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Make the Steelers defense great again

antdrewjosh said:
ROBERT ZEWE FROM ERIE, PA:
Why didn't the Steelers adjust and come out of the zone defense versus the Patriots. They have the players to play man, why not do it? Why not use*Justin Gilbert*more?



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ANSWER: What you're describing is not an adjustment but an overhaul of the way they had been playing in the secondary during the nine-game winning streak, and that cannot happen on the sideline during a game. You say the Steelers have the players to play man coverage, but I disagree heartily when the opponent is Tom Brady. Forget the receivers, the real opponent for the pass defense is Brady. If you think Brady wouldn't have carved up man-coverage on Sunday, you're delusional. It's not as simple as just assigning a defensive back to a wide receiver or a tight end or a running back and saying, "Cover him." The Patriots put guys in motion, they run crossing routes. With the rules the way they are, how's a defensive back supposed to deal with that? Certain guys need help, and everybody has to know if they're getting help or not, and if they're getting help where it's coming from. And you're gonna try to draw that up on the sideline between series? Brady's accuracy will eat you alive, and for bigger chunks of yards than he was getting Sunday night.

I don't disagree that the Steelers pass defense was awful in that game, but how positive are you that it was scheme and not player error? It's likely that it was some mix of the two, but the scheme can only ask the personnel to do what's realistic for them. On Sunday, the Steelers started three virtual rookies in their secondary -*Artie Burns,*Sean Davis, and*Ross Cockrell*- and against that quarterback in that venue with those stakes, asking them to play man-coverage would have been like juggling nitroglycerin.

Maybe the plan could've been tweaked to prevent the Patriots receivers from always getting a free release off the line of scrimmage, and maybe the plan was made to look worse than it was by mental errors and poor play. Agreed, it was below the line, but where I disagree is that it's too complex with too many moving parts to believe it could've been changed/fixed mid-game.


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Who is answering this tweet? I can't tell from my PC. It sounds like a cop-out to me. Professionals should be able to adjust. JMO
 
antdrewjosh said:
ROBERT ZEWE FROM ERIE, PA:
Why didn't the Steelers adjust and come out of the zone defense versus the Patriots. They have the players to play man, why not do it? Why not use*Justin Gilbert*more?



Around the Locker Room - at Patriots

Share:*

ANSWER: What you're describing is not an adjustment but an overhaul of the way they had been playing in the secondary during the nine-game winning streak, and that cannot happen on the sideline during a game. You say the Steelers have the players to play man coverage, but I disagree heartily when the opponent is Tom Brady. Forget the receivers, the real opponent for the pass defense is Brady. If you think Brady wouldn't have carved up man-coverage on Sunday, you're delusional. It's not as simple as just assigning a defensive back to a wide receiver or a tight end or a running back and saying, "Cover him." The Patriots put guys in motion, they run crossing routes. With the rules the way they are, how's a defensive back supposed to deal with that? Certain guys need help, and everybody has to know if they're getting help or not, and if they're getting help where it's coming from. And you're gonna try to draw that up on the sideline between series? Brady's accuracy will eat you alive, and for bigger chunks of yards than he was getting Sunday night.

I don't disagree that the Steelers pass defense was awful in that game, but how positive are you that it was scheme and not player error? It's likely that it was some mix of the two, but the scheme can only ask the personnel to do what's realistic for them. On Sunday, the Steelers started three virtual rookies in their secondary -*Artie Burns,*Sean Davis, and*Ross Cockrell*- and against that quarterback in that venue with those stakes, asking them to play man-coverage would have been like juggling nitroglycerin.

Maybe the plan could've been tweaked to prevent the Patriots receivers from always getting a free release off the line of scrimmage, and maybe the plan was made to look worse than it was by mental errors and poor play. Agreed, it was below the line, but where I disagree is that it's too complex with too many moving parts to believe it could've been changed/fixed mid-game.


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Did good old Bob ever watch a minute of the Texans or Giants games against the pats? If you pressure Brady with man coverage he becomes very average. So in plain words Bob is more afraid of blitzing with man coverage because we MIGHT get beat doing so but thinks that getting our *** kicked in zone coverage is a much better option. Pittsburgh media by and large is a ******* joke. They would rather be chums with the coaching staff than ever ask a legit question or pressure a coach. Teams switch between zone and man coverage in game all the time. Regardless, the defense that we ran for the past 9 weeks is NOT the same one that we ran against the Pats*
 
This is such crap, Artie burns 2nd game ever he's running in man to man coverage with Tyrek Hill and breaking up a pass, we've seen a couple times over the past couple seasons where we lock Cockrell onto AJ Green, so to say it would be an over haul is a total cop out
 
Bob Labriola and Ed Bouchette made their careers sucking off the Steelers and never printing a bad word about the organization in any fashion. Nobody needs yes-man, ***** quotes, especially unlinked and uncredited without being asked.


