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Steeler defense since the 2024 bye week

WindyCitySteel

WindyCitySteel

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26.18 PPG. That’s 11 games worth of data. They made significant changes to improve the squad over the course of the offseason and after one game, and things look worse (or at least no better) than the end of last year.

Of course, the one thing that did not change was the untouchable coaching staff. If Seattle comes to Pittsburgh and shreds this D in what should be a bounce back game for them, it’s probably time to at least start looking for the panic button.
 
I see a couple of points to ponder.

1) the start of the season is always a feeling out stage of personnel and getting into the swing of things. This includes both players and coaching. Myself, I accept that excuse to a lesser degree than most. You have all the off-season to get prepared and should be to the extent of just familiarization of players on the field.

2). Both teams are on the rebound, Seattle to avenge their loss and the STEELERS to provide “comfort” in their abilities.

3) Coaching, has made me scratch my head and assZ multiple times. No change of the very deficient OL coach, continuing with a sub-par DC and ST coach has been off & on a lot (currently giving up big return yardages). The OL line coach is insanely being kept, the OL is paying for that decision. The sad thing is most are blaming the players as the sole problem where as it is as big a problem contributing to the poor play of the coaching.

Just my $15.84 worth



Salute the nation
 
I heard the other day that Cam is playing his way into shape and I’m like wtf.
Cam is paid millions of dollars to play ******* football and he has had OTAs, mini camp, training camp and he has to play himself into shape?
Get outta here! That’s on him, the training staff, and the coaching staff all headed by Tomlin.
 
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steelhurt said:
I heard the other day that Cam is playing his way into shape and I’m like wtf.
Cam is paid millions of dollars to play ******* football and he has had OTAs, mini camp, training camp and he has to play himself into shape?
Get outta here! That’s on him, the training staff, and the coaching staff all headed by Tomlin.
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They simply did not play the defensive starters enough in preseason. They were bubble wrapped and looked like they were sucking wind game 1. Inexcusable.
 
steelhurt said:
I heard the other day that Cam is playing his way into shape and I’m like wtf.
Cam is paid millions of dollars to play ******* football and he has had OTAs, mini camp, training camp and he has to play himself into shape?
Get outta here! That’s on him, the training staff, and the coaching staff all headed by Tomlin.
Click to expand...
So it's it the HC's fault that Cam accepted a bad contract last year and choose to hold in until the last minute???

ROTFL!!!
 
bermudasteel said:
So it's it the HC's fault that Cam accepted a bad contract last year and choose to hold in until the last minute???

ROTFL!!!
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Where did I even mention contract?
Heyward did attend OTAs, mini camp and training camp. He should have been in top shape and ready to go. That’s what he’s paid to do.
To Slash’s point though, none of these guys played during the pre season games. That’s on the greatest coach ever, Tomlin.
 
steelhurt said:
Where did I even mention contract?
Heyward did attend OTAs, mini camp and training camp. He should have been in top shape and ready to go. That’s what he’s paid to do.
To Slash’s point though, none of these guys played during the pre season games. That’s on the greatest coach ever, Tomlin.
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That's fine but players play. He should have been ready but he wasn't because he was greedy...
 
bermudasteel said:
That's fine but players play. He should have been ready but he wasn't because he was greedy...
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I agree, he sure as hell should have been ready. That’s his only job to play football and part of that is being ready physically and mentally.
 
Look at Green Bay, for example. They are not “feeling out” and trying to gel. They came into the season in shape and prepared and absolutely destroyed two teams that were in the divisional and championship rounds last season. It’s about a good culture, good coaching and being prepared to achieve your goals. The Steelers are not that, and likely won’t be. The excuses are tired.
 
Attitude starts at the top, HC is the top when it comes to players and on field performance. Lackadaisical is in Tomlin’s demeanor / coach speak / interviews / player interaction. I seen his persona for far to many years and the players know how to push those limits. Very few players want to work harder than what they see and driven to, so thus the winded 4th quarters / un-disciplined lazy tackles / TJ should be included in this as well although he is by far the most viable candidate for exception to the rule.



Salute the nation
 
Apparently, they've been giving up nearly 150 rushing yards per game over their last 8 games going back to last season. That's the worst in the league during that span.

The defense might have bigger issues than we assumed coming into the season. Benton and even Heyward might not be very good at this point, and at what point do Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson start getting criticized more for their play against the run?

If Harmon and Black aren't able to make significant impacts as rookies, we could be seeing a lot more of what we saw at the end of last season and the beginning of this one.

Responsibility does ultimately reside with the people acquiring and coaching the players, and if this defense bombs after all that has been invested in it, Teryl Austin almost certainly would be the sacrificial lamb.

Tomlin or Khan sure as hell isn't going to be.
 
Punxsutawney said:
Apparently, they've been giving up nearly 150 rushing yards per game over their last 8 games going back to last season. That's the worst in the league during that span.

