#1 Defense By Smoke & Mirrors

[GoFor7]

Originally Posted by ricardisimo

Indeed. They gave up 200 net yards to an ultra-elite Ravens offense, and 6 points (three after a Leftwich INT). However, I'm leaving this thread active so it can act as a painful reminder to all of us ever hypercritical, impatient and ungrateful Steeler fans.

Friends don't let friends drink and post.

Whoa there cowboy. Slow down. It's a well-known fact the Ravens offense is completely different on the road rather than when they're at home.

That being said, the defense kept the Steelers in the game all night. Unfortunately, the defense seems unable to create turnovers. I know you all hate hearing it, but this defense needs to start giving the offense a shorter field.

[tony hipchest]

Originally Posted by ricardisimo

Indeed. They gave up 200 net yards to an ultra-elite Ravens offense, and 6 points (three after a Leftwich INT). However, I'm leaving this thread active so it can act as a painful reminder to all of us ever hypercritical, impatient and ungrateful Steeler fans.

.

yep... we completely shut down a top 10 offense but the same bitchy steelerfans will still make up some weak assed excuse for that, rather than eat crow.

looks like RGIII is back to throwing for 300 yds and 4 tds, but that was against the eagles lame 7th round draft pic, vet minimum, cb's.

the same bitchy steelerfans probably think asomugha is an elite shut down cb in oakland who we should sign as the replacemnt for sucky ike taylor (who like 95% of ALL OTHER cb's in the league gets a little safety help in shutting down the opponents best wr.)

[tanda10506]

The Giants game and this Ravens game reminded me of '08....that's saying a lot. Even with Leftwich we should have won that game and I'm not convinced we won't win the next 3 with Batch. When a top offense can only score 6 points on you, you'll win with almost any QB.

[SteelersCanada]

Troy who?

Kidding - for the most part.

[ggoldman]

Just think, when Troy comes back, this D will get even better and the turnovers will come

[SteeleReign]

I've been in the camp that the #1 ranking may be a tad high. However, what I'm seeing now is changing my mind. A win against Brady &/or Manning is all that is left to prove.

[lipps83]

While the defense played excellent on Sunday I still stand by my statement that the defense maintained a #1 ranking in yardage for the most part due to the TOP of the offense. We were playing ball control through the air. They seem to be turning it around on defense but it is going to take a game against a top QB to convince me they are even close to being an elite defense.

They are #1 only in total defense and passing defense. They are in the bottom half of the league in sacks, and next to dead last in turnovers. They are sacrificing putting pressure on the QB to make mistakes to drop more into coverage and stop the pass.

[steeltheone]

I agree that the Defense is playing good ball. Probably overachieving. All you have to do is look at the players position by position to know this is far from being one of our " better " lineups.

I am super happy with the way the guys are playing, Lebeau needs to be given lots of credit with what he is doing with this caliber of players!

[ricardisimo]

Did anyone watch the first few Thanksgiving Day games? Our pass D is only number one because we haven't had to play any elite QBs like GRIII.

Oh, wait...

[Twentyvalve]

I don't like the that time of possession argument. The opposing team gets the ball back right after a score. They can do with it what they will. If they go 3 and out, guess what, our D has stopped them. The other team gets the ball just as many times as our team. Our D stops them. Hence, our ranking.

The argument that we hold the ball more during the game just says the offense is just as good as the D that stops them on the next possession.

Originally Posted by lipps83

While the defense played excellent on Sunday I still stand by my statement that the defense maintained a #1 ranking in yardage for the most part due to the TOP of the offense. We were playing ball control through the air. They seem to be turning it around on defense but it is going to take a game against a top QB to convince me they are even close to being an elite defense.

They are #1 only in total defense and passing defense. They are in the bottom half of the league in sacks, and next to dead last in turnovers. They are sacrificing putting pressure on the QB to make mistakes to drop more into coverage and stop the pass.