SIMPLE yes or NO, do you enjoy watching Steeler D?

BS! :bs:

The Ravens, 49'ers and Texans still play a very physical style of defence. You can still crush a QB, you just can't hit him in the head and you can't lead with the crown of your helmet. Everything else is fair game.

Besides, I'm pretty sure Goodell doesn't force us to give WR's a 10 yard cushion. Goodell doesn't tell Lebeau not to play man to man. Goodell isn't the reason we have no pass rush.

Stop blaming Goodell. Other teams defences still play physical, there's no reason we can't too.

 

One thing I noticed, we really don't zone blitz anymore. No corner blitzes, safety blitzes. When troy blitzes its usually to disrupt a running play. I can't remember the last time a corner got a sack. I'm sure there have been some , but I can't recall one in years. That was something we used to do very well. Now it seems they just hope that woodley or harrison get a sack. We don't drop our dl in coverage and blitz our ilbs much anymore. We have very talented people on defense, but we just aren't seeing the pressure we used to get in years past and this is based on 1 game but the last few years. Tackling isn't up to par as well.

 

No. Our D doesn't work like it used too. My toddler would say it needs new batteries.

 

I don't think there's any denying that the rule changes were largely because of us, and hurt us more than other teams. We don't have the players to lock everyone up in man coverage, because that's not what we've been doing for the last... ever. Our defense is largely based on smashing people to bits when they try to catch the ball. The defense you were just talking about how much you loved, the one in 2008, the one that "crushed teams single-handedly" had the CBs giving a 10 yard cushion. Rule changes have hurt our defense in a huge way.

I'm not defending the people hating on our defense, which seems like everyone. We were still the top ranked defense last year. I'm not huge into stats, and I know it doesn't mean we were the best, but it sure as hell means we weren't bad. It won most of our games for us. Even the games everyone pins on it, like both losses to Baltimore, Houston, and San Francisco, the offense played worse. Shoot, that's all 4 regular season games.

 

Yes, that's something I left out. The rules in the rulebook might be the same for everyone, but they sure as hell haven't been enforced the same for everyone. We've somehow been on the losing end on both sides of the ball, or defense getting flagged for anything that could possibly be a penalty, and our quarterback taking punches to the face and slaps to the head without flags.

 

YES!!! Always have always will

 

NO!! our D is boring , Tebow would've destroyed us again with that pathetic performance. If Troy is all we have left then we're in trouble since the guy is always injured.

 

guys we cant even reach a qb let alone crush him

 

Wow, we are just on the opposite ends of the spectrum on some of these topics. Some topics we're dead on with each other but in others, total opposite. How can you have this opinion? First of all, any team that is "crushing" a QB and doesn't draw a flag is lucky, I've seen clean hits on QB draw flags, if it just looks harsh it's going to draw a flag. And to act like our game hasn't suffered because of the new rules is just mind boggling. I watched the whole thing progress as many others have since Goodell started this campaign an watched us get less and less physical every week. Man we were the definition of rough play, if you don't think they weren't keeping a closer eye on us when these rules were being implemented, I just don't know what to tell you.[/quote:3ki8g9gz]

Did it affect us? Of course it did. Did it affect other rough teams just as much, such as Baltimore? Absolutely. They have adjusted. Ray Lewis has talked about struggling with the new rules early on, but then adjusting his tackling technique so as not to get flagged. It's been several years now. I expect professional football players to be able to adjust when the rules change. Every other team in the league has done it, so can we. Either way, that's not the problem with our defence. Our problem is we have no pass rush and we can't stop any QB in the league. Neither of which has anything to do with the new rules.

 

No. Don't enjoy it anymore. There was a time I'd pray for our opponent to be in a 3rd and long situation. Now I pray it doesn't happen because the last few years I've seen way too many opponent successes on 3rd down and forever yardage. They drive me absolutely insane with that

 

They play defense? Could have fooled me. I mean, when Lance Painter is able to march down the field on you...when you struggle to contain Tyler palko...when Tim Tebow has his greatest game ever against you...I'd say there's a problem.

