The BIG BIG ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM!!!!!

Cortez was playing injured , it's been mentioned on here a million times, geeeeez!!

 

Hurt ? Or physically and mentally out matched ? I still contend he is a nickle CB at best and was asked to play a #1 and #2 spot .He will never live up to that and it is unfair for us Fans and the Team to expect him to.

This is a huge problem with our D as we have a bunch of Nickle and Dime guys and not 1 true #1 or #2 CB .

 

No he was injured PWP... Injury can affect mental state as well as his physical attributes.

I think he deserves another chance.. Let's see what he can do. I don't think its time to throw him to the wolves

 

The Wolves are the #1 and #2 WR'S he is being expected to guard.I actually like him as a Nickle CB ,but KC gave him a contract he will never be able to play up to .

 

Injured as in playing with a broken thumb.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...jury-updates-on-steelers-cbs-thumb-and-return

 

a broken thumb make you run like a duck ?

 

That is true that he needs to live up to his contract but that is what we are doing here right? He deserves a chance to prove himself and the organization generally has done a pretty good job. Perhaps more blame should be assigned to coaches in place of KC?

 

Ducks don't really run anyways. They waddle lol

 

The ideal scenario for us is getting someone like Peters as well as Allen to actually step up and become a solid starter. That being said, if he becomes a solid starter, we still will have problems until we have a true #1 again. Ike was the #1, and it made our D great. He was under-appreciated cause he couldn't catch, but he could keep the WR from catching as well. We need that guy again which is why to me Peters makes sense.

 

[video=youtube;MtN1YnoL46Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtN1YnoL46Q[/video]

Then he waddled away

 

I think he rebounds this upcoming year. Count me in the minority I guess.

 

I sure hope your right...we need CB help in the worst way and having that help already on the team would be a plus.

 

Surprise, surprise we disagree!!!

These are the Steelers DB draft picks over the last 5 seasons:

Shaquille Richardson
Terry Hawthorne
Terence Frederick
Curtis Brown
Cortez Allen
Crezdon Butler
Joe Burnett

Lake personally lobbied for some of these guys. The Steelers pass defense has been pretty abysmal the last couple of seasons. I realize that the pass rush feeds into that but Lake hasn't gotten a lot out of the DB draft picks over the last few seasons, I don't think anybody can argue with that. As a position coach, it's his job to coach these guys up to the next level and based on the results I don't believe he's doing an adequate job of that. I'm not ready to turn him loose, but it's time for Lake to get some of these guys to step it up, especially Shamarko, Cortez AND any DBs they bring in through the draft this year.

 

It seems they bring in better unknown FAs and future contract guys than draft picks. But that could just be my opinion. The draft picks have been lacking, but Blake and McCain, who were relatively unheralded, turned out OK. I distinctly remember Richardson being a "Lake" pick. Not sure about his influence on the FAs. I like Carnell and just hope they re-define the process for picking CBs in the draft as it seems to be lacking.

 

But why did we pay C. Allen 25 mill to be a #4 CB? A guy that does not want to tackle?

 

It would be odd for him to go from physically capable to physically outmatched in one season. Allen's issues were mental errors, which may have been rooted in his injury. Regardless, it wasn't that he failed to develop last season - he visible went backwards. So hopefully he can go forwards again. But time will tell.

This I agree with, though.

 

This to me is the major issue back there. If you had asked me 2 months ago, I would have said go get an OLB at the draft, we must get pressure on the QB. Today, I would say go get a stud CB and let the guys we have at OLB play. Yes, I would still like to upgrade the OLB position, but that CB group becomes instantly better with a CB added who has elite talent. If Allen can also get his game straight and become the starter we thought he was, this group is TONS better. NEW CB, Allen, Gay as the Nickle, and Blake as the dime. Can Allen do it? I have no idea, but I do think most of his mistakes were mental which is sometimes a more challenging fix than physical.

 

we could throw damarcus van dyke in that group too. although not drafted, he was brought in and was active. CL though I love the guy is not a very seasoned coach. a 1 preseason intern with philly and 1 season at UCLA before being hired as a DB coach here. let's not make it out like he's a must have seasoned veteran coach. I can't believe through all these players and cortez, not one guy is field ready even as a backup. so calling his coaching ability into question is not out of the question. he's only coached in and played in limited defenses over the years. I agree with jack in we need to see more results with the younger players. soon.

 

Me too, turtle.

 

And many of these players were 3rd, 4th and 5th round picks, Blast, so what's your point? I would have liked to see something, anything out of some of these players. To this point, a grand total of ZERO, NADA, NONE of these players have made a meaningful contribution to this football team. You're obviously happy with the non-development of these guys so we'll agree to disagree. I'm not putting all the blame on Lake, some it falls on the talent evaluators. But I would expect that if Lake is the DB coach he would have a hand in evaluating some of the college talent they may be considering. You can be happy with mediocrity (or worse) if you'd like. I'm not!

And for the record, I'm not even saying Lake is a bad coach. Shoot, a couple of years ago I was even lobbying for him to be the next DC of the team. But Lake, like every other coach and player in the NFL, will be judged on results and up to this point they've been largely lacking.

 

Brown, Allen, Butler and Burnett all made the team so more than half the guys I mentioned were on the team and being coached by Lake at some point. Lake also lobbied for Richardson (or was it Hawthorne?) and the Steelers obliged. Again, I'm not saying it's time to part company with Lake but the results, IMHO, have been somewhat disappointing thus far.