What happened to blitzburgh?

I miss the days when the Steelers would get 50 sacks or more a year, because the last few years the Steelers have been ranked in the top 3 in overall defense and then got shredded in the playoffs against Green Bay and Denver in consecutive years. When Woodley or Harrison are injured there is no pass rush at all this falls on Lebeau too much predictability. I was hoping he was going to retire after last season and have Keith Butler take over as DC time for some new ideas. The Steelers defense was at their best when you had Woodson and Lake blitzing off the edges in the 1990's along with Lloyd and Greene. I just want to see more guys rushing the qb than the 2 OLB's.

 

Werent we one or two that year and got 50+ sacks. Im writing off last year when you remove the olb from DL defense its like taking the snipers off the battlefield. All four of our olbs missed time last year with harrison and woodley missing the most out of the four.

 

Also two years ago old farrior had seven sacks. DL is fine no way should he retire. Way too many knee jerk reactions. Also the super bowl was everybodys fualt. Maybe if the offense didnt turn it over so much the d would have been alright maybe if the defense cuased some turnovers we win. Ben missed wallace to take th e lead wallace let one get ripped out of his hands for a pick mendy fum led while we were driving. I dont think we were running nearly enough we were destroying their right side. So the super bowl loss falls on the pittsburgh steelers fualt not mendy not ben not DL not suisham who missed not tomlins but the whole teams.

 

Well, I agree that the defense has been ranked high over the last couple of years and with our OLB hurt most of last year, the defense did quite well with what they had on the field. But.....

Even when we were completely healthy, I haven't seen the exotic blitzes from Lebeau. That is what we are missing. I spoke about this in an earlier threat just around the time we lost to the Broncos in the playoffs.

The blitz packages Lebeau use to invent from week to week when we had Woodson and Lake were outstanding. You don't even have to go back that far. When we had Scott and Washington, two of the worst corners in steelers history, we were sending blitzes from everywhere. We have a much better secondary then when we had those two and why the exotic blitz schemes are a think of the past, I don't know.

What happen to the corner blitzes? sending a corner and dropping the opposite side DE? Or sending both ILBs and dropping the NT? or overloading one side and having the opposite side drop into there coverage area. What they need to scratch is the cross-dog inside linebacker blitz. That worked when we had Kirkland in the middle but with Farrior and Foote they are too light in the pants.

Kendrell Bell did a good job at it because he was explosive. That's why I'm hoping for Hightower or the other linebacker from Alabama are drafted. We need that thumper in the middle.

 

Everybody has caught up with Dick Lebeau, He needs to get on
with his lifes work.

 

A healthy A. Smith helps. He opened up a lot on the outside for the linebackers. No digging Ziggy Hood he just isn't on a A. Smith level yet.

 

Add hightower and we will be back.

 

I tend to agree.

 

A few thoughts:

1. Not sure LeBeau's scheme is fooling anyone anymore. He coached a helluva game against the Pats last season, one of his best. But overall, not many teams are confused anymore.

2. The Harrison/Woodley injuries are a factor as well.

3. Despite #2, not sure a healthy Harrison and Woodley even mattered. The NFL has decided (and this will sound like homer whining) that the "choke-hold takedown" of OLBs is perfectly acceptable (unless our OTs do it) and this has neutralized Harrison and Woodley to a degree. IMHO, they get held on almost every pass play.

 

Age, injuries and the popularity of the spread offense.

 

teams now know that the quick pass with a 3 step drop beats any blitz

 

#3 in spades!