If Minkah's contract would permit I'd cut him

[Confluence]

He's playing the role they've asked him to play. Period.

Lots of arm chair coaches here. What would you have done, let's just look at Saturday, with both starting DBs out? Your partner at strong safety out?

Who can you trust to play their assignments?

TJ wasn't effective either. Wanna get rid of him too since he's not playing up to his standards???

He dinged his foot and many expected him to sit. Are you comparing Watt's season to Minkah's?

Which D starter is having a worse season than Minkah, lol?

 

[bermudasteel]

He dinged his foot and many expected him to sit. Are you comparing Watt's season to Minkah's?

Which D starter is having a worse season than Minkah, lol?

I was comparing the gameplay on Saturday. I love both players and I realize that they both have different jobs to do...

 

[Fiji Mariner]

He's playing the role they've asked him to play. Period.

Lots of arm chair coaches here. What would you have done, let's just look at Saturday, with both starting DBs out? Your partner at strong safety out?

Who can you trust to play their assignments?

TJ wasn't effective either. Wanna get rid of him too since he's not playing up to his standards???

TJ was playing hurt
Anyone with eyes could see he couldn’t plant, couldn’t apply leverage and was a shell of himself.
Got stood up at first contact almost every play. No need to even help or chip vs him…that was a guy trying to help but playin hurt

Jus sayin’

Not a fair comparison

But your point about what is Minkah to do when
Surrounded by Kazee blowing assignments and Trice and Pierre as boundary corners is very valid

A brother can only pick
Up so much slack for his teammates

There were a ton of communication breakdowns and poor coverages. That leaves a ton of grass to cover

 

[Fiji Mariner]

Wait, I thought the pillow-soft coverage was Dick Lebeau's fault. No, it was Keith Butler's fault. No, turns out it's Teryl Austin's fault. Damn, as soon as the team manages to find that magic DC, things turn around!!

Oh, same with OC it seems. Bruce Arians is the problem. No, the problem is Todd Haley. Okay, the problem is Randy Fichtner and once that is fixed, HOO-BOY, trophy time! Okay, the real problem is Matt Canada (have to acknowledge merit here). Nope, problem is Eddie Faulkner. Dang it, the problem is now Arthur Smith!

God, this litany of terrible coaches is weighing down the greatness of Mike Tomlin! Who the hell is responsible for hiring these coa ... did you know Mike Tomlin has never had a losing season??

It’s a shame they had Flores and let him
Walk to retain Austin’s services

Granted it’s Mike’s scheme and Flores likely wanted more say in the scheme so he had to simply use the Mike-romanger to get a stepping stone gig to get back in the league and move on ASAP to where he could actually coach freely. What’s MIN been doing this year, I never really watch them???

But the D seemed better with Flores here consulting, that’s for sure. He was that magic DC you speak of, too bad we didn’t keep him to take
over that job…he did a magic trick and disappeared to greener coaching pastures

 

[Steeltime]

It’s a shame they had Flores and let him
Walk to retain Austin’s services

Yep. 100% agreed.

Granted it’s Mike’s scheme and Flores likely wanted more say in the scheme so he had to simply use the Mike-romanger to get a stepping stone gig to get back in the league and move on ASAP to where he could actually coach freely. What’s MIN been doing this year, I never really watch them???

They go after the passer like a dad rushing into a burning house to save his kids. Flores has that D with 7 or 8 guys on the LOS every play, confusing the blocking, and sends 5 or 6. Because of the fact he knows the QB will not have time, he has his DB's right up on the receivers and jamming the **** out of them.

Minnesota last year, 14th total yards, 8th rushing defense, 14th in points allowed.
Minnesota this year, 15th total yards, 2nd rushing defense, 2nd in points allowed.

 

[Fiji Mariner]

Yep. 100% agreed.



They go after the passer like a dad rushing into a burning house to save his kids. Flores has that D with 7 or 8 guys on the LOS every play, confusing the blocking, and sends 5 or 6. Because of the fact he knows the QB will not have time, he has his DB's right up on the receivers and jamming the **** out of them.

