2nd Half Defense: What Happened

[RyanC883]

I thought it was bad, but it was like 2 different halves.  Per NFL.com, "The Steelers scored 23 points after trailing 10-0 at halftime.  On their last four drives, they generated 231 yards and 13 first downs after opening the game with 22 yards and three first downs on their first 14 plays (6 drives)."  

 

I have no idea, wondering what everyone else thinks.  

 

The Steelers are not an elite offense by any means (Ben did not hit anyone over 20 air yards), and they started 4 new offensive lineman.  

 

As much as Daboll is rightfully taking flack for his game planning, what happened to the D?

 

 

[Royale with Cheese]

They only gave up 16 points total.  They weren't the issue.

[RyanC883]

1 minute ago, Royale with Cheese said:

They only gave up 16 points total.  They weren't the issue.

 

Agree, they were not the issue, but giving up that many first downs and yards is an issue.  (eats clock when your offense needs the ball).  The D was good in the first half, what happened.  Why so many first down conversions for PIT?  

 

 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

1 minute ago, RyanC883 said:

 

Agree, they were not the issue, but giving up that many first downs and yards is an issue.  (eats clock when your offense needs the ball).  The D was good in the first half, what happened.  Why so many first down conversions for PIT?  

 

 

Tight end seem route, and whoever Levi Wallace was supposed to cover seemed to be where they attacked with success. 

[RobbRiddick]

Maybe they were getting tired. Plus I think they felt the pressure of coming up with a turnover because the offense was struggling so badly, looked like they were pressing a lot. 

 

To be honest there were a lot of plays where Pitt just made a great play. There was one where White had great coverage and they still managed to complete it. Sometimes things just go that way.

[RyanC883]

Just now, RobbRiddick said:

Maybe they were getting tired. Plus I think they felt the pressure of coming up with a turnover because the offense was struggling so badly, looked like they were pressing a lot. 

 

To be honest there were a lot of plays where Pitt just made a great play. There was one where White had great coverage and they still managed to complete it. Sometimes things just go that way.

 

Great points, I agree.  Although you'd like to see a vet defense not "press" so much.   

 

And that White coverage play to Claypool?  Claypool is a beast.  I do wish White turned his head around, I think he had a better chance of knocking the ball away, but then again, if he misses, Claypool is gone.  Like you said, great play by PIT there.  

 

 

 

 

[dave mcbride]

9 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

Agree, they were not the issue, but giving up that many first downs and yards is an issue.  (eats clock when your offense needs the ball).  The D was good in the first half, what happened.  Why so many first down conversions for PIT?  

 

 

The league is set up for teams to score. Pitt has a lot of playmakers and a HOF QB, and they are always at least pretty good. Holding them to 16 over a full game is basically an example of the D doing its job.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

14 minutes ago, RobbRiddick said:

Maybe they were getting tired. Plus I think they felt the pressure of coming up with a turnover because the offense was struggling so badly, looked like they were pressing a lot. 

 

To be honest there were a lot of plays where Pitt just made a great play. There was one where White had great coverage and they still managed to complete it. Sometimes things just go that way.

That back shoulder throw juju came up with was incredible. 
 

 

Edited September 13, 2021 by Over 29 years of fanhood

[Jobot]

So Ben had to sacrifice his body and put his season at risk to put up 16 points in a week 1 game... The Steeler's season or any bid at the playoffs is unofficially over because he's not lasting close to 17 games.

[eball]

7 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

Great points, I agree.  Although you'd like to see a vet defense not "press" so much.   

 

And that White coverage play to Claypool?  Claypool is a beast.  I do wish White turned his head around, I think he had a better chance of knocking the ball away, but then again, if he misses, Claypool is gone.  Like you said, great play by PIT there.  

 

 

 

 

 

That Claypool catch and the Johnson TD catch were just outstanding individual plays by receivers with very tight coverage.  Not much you can do other than tip your cap and say, "great play."

 

The play of the Bills' D was very reassuring to me...yes, they could have gotten another stop but there were a number of plays the Bills "whiffed" on with respect to offense and ST that gave this game away.

[JMF2006]

7 minutes ago, Jobot said:

So Ben had to sacrifice his body and put his season at risk to put up 16 points in a week 1 game... The Steeler's season or any bid at the playoffs is unofficially over because he's not lasting close to 17 games.

 

Yeah wait until they play Cleveland and Baltimore twice each and those are really mean division games with 2 nasty D's

[CincyBillsFan]

I think two opposing things can be true at the same time:

 

1) The Bills D was not the main reason they lost.  They only gave up 16 points.

 

2) The 2nd half performance by the Bills D did contribute greatly to the loss.