The defense might have bigger issues than we assumed coming into the season. Benton and even Heyward might not be very good at this point, and at what point do Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson start getting criticized more for their play against the run?

If Harmon and Black aren't able to make significant impacts as rookies, we could be seeing a lot more of what we saw at the end of last season and the beginning of this one.

Responsibility does ultimately reside with the people acquiring and coaching the players, and if this defense bombs after all that has been invested in it, Teryl Austin almost certainly would be the sacrificial lamb.

Tomlin or Khan sure as hell isn't going to be.
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Teryl Austin shouldn’t have been hired in the first place. He has sucked almost everywhere he has been, and he’s running Tomlin’s version of whatever ****** defense they’re running and it’s not working and has obviously been figured out.

There’s only one solution and it’s not going to happen so barring some gee whiz adjustment we’re going to keep seeing what we have been seeing to one degree or another. Sigh.
 
Sarge said:
Teryl Austin shouldn’t have been hired in the first place. He has sucked almost everywhere he has been, and he’s running Tomlin’s version of whatever ****** defense they’re running and it’s not working and has obviously been figured out.
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Austin and Pat Meyer on the OL both should have been gone after the collapse at the end of last season, as their units were as bad as any during that stretch.

As we saw with Randy Fichtner and Matt Canada, Tomlin has developed a habit of holding onto ineffective assistants for too long, among his other flaws.

Sarge said:
There’s only one solution and it’s not going to happen so barring some gee whiz adjustment we’re going to keep seeing what we have been seeing to one degree or another. Sigh.
Click to expand...

It's possible at some point Tomlin finds a defensive wizard that can carry him, like Lebeau did for a long time or Mike Munchak did with the OL.

Cannot count on that, though.
 
As long as the HC is “FULLY” in charge, the standard will remain the same.

Coach Tomlin spoke about needing to change, that was his topic after being blown out last season. He said we definitely need to change some things.

I guess acquiring a few new players was the merit of change he was talking about.

I do see the offensive play calling being better, but also being held back by negative OL coaching.

Over-all, the HC’s scheme on both sides of the ball is the demon of destruction. We have good enough players, we have fast enough players, we have amazing Fans…… we don’t have proper coaching from the top down.

Did anyone happen to catch the Green Bay game, the Denver Bronco game, the SD Chargers game…………. Those teams have all shown a turn-around in a very short time line………. Yet we still run in sand.




Salute the nation
 
steelhurt said:
Where did I even mention contract?
Heyward did attend OTAs, mini camp and training camp. He should have been in top shape and ready to go. That’s what he’s paid to do.
To Slash’s point though, none of these guys played during the pre season games. That’s on the greatest coach ever, Tomlin.
Click to expand...

Agree except that I don’t think that playing a series or two in the preseason would’ve put Cam in tip top shape.
 
Sarge said:
Look at Green Bay, for example. They are not “feeling out” and trying to gel. They came into the season in shape and prepared and absolutely destroyed two teams that were in the divisional and championship rounds last season. It’s about a good culture, good coaching and being prepared to achieve your goals. The Steelers are not that, and likely won’t be. The excuses are tired.
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That is true, and the Pack look great in about every phase of the game, in September.

But I have bad memories about 11-0 and 10-3 starts with this same Steeler set of Offensive and Defensive philosophies (or lack thereof).
I'd really like to Steelers "gel" into late November and make a real PO run; don't really care if they are 17-0, 13-4 or 10-7; just win in January.
 
steelhurt said:
I heard the other day that Cam is playing his way into shape and I’m like wtf.
Cam is paid millions of dollars to play ******* football and he has had OTAs, mini camp, training camp and he has to play himself into shape?
Get outta here! That’s on him, the training staff, and the coaching staff all headed by Tomlin.
Click to expand...
You should always be in shape year round as a professional athlete. That's your job. Keeping your body sound is your livelihood. The offseason is the time to get better. Bigger,faster,stronger. More agile,more explosive, more powerful,more disciplined, better educated in your craft.

There's zero excuses to not be ready to go when the time comes to perform. That's what you're paid to do as a professional sports entertainer.

I don't get it at all. I train year round for free. If someone paid me millions of dollars to essentially workout,I would take full advantage of that and all of the resources available,be it company provided or my own personal investment into myself.
 
Drink IRON City said:
Attitude starts at the top, HC is the top when it comes to players and on field performance. Lackadaisical is in Tomlin’s demeanor / coach speak / interviews / player interaction. I seen his persona for far to many years and the players know how to push those limits. Very few players want to work harder than what they see and driven to, so thus the winded 4th quarters / un-disciplined lazy tackles / TJ should be included in this as well although he is by far the most viable candidate for exception to the rule.
Click to expand...

100%, and how many players were echoing Tomlin’s “historic” words this offseason? Payton Wilson was one of the worst on the field but had no problem talking about how awesome they were going to be.

Paper tigers.
 
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