Brady's annihilation of Pitt may lead to a change in D philosophy

[oldrover]

Tom Brady's dissection of Pittsburgh Steelers may lead to change in team's defensive philosophy

Nice proactive approach...



"We're gonna close the barn door now."

 

[Bradyking12]

Brady's reaction

 

[captain stone]

If - and this is really the key to everything - the OL stays as healthy as it did last season, then I'll take Brady & his guys on offense vs RooneyRule Tomlin & his guys
on defense, regardless of the coverage applied.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Yeah, we anticipated this based on what the league thinks ATL exposed, so we went out and got Cooks. Good luck, Tomlin.

 

[Bill Lee]

Tom Brady's dissection of Pittsburgh Steelers may lead to change in team's defensive philosophy

From the article:

The Pittsburgh Steelers have had more than four months to reflect on what the hell happened to their defense in the AFC Championship game, which rapidly turned into a passing game clinic at Gillette Stadium.

That was without Gronk. This season they'll get some Gronk and some Brandon Cooks (let's stay healthy, folks!), and perhaps Hawkins too, if he makes it through the logjam at WR. PIT will need a lot more than discovering man coverage.

"It's always some opening in a zone defense," Burns said, via PennLive. "It's someone who missed a drop, or it's always some group in a zone defense. To be able to play man, to get a guy right in someone's chest with the pressure, it affects the quarterback a little bit."

PIT can't do zone right, so now they'll try to do man instead? Sounds dubious to me..

 

[Deus Irae]

"We're gonna close the barn door now."

 

[RunAmok]

So Pitt is basing their D on what the Pats did last year? I suppose, it's not like BB has ever changed his game planning from year to year.

 

[Fixit]

I'm not as football savant as some of the posters here, but does Pittsburgh's personnel in man coverage scare anyone?

 

[Rob0729]

This is why Omar Epps.... Ummmm...... Mike Tomlin is one of the best head coaches out there. Brady has been carving up his defense for a decade now and he is just getting around to adjusting to it. The only time he didn't was the one game they actually changed their defensive philosophy like four years ago.

No one will ever accuse Tomlin for not being ahead of the curve.

 

[Love The Drake]

This is why Omar Epps.... Ummmm...... Mike Tomlin is one of the best head coaches out there. Brady has been carving up his defense for a decade now and he is just getting around to adjusting to it. The only time he didn't was the one game they actually changed their defensive philosophy like four years ago.

No one will ever accuse Tomlin for not being ahead of the curve.

Long may Tomlin reign

 

[FourierSeries]

Cool. It only took them 16 years.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Don't we basically read this same article every year? I'll believe it when I see it.

It's not like Brady burning the Steelers' D to the ground an uncommon phenomenon, it's basically an annual tradition dating back a decade and a half. If their coaching staff had the requisite brainpower to make meaningful adjustments, I assume they would have done so at some point in the last decade.

 

[Rob0729]

The funny thing is Scott Zolak said that the Steelers needed to change their defense to stop Brady when it was playing in Tomlin's headsets two years ago. Further proof that it was a non-story since Tomlin doesn't listen to what people are saying in those things anyway.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

 

[BradyFTW!]

So Pitt is basing their D on what the Pats did last year? I suppose, it's not like BB has ever changed his game planning from year to year.

The funny thing is, while the Pats do obviously adjust a lot, they consistently beat the Steelers in basically the same way. Zone blitzes just don't work on Brady. Never have, never will, so as long as the Steelers take the "this is who we are and this is what we do" approach to defense and refuse to adjust, they'll never beat us. In order to be competitive on defense against the Pats, they have to fundamentally change who and what they are.

And it's only then, IF they can do that, that they can actually step on the field with some basic chance of fooling Brady and forcing him to make some mistakes. They need to change their identity just to be starting from the same starting point that most other teams are it. And that's where the Pats' tendency to innovate will become a real issue for them. But for now they haven't even advanced far enough up the curve for that to matter yet.

This, in a nutshell, is why philosophically rigid units are a huge handicap. Same deal over in Seattle: they make it work for now because they have a huge wealth of talent on the defensive side of the ball, but once they start to regress even a little you'll see them marching headfirst into impossible matchups in much the same way.

 

[PatriotReign]

It's certainly Tomlin's fault for not adapting against the Patriots save for that one game in 2011 when they switched things up. On the other hand Brady has been shredding Pittsburgh going back to the Cowher/Lebeau era.

 

[BradyFTW!]

The last time the Pats didn't make the AFCCG, the Steelers capitalized and went to the Super Bowl. From 2001-2010, their strategy was basically "hope someone else beats the Pats, because we sure as **** can't". But after 6 straight Patriots AFCCG appearances, it looks like the Steelers may be realizing that strategy no longer works. You simply can't make the Super Bowl in the AFC without beating the Pats.

I'm sure they'd rather not change their defensive identity in response to one team (a team that isn't even in their division, no less), but the Pats' utter dominance of the AFC this decade hasn't left them with much choice.

 

[The Brandon Five]

The last time the Pats didn't make the AFCCG, the Steelers capitalized and went to the Super Bowl. From 2001-2010, their strategy was basically "hope someone else beats the Pats, because we sure as **** can't". But after 6 straight Patriots AFCCG appearances, it looks like the Steelers may be realizing that strategy no longer works. You simply can't make the Super Bowl in the AFC without beating the Pats.

I'm sure they'd rather not change their defensive identity in response to one team (a team that isn't even in their division, no less), but the Pats' utter dominance of the AFC this decade hasn't left them with much choice.

Hmm, makes me wonder if that would lead them to have different problems against the other 30 teams...you have to make it to the AFCCG before you worry about how you are going to beat the other team in it.

 

[Digit]

So they convert to man in time -just- for the Patriots' 'man-beater' players roster adjustments. They need to cover Cooks -and- Gronkowski -and- Hogan -and- Edelman -and- those multiple RBs that can both run and receive. With a new scheme?

 

[mgteich]

Given the steeler's personnel, perhaps changing the defense to better defend against the patriots would keep them from even getting to the playoffs.

Of course, if they can, the steelers should be able to have different game plans for every team they play.