So some may say LeBeau must go....however how much credit do you give him....

[black and gold apex]

Since the Steelers felt no need to help the defense and for the secondary we have LeBeau has done a great job. When the secondary as even yesterday stand off 10-15 yards and gives up 3rd and 17 for no coverage skills yet gives up no TD'S hard to complain on the coach.

 

[steel dino]

I think he has done a great job molding this group of players that range from talented (Timmons), young guns (tuitt), pro's that have seen better days (troy/Harrison), to cast offs (moats/McCain)....

They have been progressing all season, and I really enjoyed yesterdays performance, which gives me hope for the playoffs..

 

[str8liner]

As much as I love Lebeau and what he has done for the Steelers I am afraid this secondary is going to get lit up like a pinball machine in the playoffs.

Ben and the O better be ready to score some points.

 

[steel dino]

As much as I love Lebeau and what he has done for the Steelers I am afraid this secondary is going to get lit up like a pinball machine in the playoffs.

Ben and the O better be ready to score some points.

Not so sure I can agree with that...There coverage although "soft" by design (no TD's), and more importantly their pass rush is becoming a huge plus lately.

I think they purposely rested number 92 these past several weeks, until yesterday, to get his body ready for a playoff run.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Maybe the young guys are grasping his system. The team still hasn't drafted him **** for several years though.

 

[stillwright]

Nice to see all the DL supporters out after a few nice games. I will take the last 3 or 4 years body of work though. Nothing wrong with change sometimes.

 

[Superman]

i wonder how much between the ears had to do with the lack of defense. maybe DL had to REALLY dumb down the defense for these guys and make it simpler? not that all of our previous defenders were capable of discussing string theory, but compared to some of the guys currently on roster, maybe they're geniuses in comparison? I have no doubt they have the athletic ability. Unlike the 350-pound jelly-donut inhaling mensa candidate ninjas here who know the ins and outs of the defense from watching on tv.

 

[SteelerSask2]

Maybe the young guys are grasping his system. The team still hasn't drafted him **** for several years though.

Not for lack of picks: Shazier, Tuit, Heyward, Hood (gone), Thomas, Uncle Jarvis, Mitchell (FA of the offseason this year), these are all heavy investment guys. The've just ignored the corner position. They never should have let Lewis get to his final year in his contract. That was a massive loss.

 

[Supersteeler]

Did I miss Keenan Lewis ascension to defensive back legend status or something? The way people carry on about him being let go, you'd think Mel Blount just walked out the door. I've literally had to go and look at his stats 3 times this year because I was convinced he must be setting the league on fire with all the hysterics. He has 1 INT. So what am I missing that would have made him worth the money he wanted? Is he better than Ike Taylor, Brice McCain and Antwan Blake? Probably. At this point, I wouldn't take him over William Gay though.

 

[SteelerSask2]

Put any talk of top five corners away. Lewis is in the top 25% of corners in the league. Who in this secondary is in the top 25% right now. Maybe Gay. If you still have Lewis, you probably have a SB contender right now

 

[CoolieMan]

and why would you not consider the Steelers SB contenders? I have heard on several shows that they think the team with the best shot of taking down either denver or the pats is the Steelers. The Steelers are in the playoffs, they have a very good offense and a defense that has found a way to make stops when needed enough times to be playing for the division title next week. Counting them out is just ******* silly right not.

DL is not the problem with the defense. He is doing as much as anyone could with the talent on that side of the ball

 

[antdrewjosh]

The defense is designed to give up those plays Bowe got. Tackle the catch. Its not the CBs job to stop that play. His job is to tackle the catch. Its someone on the lines job to get pressure and disrupt the QB so he cant make that throw. No pressure, ball is out, tackle the catch. Our belief is we will eventually get to you. Or once in the redzone your settling for a FG.

Stop the run. Force favorable down and distances. Sack the QB or pressure the QB into errant throws. Tackle the catch limit RAC. Dont give up big plays. Its been our defense since 92. Its not changing even if we took 5 CBs in the draft. The players have to execute the defense. Lebeau can stay forever as far as Im concerned.

 

[21STEELERS21]

Nothing against Gay, but when he is your top CB in today's NFL and you make the playoffs the D coach is having a good year.

I think Lebeau retires after next Super Bowl win. Maybe this year, more likely next.

 

[Hines57]

This defense has been playing without starters all year. We have a terrible secondary. Now that the front 7 are healthy we are applying some pressure and getting stops. I'm not sure how we will fare v a spread offense and I hope we get our chance but we are improving on the defensive side of the ball. Spence, Williams, Tuitt, Heyward, Worilds, these guys are stepping up at the right time.

 

[Stryker]

Young players are contributing, Tuitt, Shazier, and McCullers look like good additions and are making an impact as rookies.

