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Darius Slay on Tomlin’s defensive scheme: “I ain’t going to lie to you, that Pittsburgh stuff.. that ****’s backwards over there”.

Don Kedic

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In a recent edition of his podcast, Press Coverage, Slay went in on the Steelers’ defensive schematics and subtly blamed Mike Tomlin for those perceived schematic issues.

“I ain’t gonna lie to you, that Pittsburgh stuff… that s—t’s backwards over there,” Slay said via Alex Kozora of Steelers Depot. “That ain’t [Teryl Austin] s—t. TA ain’t teach none of that s—t in f—king Detroit. [We played] outside leverage every f—king call. That’s why you see when [Jalen] Ramsey ever got scored on, he’s chasing someone that’s running away from outside leverage.”

Slay added that the Steelers were coached to play outside leverage because the defensive line was expected to bat balls down if passes went inside.

“This is what these [coaches] were telling me - you play outside leverage, and if they catch a ball inside, it’s on the d-line because they’re so good at batting the ball down,” Slay said. “I’m not banking on that. That’s the only thing I did not like about the defense.”

Many fans and former players have expressed how predictable the Steelers’ defense has been for years. Former New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman said they always did well against Pittsburgh because the Steelers never changed their looks and New England always knew what they would do.

“You knew exactly what they were doing,” Edelman said. “And they still do what they did. They still do the same G—damn s—t [they did] when I was playing Tomlin’s defense. I’m like, ‘We still have linebackers covering the three slot?’ Every time we play Steelers, I have at least nine catches. You would think that they would change it but no, they do what they do.”

 
I’m surprised Slay actually knew what they were playing considering the guy got injured about every 4th play. Seemed he was laying on the turf a lot.

But this really isn’t a revelation. This defense was built for 1997. Everyone could see the flaws.
 
I’m surprised Slay actually knew what they were playing considering the guy got injured about every 4th play. Seemed he was laying on the turf a lot.

But this really isn’t a revelation. This defense was built for 1997. Everyone could see the flaws.
he had a birds eye view, like everyone else - since he was on the sideline watching as you said.
 
Don't like the big mouth attitude
 
Why are we obsessed with a man who in no longer the Steelers coach?
Probably because alot of fan have been saying stuff like this for years with the Ex-Coach, and everyone in the national media and alot of fans, thought he walked on water and was smarter than that.
 
Probably because alot of fan have been saying stuff like this for years with the Ex-Coach, and everyone in the national media and alot of fans, thought he walked on water and was smarter than that.
It also just makes us feel vindicated for seeing what no one seemed to want to admit.
 
Look, Tomlin was a sound defensive coach in the early 2000's philosophies... he suffered from too much early success and as he started gaining clout, forced out innovative guys like DLB because he wanted more control, the issue was what he wanted to do didnt consistently work and without anyone to counter his philosophies, every key down we ran the same basic crap and got crushed...

Tomlin isnt an idiot.. we did make grand philosophical changes at times... the problem was that he was a micromanager and when the important downs came up, he always reverted to the same conservative deep cover two stuff and left the middle of the field wide open..
 
I do think its somewhat funny that after the 2012 season, which he started taking playcalling off of DLB, the defense dipped off and the fundamental issues were never totally resolved, because neither DLB, Butler, nor Austin was the actual problem...

Look Tomlin Ds are OK... most teams would love to have a D that in its worse seasons was still top 20 and often top 10... but he needs to clean up some of that predictability stuff and change things up on occasion
 
Look, Tomlin was a sound defensive coach in the early 2000's philosophies... he suffered from too much early success and as he started gaining clout, forced out innovative guys like DLB because he wanted more control, the issue was what he wanted to do didnt consistently work and without anyone to counter his philosophies, every key down we ran the same basic crap and got crushed...

Tomlin isnt an idiot.. we did make grand philosophical changes at times... the problem was that he was a micromanager and when the important downs came up, he always reverted to the same conservative deep cover two stuff and left the middle of the field wide open..
Gronk approves of this post.
 
I stay away from it now, but I do notice that the Tomlin-lovers hate it when their idol is exposed for what the vast majority knew what he was for years.

Probably because alot of fan have been saying stuff like this for years with the Ex-Coach, and everyone in the national media and alot of fans, thought he walked on water and was smarter than that.

It also just makes us feel vindicated for seeing what no one seemed to want to admit.

I’ve said it for years on this site…. Tomlin was a mediocre coach and one of the only good things he did was fire himself.
Good riddance!
Yep. Tomlin had the luxury of being gifted Cowher’s team for the first half of his career, to include a future HOF QB. Once that era’s players and coordinators started to disband, we got an accurate snapshot of Tomlin’s true capability and potential. Despite the media’s best efforts to suppress the reality, Tomlin’s ineptitude could no longer be concealed. The chants from the stadium calling for his ousting told the true story. We had the equivalent of Hue Jackson, but with a better structure around him.
 
Is it the attitude that bothers you or is it the truth of the matter that irks you?
I agree his defense sucks hahaha, never put that into question. But throwing people under the bus publicly like that is unnecessary
 
He's the only former player talking/bashing the secondary concepts. He may be talking BS for all we know, or the complete truth. I'll wait to hear from others.
 
Why are we obsessed with a man who is no longer the Steelers coach?



Some things just can’t be explained…………….. Coolie’s questioning of the cost of adult diapers……….




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