 

The D allowed Pittsburgh to score 13 points on their first 3 drives of the 2nd half.  All three drives were long, time consuming drives that robbed the Bills of at least one and possibly two offensive possessions.

 

Now if the offense was firing on all cylinders it wouldn't have mattered.  But given the type of game it was the D's let up in the 2nd half combined with the blocked punt TD were major contributors to the loss.

 

Over the course of a long season the offense will win some games 38 - 31 but there are going to be times when the O is misfiring and we'll have to win a game 16 - 13.  Yesterday was a prime example of this.  And this thread is correct to point it out.

 

 

 

[BillsVet]

20 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

The league is set up for teams to score. Pitt has a lot of playmakers and a HOF QB, and they are always at least pretty good. Holding them to 16 over a full game is basically an example of the D doing its job.

 

Hence why investing in more high dollar defenders other than at CB and DE is often a bad investment.  One would hope the HC's defensive pedigree would slowly retreat toward accepting this, but it has not. 

[Meatloaf63]

2 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

 

Hence why investing in more high dollar defenders other than at CB and DE is often a bad investment.  One would hope the HC's defensive pedigree would slowly retreat toward accepting this, but it has not. 

Except Tampa’s defense won them the game last Super Bowl and being able to generate pressure in Qb’s still is the best way to disrupt an offense.

[BillsVet]

Just now, Meatloaf63 said:

Except Tampa’s defense won them the game last Super Bowl and being able to generate pressure in Qb’s still is the best way to disrupt an offense.

 

Did you miss the part about "DE" in my post?  In a 40 front that's where your pressure is more often than not coming from.

[SCBills]

33 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

Agree, they were not the issue, but giving up that many first downs and yards is an issue.  (eats clock when your offense needs the ball).  The D was good in the first half, what happened.  Why so many first down conversions for PIT?  

 

 

 

The Defense wasn't just good in the first half, they were next level elite.

 

The Second Half, yes, they had some struggles, but still held the Steelers to FG's, while our Offense kept spazzing out.  The one TD coming on a great individual play by Johnson over Levi.  This also in conjunction with the refs deciding to call both holding on Tre and PI on Levi (I'm ok with the PI, but it's still one you don't see called sometimes, and they owed us one after that Tre White call).  Also Claypool simply made a great play on Tre.  It happens.

 

I thought Ben played really well in the second half too.  He was buying time and making good throws.  

 

Giving up 16 points in one half isn't ideal, but when your offense keeps putting the defense in bad positions all half, that can happen.... even to, what we're all hoping, is a very good defense.  

 

My gripe is that we still didn't see splash plays BUT we were also a bit unlucky...   Watt had a strip sack that they recovered.  Addison had a strip sack that they recovered, White has a pick that they erased with a ticky tack holding call and Edmunds just barely missed a deflected interception. 

[RobbRiddick]

23 minutes ago, eball said:

 

That Claypool catch and the Johnson TD catch were just outstanding individual plays by receivers with very tight coverage.  Not much you can do other than tip your cap and say, "great play."

 

The play of the Bills' D was very reassuring to me...yes, they could have gotten another stop but there were a number of plays the Bills "whiffed" on with respect to offense and ST that gave this game away.

 

I think we'll see quite a few games this year where the Bills defense gets a bunch of turnovers 

[Alphadawg7]

42 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

Agree, they were not the issue, but giving up that many first downs and yards is an issue.  (eats clock when your offense needs the ball).  The D was good in the first half, what happened.  Why so many first down conversions for PIT?  

 

 

But we dominated the game in every stat category, D played great.  ST unit gave up 7 of those points, otherwise it’s a different game.  
 

The D was quite good actually, Daboll and his offensive game plan and play calls was atrocious 

[First Round Bust]

same issues as last season - the TE working the middle on seam routes and focus picking on Levi Wallace....

[78thealltimegreat]

1 hour ago, RyanC883 said:

I thought it was bad, but it was like 2 different halves.  Per NFL.com, "The Steelers scored 23 points after trailing 10-0 at halftime.  On their last four drives, they generated 231 yards and 13 first downs after opening the game with 22 yards and three first downs on their first 14 plays (6 drives)."  

 

I have no idea, wondering what everyone else thinks.  

 

The Steelers are not an elite offense by any means (Ben did not hit anyone over 20 air yards), and they started 4 new offensive lineman.  

 

As much as Daboll is rightfully taking flack for his game planning, what happened to the D?

 

 

D wasn’t a problem they got a gift in that defensive holding call and Claypool running back into Wallace drawing a PI and also  got great field position just about every drive in the second half cause the bills went for it twice