What's wrong with the Defense?

Deep Secondary scares me too. Specifically, Safety.
Troy/Clark and DL HOF combo has left the building.

Sure hope Shamarko/Mitchell can improve, like tons. Going to need it.
.

 

Boy, we have a long way to go. I am not a believer
that you can just turn a switch. Surely some people can step up?

 

Vanilla,trying to find the right formula and mixture of personnel,getting an extensive look at rookies and other players and then there are those injuries.

 

I believe I saw some plays on defense where they were running a Tampa 2 out of a 3-4 set? It seems they had a problem with the Middle LB getting deep enough and when he did set up deep, they threw under him in the middle.

 

It is a work in progress, seems without the progress. It will take time. The safety play is incomplete due to injury's. Playing catch up. Tuitt's injury is a major set back as well as Timmons. Not much for this Tampa 2. Seems the secondary is confused where to be. The "Cushion" makes me ill.

Ben and company will have to be on. If not, it's going to be ugly for a while.

I like the Bud Dupree pick, but, Marcus Peters is doing quite well in KC. The secondary has not been a high priority for some time.

Guess we will see when the lights really go on against the Cheats...

If Ben goes down, so does this team. Wasn't fond of the Vick signing. Yesterday he looked like a HOFer. As a full time starter he will struggle. Never bought into the Vick hype. Best hope Ben stays upright.

 

Isn't it a pretty bad sign if they are still "experimenting" with their defense when the season starts in less than two weeks? I think Ben and the offense better be prepared to put on a show every week.

 

Pouncey will miss 8-10 games, Bell and Bryant will miss a few, we aren't great at TE... but I still love the O... though PK is a concern, too.

I think Tuitt will be okay... but after that there are real questions with Timmons and the entire secondary, which they've grossly ignored for a while. Gonna be a lot of shootouts and I'm not confident right now.

 

I didn't expect a smooth transition. I also didn't expect a flipping implosion. I also don't get real excited about preseason results. Lots of experimentation going on.

 

After the game against the Bills, I would say "a lot".

 

I thought preseason was for experimenting?

 

It has been the same frustrating thing for decades!

 

Maybe that's the problem???

 

Yeah maybe experimenting with one or two guys and moving them around or something. If you are still experimenting with your entire defense and defensive scheme with one week of the Pre season remaining, I think that says you are in some trouble and you know it.

 

I'm glad Shamarko has been healthy, I think we have all the data on him now to realize he is strictly a special teamer. This team is still a year away. We need an above average FA signing and a draft focused on the back end.

 

thats what i meant.. lol

 

Pass defense is the glaring weakness right now. The Bill's WRs definitely found the open areas in the defense as a lot of catches were uncontested. There was a lot of emphasis on players who could get turnovers this offseason and its still early (and Golson being out) so hopefully this area will improve as the season goes on. But it just seemed no DBs were in the vicinity on a lot of those catches.

And Charles Clay is still wide open. What is it with the TEs this preseason?

Grant made some nice open field tackles late in the game but didn't seem to react to the long completion down the left sideline (in the 3rd I think).

Dangerfield almost killed someone on that punt return, but failed to wrap up on a 2nd and 11 where the receiver was able to make the first. He did seem to read/react the most out of the safeties who played in the 2nd half.

I watched the first half from a local bar so couldn't pay as much attention to individuals as I normally would. The first half definitely made me more thirsty shall we say though....

 

He didn't play much defense last year, so I would like to see how he performs the 1st half of the season at safety. I agree he hasn't looked great this pre-season but I would like to see how he does in the game full time with the 1s before I pull the plug.

 

Tomlin stating the obvious about the very poor showing from his defense:

Observations from the game:

SLOW-STARTING D:

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin isn't pleased with how his starting defense allowed 128 yards of offense and two touchdowns on the first six plays from scrimmage.

"We continue to be slow starters and that's disturbing," Tomlin said of a defense that went through a major offseason overhaul. "Some of those guys, quite frankly, look like the walking dead."

Tomlin wouldn't identify who, but the Steelers allowed a 41-yard run to Fred Jackson on the opening play. And then linebacker Ryan Shazier slipped in coverage, allowing Clay to get open on his 67-yard TD.

 

I think both teams were using the game for different purposes. They were talking at the start about how we would see starters out for the first half; that didn't really happen for us, but the Bills had them in and out all game long.

That's not an excuse for the play - some of it was simply awful - but it's a reason not to diagnose all of the problems from this game.

Really, I think we all know what those problems are - bringing in new guys, modified scheme, and doing something about the safety position.

 

I hope i am wrong about thomas. The front 7 when healthy is another story. Tuitt, Heyward, Timmons, Shazier, and Dupree can be big time play makers this year. Moats Williams and Spencer can provide solid play. Boykin and Gay can be Average to above average. Blake can cover decent sometimes and could be one of the best tacklers on the team. The safety play is going to hurt us big time though i have a bad feeling.

 

They want to see what they have. Is that not what preseason is for. Tomlin has to make cuts. Starters hardly played at all in that game.

 

There's nothing wrong with the defense other than the fact they suck.

 

Unfortunately the starters who did play in the secondary made me afraid that we may not HAVE any starters on the roster currently.

 

Oh well in years past they sucked in preseason. Last year Ben was terrible and we saw how that turned out.

 

I hope we don't need to go with Will Allen for a long stretch, he has been a fine player, but he is older and the wheels could just fall off out of no where?