wait i'm confused, are we happy with the D's play tonight or not?

[The Dynasty]

I'm happy with the D but I'm not too happy with the playcalling when the Pats have a lead. I don't udnerstand why the playcalling gets changed from what is working and allow the other team a glimmer of hope with TD drives in the fourth.

Call me a pessimist if you must however, I fell they could've continued the pressure on Roethlisberger like they did for most of the game in the 4th, caused a tournover or two and really drove a spike through their hearts.

Was this game in doubt ever, no, not really, did the D schemes preserve the win, yup it did, so why am I talking like this? Because I feel that this D can be special and needs to have that signature D win where they obliterate the competition. I think that would go far in showing the younger guys that they are really good and can be great if they listen to BB and his coaching.

Maybe I'm nit-picking.

The problem with that is it increases the changes for a big play/quick score for the Steelers. When the Pats were up 3 scores in the 4th their main concern was taking time off the clock and not allowing the Steelers to score quickly.

When you blitz that increases the chances of a big play and a quick score, the Pats went prevent to not allow those quick scores to happen.

I am not a huge fan of the prevent either, but sometimes it is the best way to ensure a win. Now if the Pats went prevent in the 3rd Q then I would have a problem with it. As long as you pick the proper time to go into the prevent it is sometimes the best way to ensure a win

 

[Richard Camembert]

How can you not be happy with this defensive performance? I guess you could say the Steelers had 2/5 of their line and no Ward, ot that they scored 23 points in garbage time, so the manhandling might not be as impressive as it seems, but that's about it. PIT had 3 points at the start of the 4th quarter. End of story. This game was clearly a gut check, and the Pats went in to Heinz Field and exposed them.

 

[JFK]

I like our defense because of the age. Hope we can resign most of the players when they are due. Even Crable is helping out.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

I kind of disagree with the notion that what happened to the defense in the 4th quarter was "garbage time." The reality is that the game was still in the balance. And even if you call it a "prevent," it was a horrible prevent.

The object of a prevent is to at least make the other team use clock.

71 yards in 3:11, 53 yards in 1:48, and 80 yards in 1:24, plus giving up 2 2-point conversions? That's not prevent. That's just bad defense, although the pick 6 in there certainly helped. Still, the 4th quarter defense kept the Steelers in the game and in range to make crazy things happen with onside kicking.

The defense was amazing in the first 43 minutes. There's no doubt. If they play like that, they can beat anyone. And winning in Pittsburgh, and keeping up with Jets at the top of the division, is massive. But anyone who wants to whitewash the 4th quarter as just "garbage time" is, I think, missing at least a minor point that our defense still has to learn how to play a good end-of-game management style, because what they tried last night was ineffective.

 

[Haley]

This isn't fantasy football. It really isn't about the stats.

However, I do wonder how well things might have gone with the real Steelers O. Those 4 sacks, the pressure we had, the forced throws from Roflcopter, how different would things have been with a Steelers O line in tact? I know we all have injuries and I still think we'd have won the game given our dominating O performance. But it might have been a lot closer. Probably uncomfortably close.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

To the OP:

this is what BB had to say at the post-game PC: “I thought for the most part we played pretty competitively on defense until the last couple of two minute drives, and then we really didn’t do a very good job on those."

But, he didn't sound too cross on the D.

I was happy with our D but admit that the familiar doom/gloom fears started to arise when they scored a quick TD early 4Q. However, felt easy after the interception/TD by Sanders. So, big thanks D.

The passes that Rapeburger got off in the fourth quarter where all well contested and into tight coverage except where the short field was intentionally left open. If a couple of those passes got broken up we would be talking about a different game but unfortunately Rapenstein gets paid too.

Looked like a classic Pats game. Almost all our memorable games outside 2007 went down something like that...

 

[ctpatsfan1]

Obviously they played well enough to win, but I bet the stat line is going to show 400 plus yards for Pitt. Reminds me a little of the Cincinatti game.

They're young obviously but this team is strange. I felt like the Defense controlled the important moments in the game, the pass rush and run D in particular were great. But they gave up huge chunks of yardage in the air, again. (wonder what the 3rd down stats were) I keep wondering when they're going to put together a whole 60 minutes.

