I just re-watched the game and I didn't really see anything to panic about. I think the biggest issue with the defence, especially in the first half was the play calling, which I think was brought about by a lack of confidence in the secondary. This defence is built around disguise, and in the first half in particular there was none. When we showed blitz, we blitzed and Ben just dumped it off to Miller over the middle. When you blitz that many in zone coverage there is always going to be big holes in the zone, so it needs to be disguised. In the second half I think they did a better job of this, with the LB's showing blitz then dropping into zones which was much more effective. However this showed the other problem with the defence, the safety play.
I don't think BB has any confidence in our safeties at the moment, which is having an effect on our scheme. I think because BB is so worried about getting beat deep he had the corners play and even softer zone than usual, meaning the Steelers could take 4-7 yards whenever they wanted on a short comeback. It also meant our LB's were dropping deeper than usual allowing Ben to dump it off short to a RB or TE for a short gain. While this cuts off the big plays, for a patient offence like the Steelers were, it just mean they slowly worked their way down the field. This also kept Brady off the field and lead to the lopsided T.O.P.
While the defence has some obvious deficiencies (safety play, LB'er coverage) I think the key to this defence improving is BB gaining more confidence in the defence as a whole. We won't play Mike Wallace every week so I think the corners will play tighter in the future. But if we get beat deep, thats football, if we play scared we will lose.
I trust BB will get us back on track and I expect the defence to step up bigtime next week. I think there are three ways to fix the problems this defence has.
1. They could trust that they can get to the QB with only 4 guys and continue to play a very soft zone. Possible, they looked o.k. against the Steelers only rushing 4.
2. They could go back to press man coverage. Unlikely, they tried that earlier this year and I don't think currently have the personel for that.
3. They go back to what BB built 3 Superbowls on- Disguise. This is what I'm betting on and this is what I think will be the most effective. Trust who you have and go with what you know. We may not have the personel to have an elite defence but we have the mastermind to create one, or at least the appearance of one.