The Steelers need to change their philosophy

The NFL is a passing league and with the enforcing of the rules on defense, you better have guys in the secondary that can cover. My biggest problem with them is since Aaron Rodgers carved them up in the Super Bowl after the 2010 season, not much has been done to fix the problem. You still have the same guys playing CB Gay and Taylor. I said this during the last NFL draft it was deep at the CB position, and they should've double dipped but what do they do they draft two ILBs instead . Shazier is a good player but even Stevie Wonder could see they needed help at CB, what do we get a fifth round Shaq Richardson who we don't know if he can play injured most of camp, and not likely to contribute much this season. I just had to vent on this subject.

 

I have been saying this for years; I don't care how many LB's and D-linemen you bring in, our corners still suck and it has not been addressed.

 

I long for the days that we will see a great corner on this team that doesn't give the 10-12 yard cushion and can match stride for stride the receiver who also has the ability to go up and snag the ball out of the air consistently. Unfortunately that day may never come.

 

Though I agree that the league is now a passing league, I think the Steelers were right in drafting as they did the past couple of years with their 1st round selections.

I personally think that the current rules prevent even the best DBs from dominating. A case in point is last year's SB. Peyton, aside from the 2 interceptions, had a good game statistically (34 of 49, 280 yards)--the Seahawk secondary was far from shutting him down, though they were one of the best in the league. The interceptions were caused not by stellar coverage but by good pressure and hits on Peyton. With the level of talent at the QB position these days in conjunction with the rules as they are, you simply can't hope to be dominate defensively with DB play. A perfect pass beats perfect coverage every time...and getting perfect coverage is very difficult--there simply aren't enough Sanders/Revis type guys available.

To me it seems the way to be dominant defensively is 1) stop the run consistently, making opponents one dimensional, 2) good, consistent pressure on the QB, and 3) speed everywhere. I believe with the selection of Jarvis Jones last year and Ryan Shazier this year, the Steelers were attempting to accomplish #2 and #3. Now whether or not those picks were the best prospects to achieve those goals is another subject, but I think they were at least employing the correct strategy.

Going back to last year's SB, the Seahawks limited Denver's running game, got good consistent pressure on Peyton, and when passes were completed (a lot of them) their team speed took away the YAC.

/shrug

 

You're assuming the Steelers even have a "philosophy" to begin with.

All kidding aside, I think we're talking about the system and personnel on defense. Right? In this regard, I have to agree with Romans. The new rules are negating DB play. Problem is: will the rules be consistently enforced.

 

Good assessment

 

If a CB is going to get a jam it is going to clearly have to be within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. That is negated when the CB's are 10 yards off the ball thus the WR's run unimpeded routes. It's simple pass and catch.

 

I agree completely, although I'll add one thing. I think this new emphasis on the DB's keeping their hands off of receivers will hurt teams that play more off man and off zone in cover 3. They can still get their hands on them inside 5 yards of the LoS. Maybe we don't have the personnel for it, but I'd like to at least see us up on the line to make sure we can get our hands on the WR's. Or we could just find corners that are quicker/better athletes so they don't have to put their hands on the WR as much to stay with them.

 

The way the officiating has changed, I wonder if it's wise to ever draft another DB again. What's the point? Let's just load up on offense so we can keep up with teams that torch us for TDs/PIs.

 

Another good assessment... Yeah, I'd like t take the gamble and jam a bit at the line.
i already know what is expected and accepted when we don't.

 

Good point. We don't seem to be able to generate the offense by taking advantage of these new rules like other teams seem to do against us. It is not just the D - they aren't going to shut people out. We need to score in the upper 20s or low 30s to win a game - I hope our offense can do the job. Playing with a lead makes the other team's offense more predictable, and easier for the defense to corral.

 

Steelers don't draft cbs high, and we won't until we change to a 4-3.

 

That's my point they don't value the CB position, always these late round picks who take three years to develop. After the draft LeBeau says they have some good players already at the position, he's just taking up for his guys the media was asking why they draft a CB early in the draft. They just signed other teams castoffs who are cheap Mcclain and Blake.

 

Either we start emphasizing drafting better corners or we draft/sign free agent pass rushers. You can't be weak in both. And we are.

