How was the defense?

Very true and I agree starting with your statement regarding Mitchell. he is not going to be a difference maker. He is average at best. Timmons and Williams and Shazier all look good.. Williams is injured though right now so hopefully it's not serious. I dunno

 

Mitchell and Shamarko might be good enough, they just don't stay healthy though. I'm not really confident about our starting safeties or our backups, I still think they should have brought in a new veteran to compete at safety.

Everyone was concerned with CB and we drafted 2 and traded for 1, but I still think safety was the bigger concern all along.

Maybe in the 1st or 2nd round of cuts a safety will be available?

 

I watched the game Sat afternoon with some other folks so I couldn't focus entirely on every play or rewind as I normally would, lol. But I noticed a lot of the same things already mentioned...OLBs crashing inside hard on play action, safeties not in position or biting on underneath routes.

I did not see as many, if any, CB blitzes in comparison to the Minn game. The kick coverage units are horrible.

 

Mitchell and shamarko aren't the answers and not to be mean but they will probably get hurt anyways. Jarvis sorry bud you just aren't big enough :/
Defense just swarm to the ball and limit big plays. Ben look forward to putting up 40+ to win games lol ugh. Really hope it's just preseason bugs

 

There were several times I saw Jarvis making plays but he has the same problem that Ziggy hood had. He showed a strong push but then could disengage to get to the QB. I saw him beat his man and make an inside move only to be grabbed and held up. I'm hoping that continued work with Joey and Harrison will get him more of a well round pass rush with more moves.

 

Hope so. Our D just had to be a little better than last year with this O. Just a tad better is all.

 

The defense is a work in progress that's for sure, maybe Butler is keeping the defense vanilla for the preseason.

 

I know we are excited for real football but extrapolating what a defense will do based on what is essentially the first preseason game is too me a little premature.

Kind of like guessing how many tomatoes you will get shortly after the seed sprouts?

 

I think we're not looking at an athletic deficiency as we are a football IQ stand point. Not necessarily a "see-to-do" problem, but really a recognize and positioning thing.

What we've seen is reacting instead of the play-maker that Troy brought when he was healthy and younger. He wasn't the fastest, but because he knew what the offense was doing he was able to position himself to make a play. Same as last years Willie Gay and his INT's. Not the fastest or best cover, but he read the plays before they started and put himself in position to make a play.

We may see a better job when they actually game plan for different offenses.

 

I agree the front 3 are a strength. Tuitt was getting a nice push and McClendon looked sharp. After that besides Harrison at times there is cause for concern. Secondary was shredded. It's not the lack of pass rush, it's just over pursuit and not finishing. JJ just doesn't have the strength, the second gear. And wearing #95. Harrison and Moats will start the season at this point. The safety position is in shambles. Will Allen is again the safety blanket.
It's going to be a work in progress for sure. Ben and the Offense looked ready for prime time. There is going to be that time where the Defense needs to shut the door. This unit at this time can't find the door. Hope when the lights go on for real we see something different.

 

The two biggest concerns for me are at safety (Shamarko's health and Mitchell's bad angles) and at OLB. At his age, Harrison isn't a full-time starter and Jarvis Jones just doesn't have it. It will stink for the team to finally reach a Jamain Stephens type decision but it is what it is.

 

Hated the Jones pick and the kid has looked like a bust from Day 1. So, so stiff. He needs to go. Shame. That and ignoring the secondary is going to hurt. Boykin was a nice signing and I hope Cortez can get it together but those Safeties are a problem. Gonna be a lot of 38-35 games.

 

I made that point a few times before the draft as well. We seem to get "good enough" out of CBs like Boykin. We need more than that from our Safeties.

Still, early in preseason at the moment.

 

One of the analysts recently made a good point I never thought of ... with this new "hybrid" defense we are trying, the D-Line is in on the sacks now. Our OLBs used to have to get 10+ sacks a year. Now we might be able to get by with them only getting 5 or 6, since Heyward and Tuitt will theoretically have more.

I think it is more important now for Jarvis and Dupree to be able to set the edge, and get off blocks first and foremost.