Ha okay so if you had told me that the pats would go 3-1 against the AFC North, and that the 1 was Cleveland I would have called you nuts.

Just my two cents but I think we as fans should be very happy with the way the D played tonight especially after last week. Not to nitpick but the one issue I have with the D is the lack of killer instinct to finish drives. D's of the glory days would allow teams to move the ball up the field to kill clock just like this D did last night however when they started to get closer to the goal (say inside the red zone) the D's of old would find a way to stop the opposing team's drive either with a turnover, turnover on downs or a FG. This team has yet to get that killer instinct and appears to give up the meaningless score. I would like to see them get back to where they shut the other team down even when they are playing in the prevent when they get inside the redzone.

 

[Grizzafted]

The object of a prevent is to at least make the other team use clock.

71 yards in 3:11, 53 yards in 1:48, and 80 yards in 1:24, plus giving up 2 2-point conversions? That's not prevent. That's just bad defense, although the pick 6 in there certainly helped. Still, the 4th quarter defense kept the Steelers in the game and in range to make crazy things happen with onside kicking.

This is exactly what I saw. The "take time off the clock" defense gave up 23 points in the 4th quarter. THATS EXACTLY WHAT ITS NOT SUPPOSED TO DO.

We get up three TDs on the Colts and they start playing that defense I'm going to start drinking. The soft prevent zone that gets called late in games sometimes does not "prevent" anything, nor does it take time off the clock.

 

[captain stone]

I kind of disagree with the notion that what happened to the defense in the 4th quarter was "garbage time." The reality is that the game was still in the balance. And even if you call it a "prevent," it was a horrible prevent.

The object of a prevent is to at least make the other team use clock.

71 yards in 3:11, 53 yards in 1:48, and 80 yards in 1:24, plus giving up 2 2-point conversions? That's not prevent. That's just bad defense, although the pick 6 in there certainly helped. Still, the 4th quarter defense kept the Steelers in the game and in range to make crazy things happen with onside kicking.

The defense was amazing in the first 43 minutes. There's no doubt. If they play like that, they can beat anyone. And winning in Pittsburgh, and keeping up with Jets at the top of the division, is massive. But anyone who wants to whitewash the 4th quarter as just "garbage time" is, I think, missing at least a minor point that our defense still has to learn how to play a good end-of-game management style, because what they tried last night was ineffective.

Excellent post.

The Prevent Defense prevents...victories.

The Pats still had to score 2 TD (one from an INT, the other resulting from a botched onsides kick) & a FG in the 4th qtr in order to maintain their margin because of the 3 too-quick TDs (plus 2 conversions) the defense allowed in the 4th qtr.

One of the concerns I have with the defense is the almost complete uselessness of Meriweather. If BM makes a play on the ball, the result is a penalty; if he goes for the Big Hit, the opponent doesn't even go down. As much as it pains me to say it, I'd rather have lil' Jimmy Sanders at FS. And if you believe in a god, then pray to it that Patrick Chung stays healthy.

 

[IllegalContact]

the defense played well.

the only thing I object to is the defensive playcalling that went on in the 4th quarter. the pats thad the OL's number, and should have kept the pressure on. not saying all out blitz, but sending more than 3 would have been better.

 

[Ron Sellers]

Obviously they played well enough to win, but I bet the stat line is going to show 400 plus yards for Pitt.

I had a Jets fan trying to use stats (26 points against, 425 yards allowed) to "prove" the Pats defense was terrible Sunday. He claimed to have watched the game but to hear him talk I'm very doubtful.

Consider this: 190 of those yards came in the last half of the 4th quarter when the Pats had a 19-point lead following this same 'bad' defense's pick-6. I'll agree that the defense should have forced the Steelers to take more time off the clock, but the final stats are extremely misleading. Even with those quick drives Pittsburgh still came up two touchdowns short. The outcome of the game was pretty much 99% decided at that point.

If the score of the game was different, the defense plays differently. Almost half Pittsburgh's yards and most of their points came when the Steelers essentially had no chance of winning the game.