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I've never seen a 40 yard dash run in an actual NFL football game. Playing football speed is much different than running a race.
The Potential is There for Artie Burns
- Thread starter zmetkler
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Now I see it. Okay, listen up.
Technically Buns was beaten, and he touched the receiver's hands before the ball arrives. See the 13-14 second mark. It wasn't called, and I'm not saying if it should have been, just telling you the rules.
Burns was falling down as the pass was in the air. A no-no, and he did this because he was beaten.
If the pass was in front of the receiver a bit more, it's likely a completion. Reaching back to make a catch at that speed isn't easy.
There you have it.
Zmetkle,
Thank you for the video link. Quickness ( start and stop / change of direction ) and 40 yard dash and speed are not the same things.
Last edited:
You are a walking talking typing ********
I knew coach would go with the pass interference defense. it's the lowest common denominator to push his agenda.
Realtime, there is no question it was an excellent play, and this play happens often in pro sports. The PI has to be egregious to get called now a days. Unless you're AB getting tackled by a LBer in the endzone...
Realtime, there is no question it was an excellent play, and this play happens often in pro sports. The PI has to be egregious to get called now a days. Unless you're AB getting tackled by a LBer in the endzone...
It wasn't even close to pass interference. It was an excellent play.
I don't disagree, but when you slow it down to milliseconds, Burns touches the receiver's hand before the ball gets there...
I like what I see from him. He's young and athletic and he has shown improvement. Gotta remind myself he missed most of camp. I think he's going to come along just fine. We need to get Davis healthy and let these young un's play. Gilbert could also turn out to be a huge positive for us back there. That #24 always makes me turn my head when I see a DB wearing it.
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Tyreek Hill ran a 4.29 40 at his Pro Day and he looked all of that as the Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver sprinted past Pittsburgh Steelers rookie cornerback Artie Burns in the fourth quarter of Sunday night's game.
But Burns surprisingly caught up, and at the last nanosecond reached out an arm to deflect the deep pass away from Hill's hands.
Not that the play mattered in the outcome of a 43-14 Steelers win, but it mattered to the coaching staff and personnel department of the Steelers, who have to be pleased with the development of Burns and the rest of their young secondary.
Of course, the Steelers still rank 30th in the NFL in pass defense. That's where they finished last season, and that's why they spent their first- and second-round draft picks on defensive backs.
Burns and second-round safety/cornerback hybrid Sean Davis are 6-foot cover guys with outstanding speed. And then they threw Justin Gilbert into the room as a reclamation project right before the start of the season and – voila – a group of sub 5-10 mutts had turned into tall run-and-cover specimens for DBs coach Carnell Lake to mold in his own image.
"We do have a lot of young talent," said starting left cornerback Ross Cockrell. "If you just go down the line from Gilbert, obviously you know he was a top-10 pick; Artie was a first-round pick; Sean Davis was an early-round pick, very talented, plays a lot of positions for us. You've got guys like Senquez (Golson), who was an early-round pick. He's still coming back. We've got a lot of young talent, but the thing that's most impressive about them is they just have that hunger, they have that fire. They want to learn, they want to grow, they want to get better each and every week, each and every practice. It's a good thing to see."
Tell Steelers fans about it. They painfully watched corners such as Antwon Blake and Brandon Boykin get burned repeatedly last season as the Steelers not only allowed 272 passing yards per game, but offered little hope of development at the position. All the Steelers really had of quality was Will Gay, the veteran who at 5-10, 187 pounds was far from the prototype they wanted in rebuilding from the Ike Taylor era.
Cockrell was the start of the change. The Steelers liked him when he came out in the 2014 draft. They were impressed by the job the 6-0, 191-pounder had done on big Mike Evans in Duke's bowl game. But the Buffalo Bills drafted Cockrell, played him in 16 games, and then inexplicably cut him the following August.
The Steelers claimed Cockrell and started him in seven games last season. This past offseason he bulked up to better weather opposing run games and stand up to the physical demands the Steelers place on their outside corners.
Cockrell, starting opposite Gay, has gone quietly about his business this season, largely unnoticed – just how fans like their cornerbacks – as the focus has been more about the development of Burns and Davis. The latter became the first rookie to start an opener in a Steelers secondary since Chad Scott – another hybrid out of the University of Maryland – started the 1997 opener.
But Davis hurt his back in Game 3, and it was time for the other rookie, Burns, to step forward. He was asked to play 85 percent of the snaps as the No. 3 corner, but instead of replacing Davis as the slot corner, Burns played outside and Gay moved to the slot.
It was a move that made sense for the wily veteran Gay, but could Burns tackle outside? After all, his tackling was disastrous the previous week in the debacle at Philadelphia.
But Burns' tackle on the opening kickoff against the Chiefs proved he was at least willing.