Jarvis's game was always a little different anyways. He seems to be good at stripping the ball, or knocking down passes, he will never be the speed rusher Harrison/Porter/LLoyd are.

 

Fair post. I hope they find something Jones is good at. He sure is a strong guy. I've sometimes wondered what would happen if Jones and Shazier were switched. I'm a little worried about Shaz's size no matter where he is but I'm intrigued by what his speed would do on the outside. I guess it's hard to consider a lot of this until we know more about the defensive changes. Boiled down... if the OLB and S spots hold up IMO we're contenders.

 

Well, as long as we don't get any lemons we should be fine.

 

Not sure I understand this. Stephens was a pile of crap that couldn't play and didn't want to. When the team needed him most, he showed up to camp unable to even run a couple of sprints without collapsing. Jarvis has been asked to do more than young Steeler defenders normally are. Of course he's struggled - that's why our young defenders usually sit on the bench. We clamor to put them in and let them learn on the field, then that's exactly what the coaches do for once, and we complain he's not good enough. Jarvis has shown deficiencies, but also signs of promise. And to further dispute the Stephens analogy, Jarvis came to camp this year having gained 13 pounds of muscle after an offseason of the hardest work he's ever done.

Cam Heyward didn't do anything until his third year. Timmons didn't do anything until his second, when he played part-time. People still called him a bust in his third year, demanding Keyaron Fox start over him. Dupree looks like he won't do anything this year. Look how Keenan Lewis started. Look how Troy Polamalu started. Look how Ike Taylor started. Playing well as a rookie or 2nd year guy is almost impossible for this team, and just because a few select guys have done it here and there (Kendrell Bell, and I predict Ryan Shazier) doesn't make it normal. Those guys are freaks. I guess you could say those comparisons aren't fair because their positions are harder to play than OLB, where you just have to get the QB and that's it. But hey, you know who else had a slow start to his career? JAMES FREAKING HARRISON. The guy was cut 4 times because he couldn't get his crap together, and that's a guy who knows how to get the QB. Jarvis has played like one season's worth of games, and the last time we really saw him he was sparking a win in that Panthers game.

Plus, what's triggering all the hate? This last preseason game? Okay, so he didn't get any QB pressures on, what... 4 pass rush attempts?? He struggled getting to the QB as a rookie, but then looked promising early in year 2 before getting hurt. Why are we all reverting back to "He sucks"? I was hopeful he'd pick up where he left off, and with his added weight (and I assume strength) I'm even more hopeful.

James Harrison, on his first pass rush of the year, got a sack/fumble. That's pretty awesome. Jarvis can't compete with that. Who can? Who can compete with a 100% sack/fumble rate?? Those saying he should be the backup are getting ahead of themselves. If you're saying he should be off the team (who should take his place, Howard Jones?), that's not even worth responding to.

Oops.

 

Very nice post. I completely agree!

 

Shamarko Thomas still looks lost out there, Henne easily suckered him for a TD, we are hurting at safety when our best is supposed to be Thomas...

http://espn.go.com/blog/pittsburgh-...rison-shine-vs-jaguars-shamarko-thomas-doesnt

 

Ryan Shazier.

A healthy Shazier will single-handedly improve this defense. He's the powder keg to the whole operation, much like Troy was once he acclimated to the league. I'm looking forward to Shazier making Mosley look like a 2nd stringer in comparison.

 

I think a healthy Shazier will make a big difference, but the Team must find a way to cover as a whole better . I still don't think we have 1 shut down CB nor do we have a true pass defending Safety . The reports on Cortez are still not so good ,when he gets matched with pure talent like AB he gets beat over and over. If he gets matched with speed he gets torched . He needs to go back inside where he belongs.

If we can just get 1 CB who can compete against a true #1 WR then we can roll,help and disguise coverages and blitzes .em to Shazier should do a great job as a underneath Robber if we can ever get QB'S to look inside the numbers . The bottom line to me is we have a bunch of 2nd. tier type DB'S asking to do #1 type stuff , this hinders our D greatly.