Linebacker.....

The Steelers used to set the bar with linebacker play. They were proud of that fact. Hard hitting. Swarming. Havoc making with the 3-4 on the edge.

Those days are gone but not in ways you might think.

The coaching decisions are atrocious on who's starting.

Williams and Dupree should be backups. I mean if we have to have them then they're depth guys...not starters.

Matekavich needs to be starting inside. He plays like his hair is on fire and he needs more reps to really blossom. His motor is at 100mph and he understands how to play inside backer.

It's a man's position and he never shys away or guesses on a play.

Williams plays that spot timid and he guesses all the time.

Fort should be starting over Bostic.

Chickillo should be starting opposite Watt in place of Dupree.

Dupree has no pulse. He might as well be a traffic cone out there.
Chickillo is another high energy guy. A lot more life than Dupree.

If this lineup had
Watt..............................Chickillo
Matekavich....Fort


We'd have our four highly active linebackers starting and allowing them to really polish their game.

Pro football has become a much faster game and i dont mean fast 40 times. You have to play fast and excited. There is a huge difference there.

Williams, Bostic and Dupree look like they're playing football in church.

We need help at LB and sadly we have help already here.

Gotta love that out of touch coaching staff of the Rooney country club

 

Anybody that is a long time Steeler fan or even someone that knows football, knows the Steelers were a LBer factory. There were always 3 guys who were just bad a** together. There was a nasty guy who brought the fear and was just down right mean. You did NOT run the football down the middle right down the LBers throat. If you did, you paid for it. As a Steeler fan, it is down right embarrassing to watch the current defense play. It has gone from the Steel Curtain to wet paper bag.

 

I refuse to comment your post as being hilarious because there is nothing funny whatsoever about this.

It's down right sad that our starting front seven best players are Hayward and Tuitt.


Our front seven coukd be bad ass...they just keep on keeping on wjth the meek and mild Dupree, guessing and shy Williams, and 6 year vet Bostic who I believe needs checked for a pulse.

We have the material....just not the right decision makers.

 

Watt excluded, we have far too many guys who would be backups on other teams.

 

Matakevich is slow as.....................

 

Agree except...I like Bostic over Williams, Solid...He just can't/ and shouldn't be put in a position to cover RB's

 

I wouldn't say starting Dupree over Chickillo and Bostic over Fort are 'atrocious' coaching decisions. Questionable maybe in the case of Fort, but neither he nor Chickillo is cut and dried above the starters right now, and neither of them will restore the gold age of Pittsburgh linebacking.

 

The Steelers "used" to be a lot of things they aren't anymore ..Mostly a revered ,proud organization !Not so much these days,SMH

 

The lack of speed at inside linebacker is one of the worst issues on the defense and the OP wants to solve the problem by starting Matakevich, who is even slower than the guys who have been playing ahead of him.

 

The only real playmaking linebacker is Watt. That's it. Fort has gotten more snaps in which I am in favor of. I do like Chickillo, high motor but being a 6th round pick Dud will start over him. Giving Dud the 5th year extension is mindless.

This defense is in shambles. Other then Watt, Heyward, Haden and Edwards who really stands out? Tuitt, Hargrave and Chick sometimes I will give you that, but look at the rest? it's a sad state of affairs that and also having a defensive coordinator that needs to be replaced as well. I'm not sticking up for Butler and he should be replaced but with this talent pool how can you succeed?

 

He can start by giving them a chance. His failure to put players in a position to succeed have been well documented throughout the season. Yet he continues to do it. LBs on WRs or athletic TEs and another stupid move that I was reminded of after reading a article at BTSC. They elected to put TE as a single high FS on the long pass that set up Oaklands TD and confounded the problem by basically doing it again on the TD itself. There was another game earlier in the year where he did the same and guess what it failed just a spectacularly as last game. I don't recall the game but I do remember being equally upset at the time that they decided to use TE in a position he was very inexperienced in. He just doesn't learn from his mistakes. Just look at Oaklands first play last week Fort on Cook split out wide....seriously?

https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.c...positions-to-succeed-keith-butler-mike-tomlin

 

You know this how when you have zero pulse Dupree out there taking most snaps. Chickillo plays faster than Dupree. Plays with more passion. It only gets better with more reps that he's not getting because we won't bench a first rounder and admit to egg on the face.

 

Agreed 101%

The Steelers to win they have to win in spite of their own god damn coach, not win because of him.

 

Kevin Colbert is whiffing on the defensive players IMHO.

Either he forgot how to evaluate players or some other outside party is influencing him to make bad picks?

 

Maybe it's the inside party....

Tomlin


There really is no evidence suggesting he's highly football smart.

Tomlin is a public speaking champion.

Nothing more

 

I think we have the wrong players being asked to do the wrong things all while hoping to wrongs make a right.

 

Whether people want to admit it or not... the Shazier injury set this franchise back a few years. We need a Shazier-caliber ILB and that won't happen until the off season.

 

Those people who claimed the Steelers couldn't have done it in this year's draft because the top guys were gone should take a look at what Darius Leonard is doing for the Colts. They got him in the second round, but he had a borderline first round grade before the draft, higher than that of Edmunds.

 

Totally agree! KC had to have known, even with signing Bostic, this wasn't going to be pretty.

He should have addressed the issue this year.

 

True....but we really need to address the outside position too. is Dupree contract up? He's lousy.

We have the material in house. Just not the intelligence to recognize playing them.

Matekavich would be tremendous inside. Best linebacker instincts the Steelers have had in a long time.

But he needs the reps. Chickillo is another one. He needs to be playing and Bud sitting.

 

The Steelers showed interest in him before the draft, he was in Pittsburgh for a team visit in April. I think they were already sold on Edmunds though, after Tomlin and Colbert had dinner with the whole Edmunds family during VT pro day a couple weeks earlier. Edmunds might become the player they envisioned some day, but Leonard was ready to go from the start, which is what the Steelers needed this season.

 

Disagree on Chickillo and Matekevich. I'd rather see Adeniyi and Fort.

 

Thoughts as to the best (likely) option?

Seems we also need a better bookend opposite watt to maintain containment... peasy would have been a lot less effective without Woodley and debo.

 

Btw... at some point this season Dupree seemed to be taking more inside lines and making more of an impact. Trying to think of examples when he was also used effectively to cover the short crossing routes... in other words (if contract renewal decisions were not pertinent ) is there merit in moving him to a more traditional ilb role?

 

Yes, Watt needs a better LOLB to go if Steelers decide to keep the 3-4... which I think they should go 4-3 next year. Woodley wasn't around when Porter played... he was playing at Michigan during XL era. It was Porter and Haggans.