"That's one thing I definitely wanted to improve on," said Burns. "I missed a couple tackles the last game, so going out there and showing I could really tackle was important to me."
Burns made three tackles on defense, and of course understands that he too needs to undergo the kind of rigorous offseason Cockrell had just undertaken. That's where the hunger, as Cockrell said of this young group, will pay off.
But for the time being, Burns' catch-up speed, size and wingspan were the imperatives, and that was all evident Sunday night.
"To his credit, his attention to detail and urgency in practice have been excellent," said Tomlin. "And I think that’s provided a sense of comfort and allowed him to work himself into some packages, and with that play, he’s earning more. He’s going through a process of growth and development, and proving that he’s capable. (He’s) doing a good job in the big-scheme of things, but it needs to continue."
And then there was Gilbert. The Steelers had their eyes on him in the 2014 draft as well, only in the first round. But the Cleveland Browns took him eighth. And two years later traded him to the Steelers for a future, late-round draft pick.
Gilbert came to Pittsburgh with the label of having a bad attitude and lazy work ethic, but either that was a mischaracterization or the atmosphere in Pittsburgh has revived him, because a month later Gilbert was on the field for the Steelers as a reward for his hard work in practice.
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"In Cleveland I felt like I was pretty much just thrown in the fire," he said. "Here they allowed me to get the defense down, get comfortable, get familiar with it in practice and just go from there. That's maybe the biggest difference."
Gilbert played eight snaps against the Chiefs as part of a four-CB nickel look to cover tight end Travis Kelce, who lines up frequently as a wide receiver. Kelce did catch five passes, but for only 23 yards. His 3-yard touchdown catch with four seconds left didn't involve Gilbert.
"For them to be confident enough to throw me out there just in the fourth game, it says a lot," Gilbert said. "I just want to continue to get more reps as the year goes on."
Said Tomlin: "I think he’s still writing the script for that as he continues to learn the nuances of what we’re doing and display detail in his play. He’ll be provided an opportunity to grow. Right now, the things we’re asking him to do, some core special-team contributions and package defensive work, he’s been above the line and that needs to continue."
Davis will return to practice this week, and Golson, a ballhawking slot corner in the making, expects to return in the second half of the season from a foot injury to give the Steelers four young cover men in a group that doesn't even include Gay, the 10-year veteran, or Cockrell, who's quickly matured into a leadership role.
"I know it's weird, since it's only my second year here," Cockrell said. "But it's really been an awesome thing being here. Just being able to learn from guys like Will Gay and being able to pass that down to guys like Artie, even Justin Gilbert when he first got here. It's things like that that really make it a blessing for me."
And, from the looks of things to come, a blessing for the Steelers as well.
Jim Wexell is the publisher of the Scout Network's SteelCityInsiders.net.
http://herald-review.com/sports/foo...cle_6f474e82-7dcb-5f26-8332-50c5ae6ae749.html
Tyreek Hill ran a 4.29 40 at his Pro Day and he looked all of that as the Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver sprinted past Pittsburgh Steelers rookie cornerback Artie Burns in the fourth quarter of Sunday night's game.
But Burns surprisingly caught up, and at the last nanosecond reached out an arm to deflect the deep pass away from Hill's hands.
Not that the play mattered in the outcome of a 43-14 Steelers win, but it mattered to the coaching staff and personnel department of the Steelers, who have to be pleased with the development of Burns and the rest of their young secondary.
Of course, the Steelers still rank 30th in the NFL in pass defense. That's where they finished last season, and that's why they spent their first- and second-round draft picks on defensive backs.
Burns and second-round safety/cornerback hybrid Sean Davis are 6-foot cover guys with outstanding speed. And then they threw Justin Gilbert into the room as a reclamation project right before the start of the season and – voila – a group of sub 5-10 mutts had turned into tall run-and-cover specimens for DBs coach Carnell Lake to mold in his own image.
"We do have a lot of young talent," said starting left cornerback Ross Cockrell. "If you just go down the line from Gilbert, obviously you know he was a top-10 pick; Artie was a first-round pick; Sean Davis was an early-round pick, very talented, plays a lot of positions for us. You've got guys like Senquez (Golson), who was an early-round pick. He's still coming back. We've got a lot of young talent, but the thing that's most impressive about them is they just have that hunger, they have that fire. They want to learn, they want to grow, they want to get better each and every week, each and every practice. It's a good thing to see."
Tell Steelers fans about it. They painfully watched corners such as Antwon Blake and Brandon Boykin get burned repeatedly last season as the Steelers not only allowed 272 passing yards per game, but offered little hope of development at the position. All the Steelers really had of quality was Will Gay, the veteran who at 5-10, 187 pounds was far from the prototype they wanted in rebuilding from the Ike Taylor era.
