#1 Defense By Smoke & Mirrors

[Steelers>NFL]

Think D sucks this year. Wait til next year.

[cubanstogie]

Originally Posted by SteeleReign

I believe the defense is not the best defense in the league, but I do believe they have gotten better and certainly saved the Steelers' asses yesterday.

There is not enough pressure on the QB and the secondary is still suspect in my mind.

As we all know, the Steelers play to win Super Bowls, not to get into the playoffs and lose. That being said, they will need to beat the likes of Brady, Manning, Schaub, Rodgers, Brees, Ryan, etc to win the Big One. I just don't think the defense, as it looks now, can stop those QBs. Pitt has played one elite QB (P. Manning) and one near-elite QB in Eli Manning. The rest have been between dogshit and average - two of which beat us. The win against Eli is a bit over-hyped - Eli has been pathetic since week 2 and has clearly regressed.

It's not smoke & mirrors, but it's also not as dominant as it appears on paper. We'll find out a lot about this defense over the next three weeks. They will clearly need to be at the top of their game against the Ravens, especially with the no-huddle Flacco likes so much now.

Well said, I was thinking how much better Ike is playing as well as the whole secondary. Then I second guess myself and think its wishful thinking because we haven't played great QB's since week 1. Either way like Gruden was saying its the NFL and there is a fine line between good and bad teams. Next week will show us a lot.

[Darkstorm05]

I put last night more on our run game than anything. You have to expect a dropoff in passing when Ben goes out, and the backs needed to step up. Instead, Redman coughed it up in our own end, and the D bailed him out in a big way. Then we needed Dwyer to manage a first down to seal the game, and he got wrecked 1 on 1 with 1 yard to go by a cornerback.

Suddenly we had to decide if we trusted our D to hold against a scoring drive, or if we could let our backs pick up 6 inches on 4th. Coach went with our D, with he hasn't had faith in for a LONG time. Everyone claiming Dwyer and Redman should be starters, hope you finally saw that it isn't so. They've stunk up more than half the games this year.

Take away the Redman fumble and the D held to 10 points. Lewis made a couple remarkable jumping defenses. Also notice that since Ike made a pick, he isn't getting beat on by QB's anymore. All this season they new he was a safe bet, so could just lob it up on him and worst case, it goes incomplete. That one INT changed the game, and now they have to actually consider protecting the ball out there.

[defence]

Originally Posted by stiller39

the Chiefs had lots of success running to Ziggy Hoods side. I don't think he played well at all. I know the Crows will see this on tape also.....just saying

My thinking exactly!! As a whole our d has played better; but this guy Hood is getting run over on that side. Cincy did it on there first drive; KC did it all night long. I'm an old school believer that if you can't stop the run; you won't win much in the NFL!! Especially in the playoffs!! Hopefully we can get this straightened out; but i believe Hood is a bust; I hope I'm wrong!!

[Fire Arians]

Originally Posted by Steelers>NFL

Think D sucks this year. Wait til next year.

they did step up in the last few games

[teegre]

Originally Posted by stiller39

the Chiefs had lots of success running to Ziggy Hoods side. I don't think he played well at all. I know the Crows will see this on tape also.....just saying

True... BUT, then, in the secodn half, KC could no longer run that way... which gives me hope.

[Curtain_of_Steel]

Dick definatley rose up lastnight, some new schemes etc. But its not that easy agsint a Ravens team.

Say what you want, Ike is a liability, and a bigger liability without Clark backing him up. Ike was beat a cuple times last night, more importantly when it counted on the FG drive. His speed is toast out there.

Dick needs to get serious pressure on flacco before the WR's bolt down field. Flacco needs to be on edge all game to rattle his cage to create the turnovers that we havent had all year.

[tanda10506]

The defense beat RG3, Vick, then shut down Eli like he was a noob and Chuck Norris has already said this thread is nonsense...what more do you want. I agree it's nowhere near as good as 2008, and Hood seems to be the "weakest link", but they are still playing pretty well. Last years defense was not good at all IMO and was masked by stats, I don't see that being the case this year. We've played good teams with lots of talent and are just starting to "click".

[Darkstorm05]

For all the guys hating on our D currently, they really are coming together. Yes, there will always be yardage gained against them. What exactly do you expect to happen? It's a teams job to look for and exploit a weakness to try and win.

If the Chiefs fail to run left, should they simply sit down and sob for the next 50 minutes? They go to where it's working. That spot will be different for different opponents. Despite it all, the D held to 10 points. yes, the D has had shit performances before. Yes, it looked like they might pack it in last night...but then they sucked it up and went to work. Come back and hate when we actually lose, though, or at least give up 21+ points.

[Bayz101]

Originally Posted by Curtain_of_Steel

Dick definatley rose up lastnight, some new schemes etc. But its not that easy agsint a Ravens team.

Say what you want, Ike is a liability, and a bigger liability without Clark backing him up. Ike was beat a cuple times last night, more importantly when it counted on the FG drive. His speed is toast out there.

Dick needs to get serious pressure on flacco before the WR's bolt down field. Flacco needs to be on edge all game to rattle his cage to create the turnovers that we havent had all year.