Can we win with our current corner situation?

[steelerchad]

If we resign Ike, I think we can.
Corner was the weak spot of our D and was exposed a couple of times last season. Only 2 teams really did major damage to it and they were the 14-2 Pats and the Super Bowl Champion Packers. Both have elite QB's. Good teams with or without elite QB's were only able to have moderate success against our secondary.

Brees rallied his team late with 2 TD's in the 4th Quarter, but didn't do much in the first 3 quarters and the Saints only scored 20 points total at home.
Flacco, Sanchez, and the rest threw for some yards, but rarely got into the endzone.

Our corner situation does need upgraded, but whatever we do will have little effect for the 2011 season. The top 4 corners will likely all be gone by the time we pick. With the expected lockout, anyone brought in through the draft will have virtually no chance of starting with a shortened training camp.

BMac was playing hurt through the playoffs and I thought he played pretty well through the middle of the season. If healthy, he is a decent cover corner.
Troy wasn't the same in the playoffs. His injuries hampered his ability to force turnovers and make big plays all over the field.
William Gay is a serviceable nickel guy, nothing more. As long as we don't need him to start at #2, I'm ok with him.
Ike is under rated imo. I think he's a top 10 corner in this league.
Crezdon Butler is going into his second year. Can he make the jump to starter with a year under his belt? The Lebeau defense takes time to learn, maybe the guy we need to step up is already on the team. I know he was a 5th rounder a year ago, but Ike was taken in the 4th.

[Neil-Still-Rules-14]

I really really like the trio of Ike, BMac, and Gay (in that order, with Gay playing nickel). As much hate as BMac got this season, I think he played really well when he was healthy.

[PhantomJB93]

We can win, sure, but we can't beat the elite QB's. Only reason we made it to the SB was because we played Joe Flacco and Mark Sanchez, had we played Manning or Brady our secondary would have gotten picked apart just as Rodgers did.

We can win with out current (and consistently bad) Oline situation, while getting another great Olineman would be great and all I view it as a luxury. I view improvement at corner as a necessity, even if only at nickel/dime positions for the immediate future.

[harrison'samonster]

Originally Posted by PhantomJB93

We can win, sure, but we can't beat the elite QB's. Only reason we made it to the SB was because we played Joe Flacco and Mark Sanchez, had we played Manning or Brady our secondary would have gotten picked apart just as Rodgers did.

We can win with out current (and consistently bad) Oline situation, while getting another great Olineman would be great and all I view it as a luxury. I view improvement at corner as a necessity, even if only at nickel/dime positions for the immediate future.

I agree. We can win and get into the playoffs, but if we run into a great qb, we might wish we better corners. I think having Troy healthy would be a good start to a solution.

[mcg24]

We sure need something...I think every offseason we all forget how frustrated we actually get with our corners during game time. It's a friggen mess out there when we play a great QB.

[OX1947]

The funny thing about it all is our offense cost us the Super Bowl with their 3 turnovers in the worst times. As bad as our corners played, they still made stops in certain parts of the game that stalled their drives. As well as their receivers dropping some.

But overall, if the Steelers offense doesnt have 3 turnovers, Steelers win the Super Bowl. Heck, if they only have 2 and Mendenhall doesnt fumble the ball, who knows what happens there. Just sucks so much. The only way I can ever get this sick feeling out of my system is if they can go back to the Super Bowl next year and win it. I serious want to throw up thinking about that game.

[bornaSteelersfan]

Originally Posted by PhantomJB93

We can win, sure, but we can't beat the elite QB's. Only reason we made it to the SB was because we played Joe Flacco and Mark Sanchez, had we played Manning or Brady our secondary would have gotten picked apart just as Rodgers did.

We can win with out current (and consistently bad) Oline situation, while getting another great Olineman would be great and all I view it as a luxury. I view improvement at corner as a necessity, even if only at nickel/dime positions for the immediate future.