Minnesota last year, 14th total yards, 8th rushing defense, 14th in points allowed.
Minnesota this year, 15th total yards, 2nd rushing defense, 2nd in points allowed.

Would love to see some of that aggression here

That’s a fun brand to watch, much more fun than bend don’t break death by 1000 paper cuts

 

[jitter77]

I do not think the issue lies with Austin. Tomlin has spoke multiple times how he wants the D. I think the league had caught up to Lebeau somewhat, but at least we could do one thing good and mixed in alot of blitzes. Now we rush 4 with soft zones behind it. QBs / WRs / rules are too good to stop consistently doing this. We live by turnovers. We are good at causing them, but your defensive success cannot rely on someone fumbling or hoping the QB tosses up a bad pass.

 

[Superman]

TJ was playing hurt
Anyone with eyes could see he couldn’t plant, couldn’t apply leverage and was a shell of himself.
Got stood up at first contact almost every play. No need to even help or chip vs him…that was a guy trying to help but playin hurt

Jus sayin’

Not a fair comparison

But your point about what is Minkah to do when
Surrounded by Kazee blowing assignments and Trice and Pierre as boundary corners is very valid

A brother can only pick
Up so much slack for his teammates

There were a ton of communication breakdowns and poor coverages. That leaves a ton of grass to cover

this right here was the issue the past game. Minkah's our best tackler in the secondary. Smart move is to keep him deep to prevent long balls, since these brainiacs we had at CB just aren't that good. Especially Lamar Jackson's cousin James Pierre who is Lamar Jackson's cousin, James Pierre. Oh, and Beanie aint **** either.

 

[madinsomniac]

I do not think the issue lies with Austin. Tomlin has spoke multiple times how he wants the D. I think the league had caught up to Lebeau somewhat, but at least we could do one thing good and mixed in alot of blitzes. Now we rush 4 with soft zones behind it. QBs / WRs / rules are too good to stop consistently doing this. We live by turnovers. We are good at causing them, but your defensive success cannot rely on someone fumbling or hoping the QB tosses up a bad pass.

Minnesota runs a form of Lebeaus defense and it was fine...

The issue withbtge straight 3/4 ZB was as soon as you put in the giant NT, teams were soreading outvtge D and running no huddle short **** to wear them out

That strategy has since been mitigated by modern defenses...


Our issue is tge austin D is predicated on getting pressure from traditional sets... we dont run a lot of elaborate blitzes... so its easy to read for a qb... if tgere are breakdowns, they know it right away... if its a zone... they know the soft spots

Change something up on key downs and maybe it isnt so predictable

 

[Punxsutawney]

Minnesota runs a form of Lebeaus defense and it was fine...

The issue withbtge straight 3/4 ZB was as soon as you put in the giant NT, teams were soreading outvtge D and running no huddle short **** to wear them out

That strategy has since been mitigated by modern defenses...


Our issue is tge austin D is predicated on getting pressure from traditional sets... we dont run a lot of elaborate blitzes... so its easy to read for a qb... if tgere are breakdowns, they know it right away... if its a zone... they know the soft spots

Change something up on key downs and maybe it isnt so predictable

On one hand, one cannot really blame Tomlin and Austin for having a lot confidence in their four man rush with players like Watt, Heyward and Highsmith, but they have leaned on it way too much this season.

I imagine if a QB pretty much knows what the defense is going to send at him every play and doesn't have to worry about the blitz, it makes playing the position easier than it otherwise would be.

Saying that, however, I saw a game analysis where the Steelers went out of character against the Ravens on Saturday by blitzing Jackson a ton with poor results.

I'm not sure if the injuries on defense played a role in that change of strategy or not, but it went against how they have defended Jackson in the past.

 

[Fiji Mariner]

Predictably is a large issue on both sides of the ball. Predictably is a liability vs talented players and well coached players.