Where does Spence fit?

Simply put, what type of role can he have on this team. He's definitely shown the talent this preseason when he's gotten the opportunity. I'd like to see if they can get him on the field more. But, how do they realistically do that? 2 DE's and 5 LB's? That alignment probably wouldn't work to well on running downs. Is there even a solution to getting him on the field more?

 

as the coaches would say.... it's a very good problem to have...
dare I say it..... shazier/Timmons rank up there with bowman/willis as far as best tandems are concerned, but spence/Williams are practically top 10 as well, and let's not forget garvin at the bottom of the depth chart..........we clearly have the best stable of ilb's in the league...... the coaches will find a way to get people on the field.. this is one of those exciting problems that i'm sure most teams would kill to have

 

Would have to be a version of a 1-5-5 or a 2-5-4 . The 1-5-5 is better suited as a pass Defense and the 2-5-4 is better suited as a run Defense.

Basically both are walk around Defenses and used to blitz and stunt like crazy. The design of these are strictly Attack .Rush the QB and collect the RB on the way to the QB.

The problem I see is at the CB position. When you run this type of D you force a lot of 1 on 1 coverage and put your CB'S on an Island. I am not sold that would be a good ideal, However I would still like to see it and see if we could pull it off.

 

The 2-5-4 is basically a base 4/3 defense, but probably a little lighter in the shorts. Worilds and Jones end up being DEs with Timmons, Spence and Shazier being the LBs. My guess in that arrangement puts Timmons as the MLB. It gets our best athletes on the field.

 

Not really the same IMHO. Big difference between putting hands in the Dirt and players standing up. You simply can't play a base Defense without enough hands in the dirt. Of course you can stunt and blitz from a 4-3 , but you must stunt and blitz from 1-5-5's and 2-4-5's .

The favorite combos are the A gap pressure and the B gap loops, as stated above this forces you to play a lot of man because you are vacating your middle drop players. A lot different scheme than a 4-3 or a 3-4 .

 

I'm still seeing LT getting caught out of position on a lot of plays. shazier is playing like what we though LT should be playing like at this point. I hope shazier helps elevate LT's game to another notch. spence plays smart football for all the time he's missed. maybe that injury was a Godsend for the team as a whole or we may have never drafted shazier.

 

Thinking about this some more, and by no means am I recommending it. Is there any possibility if Shazier and Spence both pan out the way we are hoping, that it could make Timmons expendable in the future? Not that I want to see Timmons go, just curious. I see Shazier as more of a Mack than a Buck. And I think Spence is a Buck, so theoretically Shazier could slide into Timmons's spot, and Spence to Shazier's spot. By no means am I saying get rid of Timmons anytime soon. I'm just posing the question that down the road are we going to be bidding fairwell to Timmons because there's a capable replacement on the team?

 

On 3rd downs Spence can play if they go to 5 LBs, or he should be able to drop and play in coverage and help on ST.

 

Timmons is by far the best player on the Steeler's defense. Suggesting that a guy who broke his body and missed two years will supplant him or make him expendable, at least in the foreseeable future (obviously players lose ability once they get into their 30s), is silly. Shazier could be very good, but let us see if he is consistent after 2 or 3 years. As for Spence, he has had a solid camp, but the notion that a Sean Spence and Vince Williams combo is a top 10 ILB combo in the league is laugh out loud ridiculous.

 

I mentioned that a while back about Timmons. no it's not laughable nor out of the question down the road. LT makes a ton of money and is going into his 8th season already. when his contract is up in a few years, they may think about it, I'd think. salary wise and years played wise. we have parted with other LB'ers at that stage of their careers. it is something to keep an eye on down the road. at the 10-11-12 year range, LT could start to slow down.

 

May I add the Shark, Dick Lebeau really
needs to find time for Spence but also
for Shamarko. These 2 will make our football
team SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better.
Need to be on the field.

 

considering what they've shown in camp and in pre-season, name 10 inside tandems that are better

 

I don't think they're top 10 tandem both of them are backups, and Spence hasn't even played in a regular season game yet.

 

a lot of times when we go to the nickel though lbs do have their hands in the
Dirt

 

I would go with a are the top backup tandem in the league League

 

it would be nice if people read the entire post............. notice that i said CONSIDERING WHAT THEY'VE SHOWN IN CAMP AND PRE-SEASON........... given what they've both flashed, i would take them over most of the starting inside tandems in the league, and i still haven't seen anyone name 10 better yet

 

Are there even 10 teams running a 3/4?

 

almost half the teams in the league run a 3/4

 

That's going to be a difficult task considering what they've shown so far. Williams had been blowing it up in camp and Spence looked really good so far in preseason. I like our ILB depth a lot.

 

wait....you want people to read good luck

 

yeah, I know....... what was I thinking

 

On the bench.

 

Spence should be fine ... unless Larry Foote gets cut in Arizona.

 

B&G it's tough to compare Williams and Spence since one only has one NFL season under his belt and was forced to start before he was ready (and it showed) and the other has never played a meaningful down in the NFL and has missed two consecutive seasons with a serious knee injury... But I'll try

these are the teams that currently run a 34 defense and ill name their starters and whether or not I think Williams/Spence are a better tandem than them.

Steelers - Ryan Shazier, Lawrence Timmons - no (obviously)
Packers - AJ Hawk, Brad Jones - no, but only because of Hawk. Jones is meh
Ravens - Daryl Smith, CJ Mosely/Arthur Brown - no
Browns - Karlos Dansby, Craig Robertson - no, but again mainly because of Dansby
Chiefs - Derrick Johnson, Joe Mays - no
Cardinals - Larry Foote, Kevin Minter - yes. Old foote would've made it closer. foote now... Lol
Redskins - Keenan Robinson, Riley Perry/Darryl Sharpton - idk close
Eagles - Demeco Ryans, Mychal Kendrick's - no
Colts - Jerrell Freeman, D'Qwell Jackson - no
Saints - Curtis Lofton, David Hawthorne - no
Chargers - Donald Butler, Manti Te'o - no
49ers - Patrick Willis, Navarro Bowman - Hell No
Texans - Brian Cushing, Justin Tuggle - no

Thats 13 teams and 11 tandems that are "better" than our backups. If you add 43 LB tandems the number goes up even more. This doesn't mean I'm not excited about our ilb depth, but a top ten tandem is a little much. Let's let these kids get more game time and see what they can become in the future. Either or both of these guys could very well turn out to be really good players.

 

left out the jets, and I would take our back ups over Demario davis and david harris any day

also left out dallas and let's face it... they are the worst defense in the nfl..

by my count, i'm only seeing 4 definitely better than our back ups... 2 or 3 that are debatable, and the rest are grossly overrated