Two of the three turnovers in the SB were a direct result of the O-line. Kemoeatu got man-handled on the pick-6. Legursky pulled and missed his block on the Mendenhall fumble (The TE Johnson also missed his block which is a good argument to look at getting a real FB). Yes, our secondary was beaten, but Polamalu looked flat-footed and leaning the wrong way on every play (surely due to injury).

Based on those mistakes, I must say we truly need to get the best possible lineman in the first round. There will be plenty of decent CB's later on because the top ones will be gone by pick 31.

Then I think we really should consider a legitimate FB at some point.

[PhantomJB93]

Originally Posted by bornaSteelersfan

Two of the three turnovers in the SB were a direct result of the O-line. Kemoeatu got man-handled on the pick-6. Legursky pulled and missed his block on the Mendenhall fumble (The TE Johnson also missed his block which is a good argument to look at getting a real FB). Yes, our secondary was beaten, but Polamalu looked flat-footed and leaning the wrong way on every play (surely due to injury).

Based on those mistakes, I must say we truly need to get the best possible lineman in the first round. There will be plenty of decent CB's later on because the top ones will be gone by pick 31.

Then I think we really should consider a legitimate FB at some point.

Yeah, but we didn't have Starks, Colon, or Pouncey in the SB. Those are easily our three best linemen. They may not all be Pro Bowlers but I think people forget how injury-decimated the Oline was last year, they're serviceable. It's not NORMAL for Jonathan Scott, Trai Essex, and Doug Legursky to be playing. And if we have Flozell for one more year, even if he's not as good as last year but at least decent, we can kick Colon to LG and all of a sudden we have very few interior line issues and a decent tackle tandem. Then draft somebody next year for a LT, or hope somebody drafted after the first round this year can step up.

Again, it's not the Patriot's Oline but it gets the job done. Moreso than the current corner depth.

And there aren't going to be any fantastic Oline options at 31, we were lucky to get Pouncey last year because, even if we couldn't have predicted how good he'd be, he was still one of the best Oline prospects to enter the draft in a while. We aren't going to have an option like that at 31, or even in the 20's. I think people are under the assumption that drafting a LT or a LG = instant Oline fix, it's not. While of course a corner isn't going to be an instant secondary fix either, a corner will probably be the BPA at 31 and also our greatest need, so I don't see how you can't take that route.

[DanRooney]

Originally Posted by PhantomJB93

We can win, sure, but we can't beat the elite QB's. Only reason we made it to the SB was because we played Joe Flacco and Mark Sanchez, had we played Manning or Brady our secondary would have gotten picked apart just as Rodgers did.

We can win with out current (and consistently bad) Oline situation, while getting another great Olineman would be great and all I view it as a luxury. I view improvement at corner as a necessity, even if only at nickel/dime positions for the immediate future.

lol @ Manning. Guy is a bigger myth than the tooth fairy. He is not a playoff capable quarterback and struggles against 3-4 defenses. There's a reason he's been to the playoffs 9 times and has been 1 and done in 7 of them. His defense saved him in his only SB year.

Brady and Belicheat are the achilles' heel of the Steelers. Not Brees, Manning or even Rodgers. Remember Rodgers had a TD given to him by Ben and had short fields to work with from the turnovers.

[55BaileyFan]

Our corners played well enough to win this year, but it is only time till everyone plays us like Green Bay and New England.

BMac...I don't know what happened to him in Arizona but I don't think he is a lock down corner anymore. I think he would be a really good Nickel and relief roll.
Ike...plays well at times, but he drops around 8 or 9 picks per year and has been suspect at times.
Gay...IS TERRIBLE. He stinks as a starter which was evident when he started some last year and was replaced by Townsend and he is TERRIBLE in the Nickel. New England's Gronkowski caught 3 TDs against him this past season.

We need to draft at least one or two young guys to breed and we should pick up a veteran if free agency gets underway...EVER.