Steelers now the dysfunctional ones

[fester]

I live 9 miles from Heinz Field and have for the past 14 years. Just due to the television schedule (plus being able to talk football on Mondays in the office), I watch as many if not more Steelers games than Patriots games in a given year.

Yes, the Steelers have invested heavily in defense in the draft in the past four year. And my sense is that the Steelers have not found any defensive studs in the draft. None of the defenders from these four drafts have made the Pro-Bowl, only three of them are regular starters (Lewis, Hood, Heyward) with a couple more guys getting some decent sub defense snaps. My sense of watching the Steelers play is that they are living on their veterans, and those veterans are getting real old, real fast.

If the Steelers had to field a defense for a game tomorrow, here is what their base 3-4 starting line-up looks like from contract cohort perspective:

Rookie contract: 3 (Heyward, Hood, Lewis)
1st non-rookie controlled years contract : 2 (Timmons, Woodley)
Long term vets: 6 (Polamalu, Clark, Taylor, Harrison, Foote, Keisel)

That is an old defense right there, and yes, the Steelers have been drafting some replacements, but they are not getting enough hits in the past four years to rebuild the defense.

Right now the 2012 draft class is a big question mark as Spence injured himself in preseason and may or may not be available for the start of the regular season in 2013 (shades of McKenzie for the Pats), anyways, he projected as a 3rd down coverage LB specialist, and Ta'amu got busted to practice squad after a serious DUI issue with the Pittsburgh police. He seldom got regular season snaps in 2012 anyways.

2011-- CBs Brown and Allen are getting sub package and injury replacement snaps, Allen looks a bit better than Brown.

2010 -- Worilds looked competent and flashed at times this year. Sylvestor is a solid special teamer who is not an embarrassment when on the field for defensive snaps.

2009 -- Hood and Lewis already mentioned.

The past four drafts have basically been defensive depth drafts with few rookies/second/third year guys beating out veterans for base defense snaps.

They actually have some guys in the pipeline and have spent high picks on defensive replacements, we just have no idea as to whether or not they are going to work out or not as their experienced vets have yet to give way. Some of these guys have been slowly blended in via rotational roles, while others are waiting in the wings for their chance.

To say that they haven't prepared themselves would not be true though. Some of these guys could get their shot this year with possible departures by Hampton and J.Harrison.2009

Hood DT (1st rounder)
K.Lewis CB (3rd rounder)

Also chose Wallace on offense

2010

Worilds DE/OLB (2nd rounder)
Gibson DE (4th rounder)
Butler CB (5th rounder)
Sylvester LB (5th rounder)
Worthington DT (7th rounder)

Also chose Pouncey, A.Brown, and Dwyer on offense

2011

Heyward DT (1st rounder)
Brown CB (3rd rounder)
Allen CB (4th rounder)
Carter DT (5th rounder)

Also chose Gilbert on offense

2012

Spence LB (3rd round)
Ta'amu NT/DT (4th round)

Also chose DeCastro and Adams on offense (first and second rounds)

 

[supafly]

I live 9 miles from Heinz Field and have for the past 14 years. Just due to the television schedule (plus being able to talk football on Mondays in the office), I watch as many if not more Steelers games than Patriots games in a given year.

And I live closer to Heinz field than that and have for 25 yrs, so I can certainly relate.

Yes, the Steelers have invested heavily in defense in the draft in the past four year. And my sense is that the Steelers have not found any defensive studs in the draft. None of the defenders from these four drafts have made the Pro-Bowl, only three of them are regular starters (Lewis, Hood, Heyward) with a couple more guys getting some decent sub defense snaps. My sense of watching the Steelers play is that they are living on their veterans, and those veterans are getting real old, real fast.

If the Steelers had to field a defense for a game tomorrow, here is what their base 3-4 starting line-up looks like from contract cohort perspective:

Rookie contract: 3 (Heyward, Hood, Lewis)
1st non-rookie controlled years contract : 2 (Timmons, Woodley)
Long term vets: 6 (Polamalu, Clark, Taylor, Harrison, Foote, Keisel)

That is an old defense right there, and yes, the Steelers have been drafting some replacements, but they are not getting enough hits in the past four years to rebuild the defense.

Right now the 2012 draft class is a big question mark as Spence injured himself in preseason and may or may not be available for the start of the regular season in 2013 (shades of McKenzie for the Pats), anyways, he projected as a 3rd down coverage LB specialist, and Ta'amu got busted to practice squad after a serious DUI issue with the Pittsburgh police. He seldom got regular season snaps in 2012 anyways.

2011-- CBs Brown and Allen are getting sub package and injury replacement snaps, Allen looks a bit better than Brown.

2010 -- Worilds looked competent and flashed at times this year. Sylvestor is a solid special teamer who is not an embarrassment when on the field for defensive snaps.

2009 -- Hood and Lewis already mentioned.

The past four drafts have basically been defensive depth drafts with few rookies/second/third year guys beating out veterans for base defense snaps.

We may have a difference of opinions, but I can't honestly say that I have seen any of the old veteran starters give way to the replacements, so therefore it's hard to judge how successful or not they have been in trying to replace those players. My main point is that they certainly have been taking shots every single year, and will likely continue to do so.

The Steelers (much like us) are built to compete on a consistent basis every single year. They usually watch their spending and keep an eye towards the future, much like our own team. They have recently depended too much on their older vets, and there is a possibility that both Hampton and Harrison may be gone this year, so that will free them up with some cap space and also allow the younger players to be slowly blended in.

