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Is it time for the D to change ?

Y

you complete me

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I think 3/4 has run it’s course. No one is fooled by the done blitz scheme any longer and anytime we are in our base there are mismatches all over the field. I think we finally have the players to make a smooth change with of course adding a couple players

Tj watt rushing the QB every play looks better then him dropping into coverage
Also watt is more than big enough to play D end

Heyward , Tyson A , wormley , Watt
OLD HEISMITH. MLB DRAFT OR FA. OLB Bush

Hell Bush might actually be a decent olb in 4/3. His size won’t hurt him as bad in that spot
 
I would love to see us move Bush for a player or a pick. I think we were chasing rainbows and unicorns trying to reimagine Bush as a Ryan Shazier-clone. He's nowhere near the same type of player. There's a certain set of standards for playing linebacker in the 'Burgh. Neither Bush nor Schobert come even close to making the cut. It's time to reboot the ILB position entirely.
 
??? the 3-4 has run its course? if anything it's more relevant than a 4-3 in today's pass happy league. You could even say that going Nickle package as a base defense would be a sound decision.
 
When it's time to change
(when it's time to change)
Don't fight the tide, go along for the ride
Don't ya see
When it's time to change, you've got to rearrange
Who you are and what you're gonna be

Sha na na na na na na na na
Sha na na na na
Sha na na na na na na na na na
Sha na na na na
 
Doesn't matter who you have or what you run. If there are culture, coaching and accountability problems Any plan will fail.
 
Getting to the passer is not an issue for the Steelers, so the 3-4 still has some legs from a general perspective.

The run defense struggled, but that was largely because the DL only had one good player with Devin Bush "playing" being it.

The fact they play a 2-4 front so often on first and second down doesn't help either

Upgrade the personnel inside, and the current scheme is still viable.
 
Rams are doing ok with 3-4. They led league in defensive pressures and Steelers led in sacks.
Bush could very well be a better olb in a 4-3. Wouldnt mind seeing a defense that can switch between 3-4 and 4-3. We need a versatile ilb to do it.
 
It's time for the coaches to change the culture back to tough, competent & accountable Steelers football + some competent DL to complement Heyawrd and an ILB - case solved. The Bush experiment has run its course.

There have been schematic breakdowns plaguing the Steelers for years in allowing a TE or WR to roam the middle of the field without one of our DBs being within 5 yards, so maybe just take it one step at a time.
 
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3-4?

I think you are confusing a traditional defensive alignment with the earth-shattering brilliance that IS the 2-2-7 run-stuffing alignment of Mike "I ******* told Lebeau to shut up" Tomlin.
 
You need disciplined well trained players with talent for the 3-4, watch what happens to the run defense if you drop a badass monster at NT. Yes ,I'm having visions of Jordan Davis filling that void nicely for the next 10+ years. It's a nice dream anyway. Everything gets better behind you when you invest in talent on the lines.
 
No… the obsession with going back to tge 4-3 is absurd in this fanbase… and they barely use base anyhow… if we ran 4-3 with tomlins stuff bush or a bush like person would still be at ilb and we’d have an olb in coverage virtually every play…
 
Steelworth said:
It's time for the coaches to change the culture back to tough, competent & accountable Steelers football + some competent DL to complement Heyawrd and an ILB - case solved. The Bush experiment has run its course.

There have been schematic breakdowns plaguing the Steelers for years in allowing a TE or WR to roam the middle of the field without one of our DBs being within 5 yards, so maybe just take it one step at a time.
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Don't hold your breath. You're not going to see that with the current coaching administration.
 
Steelworth said:
It's time for the coaches to change the culture back to tough, competent & accountable Steelers football + some competent DL to complement Heyawrd and an ILB - case solved. The Bush experiment has run its course.

There have been schematic breakdowns plaguing the Steelers for years in allowing a TE or WR to roam the middle of the field without one of our DBs being within 5 yards, so maybe just take it one step at a time.
Click to expand...


Until you change the cause of the problem you will not get the change needed or desired.



Salute the nation
 
This is a weird thread. The Steelers are probably in sub packages more than the "base" defense. The OLBs rarely drop into coverage and rush a vast majority of the time and have for years. The defense was fine two years ago when their starters were in the lineup. Three legit cornerbacks with Nelson and Hilton at CB2 and CB3, Tuitt and Alualu, at least competent play from the ILBs.