Say what you want about Rex Ryan, but he is a great defensive coordinator, he knows the 3-4, and he knows how to beat or contend with the Patriots. Haley was an insufferable ***** in KC, but as an OC he's shut his mouth and gone to work. Think the Rooneys couldn't get that out of Rex?
 
I also think it's a copout for these writers using the basic logic of "no matter what the scheme, he would have torn it apart because he's Br*dy"

Well why the hell does he light up the Steelers D like a ******* Christmas tree every god damn time, even in comparison to how he plays against other teams? Why does he have trouble against Rex Ryan or Wade Phillips defenses? Houston this year? Baltimore?

We can't just walk around like it's a foregone conclusion that he's going to tear up anything we try to do. Why even bother trying then? Plenty of past teams have figured out ways to get to him, to frustrate him, throw him off his game. Hell WE did it in 2011. I'm tired of these writers taking the stance that there's essentially nothing we could have done. These same players have had the #1 ranked defense in the LEAGUE over the course of the winning streak, and that's without arguably their best player. Cut me a god damn break that there's just nothing they have done schematically to make a difference. **** that ****
 
whatever it takes for that zone scheme to go, please.
 
Get a mauling defensive line that obliterates the opposing teams O line. Speedy line backers who can tackle and have great technique. Secondary that are ball hawks and hit hard. freakin simple
 
AggieSteel said:
I also think it's a copout for these writers using the basic logic of "no matter what the scheme, he would have torn it apart because he's Br*dy"

Well why the hell does he light up the Steelers D like a ******* Christmas tree every god damn time, even in comparison to how he plays against other teams? Why does he have trouble against Rex Ryan or Wade Phillips defenses? Houston this year? Baltimore?

We can't just walk around like it's a foregone conclusion that he's going to tear up anything we try to do. Why even bother trying then? Plenty of past teams have figured out ways to get to him, to frustrate him, throw him off his game. Hell WE did it in 2011. I'm tired of these writers taking the stance that there's essentially nothing we could have done. These same players have had the #1 ranked defense in the LEAGUE over the course of the winning streak, and that's without arguably their best player. Cut me a god damn break that there's just nothing they have done schematically to make a difference. **** that ****
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Well said, couldn't agree more, that's mostly what Ive heard this week on sports radio in Pittsburgh. We might as well just forfeit next season.
 
If we get a little more help in the secondary and at OLB and can stay healthy, this D has the opportunity to truly be top 15 and possibly top 10 next season. If Heyward, Tuitt and J. Wobble are healthy, they should be in on all three downs. Enough of the BS with 2 D-linemen. I never want to see that again. The Pats laughed at us because we constantly only rushed 3 men. Stupid, stupid, stupid. With our front 3, Dupree on one side and Harrison/additional rusher on the other side, you send a minimum of 4 on every play. Mix up who rushes the edge and throw in some rushes where the ILB rushes. Then you can also blitz with 5 here and there. Rushing 4 should never be considered a blitz, yet for us, it has become so. Never, ever, only send 3 against a good QB. He will find someone open almost every time.
 
deljzc said:
Well, you could argue the best we ever played against Brady/Belichick was when injuries forced us to abandon the "must play 4 LB's" mentality this team has had for 25 years.

Back in 2011, we started a banged up Woodley, Timmons played OLB and both Farrior and Harrison were out. We AVERAGE 3.22 LB's per play that day and ended up playing DIME coverage 41/50 snaps (the only time THAT WHOLE SEASON!). We played tons of man-under coverage on the slot receivers, dared them to run against our front and STILL had double safeties on the field.

Brady still have a 100.0+ rating but we held them to 17 points and Brady had only 200 yards on 35 attempts. We tackled well that game, still got 3 sacks (a few coverage sacks if I remember).

That's the only time I saw anything close to different from us against Brady and it worked and I've never seen us run DIME against him since.

Kind of hard to understand that.
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I was at that game. Troy was beating the **** out of Welker at the LoS and not giving him a clean release. It was awesome!
 
The Steelers need an OLB and one more physical CB imo. I still think if the Steelers ran with some of their 2011 defense they would've been playing in Houston
 
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