Tackling the catch

[Hawaii 5-0]

Originally Posted by FrancoLambert

I'd like to see Allen get more plays this week; I've seen enough of Mundy.
He hits hard but late. He gets juked a lot. Gets the dropsies on possible picks.

I've seen enough of Mundy also, but how bad must Will Allen be if he can't even beat him out?

[maddog78]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

and if we play aggressive press coverage we will get eaten alive deep by speedy wr's.

pick your poison.

And get more sacks and turnovers. I'll take the tradeoff. And we've given up plenty of big plays playing soft this year. The best we can seem to hope for now is to give up a few first downs and get field position flipped on us.

[Curtain_of_Steel]

So we need a safety and 2 cb's?lol

I think changing things up a bit worked this week with blitzing timmons up the middle. With Harrison back and changing the outside pressure, i think Timmons blitzing in will work. But the problem remains is our great shut down corner cant shut down a light bulb and the other cb's are only dresing up for Halloween at this point.
Building corners through the draft is not our option unless we are moving wayup the draft. So hopefully we find some dough to buy some cb's this off season. Ike is coing up on his 5th shit ass game. Time for him to man up.

[Fire Arians]

Originally Posted by maddog78

And get more sacks and turnovers. I'll take the tradeoff. And we've given up plenty of big plays playing soft this year. The best we can seem to hope for now is to give up a few first downs and get field position flipped on us.

agree with that, it's not like playing off receivers stopped anyone from scoring when it mattered this season. better things have happened when our defense played more aggressive

[madtowndrunkard]

This has always been DL's philosophy. Prevent the big plays and make the opponents drive the field playing mistake free ball... DL banks on the opponent eventually making a mistake....and our play makers will eventually make a big play. When neither happens, we get our buts kicked. This is why efficient / patient QB's have plenty of success against us.

So far this year our playmakers on defense are not making plays...and the guys making the mistakes are in black and gold. What scares the heck out of me is the fact that we really haven't played anyone truly good QB's yet.

Here's what we've had:

Peyton Manning ( a shell of what he used to be , 9th ranked scoring offense)
Mark Sanchez (might lose his job soon, 22nd ranked scoring offense)
Carson Palmer (29th ranked scoring offense)
Mike Vick (mistake prone / Over rated QB on the 31st ranked scoring offense)

This is not exactly the elite of the NFL. How are we struggling to stop this? What happens when the Giants and Ravens come to town? What happens if we make the playoffs and need to stop Brady? Something needs to change drastically on defense....if not we'll be lucky to make the playoffs, and if we do it will have a similar ending to last season.

[tony hipchest]

Originally Posted by Fire Arians

agree with that, it's not like playing off receivers stopped anyone from scoring when it mattered this season. better things have happened when our defense played more aggressive

such as what games?

better things have also happened when we have players like woodley, troy, clark, harrison all in the lineup.

people seem to think they are just interchangable parts.

those who are criticizing lebeaus scheme, may be giving it more credit that it actually deserves.

its not like he can just roll out 11 slapdick college players and expect the same results.

[Hawaii 5-0]

Lewis vs. Titans WR Kendall Wright

October 11, 2012 12:29 am
by Gerry Dulac / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

As he always does, cornerback Ike Taylor likely will follow his former teammate, Nate Washington, when the Steelers play the Tennessee Titans tonight in Nashville, Tenn. Following the opposing team's top receiver has become customary for Taylor.

But that also means Keenan Lewis, the other corner, gets matched regularly against the opponent's No. 2 receiver -- in this case, rookie Kendall Wright, who leads the Titans with 27 receptions; or former No. 1 pick Kenny Britt, who still is trying to round into form after an anterior cruciate ligament injury ended his season in the third week a year ago.

With so much attention always focused on Taylor's ability to shut down the top opposing receiving threat, it goes largely unnoticed that Lewis has done more than a solid job of containing -- sometimes even shutting down -- the No. 2 receiver.

"We joke about it sometimes and get on the guy if he got beat, but you take it seriously because you don't want to be that guy," Lewis said. "I don't want to be that guy ever again so I try to make sure I eliminate those types of plays and win my battles."

Against the New York Jets, Lewis held rookie Stephen Hill, who had two touchdown catches in his previous game, without a catch. In Denver, Lewis led the team with two pass break-ups and didn't allow Eric Decker a catch longer than 17 yards.

In a victory Sunday against Philadelphia, the Eagles' longest play was a 24-yard pass to DeSean Jackson, who was being shadowed all game by Taylor. The Eagles' No. 2 receiver, Jeremy Maclin, had a team-high five catches against Lewis but none longer than 11 yards.

"He's really in his growth cycle, and we're looking for him to continue to grow," said Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, a Hall of Fame cornerback in his playing days, said of Lewis. "I thought he played well last year for us and so far he's doing OK. We're looking for all our young players to grow."

In the past 11 quarters, the Steelers have allowed just one pass longer than 18 yards -- and that was the 24-yarder to Jackson on the Eagles' final possession. That has allowed them to move up to No. 3 in the league in pass defense and inch closer to the No. 1 ranking they held last year.

Lewis said he is up to the challenge, just as he was in training camp when his biggest battle was having to hold off young cornerbacks Cortez Allen and Curtis Brown for the starting job.

"To be honest with you, I know this is contract year for me and I want to be the best I can be and make a living for my family," said Lewis, who is playing this season on a one-year tender for $1,260,000 . "I know those guys like to compete, too, so I know I was going to have to step my game up a notch. Being a fourth year player, they expect a lot from me. I'm getting better every game at it.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/...wright-657079/

[PhantomJB93]

I don't mind the strategy against your average team (for instance the Titans this week), we can make it work. Against teams like the Patriots, Giants, maybe even the Ravens now as much as I hate to say it, I'd hope to see more of the man coverage gameplan LeBeau brought to the Pats game last year.

[Rick5895]

As the season moves along, I think we will get better on D, I think we are still trying to find an identity with the veteran leadership we lost, that WILL take time. The Denver game was a no win game for us, Mannings first game of the year, at mile high, No Harrison, No Clark and a limping Polamalu. The home then back to the west coast for another game, this time No Troy and no James. I think it's safe to say, even a less than 100% Harrison makes the other teams nervous. hell, even Worilds had a good game opposite Harrison against the Iggles.
We haven't been done any great favors by the NFL schedule machine early on. I said before the season if we can get through the first 6 games 4-2 or 3-3 we will be in good place to win our division. the bulk of our division games are mid to late in the season and we should "clicking" both offensively and defensively.
Although it's not said in those words on here, I do agree with Dodens that people are to quick to want to fire Lebeau and dismiss DB's because someone scores a TD on us through the air.
This defense is a work in progress and I would rather struggle a bit now, fix the problems and be playing well December , January and ( yes I will say it ) February.

[Darkstorm05]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

such as what games?

better things have also happened when we have players like woodley, troy, clark, harrison all in the lineup.

people seem to think they are just interchangable parts.

those who are criticizing lebeaus scheme, may be giving it more credit that it actually deserves.

its not like he can just roll out 11 slapdick college players and expect the same results.

So do you feel the defense is fine as it is now? Your posts seem to indicate that you're in favor of keeping things on that side of the ball pretty much unchanged.