Last year we didn't have Tuitt, Alualu got hurt, they cut Nelson for no reason, didn't adequately replace Nelson/Hilton, and Bush played like an UDFA who shouldn't have even made it to training camp. I don't know what the issue is in the playoffs and they need to fix that, but overall the defensive scheme does a lot of good things.
 
you complete me said:
I think 3/4 has run it’s course. No one is fooled by the done blitz scheme any longer and anytime we are in our base there are mismatches all over the field. I think we finally have the players to make a smooth change with of course adding a couple players

Tj watt rushing the QB every play looks better then him dropping into coverage
Also watt is more than big enough to play D end

Heyward , Tyson A , wormley , Watt
OLD HEISMITH. MLB DRAFT OR FA. OLB Bush

Hell Bush might actually be a decent olb in 4/3. His size won’t hurt him as bad in that spot
Click to expand...
Just curious, when you watch the game, do you maybe use your eyes?

The zone blitz scheme you’re referring to has long been moved from. In 2016, Heyward & Tuitt began being used far differently and in particular the pass rush. Heyward has outperformed JJ Watt in sacks & TFL since. Hargrave was a stud DT & it was the retirement of Jason Worilds just as he was entering the prime of his career (the pursue becoming Jehovahs Witness) and the Ryan Shazier injury that really hurt the LBs. That and Joey Porter being completely ineffective at coaching Bud Dupree.

The big weakness of the Defense was the secondary & Colbert missed it big time. Losing Keenan Allen in FA but resigning Cortez Allen to same contract, the Mike Mitchell FA signing was his biggest bust.

Colbert found a way to manuver the Steelers into an overhaul of a horrible secondary in early 2000s—but his inability to do so again was his big failure in the 2010s—reaching for Artie Burns and Sean Davis, and the rest of decade might have been a rewrite of those names were Xavier Howard & Kevin Biard.

The defense is a year removed from 2 consecutive years of being 5th & 3rd in league and you want to blow it up?

Granted there was a lot of unexpected turnover last year—starting with losing Dupree & Tuitt—but they effectively ran a 4-3 with Watt & Dupree as de facto DEs already & if Tuitts mystery is ever solved— get him back or address that immediately as well as go after quality CB in FA, this D could do a 180 next year
 
We missed up the defense when we cut Nelson and didn't sign an adequate replacement. We knew who we had on the roster. Hilton was already gone. 2 starting CBs gone
Looking at the QBs in the AFC that is a recipe for disaster
Loosing Tuitt and Alualu was unexpected and could not have been foreseen in my opinion
 
steelcan58 said:
If we are going to continue with the 3-4 we need a NT. It's been lacking since Big Snack retired.
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I've been saying this since Big Snack left. But, the pundits and even Colbert say we don't need an NT because they don't use them. I say it's the chicken and egg question. If you have a Big Snack, you use him to stuff the run and to occupy two guys or collapse the pocket on pass plays. He doesn't need to get sacks. He needs to occupy space and guys so the other 3 rushers can do their thing. How that isn't ******* obvious is beyond me. This gap BS and the miscommunication is minimized when you have a big ******* plug in the middle that the opposing team needs to always go around.
 
BLITZ said:
We missed up the defense when we cut Nelson and didn't sign an adequate replacement. We knew who we had on the roster. Hilton was already gone. 2 starting CBs gone
Looking at the QBs in the AFC that is a recipe for disaster
Loosing Tuitt and Alualu was unexpected and could not have been foreseen in my opinion
Click to expand...
Rams didn't foresee a significant injury at WR but they reacted and brought in Beckham. Steelers took almost a whole season to bring in help off another teams PS. Two injury's one was addressed far too late. They are either seriously misjudging the talent they have available or are saying **** it we will just go with who we have. Either way bad decisions. Ditto Nelson.
 
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slashsteel said:
Rams didn't foresee a significant injury at WR but they reacted and brought in Beckum.(SP) Steelers took almost a whole season to bring in help off another teams PS. Two injury's one was addressed far too late. They are either seriously misjudging the talent they have available or are saying **** it we will just go with who we have. Either way bad decisions. Ditto Nelson.
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That is the part that is so frustrating to me

Re-Action instead of PRO-ACTION.



Salute the nation
 
slashsteel said:
Rams didn't foresee a significant injury at WR but they reacted and brought in Beckham. Steelers took almost a whole season to bring in help off another teams PS. Two injury's one was addressed far too late. They are either seriously misjudging the talent they have available or are saying **** it we will just go with who we have. Either way bad decisions. Ditto Nelson.
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It is much easier to find a suitable WR or RB during the season. Finding a suitable CB/LB/DL the same way is a crap shoot. OL for that matter as well.

This is a 4-3 team that has led the league in sacks the past 5 seasons. You don't break that success when you've done it different ways with different personnel. Saying TJ should only rush the passer would have killed Harrisons longest play in SB history. That's why dropping TJ is effective if you're expecting the rush and the overload comes from the other side when he drops.
 
The Nickle defense is our base defense, we are in a 3-4 maybe 25% of the time, probably not even that high. The blitz scheme??? When is the last time we ran a fire X blitz?
Tomlin wants nothing to do with a big NT or DT, he want's his 2-4-5 wannabe Tampa 2 defense
 
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