Boom or BUST year for these 4 players

because it's woodley's side too and he isn't worth his paycheck

 

hood is one of the biggest bust i saw on this team , and the rest of the dline is questionable at best

 

Even commentators noted running at that side. I know there is only one Aaron Smith but that did not happen with him in his prime and a 3-4 formation. On paper Ziggy is a better prospect than Smith, but that never translated to the field. Ziggy is either a workout warrior (ala Brady Quinn), or held back by the system. The d-line is terrible, and this 3-4 needs great ends because they are the only two d-lineman in nickel formation for this passing league. The best ends on the team may be McLendon and Hayward; they may be the 2014 ends.

I believe that the Steelers are still a good team that could be a contender with a few good roster moves and health, but this will be another "roster sorting" year. There will be a few starters that will have to put in a solid season to have a future on the roster. If Hayward and McLendon show they are as good or better, Kiesel and Hood are gone. A good 3-4 end is more difficult to find than a serviceable nose tackle. D-ends are also more important in today's passing league.

 

lamar woodley. he goes to far straight up field to get around the tackle and they run right underneath him. i have seen and talked about it since he was a rookie. he still does it. they get him thinking pass rush and he's not quick enough to recover or just takes himself out of the play. ziggy then has to be the stay at home guy.

now during the pass rush, yes the DE's tie up blockers, and the OLB'ers are the pass rushers. BUT, the OLB is also there to not only make the sack if he can, but to flush the QB into the arms of the DE's that should be able to get off their blocks by then. this all happens while the middle of the pocket should be coming back into the qb's face by the NT. in a perfect scenario anyway.

another reason is the holding inside thats allowed or not seen. since the linesman was moved behind the offense, he is mostly trying to watch the speed edge rushers and the middle. the holding on the interior has really increased,and they are good at it. i have seen cam many times break off a block at the right time to make a tackle on a run coming up the middle, only to be given that extra tug from behind or an arm grab to where he can't free up in time or turn his body. the same happens to ziggy and keisel. remember the DE's are there to tie up blockers and the blockers are there to tie them up too.

they have to learn to get off blocks. aaron smith had the natural legnth,stregnth and talent to do this on a consistant basis. mitchell taught him but it was mostly smittys talent. kimo was that way too. those type of guys make a coach look good. now is the hard part.

 

yes he did. thats what i meant by his legnth not just hgt.. he was strong too. his total package wasen't hard to coach. i think ziggy is doing ok. he had his best year last year. if he improves on that then it's moving forward. at least he works on his body and craft. worilds does ok on that side when he plays.

 

n' at

 

I can't blame Woodley though. Woodley and Aaron Smith together were stout against the run. I always felt Woodley was strong against the run, he holds the edge very well. When Woodley came back from the injuries this year it did seem the run defense did slightly improve, it was just the pass defense that was lacking. I just think there is something in Hood's technique or performance that teams think they can exploit.

 

so why bother asking? looking for more hood bashers?

seems mac daddy gave you a hell of a reason and explained why. oh well.

i get it. Hood is Tomlin's player so he automatically blows.

 

Wow dude, I wasn't attacking him at all?

I'm willing to give Hood a pass until we see him play a full year with a healthy Woodley and someone more dynamic at NT (Hampton too old.) If Hood struggles then, then I think he is just an average 3-4 DE. I always felt he would have been better in a 4-3 scheme anyways.

 

It has nothing to do with whether or not Hood is Tomlin's player. Anyone that thinks that Hood has thus far lived up to his potential as a number one draft pick is deluded. Hood has been average. We may even say that he's been pretty good if he were a fifth round pick. But don't we expect a little more out of a number one draft pick in Pittsburgh?

 

Yes I definitely expect more. Which is why I hope this year Heyward shows me something. I know a lot of people expect him to do more since he has a more prominent role to play this year but I think it's kinda lame when people talk about the lack of playing time. Seems to me that he would get more playing time if he were showing more to the coaches. But I guess I could be wrong.

 

Alot of people are blaming the coaches for stunting the growth of some of the young players. Maybe they're right.

 

Yeah that seems to be the general consensus. I just wonder how much in practice they get to be involved. I wonder if on the sidelines they are constantly getting coached up. How do we develop players really? Seems like we sorta make them do a lot more classroom work before taking the actual fields. We've got some expensive interns though I'll tell you what.

 

I really believe that we've got our young players thinking too much. I know that may sound crazy, but ask any professional athlete whether they be a golfer, football player or anything else, if you think too much you're toast. I know you've got to put the classroom time in but these young players seem to be scared to make a mistake. Instead of doing what comes naturally and beat your man and gt to the guy that has the ball, our young guys seem to be trying to solve a mathematical equation while being contested by a 340 pound lineman.

 

Yeah and back in the day they didn't have to sit like they do now right? I mean did Jack Lambert just come in and play in his rookie year? Did Jack Ham do the same? It seems to be more of a Lebeau thing because it seems like our offensive rookies get more playing time from the get go. DeCastro would've saw a lot of time. Adams did see a lot of time. Heath saw the field a lot as a rookie. We all know what Ben did. I think Troy played a lot early in his career though. Is it more of just a linemen and linebacker philosophy with Lebeau? I wonder if we'd even know what he have in Cortez if Ike hadn't got hurt.

 

How many people around here have screamed that Smith should be a HOF and now expect not one but both Hood and Cam to be as good as him because of their draft position. I think that is a little unfair. Where was Tom Brady drafted at? That was just a side note. What I'm really wondering is if you guys think the other teams would be clued in if we had Gilbert at tackle for plass plays and brought Adams in to replace him on run plays? I think if we have them switch jerseys on the sideline we could get away with this!

 

I think most of us just want to see more out of both Hood and Heyward. They don't have to be the second coming of Aaron Smith, but as first round draft picks of the Pittsburgh Steelers, much more is expected than what they've delivered over the first few years of their careers. Especially Hood who has been "marginally mediocre" at this point in his career.

 

we could just move dabeard back out to his old spot of OLB and ziggy and heyward can play. move worilds to woodleys spot and have at it. huh, huh, huh,