Cockrell was the start of the change. The Steelers liked him when he came out in the 2014 draft. They were impressed by the job the 6-0, 191-pounder had done on big Mike Evans in Duke's bowl game. But the Buffalo Bills drafted Cockrell, played him in 16 games, and then inexplicably cut him the following August.
The Steelers claimed Cockrell and started him in seven games last season. This past offseason he bulked up to better weather opposing run games and stand up to the physical demands the Steelers place on their outside corners.
Cockrell, starting opposite Gay, has gone quietly about his business this season, largely unnoticed – just how fans like their cornerbacks – as the focus has been more about the development of Burns and Davis. The latter became the first rookie to start an opener in a Steelers secondary since Chad Scott – another hybrid out of the University of Maryland – started the 1997 opener.
But Davis hurt his back in Game 3, and it was time for the other rookie, Burns, to step forward. He was asked to play 85 percent of the snaps as the No. 3 corner, but instead of replacing Davis as the slot corner, Burns played outside and Gay moved to the slot.
It was a move that made sense for the wily veteran Gay, but could Burns tackle outside? After all, his tackling was disastrous the previous week in the debacle at Philadelphia.
But Burns' tackle on the opening kickoff against the Chiefs proved he was at least willing.
"That's one thing I definitely wanted to improve on," said Burns. "I missed a couple tackles the last game, so going out there and showing I could really tackle was important to me."
Burns made three tackles on defense, and of course understands that he too needs to undergo the kind of rigorous offseason Cockrell had just undertaken. That's where the hunger, as Cockrell said of this young group, will pay off.
But for the time being, Burns' catch-up speed, size and wingspan were the imperatives, and that was all evident Sunday night.
"To his credit, his attention to detail and urgency in practice have been excellent," said Tomlin. "And I think that’s provided a sense of comfort and allowed him to work himself into some packages, and with that play, he’s earning more. He’s going through a process of growth and development, and proving that he’s capable. (He’s) doing a good job in the big-scheme of things, but it needs to continue."
And then there was Gilbert. The Steelers had their eyes on him in the 2014 draft as well, only in the first round. But the Cleveland Browns took him eighth. And two years later traded him to the Steelers for a future, late-round draft pick.
Gilbert came to Pittsburgh with the label of having a bad attitude and lazy work ethic, but either that was a mischaracterization or the atmosphere in Pittsburgh has revived him, because a month later Gilbert was on the field for the Steelers as a reward for his hard work in practice.
Latest gallery in this section
The most overpaid player on each NFL team
The most overpaid player on each NFL team
"In Cleveland I felt like I was pretty much just thrown in the fire," he said. "Here they allowed me to get the defense down, get comfortable, get familiar with it in practice and just go from there. That's maybe the biggest difference."
Gilbert played eight snaps against the Chiefs as part of a four-CB nickel look to cover tight end Travis Kelce, who lines up frequently as a wide receiver. Kelce did catch five passes, but for only 23 yards. His 3-yard touchdown catch with four seconds left didn't involve Gilbert.
"For them to be confident enough to throw me out there just in the fourth game, it says a lot," Gilbert said. "I just want to continue to get more reps as the year goes on."
Said Tomlin: "I think he’s still writing the script for that as he continues to learn the nuances of what we’re doing and display detail in his play. He’ll be provided an opportunity to grow. Right now, the things we’re asking him to do, some core special-team contributions and package defensive work, he’s been above the line and that needs to continue."
Davis will return to practice this week, and Golson, a ballhawking slot corner in the making, expects to return in the second half of the season from a foot injury to give the Steelers four young cover men in a group that doesn't even include Gay, the 10-year veteran, or Cockrell, who's quickly matured into a leadership role.
"I know it's weird, since it's only my second year here," Cockrell said. "But it's really been an awesome thing being here. Just being able to learn from guys like Will Gay and being able to pass that down to guys like Artie, even Justin Gilbert when he first got here. It's things like that that really make it a blessing for me."
And, from the looks of things to come, a blessing for the Steelers as well.
Jim Wexell is the publisher of the Scout Network's SteelCityInsiders.net.
http://herald-review.com/sports/foo...cle_6f474e82-7dcb-5f26-8332-50c5ae6ae749.html
Or AB catching a 40-yard TD while the CB has his back to the ball and is grabbing your arm ...
Or Jesse James catching a TD pass one-handed because once again the DB is beat, has his back to the play, and is grabbing your other arm.
I mean, nobody would allow a micro-touch on the WR at the same instance the @#$%ing ball arrives, amiright??
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I was not a fan of the Burns pick. I thought he was a 2nd round pick and I would have jumped on the Donkeys trade offer for them to get Paxton Lynch. Now we will never know if Burns would still have been there or not but so far he has flashed some as a rookie.
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The question isn't whether these draft picks are going to be "okay" or "good". Most in the Tomlin era are.
