Organizational arrogance

Arrogant? No. Stubborn? Yes.

There have been a number of good points made in this thread, and each is quite valid. Yes, some great CBs have come in later rounds. Yes, some of the Steelers picks didn't pan out as expected. Yes, rules changes have affected the way the Steelers play in the secondary.

I think the Steelers' philosophy is sound. If you emphasize the pass rush, your CBs can be average. The Giants rode this philosophy to two SB titles against the high-powered Patriots.

 

yet we keep blaming an offensive draft pick for our CB's sucking? archer as a draft pick has no bearing on the situation. we are blaming him and the CB's for the real letdown, now that it's not what it used to be. the pass rush. really? here's an idea, fix the pass rush. quit paying a guy over a million dollars a sack as we did worilds last year. fix the pass rush and we can quit blaming archer for our bad defense.

 

For free samples send SASE to:

76 Lou Groza Blvd., Berea, OH 44017

 

Lets all face it, they have problems evaluating the CB and OL positions.Whoever is doing the evaluating. Please people this just isn't Kevin Colbert evaluating. I would be remiss that I too couldn't understand the Landry pick or Archer pick. We cannot afford these types of picks.

 

I don't blame the CBs for the Archer pick. But I do believe it was a questional pick at 3. I personally don't blame Worilds for some supposing his lack of production. He was in coverage a plenty. Yes they need to upgrade the pass rush or lack there of but if you don't have Corners who can hold their own the pass rush means nothing. 3 step and boom the ball is out. Pass rush does nothing if you don't have solid coverage. In this pass happy time you need corners and safety's that can cover. The day of the big hit is becoming a dinosaur. McCain and Blake although not perfect did cover well enough so pressure was applied. Fix the secondary. Its time...and Cortex Allen is not the answer. With Colbert saying he is coming into camp to compete for a spot? Compete? How about cut before they owe him 6 large? Admit the mistake. They won't... Give me McCain

 

those 3 step drops were not the reason for the record number of plays over 40 yards. if McCain and blake were did cover well enough we wouldn't be in this situation. keeping ike and troy and expecting cortez to become great was the downfall. worilds has no business in coverage that much. a 3rd round corner probably wouldn't have helped all this that much. we can't keep blaming archer because he was selected there, but the past drafts that netted us nothing in the way of corners did. now all our eggs are in one basket and that falls on KC. KC is also responsible for getting us the best scouts. our scouting department has taken a nose dive the last 5 years.

 

nope. the kid has talent, that's quite evident. the MAC is no slouch in terms of who he played against and lit up. one crease and he's gone. you just can't use him as we do and show our hand of when he's going to get the ball and where. run the kid up the middle or off tackle. don't just do it once or on 3rd and 1 when the box is stacked without a lead blocker. misused and not his fault. he's a rookie. he will get better. I'd love to see he and bell in the same backfield a few times a game. defend that.

 

Or course not. But why does everyone only focus on the Archer pick instead of the 20 or so other picks that went on other useless players instead of a CB? It's not as if Dri is the only instance of a questionable pick instead of trying to find CB help. In the last decade, it seems they are adamant over not taking CB before the 5th round or so. Why? What is up with the obsession to not take any CBs higher? The Steelers passed on prospects such as Jason Verrett, Dennard, Roby, Joyner, Jean-Baptiste, McDougle, Gaines, Trufant, Rhodes, Slay, Banks, Amerson, Jamar Taylor, Alford, Gratz, Wreh-Wilson, Janoris Jenkins, Trumane Johnson, Josh Robinson, Aaron Williams, Gilchrist, Brandon Harris, Chris Cook, Nate Allen, Devin McCourty, Kyle Wilson, Patrick Robinson, Javier Arenas, etc.

 

I didn't mean the team as a whole sucks, I was talking specifically about the CB group. They got exposed by the Ravens in the playoff game.

 

Arrogant might be the wrong choice of word, my biggest problem is when your secondary isn't any good to begin with you don't wait until the 5th rd to address the position CB, especially with a guy who can't even play Shaq Richardson. In the 3rd in the 2014 draft they should've drafted the best available CB, not some midget scatback who can't even return kicks. EJ Gaines could've helped the team a lot more than Archer did.

 

if they could see the future, all of our players would be good. who knew? Richardson looked like he had some capabilities. most of my problem is how they cut them before the season even starts after drafting them. gay as a 5th rounder has played above and beyond for us.

 

So you didn't pause when they selected him? I was like Who? What? 3rd? I hope he contributes this season. I don't blame the corner situation on the Archer pick. Like Mac stated FO and scouting blunders. Now they are on the ropes. And punch drunk with the OLB situation.

 

No pass rush and crappy safety play puts a lot of pressure on CBs. On the other side, solid coverage leads to "coverage sacks" and more pressure on the QB. We were exposed in the Ravens playoff game because they made sure to stop Harrison from dominating them like he did in the regular season. Worilds isn't good enough to apply pressure by himself, nor is anyone else in the front seven except for Hayward occasionally and Timmons.

Although we saw the best CBs in the Super Bowl, on both teams, I don't think that you need Revis/Shermans to win Super Bowls. My evidence are our recent Super Bowl wins and success. We have almost no pass rush without ancient Harrison, and that is the real issue.

We were spoiled in the past with Hall of Fame caliber play from Polamalu, who made up for deficiencies in the CB roster, and Harrison, who amplified all other pass rushers on the team. You even saw that this year from him, and I loved seeing it again.

But we have not found replacement anchors for the defense. Timmons replaced Farrior in the middle and is excellent, but we haven't replaced the "amplifiers", players that make others around them better because they are at such a high level themselves.

We need a elite safety and an elite OLB (Worilds is not elite in any stretch. Not even close), and then we will be better on defense. We do NOT need to spend 10 million on a "stud" CB.

 

As most say, I too agree that the Steelers always focused more on having a good pass rush while having corners who could defend the run and tackle the catch - w/o that pass rush that secondary can often be picked apart...but even a good secondary can be picked apart w/o a pass rush with the way the QB rules are set today.

We will just have to see how Keith Butler changes things, but I am still of the opinion that Dick LeBeau's zone blitz scheme has largely come and gone. With the rules today favoring the QB and receiver, teams today simply have too much 3 step drop pop passes built into their game where exotic blitzes or edge rushes have a hard time getting home. So to me it isn't so much having a stud OLB, but it is having a defense that can create the kind of pressure that collapses the QB and disrupts what they want to do. But part of that is having some guys in the secondary who can swarm to the ball - and to do that you do need some better corners, maybe not 1st round, but maybe 2nd or 3rd would be good.

So to me I don't see what the Steelers have done the last decade with respect to the secondary as organizational arrogance, I see it more as continually trying to fit a scheme that has been eroded more and more. Call that being stubborn - or maybe being a bit obtuse as well.