OKSteel

Hi, Steelers fan here...

I want honest opinion of Steelers defense. I have a lot of respect for
Tom Brady and the Pats offense. I think it is among great ones (I'm not
convinced the GOAT) but definitely an amazing one.

That said, I can see that it is not totally invincible, even before your
Ravens game. I am not here to talk smack. I see a lot of threads, like
this one:

OT: How do the Steelers have the #1 D in the ENTIRE league??

a lot of posters just belittled our defense without serious analysis.

I only want good football discussion. Why you would think that our D will not
(or will) hang tough with your offense. I am not that homer to think that our
D is great and not without vulnerability.

To me, ranking stats are just part of it. Like the Pats' #1 rank offense can
be slowed down by the Ravens, our #1 D can be shred by Brady and
company also. But you should seriously look why we allowed less than 160
yds passing, even taking into account so called weak schedules etc. (we
faced the Browns and Bengals twice and their offenses aren't anemic).

Of course one can argue that Palmer and Anderson have happy feet or
whatsoever, or you can say they are not Brady. But how would you explain
Brady's low percentage against the Ravens?

My point here is that it too simple and stupid to disrespect the other team
with arsinine arguments like those in the thread above. I just hope for your
sincere opinions. There must be some reasons why the Steelers have the #1
ranking, right? Even if you argue the quality of opponents, how would youc
orrect for that then, and what ranking will it be according to your correction?

I think that Tom Brady and company will make some plays. But without
a serious running threat, the Steelers will just key on your passing game and
sooner and later, your receivers will hear foorsteps and drop passes. Brady
will have less confidence and can have a subpar game.

Indy, Eagles, and Ravens held your offense to 24, 24, and 27 pts. I think we
will not allow quick strike and cheap points, as we have done all year and
the Pats won't score more than 20-24 pts.

Here to a good hard hitting game, but clean, I don't want injuries to anybody.

OKay, I'm out and will listen to you.

makewayhomer

it's the best defense in the league. I do think the Pats should be able to put up 24-30 points. you named what the other defenses did to us, which is fine, but we had to play on the road in Indy (huge disadvantage) and take away some strange drops in the Ravens game, and we probably get to 30 there as well.

and the Eagles really didn't do a great job - again take away the phantom PI on Moss and we have 31 offensive points instead of 24

I'd put the Steelers more in the 20 point range. I'm taking the points, and see something like 30-20, Pats.

PatsRI

The thing I'm having trouble with is that there isn't a comparison team to use. They haven't played anyone like Indy or Dallas or GB that I could look at and say "see this is what a good offense did, or this is how the Steelers stopped them". I forget who on the Steelers tried to say Cincy was comparable but come on.

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Brady_12

Five drops, including 2 TD passes?
The wind?
The fact that Ravens were holding our receivers all night long? The officials just decided not to call it for the first 3 quarters. I'm sure part of it was pass rush, but the drops are inexcusable.

It comes down to this for me:
The Pats have the #1 offense in the league, Pittsburgh has the #1 defense. The Pats have played two of the elite of the league (Indy and Dallas) -- on the road no less -- and won. Pittsburgh.... well, they haven't played an elite team. Until this week of course. So, who knows? The Steelers may be up to the task but right now I'm feeling pretty confident as a Pats fan.

ljuneau

It's very difficult to provide a fair opinion of the Steelers' defense. They have yet to play a top 5 offense team: New England, Dallas, Green Bay, Indy, and Phily. Couple that with the fact that you lost to teams that have the #8, 16, and 28 offenses.

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DonBlackmon55

Pitt #1 Defense gave up in losses to the vaunted
Broncos.....31
Cards.....21
Jets....19

yea....statistically when you shutout Doofins 3-0, it all look great. Wow 3 points on the doofins D. We putup 42 at half on them

This game will be complete annhilation by Pats. Just watch.

-Pats DL vs Pitt OL is complete mismatch (35 Sacks of RodentBurger in 12 games)

makewayhomer

Cinci is a top 5 offense (#5 in DVOA). Better than Philly. Cleveland is also a top offense, #7 in DVOA.

anyways, you can't just draw an arbitrary line at "top 5" and decide to throw out all other games. of course they are going to do worse against the best teams.

but defenses which dominate mediocre offenses also tend to do ok vs good offenses.

makewayhomer

wow they look bad when you don't include the good games they played!

Buchanty

OK - I'll have a go.

First of all I have the Steeler's D on my fantasy team, so my views are prejudiced by the results over the season. I would say that the Steeler's are a very good defense but not sure they rank #1, which is what the stats indicate. However it has been inconsistent rather than dominating and the points I get for them each week are testimony to their achievements.

I will explore the weak schedule just a little bit because I cant fully agree with your argument that you have met and dealt with good offenses like the Bengals and Browns. These guys are in your division, and consequently you know them and their tendencies better. Both those teams are also playing against the hump of the top dog in the division for what seems like forever. And the hump often has you playing below your capability (for reference see the Jags against the Colts).

What does concern me though is that you have given up wins and yards to non-division and what's worse non-winning teams like the Broncos, Cards and for heaven's sake the Jets. I can only guess that the D is thrown out of composure and struggles to recover, because I cant put all the blame on the O. Maybe the dont play so well away from Heinz field. I would be interested in your thoughts on that one.

Harrison has been pretty impressive all season, but without Polamalu he cant be superman and cover the field. Faneca is the third of the dynamo trio as they all play with a high motor. Farrior seems to have lost something this season (at least comparied to the SB year). However with Polamalu back you could get to the AFCC, beating the Colts twice in the Dome would be hard (if that's the way the seeds fell) but think you could hold the Harrison-less Colts.

xmarkd400x

Is it possible that the messiness of the HF artificially pads the scoring D stats?