#1 Defense By Smoke & Mirrors

[jiminpa]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

its a shame the nfl wont schedule the steelers to play manning, brady, brees, and rodgers 2X/year so the steelers could try to justify their annual ranking of the #1 defense, to the hypercritical fans.

the league should also change how it ranks the #1 offenses and defenses, because the hypercritical fans just cant buy into the steelers #1 ranking.

it is what it is (and has been) and the league isnt changing it for nobody

also i dont buy into all the garbage rhetoric that we have only faced 1 good (or "great" ) qb this season.

at one point, palmer, hasselbeck and vick were all considered some of the top qb's in the game, and believe it or not, they are still allowed to play decent no matter what defense they face.

everybody wants to poo-poo on RGIII and eli, but RG led the league in comp % until he faced us and eli was the leagues passing yardage leader being talked about as a HOF shoo-in until he faced us.

matt cassell was amongst the league leaders and in the league MVP discussion just 3 years ago.

sure these guys may not be currently "great" but they arent the slapdick scrubs everyone is making them out to be. put any of them on a good team, and things would turn around.

make no mistake, the cheifs arent as horrible as their record would suggest. they do got some pretty damn good players. they just dont have a HC.

mark sanchez is about the only bad-horrible qb we have faced this year. all the others are capable of leading teams to wins on any given sunday, even if their careers are winding down (or just beginning).

Even on the rare occasions when I don't agree with you you make sense, and this is one of the majority times that I agree. This defense has turned some good offense's seasons from rising to falling. That says something.

[Darkstorm05]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

its a shame the nfl wont schedule the steelers to play manning, brady, brees, and rodgers 2X/year so the steelers could try to justify their annual ranking of the #1 defense, to the hypercritical fans.

the league should also change how it ranks the #1 offenses and defenses, because the hypercritical fans just cant buy into the steelers #1 ranking.

it is what it is (and has been) and the league isnt changing it for nobody

also i dont buy into all the garbage rhetoric that we have only faced 1 good (or "great" ) qb this season.

at one point, palmer, hasselbeck and vick were all considered some of the top qb's in the game, and believe it or not, they are still allowed to play decent no matter what defense they face.

everybody wants to poo-poo on RGIII and eli, but RG led the league in comp % until he faced us and eli was the leagues passing yardage leader being talked about as a HOF shoo-in until he faced us.

matt cassell was amongst the league leaders and in the league MVP discussion just 3 years ago.

sure these guys may not be currently "great" but they arent the slapdick scrubs everyone is making them out to be. put any of them on a good team, and things would turn around.

make no mistake, the cheifs arent as horrible as their record would suggest. they do got some pretty damn good players. they just dont have a HC.

mark sanchez is about the only bad-horrible qb we have faced this year. all the others are capable of leading teams to wins on any given sunday, even if their careers are winding down (or just beginning).

RGIII could be a star if he wasn't on a crap team. He's the real deal so far, but his receiving corps failed him. A large part of that was because of the hits Clark and others were laying in on them. Does anyone really think it was a coincidence the skins suddenly dropped half their catches after seeing a team mate get hit hard enough to make an average man shit his jock? Our D turned physical and the Skins flinched.

[Dodens Grav]

So did the Giants receivers. And so did the Chiefs receivers. If receivers are afraid to go over the middle, they're not going to be as focused on catching the pass, and they're more likely to drop passes. And they have.

[tony hipchest]

Originally Posted by Dodens Grav

So did the Giants receivers. And so did the Chiefs receivers. If receivers are afraid to go over the middle, they're not going to be as focused on catching the pass, and they're more likely to drop passes. And they have.

see... i dont get it.

steelerfans love having that smashmouth, blitzburgh, steel curtain defense that instills fear in opponents and imposes its will with bone crushing hits, yet some fans still try to diminish that factor when it actually impacts the opponents.

i guess because it is an unmeasureable intangible that doesnt show up in the defensive statlines.

only as unofficial "dropped passes" for the offense. kinda like how "pass pressures" really only show up as an incompletion on the incompetent qb's stat line.

[Darkstorm05]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

see... i dont get it.

steelerfans love having that smashmouth, blitzburgh, steel curtain defense that instills fear in opponents and imposes its will with bone crushing hits, yet some fans still try to diminish that factor when it actually impacts the opponents.

i guess because it is an unmeasureable intangible that doesnt show up in the defensive statlines.

only as unofficial "dropped passes" for the offense. kinda like how "pass pressures" really only show up as an incompletion on the incompetent qb's stat line.

There have been games this year(Mostly before the bye) when the D shit itself, but even the biggest haters have got to admit they scared the Redskins and Giants to death. The skins stopped making any pretense of trying to reach for a pass at all. After Victor Cruz woke up on the turf in the endzone he probably thought he'd been hit by a mountain ram someone had let loose on the field. NOBODY wanted any of that after he got blown up, and Eli's pass game was shut down.

[TheVet]

Come on guys, don't be so tough! For the season, KC is averaging a full 16.2 points per game - We held them to a full 3 points below their average!!!

[Fire Arians]

Originally Posted by TheVet

Come on guys, don't be so tough! For the season, KC is averaging a full 16.2 points per game - We held them to a full 3 points below their average!!!

they made a play that won the game, that's how you be great.

like the saying goes, great doesn't always mean being great, just great when you have to be. and against the chiefs, that's what they were. game on the line, the D made a play when it was needed most

[TheVet]

Oh, I definitely agree. On a night where we had no O (only half the average points allowed by KC), the D stepped up and held them to roughly 20% less production than average. And Timmons delivered at the perfect time.

[teegre]

Originally Posted by TheVet

Come on guys, don't be so tough! For the season, KC is averaging a full 16.2 points per game - We held them to a full 3 points below their average!!!

Technically, the D only gave up 10 points; 3 points came off of a turnover in FG range.

[steeltheone]

Originally Posted by TheVet

Oh, I definitely agree. On a night where we had no O (only half the average points allowed by KC), the D stepped up and held them to roughly 20% less production than average. And Timmons delivered at the perfect time.

So are you saying our D is better than it has Been for years?