trouble in the ranks somewhere.

 

I really hate to jump the gun, with a "knee-jerk" reaction to this last loss to Oakland, but I am wondering if the writing on the wall has been there for a while, and I am just too stubborn to see it?
I have been a huge supporter of D.L., while others have called him into question, and I might feel differentley, if this defense steps up, and pitches a shutout, or 10 point game against Philly in a couple weeks, but...
I am just kinda tired of not having faith in my D. Whether it`s third and long, or protecting a lead... we just don`t seem to be getting it done, or inspiring confidence in me, lately(Really, this goes back to Flacco Picking us apart with a couple minutes left 2 or 3 years ago...)...
I am hoping, I am just over-reacting to the latest loss, but it seems like this has been going on for a while.
It just sounds like blasphemey, to me, to suggest that the game has passed LeBeau by...
Is it?, or is it just the players he has?
I find that hard to believe, also...
I love LeBeau... But even last year, our rankings didn`t seem to equate with our overall results...
Maybe that has to do with the rule changes, but isn`t his job to adjust to them, and find a way to adapt?
I know it`s tuff, but...?

 

aaron smith,hoke,gay,mcfadden,farrior,troy,harrison. you don't just replace this in a year with the next guy up.

 

Good point

 

Can't blame all of this on DL guys. The players aren't doing their jobs out there. Performance was at a low Sunday. It appears to me that we just don't have the talent out there that maybe some of us thought we did. But I will say I too am contemplating if moving forward next season without DL isn't the right move.