Until someone comes and puts a wooden spike through their hearts though, I am certainly not going to assume that "their time is suddenly over" based on one 8-8 season. You know yourself that is not acceptable living here and that the front office and the fans are very upset with a .500 finish from last year. I think you have a misconception that their picks "are not beating out their vets..." That isn't necessarily true as their vets have been giving them top talent effort still. We'll see some of that change this year.

They had a #1 secondary this past year...without Polamaulu for most of the year, and without Ike Taylor for the last 6 or so games. I'm not going to assume anything just yet.

You may be closer to correct in the end, but in the meantime I need to see much, much more before I will write the Steelers off. Like I said if you play the AFCN schedule through 5 times, you'll likely get 5 different results as far as places one, two, and three regarding the finishes of BAL, PIT, and CIN.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

You could probably play the upcoming season 5 times, and you'll get 5 different finishes in order from BAL, PIT, and CIN every time.

Maybe for 2nd place. But pitt is washed up. very old. Don't see them as a contender for this upcoming year. More questions than most teams out there

 

[supafly]

Maybe for 2nd place. But pitt is washed up. very old. Don't see them as a contender for this upcoming year. More questions than most teams out there

I remember both BAL/PIT games coming down to the last second FG, with one winning each one. I also remember a PIT team that was right in the thick of competing for the division when Roethlisberger got hurt and missed an entire month. Unfortunately for them, he was not the same in the last few games when he came back.

Regardless, they still had the #1 pass defense in the NFL and a top #5 overall defense, and that was without the services of Polamalu for many games and then Ike Taylor for the last 5-6 of the season. I see no reason to believe that their pass defense is going to change anytime soon, and all accounts point to them retaining Keenan Lewis, who tweeted that he was "very happy about being included in the teams' future plans."

They still have a great DC in **** Lebeau who is obviously going to keep them aggressive and physical.

With Antonio Brown, Emanual Sanders, and Roethlisberger--their passing game is fine, although they could use a draft pick and reportedly are interested in one of the top WR's with their 1st pick.

The OL has been re-tooled with 3 consecutive high round picks in the first 2 rounds, and Roethlisberger has always done a good job of avoiding the pressure and scrambling anyway.

I just don't see this sudden "regression" due to an 8-8 season. What are you basing that off of? What do you mean by "more questions than most teams?"

Many said the same about us after a 9-7 season or a 10-6 season. Hell, many continue to say the same about us right now.

I see Pittsburgh as being pretty close to where they've always been, which is almost guaranteed to at least have a wildcard spot. They still have Timmons, Woodley, Keisel, Polamalu, Ryan Clark, Mundy, K.Lewis, Ike Taylor etc on defense. You can't really honestly tell me that losing Larry Foote and possibly a washed up James Harrison is going to change that much, can you? Even if Hampton leaves, they have a couple of replacements with a 1st rounder in Z.Hood and the Hawaiian kid who many here were so high on last draft.

I'm still putting them at 10-6 for next season.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

old old and old. O line sucks and they are in a division with balt and cincy. Balt is the top dog in that division and cincy is a up and comer.

i see 8-8 or 9-7

 

[supafly]

old old and old. O line sucks and they are in a division with balt and cincy. Balt is the top dog in that division and cincy is a up and comer.

i see 8-8 or 9-7

We're not that far off then, as I have them at 10-6, but I wouldn't exactly hand the division to Baltimore because they got hot during the playoffs. They lost 4 of 5 to end the season, and are right back to battling it out just like before.

It will be a 3 team race still, but I disagree about their offensive line. They took 1st and 2nd rounders last year, and Roethlisberger has always managed to avoid the pressure even when their line sucked tremendously. In that aspect they've certainly gotten better, and the whole problem was probably overrated anyway due to his ability to throw on the run--which actually is his strong point. We'll have to see if they can get back to running the ball again, but I think we know they'll certainly try.

We'll know more about whether or not they can have their replacements step in at a couple of positions on defense this year. I am not doubting that they may not be the 2008 champion team, but then again--they usually are very competitive every year.

 

[fester]

And I live closer to Heinz field than that and have for 25 yrs, so I can certainly relate.

We may have a difference of opinions, but I can't honestly say that I have seen any of the old veteran starters give way to the replacements, so therefore it's hard to judge how successful or not they have been in trying to replace those players. My main point is that they certainly have been taking shots every single year, and will likely continue to do so.

The Steelers (much like us) are built to compete on a consistent basis every single year. They usually watch their spending and keep an eye towards the future, much like our own team. They have recently depended too much on their older vets, and there is a possibility that both Hampton and Harrison may be gone this year, .

I agree with you that the Steelers have been investing some serious draft capital in an attempt to replace their Super Bowl cores, but my opinion is that so far, the attempts are not panning out.

 

[supafly]

I agree with you that the Steelers have been investing some serious draft capital in an attempt to replace their Super Bowl cores, but my opinion is that so far, the attempts are not panning out.

That is reasonable enough, fester.

My opinion is that they haven't really had much of an extended role due to the older vets like Hampton/Harrison not giving way yet, and that we will know more in the next couple of yrs. I also think you have to give some credit to guys like Hood and K.Lewis, both who were drafted as potential replacements and are doing just fine.

Either way, they may have had a couple of drafts that set them back much like we did in the 2006-2008 period, so maybe that forces them to compete for a wildcard instead of the division for a couple of years? I am just saying that I'm not counting them out, and that I feel that some are jumping the gun.

I have heard many arguments living here from their fans that we were the ones who were old, down & out..as I'm sure you have too. Sometimes people rush to judgment based on one sub-par year.