 

Used to? Yes
Still do? Too early to tell but so far no.

 

Yeah I enjoy it. I enjoy both sides of the ball. Even on its worst days it beats the hell out of working.

Has it become frustrating to watch? Absolutely. But its partly due to rule changes favoring the offense and partly because they just don't have the horses to bring the pressure like they used to.

 

Again agreed

 

Thanks everybody for your opinons and comments, just as I suspected, not to excited.

 

No!

 

Curtis Painter: 5-11 60 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 1 fumble that won us the game (thank you, defense!)
Tyler Palko: 18-28, 167 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT

Tim Tebow did have the best game of his life. He threw the ball really, really well. There's no denying that, and it sucks for us. They were beating teams. But I would call that game largely a fluke. On top of the heaps of injured starters we had (Keisel, Hampton, Smith <--- the entire DL, Hoke, Woodley, Clark, Pouncey, Mendenhall, Starks, Colon) we had a weird decision on defense to make: how do you defend Tebow? The solution a lot of people would come up with was, "take away the run, make him try to beat you with his arm." That's smart because he sucks at throwing and being a real quarterback. So we did our best to minimize one of the best running games in the league, and we dared Tim Tebow to outgun Ben Roethlisberger. He did. We lost the bet. I agree that the strategy should have changed after he had that huge 2nd quarter. They probably assumed he couldn't keep it up and didn't want to be beaten on the ground. They were wrong.

Painter had one good drive. Kerry Collins didn't do much in that game either. We struggled to contain Palko?? You saw his stats. We won 13-9. I'd say we struggled to score points on offense. I think your post (along with many, many others right now) is a good example of wanting too much from our defense. Everybody will get first downs and touchdowns on us. Everybody. It happens. And if it doesn't happen (Palko), then that is freaking awesome. We need to realize that Peyton Manning was not some crippled old man out there last Sunday. And he wasn't running Tim Tebow's offense. He was playing like his old self, with good receivers, a better running game than he's used to, and a pretty good line. That wasn't the Broncos, those were the Colts. The old, good Colts. Except they had a better defense. And he scored what, 25 points? That's not too terrible. Especially considering we were missing some major starters again. No, it wasn't a great game by us, and I want us to do better, and we're capable of better. But Jesus, I'm reading that the 3-4 is done, that LeBeau needs to be fired. For giving up 25 points to a red hot Peyton Manning??

 

It was only 25 points because the offense held the ball so long.

I think it's possible that the 3-4 D is vulnerable in today's pass-friendly game. Right now, you need to produce a pass rush with a front four, allowing the other 7 to drop into coverage. But this is easier said than done.

 

No, I do not. When they were good, it was great. But now, it seems like its the same old tired stuff. They get no pressure on the opposing QB, and they can't stop the run. Its fraustrating!

 

I enjoy watching Troy confuse people or make crazy, acrobatic plays (the judo arm tackle was impressive)and James Harrison getting held as he strong arms a lineman. Other than that, the D is not too enjoyable to watch - nothing spectacular, anyway.

 

Very good analysis over our defense. But the Curtis Painter's and Tyler Palko's of the world should have a rough day against us but we tend to let those type of quarterbacks have above average game against us.

I also don't think the "fire Lebeau talk" and the "3-4 is done" is not just from the Broncos game. It has been consistently below the standard when it comes to, adjustments, scheme, and game plan. Plus I read about being #1 on defense last year. We know that stats can be contrued to mean what you want them to mean. Yes, stat wise we were the number 1 defense last year but do anyone actually believe our defense was the best in the league. I love lebeau and I scream body murder when he left to coach the Bengals and was thrilled when he came back but maybe his schemes just doesn't work anymore with the pass happy league.

 

no