Patrick Graham - DC

however he runs this defense, they have to get better against the run. playing against the afc north in the late november and december games in the cold. our edges have to start playing the run better.

it happened when woodley was there. TJ hasn't been the greatest at it. highsmith as well. herbig is light in the pants. they all make a play once in awhile but there hasn't been consistency for awhile. it's always been more about the pass rush driving the ship.

 

I wouldn't go that far the Steelers defense was ranked around the top 10 except for 2025, and Austin was the one who brought that turnover culture to the defense.

 

He's in the right age bracket.

 

And big shoes to fill when playing against the division.

On the Terrible Podcast yesterday, I think they said that we've been 0.500 or better against the division every year since 2010. They said that's better than any other team "by a country mile". But didn't say what the next closest team was.

 

Or Bing. You pick.

 

i expect we are around .500. we are pretty good at beating one team twice or splitting. would like to see us do better on the road against these non-divisional opponents we should win games. we played down a lot to teams. you have to be able to win those games, even when splitting in the division. sure would make the season easier.

 

You think Sid would be any better?

 

That I Know he will do. As well DB will look smarter (just not sure how jpj will look in his system). But we won't see that aggressive pittsburgh style.

I'll say it again, I won't be shocked if watt request a trade. And honestly Sawyer fits graham scheme a lot better. Even herbig would benefit.

But we have to get him a strong safety. Fitzpatrick would have been perfect for him.
So now i wonder if our first pick will be a safety. Because Graham system does revolve on that big time.
Or
free agent Kevin byard for 10 million 2 years.

 

I notice quite a few of the early replies were from people who wanted Schwartz.
I asked this question in the "Todd Monken" thread and didn't get a reply. I'll ask again.

Does Schwartz always field a competitive defense?

I'm looking at the stats for how his teams have done, when he is DC.
To me it seems like a few competitive defenses, and ordinary for most part.
At Cleveland, he had 2 seasons where they were top-4 based on yardage, but only average (13th, 14th) based on points. And last year they were just bad (19th yards, 27th points).
Five years in Philadelphia: one good season (4th), others were average to below-average.
His first 8 seasons in TEN: last 2 were top 10, but other 6 were average to bad.

 

Quit confusing us with facts.

 

That seems backward. Watt and Sawyer seem to have skill sets better suited to outside linebacker in a 4-3. Highsmith is the one who is probably best suited to play end in a 4-3.

 

It is tough to blame the secondary coach given that the team's plan at safety failed so miserably. It wasn't his fault they were stupid enough to go with Thornhill at free safety. He was a disaster, and that forced them to move Ramsey during the season. It wasn't the coach's fault Elliott got hurt, either. The Steelers need to fix that position.

 

We have no idea how many people they interviewed.

 

I understand that the Raiders didn't give Graham anything to work with, but there were issues i saw with him as well.....
There's a big difference between lack of talent and lack of discipline, and the lack of discipline i saw in the raiders' defense points directly to the coach.... the raiders defense was beyond pathetic.....

One of the criteria i use when setting my fantasy lineups is what defenses are my players matched up against ... if I see the raiders on that list, it's very nearly a foregone conclusion that they're going into the starting lineup...... the architect of such a defense has absolutely no business running ours!!!!!

 

I always had a crush on Bing's daughter Mary. Some of the old timers will remember that she shot JR on "Dallas".

 

I had to look her up. I remember the face but didn't know she was his daughter until today.

 

They need a combination of Kirkland and Casey Hampton.

 

I was listening to Scouts Eye the other day and he says that McCarthy has a very high win% against teams that are under 0.500.

But he's under 0.500 when playing teams that are over 0.500.

If that holds, I think it means we get fewer surprise losses against "bad" teams. And we probably also get fewer surprise wins against "good" teams.

Personally, I'm not expecting a big change in the end result. Unless we find a good young QB. And I don't think McCarthy can do any worse than we did with Pickett.

IIRC the AFCN is also kind of weird. With basically no one winning road games on Thursdays (like the one we lost against the Bengals this year). I don't remember the stats exactly, but I think there was something like one AFCN vs. AFCN road win on Thursday in the last decade (or some other long period of time).

Definitely need better run D in the AFCN IMO. That's why I'm not really all that sad to see Dunbar go (even though I liked him).

 

Doesn’t sound great is that not what we have been running the last five years? I prefer a defensive as you described Flores’s defense.

 

I think Kirkland is my favorite underrated Steeler.

Partly because he was one massive and scary MFer. Partly because I grew up around mostly Bills fans so this game was awesome (also...crazy to see the old footage and the massive pads they used to wear).

Short of the pick: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HlhAxsGY7ps

General highlights

 

Why would JPJ not thrive in his system? If safety it’s important in this system this draft is excellent to draft safety. We need two in my mind. Ramsey should be cut or moved to nickel cb. Why would Watt regress in his system? Crosby has thrived? You reference aggressive Pittsburghbstyle. What do you mean? I thought we were pretty conservative at least in coverage.

 

Not right now. The Pens are tracking pretty good.

 

Him and Lloyd. Cowher knew how to build a team. That defense was loaded.