Are we REALLY running the same D?

There has been lots of discussion about our D running the same schemes it has for years. I just don't see it that way. The Blitzburgh defense blitzed a lot, and we seem to hardly ever blitz anymore. Now we often seem to only rush five occasionally and drop into soft coverage. That ain't the creative blitz packages we had in the glory years. I think Lebeau realizes he doesn't have the talent he used to, and has designed a scheme to minimize the damage as much as possible. Sure, it ain't working, but the guy probably isn't as stupid or clueless as lots of people are calling him.

 

Key word is soft coverage

 

I agree. I don't give a damn what scheme you're running. If you're not winning one on one match-ups then you're not winning football games and our front 7 is loosing more of those match-ups than they're winning which explains why teams are now able to successfully run against us and why we can't get any pressure on the QB which was a major problem last year as well.

 

I don't agree. From my perspective we have 2 things which have happened.

1. Tomlin's Cover 2 influence has reduced the number of times we take a risk to make a splash play. Tomlin talks about how they haven't been happening. While I agree, when you don't give the team the opportunity it isn't going to happen.

2. We just get ZERO pressure on the QB. Even when we bring 6 guys it appears that the other team either knows where they are coming from or is able to pick it up. It appears we have become somewhat predictable in our scheme.

 

Sorry but I don't agree. Tomlin's cover 2 influence has been no influence at all. He's let DL do his own thing with the defense since day one and on the point about the other teams knowing where the blitz is coming from that doesn't matter much when your guy is better than theirs. It's the same reason why some teams can run the ball effectively even when the entire stadium knows that's exactly what they're going to do. They not only do it but they'll do it with the same play over and over again. Why ? Because their O/L is better than the guys they're opposing