Studs and Duds first half of season

Thats my opinion and i’m sticking to it. You have to put it in context.

They are number two in scoring defense. Of course that is the most important stat, but who have they played? If they are still number two a month from now then I will change my tune.

With the talent they have they can be so much better. I just get tired of the nail biting and relying on a turnover at the end of a game to close it out. We were relying on turnovers against Indy and Dallas and they never came.

I would like to see us force alot more three and outs and not run so many darn four man rushes with a two high soft shell zone defense. Its painful to watch teams continually march down the field on us.

 

Nah the laying out of DJ will strictly be left up to Minkah. I don’t think Minkah cares much for DJ.

 

You are more positive than I am here. I understand what you are saying. I guess I need to see them over the next month against some of these better offenses before I am fully on board. Their style of play does seem to play well against Lamar and the Ravens though. However that style doesn’t always play out well against some of the more accurate Qb’s who are less inclined to make mistakes.

 

I agree with you but that doesn’t mean that Jackson doesn’t have his weaknesses.

 

This is exactly what I am saying. My expectation is sky high for this defense. That is actually a compliment to the talent we have assembled. I personally believe we could be significantly more dominant on defense. I find it very painful to watch these teams continually march down the field on us over and over again. How many punts did we force in this last game? I think it was two maybe three. I believe Tomlin is ok with the other team driving down the field and taking time off the clock. It isn’t his preference but if we force a turnover at the end of the drive or at least only give up a field goal its accomplishing two things. It is shortening the game because of the time run off and it is keeping the game close which is exactly the style of football we seem to like. It feels like the last four years the majority of our games have been like this. From a percentage standpoint it works in favor typically but it does not work against the better teams who turn those field goals into touchdowns and do not lose the turn over battle to us.

When we got Queen and drafted Peyton Wilson I was really excited to see what we would do with that speed in the middle of the field. I thought for sure we would be alot more aggressive, but we seem to be playing the same style of defense. I feel like the ILB’s and Minkahs and JPJ’s talents are being wasted in this defense with the style of defense we are playing. Not to mention I have always been a fan of getting bigger DT’s in their to occupy multiple offensive lineman and allow the ILB’s to flow freely to the ball. Were getting no push up the middle and we are allowing our ILB’s to get blocked. I can’t wait to will replace Ogunjobi. Finally please will someone tell Benton to put the weight back on he lost so he can stop getting pushed back. The lost weight may have made him quicker but I don’t see how it has benefitted his play or this defense.

 

The defense is highly overrated and won't hold up against the better teams in the AFC..... Stroud/Texans, Mahomes/Chiefs and Allen/Bills.

Our offense is better, but it's still not consistent enough to keep up with the AFC big dogs..... whether it's penalties on Jones, bad play calls or refs screwing us over.

 

We have a GREAT roster of players. We have high level players at every level. I don't expect to hold every team to 200 yards of offense and 6 points every game, but they have a chance to be overwhelming like they were the first few weeks of the season (especially against bad offenses like we've been playing against). We've given up too many big plays, we've allowed too many sustained drives, and have gotten lucky with calls that have kept points off the board (happened in Las Vegas and against the NYG). We've been solely reliant on the big play, and if we don't get that turnover... we just look like any other NFL defense. Again, I think the numbers tell a tale of a dominant defense, but the eyes see one that has been a bit underwhelming given the expectations.

Of course it doesn't mean that the defense wont get back to what it was doing the first 3 weeks, but we need to see that, since it seems like teams have figured out how to exploit us a bit. Lots of quick passes, screen plays, and the occasional shot downfield has been working. Our last 9 games see us play 7 games against top 11 offenses (only the Browns have a bad offense left on the schedule), and the first 8 saw us play 7 bottom 12 offenses. We're facing a different caliber of offensive unit to end the year and the defense HAS to be up for it. Our ability to make it to and win in the playoffs is going to depend on it.

 

he’s making too much money to be in a Prevent mode. Troy played all over the field and was an impact player, Minkah’s making Troy money but no where near the impact or splash plays.

 

https://triblive.com/sports/tim-ben...dering about the defense?: Yeah. A little bit.

"Over the past five games, the Steelers are yielding 359 yards per game. That tracks at a pace that would put them 24th in the NFL. Their net passing yards allowed of 257 yards per game. That would be 29th in the NFL. They’ve had 10 sacks over the last five games after getting nine in the first three.

Those are weak numbers. Fifteen takeaways on the season is great deodorant for that. But turnovers can be fickle."

Hopefully the turn overs on D continue... if they don't, the D is in trouble.

It's funny how the same people who say "don't look at the yards" for defending the defense, kept saying "don't look at the points, but look at the yards" for the offense....

 

@STD