The last great corner was Rod Woodson and that's been ions ago.

Deshea Townsend, Chad Scott, Dewanye Washington, Willie Gay, Ike Taylor, Colough, Hank Poteat, McFadden, Willie Wiliams. I know I forgot some other but this group is sad.

 

Seattle won the SB last year, not Denver. Just sayin...

 

I think the Steelers are doing the right thing, if you force the QB to have to make short quick throws it takes a lot off the CB but the D-Line is where it starts. We now have speed, a lot of it, at the LB postion but guys like Aaron Smith commanded double teams and when they didn't double team him he was pressuring the QB not to mention teams couldn't run. Now we have Heyward beginning to make an impact but that is it, I believe when Tuitt learns he will be great but that is going to take time and until that happens we are going to struggle on defense. This is where I'm thinking it is time for DL to retire, I believe his scheme is old and every team in the league seems to know it, look at how when we blitz the QB still has time, I understand that some blame goes on the personnel but every player we draft takes years before they even have a slight impact. Is it just our players or is our defensive scheme not hard to decipher anymore for offensive coordinators? With as many players we get that either bust or end up taking years to contribute I'd have to say that the defensive scheme is getting old.

 

You haven't noticed a change in officiating since then? I have.

 

I would like to see better corners however although I was suprised about the Shazier pick I am very happy with it. Secondly if we had any pressure from our front three they could hide our lack of great CB's. I hope we are playing a vanilla defense for hte preseason but I haven't seen Mclendon or any of our NT's draw a double team.

We could always count that Big Snack and Aaron Smith would take 3-4 players every play. I'm nopt seeing this and I hope we can fix it starting with the Brownies.

 

I would argue that Jarvis Jones, Stephon Tuitt, and Ryan Shazier (top 2 picks the last 2 years) were all drafted to help our pass defense. Jones and Tuitt by rushing the passer, and Shazier by rushing the passer and dropping into coverage.

I agree they haven't paid enough attention to the CB position. But then again, I think they were planning on doing something about it this year, but Gilbert and (especially) Fuller went, and Shazier was still there. If they don't take one early on next year or address it in FA, then I'll freak. In the meantime, at least they've been addressing the pass defense in other ways.

 

Neither of these strike me as dominant pass rushers. They might have been drafted for that purpose but I haven't seen it yet. I know it's only year two for JJ and Tuitt and Shazier are rookies. But Tuitt was drafted to play the 5 technique and shazier was drafted to cover TEs and running backs out of the backfield.

JJ hasn't shown the flashes I thought he would have by now. But again it's still early yet.

 

It's pre-season, things will go back to normal soon

 

Yeah they're just trying to get these guys thinking about it a bit.
They'll have a mess on their hands if they keep calling games like they have this preseason.

 

it's not that we've ignored the position.. the yr. before last, we led the league in pass defense, and we had no pass rush.......... but we let keenan lewis walk and ryan clarke and ike got old overnight.... add the fact that cortez allen got hurt early and you have a perfect storm of events........
the f.o. is still addressing the issue... we signed mitchell...... cortez is healthy.... drafting shazier means that troy can roam the secondary more instead of being so close to the line (not to mention shemarko waiting in the wings)........ look for a cb early in next yrs. draft....... that will give us basically a rebuilt secondary 2 seasons after leading the league in pass defense.
time to breath a little

 

Jones was drafted to rush the passer. Tuitt was drafted to rush the passer better than other 5-techs. Especially since we're going with so many sub-packages. Keisel and Ziggy weren't getting it done when it came to rushing the QB. Yes, all positions do other things, but even Tuitt was taken largely to bolster the pass rush. Shazier helps the pass defense in every way possible. Direct coverage, direct rushing, and generally being so fast and versatile that he frees up Timmons to do his thing.

Your issue is with the quality of the evaluation, and that's fine. But you can't knock them for not trying. They're spending the picks.

I know it won't be quite this bad when the season starts, but "back to normal" is naïve and flies in the face of history, i.e. all the other rule changes the league has made. The most recent Super Bowl is the perfect example. The rules were changed to ensure that kind of victory never happens again.