The Big Cat Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 Lastnight while texting back in forth with a buddy of mine in Pittsburgh he indicated that the Steelers defense is def their weak link this year. Seems that other fans are echoing this claim: Like I said before, the Steelers will have get into shootouts with people to win this year. This Soft Defense sucks and is on borderline Cincy horrible and I have no confidence in them. Poor Tackling, again, poor special teams, again, poor Offensive Line play, again. *** Forget the score. The Bill's first string offense and defense out played the Steelers first stringers. On top of that the Bills were without their starting LT, Jason Peters. Even the Bill's second string defense was giving the Steelers first string offense all they could handle. Also, the Bill's second string offense was running, at will, against the Steelers first string defense. Pre season or not, there's no excuse for the Steelers DB's to completely whiff on tackling. They were especially horrible. *** Ok....but this isn't a preseason problem. This has been going on since the middle of last season. But just keep throwing out the "sky is falling card" and act like the rest of us are crazy, but you are clearly watching a completely different defense than the rest of us who are concerned about what we are watching. Our defense is clearly our weak point this season. *** I still remember that the Steelers couldn't generate a pass rush last season when the games counted. Coach LeBeau can be as creative as he wants, but they still have the same players, sans Woodley and they still can't generate a pass rush, even against a vanilla offense. *** i have 2 concerns about this defense and theyre more about scheme and focus- TE's in the redzone can find the softest spot in the zone blitz defense. defense seems to underestimate 2nd year or rookie qb's and think they can beat them with intimidation alone. *** Poor tackling is becoming a weekly occurance, as is no pass rush. No excuse for this. Timmons needs to be on the number 1 defense now. *** I'll try to take the middle ground. Yes, it was only a preseason game, and we all know you can't really take too much from a preseason performance, but the complete lack of resistance by the first team D in the Bills first two drives has to be a concern, especially considering the defenses inability to play a 60 minute game during the second half of last season. I think it all starts with the D-line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCinBuffalo Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 I was having fun reading those and others last night. I think the main difference between our DoomAndGloomers and their's: their's actually know what they are talking about, and/or know how to use stats properly. From what I saw, Pittsburgh has a whole lot of problems with the fundamentals, especially on D, and those ARE NOT a "pre-season-only" problem. Unless corrected they will carry over into the regular season, because they are about individual effort/skill not teamwork. "Whiffing on tackles..." I think we get to start this season with a clear mismatch in terms of our RBs and WRs vs. everybody else's LBs and DBs. Evans, Parrish, Lynch, Royal, and especially Fred Jackson put on a "yards after catch" clinic last night. The receiving play he had on the second TD drive was nothing short of outstanding. I think the posters here who give some/most of the credit for that to Edwards' accuracy are dead on as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandler#81 Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 2 things I hope: -Our offense is as improved as we saw last night and have believed this offseason -Every other team keeps thinking we're vanilla. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Big Cat Posted August 15, 2008 Author Share Posted August 15, 2008 I was having fun reading those and others last night. I think the main difference between our DoomAndGloomers and their's: their's actually know what they are talking about, and/or know how to use stats properly. From what I saw, Pittsburgh has a whole lot of problems with the fundamentals, especially on D, and those ARE NOT a "pre-season-only" problem. Unless corrected they will carry over into the regular season, because they are about individual effort/skill not teamwork. "Whiffing on tackles..." I think we get to start this season with a clear mismatch in terms of our RBs and WRs vs. everybody else's LBs and DBs. Evans, Parrish, Lynch, Royal, and especially Fred Jackson put on a "yards after catch" clinic last night. The receiving play he had on the second TD drive was nothing short of outstanding. I think the posters here who give some/most of the credit for that to Edwards' accuracy are dead on as well. Personally I love that NO ONE outside The Bills has even heard of Freddy J. You're in for a treat, league! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 2 things I hope: -Our offense is as improved as we saw last night and have believed this offseason -Every other team keeps thinking we're vanilla. Despite what I said about the Steelers, I do think our offense is better- Trent looked like he knew where he was going with the ball most of the time- the hesitation was pretty much gone. We still need Peters. I think Robert Royal will have a career year- not an all-pro year, but the best season he's had so far. Maybe 5-6 TD's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarthur31 Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 Lastnight while texting back in forth with a buddy of mine in Pittsburgh he indicated that the Steelers defense is def their weak link this year. Seems that other fans are echoing this claim: Like I said before, the Steelers will have get into shootouts with people to win this year. This Soft Defense sucks and is on borderline Cincy horrible and I have no confidence in them. Poor Tackling, again, poor special teams, again, poor Offensive Line play, again. *** Forget the score. The Bill's first string offense and defense out played the Steelers first stringers. On top of that the Bills were without their starting LT, Jason Peters. Even the Bill's second string defense was giving the Steelers first string offense all they could handle. Also, the Bill's second string offense was running, at will, against the Steelers first string defense. Pre season or not, there's no excuse for the Steelers DB's to completely whiff on tackling. They were especially horrible. *** Ok....but this isn't a preseason problem. This has been going on since the middle of last season. But just keep throwing out the "sky is falling card" and act like the rest of us are crazy, but you are clearly watching a completely different defense than the rest of us who are concerned about what we are watching. Our defense is clearly our weak point this season. *** I still remember that the Steelers couldn't generate a pass rush last season when the games counted. Coach LeBeau can be as creative as he wants, but they still have the same players, sans Woodley and they still can't generate a pass rush, even against a vanilla offense. *** i have 2 concerns about this defense and theyre more about scheme and focus- TE's in the redzone can find the softest spot in the zone blitz defense. defense seems to underestimate 2nd year or rookie qb's and think they can beat them with intimidation alone. *** Poor tackling is becoming a weekly occurance, as is no pass rush. No excuse for this. Timmons needs to be on the number 1 defense now. *** I'll try to take the middle ground. Yes, it was only a preseason game, and we all know you can't really take too much from a preseason performance, but the complete lack of resistance by the first team D in the Bills first two drives has to be a concern, especially considering the defenses inability to play a 60 minute game during the second half of last season. I think it all starts with the D-line. Where's the doom and gloom? Bad tackling doesn't fall into that category--it's a legit issue with any team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Big Cat Posted August 15, 2008 Author Share Posted August 15, 2008 Where's the doom and gloom? Bad tackling doesn't fall into that category--it's a legit issue with any team. I think any negative prognostication based on a pre-season game falls under the very very large umbrella of "doom and gloom." Just as POSITIVE progs = kool aid drinkers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK2000 Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 For some reason I'm not a big fan of Pittsburgh's coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 For some reason I'm not a big fan of Pittsburgh's coach. Don't like him much as a coach, but I think he does a pretty good job in "House". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmwolf21 Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Don't like him much as a coach, but I think he does a pretty good job in "House". He was pretty good as Willie Mays Hayes in Major League 2... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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