Your thoughts on Teryl Austin as DC?

If you look at the time of possession per drive,the steelers offense are 27th this year and they were in the bottom 3 before the last game too!...Look just a bit below of Average Drive and you will see more details

2023 Pittsburgh Steelers Rosters, Stats, Schedule, Team Draftees, Injury Reports | Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

That's a good take. We can only hope.

I was wondering why Faulkner got the nod over Sullivan. I believe Sullivan has more experience. Maybe Tomlin is propping Faulkner up to possibly get an offensive coordinator gig somewhere else next season.

 

Mind boggling post. The Steelers are one of the best teams at making defensive adjustments in the league. They’ve only given up 77 points in the second half all year. The only team who’s given up less are the 49ers. If you can’t recognize the adjustments being made to in-game, you’ve got no one to blame but yourself.

The rookies are playing, with 3 being starters and Darnell getting major playing time himself. There’s 6 whole games left and I think that it’s good that the rooks have been gradually worked in and are still ascending coming down the stretch.

 

Hard to complain about this defense. So many short drives by the offense, the D has been on the field a lot and has answered most of the time. My biggest complain is that our DB’s are yet again, the weak spot, and a little soft.

 

Well that sure makes me feel better. Didn't realize that. Proving once again stats are not everything except for a player come contract time

 

I give him a B

 

There’s room for improvement on the defense. Particularly 3rd down. It’s frustrating to see 3rd and long converted all the time. Now, that’s an anecdotal observation. No idea the actual stats. Perhaps a blitz once or twice would get them off the field. Minkah’s return helps as well.

 

Due to his trouble with the quote function, it doesn't show that this is a response to blackandgoldpatrol's post above.

The Steelers have consistently had one superior player this season, Watt. Either Heyward or Fitzpatrick has missed part or all of every game this season and Highsmith has been good, not great. They have had to overcome the injuries to two of their stars and both inside linebackers. They managed to hold together with two guys fresh from the practice squad starting the last two weeks.

The Texans game was two months ago. The Steelers did adjust in the third quarter, which was when they got back in the game, but the defense wore down and Houston later took advantage with a deep ball. The Steelers have done a better job adjusting to teams attacking them with quick passes underneath. That's where the Browns and Bengals focused their attack the last two games and the Steelers gave up 22 total points in those two games combined.

They aren't perfect. They are still shaky at cornerback and they are feeling the absence of Holcomb and Alexander, but they have been better than the sum of their parts and some of that credit has to go to coaching.

Except Jones, the rookies were playing early in the season. Yes, Porter should have been starting earlier, but they eased him and Benton in and that worked out just fine.

 

That has been a pattern for some time, and even when if it might not happen as much (I really do not know) the perception is there. That they limit scoring so well certainly helps, but alos hard on the heart and lungs to see so many 3rd and long conversions. lol

 

10
13
19
16
20
17

Those are the points our defense has allowed in the last 6 games. Considering how often they are on the field, I'd say Austin is doing a great job.

Now, you could point to the outliers like the 9ers and Texans games but I think overall it's been positive.

If we had an offense capable of sustaining drives and scoring over 20 points then we might be 9-2.

 

The middle is going to be an issue for at least the rest of this season due to the MLB injuries.

That being said, it's been an issue since the 90's it feels like.

 

Since Ryan Shazier went down.....

 

One team under 35% (CLE), four teams worse than 45%. There are 21 teams packed in the 35-40% range; Steelers are 14th overall at 37.9%.

 

I just wish we blitzed more.

 

It will be possible if the steelers find another good CB on the other side of Porter Jr

 

Austin is doing well, especially considering all the injuries he has had to deal with and the poor cornerback play earlier in the year before Porter came in

I haven’t read the whole thread so maybe this has already been said but I saw recently that the steelers are 26th in total yards allowed but top 10 in yards allowed per play. The offence putting them back on the field again and again is making the defence appear more porous than it is.

The development of Benton and Porter this season has been really positive, and Austin must get some credit for that as well.

 

People want more blitzing, but if a team can generate pressure rushing just four it is such an advantage because you can drop more players into coverage. It's what all defenses would love to be able to do. Blitzes are great and exciting when they work. When they don't, they expose the secondary to huge plays.

Like you say, if they are able to get at least one more quality starting boundary CB they would be in a much better position to hold up in the secondary with aggressive blitzing. They don't have that kind of a secondary right now to always leave the secondary exposed and put everything on them. We all hope Rush and Trice could turn into that, but the answer may not currently be on the roster or be able to stay healthy enough to be that guy.

Wallace has been a liability all season, Pierre is inconsistent and has been injured. Another shut down guy on the other side would elevate this defense and allow them to really get aggressive with more blitzes.

 

One of the plays in which their QB had time (stepped up and got sacked by TJ) Wallace was burnt bad on an up and out to the endzone. QB missed it.

 

Kinda like what our offense has been seeing so far this season.

 

Does Austin make it till the end of the year, Did the weather delays, and injury's give/ make excuses for the poor defensive play today............. Is He Tomlins next scape goat ??

 

He’s ok considering Tomlin calls the plays !!!!

 

They fell apart when they lost Roberts. This team has no good inside linebackers left. Fitzpatrick broke his hand and now Watt is hurt, too. That's not on Austin.

 

The browns have a qb who was watching games on tv and look ten times better on offense than Steelers. Worst coaching display ever today. Entire coaching staff SUCKS ASS

 

Oh, you mean the one that just threw a ball up for grabs and got it intercepted?