The question is if we are ever going to find a defensive stud that can be the lynch pin of the defense and improve those around him like Roethlisberger does on the offensive side of the football.
We love to talk as fans about the "hits" Tombert has found on the offensive side of the football: from the re-built offensive line (albeit with lots of premium picks, but still included guys like Beachum, Foster and Villanueva) to the quality wide receivers (both retained and otherwise) like Sanders, Wallace, Brown, Bryant, Coates? and even old Santonio Holmes to the emergence of Bell as perhaps the best all-around running back in the league.
The problem is how much is/does Roethlisberger help with the development of ALL those offensive players into their max potential? How much is Roethlisberger acting not only as a deodorant for bad picks but also turning "good" offensive picks into "great" offensive players. You might even argue Haley's offensive scheme to actually spread the ball around and get it out of Roethlisberger's hands quicker helps the offensive line "look" better.
We don't have a defensive player that elevates those around him. And thus all the defensive talent Tombert has brought into the building has kind of been on their own merits. Early in Tomlin's career he had Harrison and Polamalu as game-changing talents and matchup nightmares for opponents. No more.
That has been the real issue with the decline of the defense. We have lost our superstars to age and have not replaced them. It's probably not a realistic expectation to replace hall-of-famers like drafting a punt returner (although we can't do that either). And the Steelers organization has done a pretty decent job transitioning from a defensive team into an offensive team and recognizing that the only really transcendent player on the roster is Roethlisberger (although Brown is pretty damn close) and hitching their wagon to that horse instead of forcing a square peg into a round hole with forcing defensive talent to keep things "status quo" was not the answer.
To me the transition from the "wasted years" of 2011-2014 (two playoff appearances and 0-2 playoff record) has most been defined not by Tombert at all but the contributions of Haley and Munchak to the offensive side of the football, which took some time. Granted Tombert hired those guys so they deserve credit but I haven't seen much different in the way Tombert do things.
To me this team is now defined by how well Haley, Munchak and Roethlisberger continue to put points on the board and how well we stay injury free. Everything on the defense has been band-aids and piece meal and cross your fingers and hope for a while and it continues to play out that way.
The question is if we are ever going to find a defensive stud that can be the lynch pin of the defense and improve those around him like Roethlisberger does on the offensive side of the football.
We love to talk as fans about the "hits" Tombert has found on the offensive side of the football: from the re-built offensive line (albeit with lots of premium picks, but still included guys like Beachum, Foster and Villanueva) to the quality wide receivers (both retained and otherwise) like Sanders, Wallace, Brown, Bryant, Coates? and even old Santonio Holmes to the emergence of Bell as perhaps the best all-around running back in the league.
The problem is how much is/does Roethlisberger help with the development of ALL those offensive players into their max potential? How much is Roethlisberger acting not only as a deodorant for bad picks but also turning "good" offensive picks into "great" offensive players. You might even argue Haley's offensive scheme to actually spread the ball around and get it out of Roethlisberger's hands quicker helps the offensive line "look" better.
We don't have a defensive player that elevates those around him. And thus all the defensive talent Tombert has brought into the building has kind of been on their own merits. Early in Tomlin's career he had Harrison and Polamalu as game-changing talents and matchup nightmares for opponents. No more.
That has been the real issue with the decline of the defense. We have lost our superstars to age and have not replaced them. It's probably not a realistic expectation to replace hall-of-famers like drafting a punt returner (although we can't do that either). And the Steelers organization has done a pretty decent job transitioning from a defensive team into an offensive team and recognizing that the only really transcendent player on the roster is Roethlisberger (although Brown is pretty damn close) and hitching their wagon to that horse instead of forcing a square peg into a round hole with forcing defensive talent to keep things "status quo" was not the answer.
To me the transition from the "wasted years" of 2011-2014 (two playoff appearances and 0-2 playoff record) has most been defined not by Tombert at all but the contributions of Haley and Munchak to the offensive side of the football, which took some time. Granted Tombert hired those guys so they deserve credit but I haven't seen much different in the way Tombert do things.
To me this team is now defined by how well Haley, Munchak and Roethlisberger continue to put points on the board and how well we stay injury free. Everything on the defense has been band-aids and piece meal and cross your fingers and hope for a while and it continues to play out that way.
I think Tuitt and Shazier can be those guys if healthy
zmetkler
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After the draft, reports surfaced that the Chiefs were actually looking to take Burns with the 28th pick, which is why they were so willing to trade out of the 1st-round. Whether that is true or not will never truly be known. Considering that Burns was among the top corners left after Jackson III was selected, Burns would have realistically been selected by the Chiefs or no later than extremely early in the 2nd-round. But we will never know haha
The fact that Coach didn't watch the game is hysterical to me. No surprise, though.