Ryan Clark Says Defense Predicatable

So who was the #1 Defense in the league last year?????

The Ravens -- they played the same teams we did (except we got the Pats where they got the Jets and we had KC vice their SD) -- yet they faired worse than us in nearly every category.

The 49ers -- they played in the weakest division in football and faced the Rams, Seattle, and Arizona 2 times each. They played a faltering NFC division with Philly, Wahigton, and Dallas all playing mediocre and even the Giants until playoff time. They played our division and TB and Detroit.

The reality is no team with a high ranked defense played a bunch of hard games. And if we would have had any semblence of an offense last year, the D would have looked even better.

They may not have been to the standards they put on themselves,or we put on them, but they were the best in the league last year. #1 against the pass, #1 in overall yards allowed, and 31 in overall scoring allowed. If they would have had this years offense last year they would have looked awesome.

 

YOU HAVE TO HAVE PLAYMAKERS. OUR CURRENT defense does not.
Minus James Harrison, we really have no one else. Troy, you can say,
but I am not sure anymore seems to have lost that step might miss half of season due to injuries? Woodley? streaky, probably miss half the games.Clark, atleast his heart is in it. So here you have it. Name me another
Steeler player on defense that intimidates the other team with there talent?

 

Dick Lebeau doesnt deserve to be fired. Anyone who thinks so is just doesnt know football. Its obvious what the difference is in our defense. ITS THE PERSONNEL! Aaron Smith is gone, his replacement is at least a couple of notches below him in ability. Hampton has one good leg, he is a couple of notches below his previous ability. Keisel has one lef, see Hampton. Those of you who want McClendon, Hood, Heyward to play,well these guys arent even replacing old guys on one leg. I agree that we have to see what they can do, but I respect the coaches decision to put the best players out there until the season is over or we are out of contention.
The linebackers are similar. Woodley needs Harrison to be effective, Harrison's replacement just doesnt come close to playing as well. Timmons has been a huge disappointment. I have posted on other boards (my screen name is always the same in those boards too ) that Timmons is overrated. He make a couple good plays a game but is usually over persuing or out of position most of the game which costs us big plays.
The secondary is good only when Troy and Clark are out there. Ike does well on his side most of the time but he cant shut down teams #1 like he used to do a few years ago. We need cover corners and we need to play press coverage, but we dont have the personnel with Troy out. Mundy isnt the answer for either of our safties when they are out. When the team has downgraded in most areas ( DL, LB and Secondary ) its no wonder that we arent the team we used to be. It isnt Lebeaus fault, he is playing the defense according to who is on the field and what their strengths are. Its the players who have to rise to the next level.The coordinator is a proven success, the players arent! If the players cant perform, they too will be gone. I know some will say the coach has to adapt to his players and I say he is and you are seeing their strengths and its not very good.

 

True but for the sake of argument the backups to each of these players have to be ready to step up and clearly they are not ready to perform at high level. Tomlinisims regarding Standard is the Standard clearly is not working.

Not advocating the dismissal of DL but you have to have the guys ready to play regardless of who is being inserted.

Bman

 

The cliche' of the standard is the standard only sounds good when the replacement or backup guy actually produces. When they arent "the standard" you have results like we have now. Dick Lebeau has proven himself time and time again. I too hate the zone, bend dont break , defense when we absolutely need a stop or a 3 and out, but we saw what happened in Denver in the playoffs and people bashed him on that scheme too.....its time for the players to take the ownership of the poor play.

 

Since you've brought up the Ravens, I think these are more telling numbers than yards allowed:

Turnovers: Ravens 26, Steelers 15
Sacks: Ravens 48, Steelers 35
TDs scored by the D: Ravens 4, Steelers 1

 

Those teams averaged more than 11 points per game against us. NE - 17, Ratbirds - 35, 23, Niners - 20, Houston - 17, Bungles - 17, 7, Steelers West - 20. So that average was actually 19.5 points per game. That would still be top 10 last year but the 11 pts per game is wrong.