Your thoughts on Teryl Austin as DC?

I believe his contract is up after the season. Its Tomlin's defense. He just calls it being micromanaged.

I'm sure they will extend him.

I'm not a fan of rushing 3 or putting your best pass rusher in coverage to much.

They need to concentrate their efforts (the front office) in finding an innovative offensive coordinator.

Sullivan called a solid game last week. I just don't get why they named Faulkner the interim OC.

I do agree with what Hack said, they need to attack more. At the end of LeBeau's run (he decided to resign due to not having input on players and being forced out) the defense was becoming a shell.

They still have issues covering the soft middle of the field.

 

Agree. It'd be interesting to tally up the defence average time on the field compared to other defences. And despite spending longer on the field they've still been fairly solid in the 4th quarter when you'd expect them to soften and tire.

 

The stated reason for naming Faulkner OC but letting Sullivan call the plays is to spread out the work created when they fired Canada because both guys still have their position coaching duties. Faulkner is still working with the running backs during the game. Sullivan is still the quarterbacks coach. I'm hoping the real reason is that they want to make it easier to pass on both guys and hire an OC from the outside after the season ends.

 

There are times when TJ Watt and Highsmith are not getting enough pressure and the secondary is playing soft zone leaving the QB with too much time and open receivers. You kind of get a sense when this is happening and for the life of me send some extra people to blitz. Remembering Mike Hilton would do this a couple of times a game and it made a huge impact.

We are lucky that TJ and Highsmith usually provide enough pressure but at times the blitz by others is needed and would like to see more of it.

 

Our defence is hard to evaluate. We have incredible playmakers and when they're doing their thing, our defence looks incredible. When they're not forcing turnovers, our defence looks suspect. But at the same time, our offence has thrown our defence under the bus all season long. Injuries have been a factor, but that's true for every team. Part of being a good team is being able to plug and play guys when injuries happen.

Will our defence be able to hang with the big boys if they don't force turnovers? Are they good enough to shut down strong offensive teams? I'm leaning towards no. I understand turnovers are part of the game, but turnovers happen less with the good teams. If we're facing KC, SF, Dallas, Philly, etc. then there may not be any turnovers. Thankfully most of the top teams are in the NFC so it's not a problem unless we make the SB.

Do I think firing our DC is necessary or will help? Probably not, unless we get some top notch, innovative DC. I will say what I've been saying for 10 years, I think Tomlin is the problem.

I would like to see a more aggressive defence. I hate soft zone, hate it with a passion. Jam guys on the line. Win those battles in the trenches. Make the other team work for every single yard. Give them nothing. We're not a particularly physical defence though.

 

Tom Brady agrees with your position. Though he admittedly destroyed lots of defenses, he certainly picked us apart with 5-8 yard outs.

 

That isn't luck. That is the design of the defense. I agree that they need to be more aggressive when rushing four isn't generating enough pressure, but they should be able to rely on pressure from Watt and Highsmith at least some fo the time. They also need Benton, Heyward, and Ogunjobi to create more pressure inside.

They do send their slot corner on blitzes. The problem is that their slot corners haven't been nearly as good at it as Hilton was. For example, Chandon Sullivan had a free run at the quarterback against the Bengals, but he missed the tackle and the Bengals got a big play out of it.

 

I'm absolutely not on the Austin band wagon... .
Austin is incapable of making in game adjustments when the opposition changes strategies.... He strictly relies on the superior players rather than any true defensive concepts that he may draw up....
Holding back Porter Jr and Benton was absolutely criminal.....
Austin is playing checkers while opposing coaches are playing chess

 

Was that Austin or Tomlin keeping the rookies off the field early?

 

That much I couldn't tell you... I know that Austin verbally held them back in interviews, but how much of that was him as opposed to Tomlin's instruction due to his veteran fetish is totally outside my pay grade

 

I think he is just a token DC. I think Tomlin runs the show regarding the defense. Of course I had thought Tomlin was more involved with the Offense before but it is apparent now he has had little involvement in the offense. So I could be wrong. With that being said there are a few things I would like to see us do a better job at regarding the Defense.

1. In Game adjustments - In particular it was evident where we were crashing down the line of scrimmage with our edge players on inside runs and we were giving up outside contain on cut backs or on RPO’s where the QB would fake the inside handoff and then keep it and run outside. I would have liked to see us adjust in those situations and have our Edge players stay home.

2. I would like to see us blitz more instead of just rush 4 men. I know we have great edge rushers and Cam on the inside but we need more at times, especially with Watt getting doubled and schemed against. I believe Tomlin doesn’t trust the Defensive Backfield to blitz so he wants maximum coverage back there as much and as often as possible.

3. I would like to see us play with three down lineman more. I know it hurts us on the backend, but stopping the run should always be priority number one. If we can’t commit to having three down lineman then bigger DT’s and some run blitzes by the ILB’s.

I am happy with the turnovers and score and red zone defense but I would like to see us give up less big chunk plays and limit the yardage and long drives. I feel like we starting to head in that direction though which is good. Funny thing is with all the issues on offense this year I think the defense is the entity that needs to upgrade personnel more so than the offense. I would love to see what this defense could be with another blue chip CB paired with JPJ and Minkah. Would love to see an upgrade at MLB and perhaps one more solid depth piece at DT. In fact we could stand to add two more CB’s an outside CB and a slot CB.

To me the offense is more about scheme and coaching. Do need to upgrade the center, tackle and perhaps add one more WR.

 

Here's a chart with the offensive time of possession by team. The Steelers are 29th out of 32 teams. The offense averages 28 minutes per game. That means the defense is on the field and average of 32 minutes per game.

https://www.lineups.com/nfl/time-of-possession

 

That was because we played alot of zone under Lebeau. When we implemented man against Brady we had success.

 

Yep the contingency is Herbig.

 

They rank by yards. I rank by PPG, which makes them 5th best. Because at the end of the day, the defenses job is to prevent scoring.

 

Probably because being OC is more than just calling the plays on game day. The OC needs to develop the game plan and organize and run the meetings. Maybe Faulkner is better that at that than Sullivan. Sullivan has a strong relationship with Pickett it sounds like.

it’s really no different than teams like SF and KC that have OC’s but the HC calls the plays on game day.

 

The contingency is a combination of Golden and Herbig. While that is a hell of a lot better than what they had in place last season, I still wouldn't want to see this defense without Watt.

 

That makes the defense's work late in games even more impressive, especially when you take into account the way the injuries have affected their depth.

 

Are we complaining about the D that is top 5 in points, and turnovers....even with all the injuries, and the offense leaving them on the field most of the game???

 

Good point.

 

Yes, yes they are...

 

True, and I think they stick to zone most of the time to avoid big plays. The defensive backfield in not ideal right now. That in itself is an adjustment that keeps the opponents scoring down.

 

Apparently, some people are.

They have not allowed many points and have kept the team in all but a game or two. I think they've been very good.

I just want them to get as healthy as possible for the stretch run and the playoffs.

 

Exactly

 

Our defense is playing well this year and they are the only reason right now why the Steelers are 7-4, but I am still not sold on this defense, especially when they are going to have bigger test like it will be the case in their last 4 games, so we will see

But I would have no problem if Austin is back next year....Since he has been on our staff(2019), the Steelers have been high in turnovers almost every year