Harrison makes the entire D better. Worlids is able to work free with the linemen worrying about Harrison. D backs are improving. McCain just made sure the Chiefs' WR TD tally stayed at ZERO with a great play on Bowe in the endzone. Tuitt had a nice forced fumble, and good pressure. It makes a huge difference when you get production out of both of your DEs in a 3-4. LBs are free to roam!

We held a good running back (and the center of KC's offense) to 29 yards rushing and under 80yds total. Without the ability to rush, they were pass happy and we got to the QB 6 times!

This is the 3rd straight week of improvement on Defense. If we have another great game on Sunday, we will be hitting the playoffs on a high note playing some of the best ball in the league.

 

[Vader]

I love DL however the Steelers have played one top QB all year. Now that we've seen more of Luck that win doesn't look as good. Dallas absolutely destroyed them. Hell they had backup players in the game with almost 5 minutes left in the 3rd. I don't see the Steelers being able to stay with Brady or Manning.

 

[thumbring]

I'm happy to see the defense performing better, but will reserve judgement until I see them play well against a really good offense. However, they were crappy against really bad offenses earlier in the season, so there's no question there has been an improvement. If they can continue to get a good pass rush, that will cover for the secondary quite a bit. Harrison must stay healthy and hopefully Tuitt can keep improving and Heyward can continue to be a monster.

 

[21STEELERS21]

The Steelers play against one of the better offenses in the league in practice every week.

 

[FAB802]

Yes. Bring on the Broncos and Patriots.
If they can shut down Alex Smith and his SIX completions on the year of more than 20yards and the chief's wideouts and their ZERO touchdowns....
We're golden!

What the **** is your deal? You prefer missing the playoff's? I will never understand "fans" who think this way. If you're too chicken **** to watch the game then don't. Does it appear that they are better than the Steelers are right now? Sure. Are they unbeatable? No. But by all means, keep telling us how we have no shot.

 

[SCSteeler4life]

What the **** is your deal? You prefer missing the playoff's? I will never understand "fans" who think this way. If you're too chicken **** to watch the game then don't. Does it appear that they are better than the Steelers are right now? Sure. Are they unbeatable? No. But by all means, keep telling us how we have no shot.

People said the same thing when we played the Colts in 2005. They have no chance. Same thing the next week against the Broncos. In the playoffs anything can happen.

 

[Wingman]

I love DL however the Steelers have played one top QB all year. Now that we've seen more of Luck that win doesn't look as good. Dallas absolutely destroyed them. Hell they had backup players in the game with almost 5 minutes left in the 3rd. I don't see the Steelers being able to stay with Brady or Manning.

Both of those guys have loses on their record. They can be beat. The key to beating those teams would be keeping the ball away and scoring touch downs by our offense. Nice thing is they are not the team we have to play next week or the week after that and the Steelers are playing a better game each week. Let us hope it continues.

 

[Steeltime]

The Steelers defense is improving:

• Tuitt is a huge improvement over Thomas, and provides superior pass rushing from the LDE.
• Harrison is a force at ROLB.
• Harrison's presence makes Heyward even better.
• The pass rush with Tuitt, Harrison, and Heyward is damn good.
• The Patsies cannot protect the passer any more.
• This pass rush protects the average secondary.
• The DL and LB'ers are stuffing opposing running games.
• The old combination of stuffing the run and rushing the passer goes a long way in today's NFL.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

I don't think DLB is a bad coach, I do think that most of the league has figured out his stuff and the past couple years he hasn't had the talent to overcome it. Last year he was without Harrison and Deebo was often hurt the two seasons before, Heyward has been the only decent DL when Keisel was out hurt and now he's out again and will probably retire, Troy and Ike aren't what they used to be, and Jarvis is a bust and will continue to get trucked, Woodley declined badly and was cut, Worlids ain't all that (again) and will not be re-signed. Upsides, Tuitt may be okay and the young DB's are coming along nicely, and Gay has been pretty good since returning from AZ. But basically we have one good DL, two good LB's, and two good DB's. Everybody else is fair-to-middlin' or inexperienced.

 

[slashsteel]

Happy the Steelers made the playoffs.......

Will be happy if they win a playoff game.

But those corners are painful to watch.

I will call them thing two and thing three

Now thing one is playing solid football,

But thing two and three will be the reason the Steelers exit the playoffs.

Again regardless I will cheer them on for however long they are in it................

and who knows? maybe they will be able to pull the cat out of a hat

Go Steelers !

 

[deljzc]

Pass defense still means a lot and we aren't very good this year.

Notable stats I use (defense):

Dropbacks Against - 559
Yards Against - 4177 (7.47)
Turnovers - 12 (2.15%)
Sacks - 30 (5.4%)
Completion % - 64.2%
Possessions - 156
Points - 352 (2.26)
20+ Plays = 51

DQR Rating = 99.9

You don't normally have a winning record giving up that type of pass defense. Luckily Roethlisberger has been better so we're in the positive and you can win games as long as you're in the positive +/- passer rating differential.