Defense showing its age, and....

[cloppbeast]

It looked to me like they missed a bunch of assignments in the secondary.

[Edman]

More like Defense showing it's scheme when it no longer works. Three weeks in a row we brought it out and it failed miserably.

Blaming the players is easy. But how about shifting some blame over to one certain Defensive Genius who keeps trotting out the same ineffective scheme that the league has long since caught on to?

Timmons and Woodley can look ineffective when they're constantly dropping in coverage.

Our DB's can certainly look bad when they're asked to play yards off receivers and let them catch the ball. Rod Woodson and Deion Sanders in their primes would've like crap yesterday when they aren't allowed to play the receivers and the ball.

Our DL can look bad when they're not allowed to attack and instead go ahead with HURR DURR GAP CONTROL.

Our Defense can look terrible when they're not tasked to play actual Defense.

[Steelers5895]

The reason I say we could be 3-0 is we had a lead at the half with denver and until the pick 6 had a chance to win. Hippcrist or whatever his name is offers nothing in his posts.

It may be the scheme but I think itmay be a combination of both. Rember the zone blitz scheme was devloped to stop the west coast offense which is shorter pass plays and a lot of run ofter the catch.\

The NFL today is down the field passing so who knows on that, non eof us are coaches.

What I will say is with Troy and Harrison healthy teams still scored on us and now they are older and unhealthy to go with an aging OL, inneffective LBS and a suspect backfield.

They need to make some fixes this bye week.

[ricardisimo]

This D was missing not one but two DPotYs. We've never been very good without James Harrison. He's not an easy loss to overcome. The good news is he'll be back.

Watching Hampton struggle after all of the pre-season hype about McClendon is a bit infuriating, I must admit.

[SteeleReign]

Take a look at our drafts over the last few years. This defense has been slowly deteriorating due to poor drafting and under-performing talent. Since 2003, the year Polamalu and Ike were drafted, you could make the case that only ONE impact defender has been drafted - LaMarr Woodley.

The list of poor picks/under-performers?

Ricardo Colclough - 2nd round pick
Bryant McFadden - 2nd round pick (had a couple decent seasons)
Anthony Smith - 2nd round pick
William Gay - 5th rounder (had some moments)
Lawrence Timmons - 1st rounder
Bruce Davis - 3rd round
Ziggy - 1st round
Keenan Lewis - 3rd round
Joe Burnett - 5th round
Jason Worilds - 2nd round
Thaddeus Gibson - 4th round
Crezdon Butler - 5th round
Stevenson Sylvester - 5th round
Cam Heyward - 1st round (not enough playing time yet, to be fair)
Curtis Brown - 3rd round
Cortez Allen - 4th round
Cris Carter - 5th round

So, the $25,000 question is...are we drafting/scouting poorly? Or, are the schemes we are running incapable of stopping today's offenses - regardless of the personnel?

[steelfury02]

the real kicker is that we have still won a lot of games and I feel like a bigger question is, why does a lot of Steeler Nation feel like if we're going to go down, why not go down swinging? At first glance, it seems as if they are playing not to lose.

No, I'm not calling for Blitzburgh which has been loooong dead - I'm saying in general, why isn't more onus put on each player for taking care of their man - let's play a little tighter in general I say. No need to really label the defense anything except "in progress"

I don't care what the other offense does, I guarantee if they would have played tighter and more aggressive in hitting them off the line, like the Patriots game last season, Carson effing Palmer and his all of a sudden HOF receivers would be a non-factor.

I don't know what goes on in their locker room, but I hope in the next two weeks they find what they need to be what I think they can be. The personnel decisions are a little iffy for me. I'd rather take Hampton out and see what some fast, aggressive guys could do on this line

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

The Steelers defense has always been based upon pass rush. When there is not enough pressure on the QB, then they have time and our CB's get beat. Missing Harrison concerns me, but not as much as what happens when he is done in a year or maybe less.

Not having another OLB that can rush the passer is hurting us, as is the fact that Cam Heyward should be getting upfield on passing plays and collapsing the pocket.

[SteeleReign]

Originally Posted by El-Gonzo Jackson

The Steelers defense has always been based upon pass rush. When there is not enough pressure on the QB, then they have time and our CB's get beat. Missing Harrison concerns me, but not as much as what happens when he is done in a year or maybe less.

Not having another OLB that can rush the passer is hurting us, as is the fact that Cam Heyward should be getting upfield on passing plays and collapsing the pocket.

This is the problem. Pitt has gotten by with mediocre DBs for years because of the overwhelming pass rush. Now, they are being exposed as mediocre because the QB has too much time.

[Edman]

Then if that's the case, then Lebeau isn't as big a defensive genius as we say he is. Like I said, not even Rod Woodson in his prime would've been a help yesterday when he's asked to play five yards off his receiver.

Okay, the Front 7 isn't getting there, why not make adjustments and have the defensive backs play more aggressive to help them out? There are 11 guys on Defense, not 7. So you're telling me we have no trust in our Corners when they were the same group that shut down the Pats last year? We have to keep playing them off the WR's and TE's? Thus opening up even bigger holes in the Defense?

Insanity is attempting the same thing over and over and expecting different* results. Three times the Steelers tried the same shit on defense, they got burned. The Rare Time when they didn't do it (Jets game), they were as stout as ever.

[plenewken]

Originally Posted by Edman

Insanity is attempting the same thing over and over and expecting the same results.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."
Albert Einstein.