the "big quarter" package
 

screw the nickle or the dime. the steelers are employing the big quarter. they tinkered with this last year, and word is, lebeau is now allowed to expand his horizons. some may seem suprised by the deviation from the typical 3-4, but those who have listened to b. keisels hints, there is more in store.

what we have shown in the big quarter has proven to be effective. at this point it is still very base and vanilla. with players such as keisel, polamalu, farrior allowed to roam, supported by hard hitting cover guys such as mcfadden, ike, townsend, and smith, the possibilities are endless. throw in a wild card such as timmons who is being trained as the middle linebacker in a 4-3 who is also said to have enough coverage skills to get snaps at cb or safety and realize we have several unseen

some seemed suprised of the steelers utilizing the cover-2 defense against seattle. some see it as natural progression. it came off as a hit although larry foote seemed to be a critic. he hardly saw the field on sunday. how could a steelers defensive scheme possibly work when you pull haggans, harisson, and foote (3/4 of the steelers starting defensive backers) off the field?

in the preseason a big question was to start smith over clark, and mcfadden over townsend. what happens when you get all 4 on the field with polamalu and taylor?
you have a formidable match for the likes of the colts and patriots 4-5 wide offensive sets.

i welcome any team to try and run against keisel, hoke, hampton, smith, and farrior out of a 4 wr set with the likes of our secondary as run support.

regardless of how we play it, its becoming evident that opposing coaches are gonna have to start preparing for everything (except changing up all their defensive signals of course).

Re: the "big quarter" package
 

We have nothing to lose by delving more into R&D on this inaugural journey.

The Patriots already have "received" the 2008 Lombardi Trophy pending investigation by the NFL, IRS, DOC and USDA...but not MoveOn. So why dwell.

If I were management in a growth situation you HAVE to test the limits at your 'disposal' because by doing so you expose internally weaknesses and strengths that pave the way for the scouting department.

And there is no cap on scouting so I hope the Rooney's aren't getting cheap with this department because the merchandise business is extraordinary for the "small market" Steelers (who else can sell NFL in Korea?).

Let's hope the fine line between being cheap and being prudent won't be shortsighted in this draft.

Re: the "big quarter" package
 

I hope the best of our deffense is yet to come sounds like lebeau is ready to unleash the beast.

Re: the "big quarter" package
 

That's what I'm talking about Tony. This is the package that will take us to the Superbowl.

Throw Timmons into the mix (assuming he can learn his assignments) and this could be the formula to beat the Pats.

I assume Clark and Smith play safety leaving Polamalu free to roam.

Re: the "big quarter" package
 

best of all...the defense is kept pretty vanilla until we face the pats or get into the playoffs. lebeau?s a freakin genius.

Sounds about right, smith and clark stay back to prevent big plays

I hadn?t really thought about timmons as the?wildcard?on this, with his speed there?s much he can do. I can?t wait to see him on this D

Re: the "big quarter" package
 

I agree that this package is awesome. They key to it will be creating pressure from the front 4

Re: the "big quarter" package
 

Tony,
I've never read anywhere where Timmons was being trained as a 4-3 MLB. Are u sure? Its interesting if true.

Re: the "big quarter" package
 

I read he was practicing as a MLB. I assume this means 3-4 MLB as we dont run a 4-3

Re: the "big quarter" package
 

Absolutely, Lord Stiller, but not necessarily the front four. More like a combination of four, meaning Hoke, Hampton and Smith will always rush (albeit from possibly different spots on the line) but the fourth could be Kiesel or Farrior or Troy. Throw in the possible blitz from the slot CB. Lets not forget Kiesel has the ability to drop into a zone.

I like the front four alone though. I like the strength that Hoke and Hampton bring to collapse the pocket from the inside. I like Smith and Kiesel on the ends, Smith won't chase any scrambling QB down but Kiesel can. When refering to Manning and Brady, collapsing the pocket is exactly what we want to do, neither will scramble both prefer to step up or slide in the pocket.

Re: the "big quarter" package
 

Excellent point :thumbsup: