Steelers Defense, anything we are missing?

[RIpats88]

Controlling James Harrison and Bud Dupree will be the order of the day. Do that and Brady will shred the zone all day. This is ideally a game that I would like to have Mitchell back for. He and Hogan on the field together would be massive match up problems for that secondary.

I think mitchell will be back this week. He was practicing, and beat guys said they saw him witgout a limp. I get the impression they decided to give him an extra week

This could also be a big week for james white and lewis against their linebackers

 

[mosi]

I am anticipating a great game on Saturday, particularly with how the Pats play against the Steelers O-Line and Bell. His running style is mesmerizing and their line is excellent.

Hopefully, Brady is on his A game. We are going to need it!

Go Pats!

It think this is the big thing. If they can limit Bell, they can win. If they can't I think they will have a very tight game going into the 4th.

Also, I think we should expect a good game out of Blount. He has still has a thing for the Stigglers and I expect him to run hard and with anger.

Brady did not play great in that game so I hope he does better. I also hope that Mitchell is back.

 

[willard]

Roethlisberger looks like he is aging and puts no scare in me. Brown and Bell are all pros and it is possible they could take over the game, but I trust we have the personal and scheme to take care of them.

I think we can put 30 points up on offense. Our line will be better-need to hand it to the Texans front because they were crashing our line. I don't think Pittsburgh can do that. Looking forward to the look on Harrison's face wjen he gets steamrolled by our rushing attack. I think the Patriots are going to be pissed and they are going to smack Pittsburgh in the mouth and the games course will be obvious early.

 

[yukon cornelius]

anyone have stats on the steeler pressure with 4 or more rushers vs 4 or less?

my guess is most of their pressure comes from rushing more than 4......it is obvious the pressure comes from the outside

as so many others have stated, this isn't the 'formula' to beat this offense.....while the speed and run blitz may take some adjustment to deal with, brady should be able to carve this unit up


the key isn't what we can do against their defense - it's slowing down that offense - they've played good defense the past 2 weeks against middling offenses.....the previous 8 weeks they also gave up a lot of points to some middle of the road offenses - two low scoring affairs vs the colts & browns skew that down, but without those 2 they gave up over 23 a game vs. dallas, the giants, the bills, the bengals, the ravens and the other browns game

the KC defense did it......I'm pretty confident this defense will do it

 

[Nikolai]

I fully expect the Pats to take away Bell and force Rapeburger to beat them. Given his pedestrian road performances, that might be the way to go. I'm sure there is a quantifiable reason for his lackluster road performances, and that BB has directed his analytical minions to sniff out the exact reasons. The Pats will then exploit those.

That said, the Steelers have too much talent on offense to be shut down completely.
My bold prediction is that the AFCCG is the higher scoring of the two games with a 41-24 type of score in favor of the Pats.

 

[JMC00]

Pats defense gets knocked for not playing any QBs. Well here is the Steelers QBs played list

Dalton 2x (Pats played)
Flacco 2x (Pats played)
Alex Smith 2x
Cousins
Wentz
Tannenhill (Pats played)
Fitzpatrick (Pats played)
Prescott
Kessler(Pats played)/McCown
Griffin
Tolizen
Manning
Taylor (Pats played )
Moore (Pats played)
and of course Brady

 

[Ring 6]

I fully expect the Pats to take away Bell and force Rapeburger to beat them. Given his pedestrian road performances, that might be the way to go. I'm sure there is a quantifiable reason for his lackluster road performances, and that BB has directed his analytical minions to sniff out the exact reasons. The Pats will then exploit those.

That said, the Steelers have too much talent on offense to be shut down completely.
My bold prediction is that the AFCCG is the higher scoring of the two games with a 41-24 type of score in favor of the Pats.

I don't think that Bells style of stopping in the backfield and waiting for holes to open is going to work against our defense. Sure he will get some yards because he is a good back and their OL is a good run blocking line, but there are going to be a lot of plays where he hesitates and is swarmed.

 

[VrabelJr]

Pats defense gets knocked for not playing any QBs. Well here is the Steelers QBs played list

Dalton 2x (Pats played)
Flacco 2x (Pats played)
Alex Smith 2x
Cousins
Wentz
Tannenhill (Pats played)
Fitzpatrick (Pats played)
Prescott
Kessler(Pats played)/McCown
Griffin
Tolizen
Manning
Taylor (Pats played )
Moore (Pats played)
and of course Brady

Get out of here with your objectivity. We don't appreciate your kind in these parts.

 

[Pats2000]

I know. My point still stands that I am surprised it is not around 9.5

Lots of stupid steelers fans want to lose their money?

 

[Ring 6]

Roethlisberger looks like he is aging and puts no scare in me. Brown and Bell are all pros and it is possible they could take over the game, but I trust we have the personal and scheme to take care of them.

I think we can put 30 points up on offense. Our line will be better-need to hand it to the Texans front because they were crashing our line. I don't think Pittsburgh can do that. Looking forward to the look on Harrison's face wjen he gets steamrolled by our rushing attack. I think the Patriots are going to be pissed and they are going to smack Pittsburgh in the mouth and the games course will be obvious early.

In his last 11 games, the Rapist is 16 TDs 12 Ints.

 

[Wax Frog]

I wouldn't worry about McCullers. He's a "duck-footed short-stepper" - NFL Events: Combine Player Profiles - Daniel McCullers

 

[long distance]

Controlling James Harrison and Bud Dupree will be the order of the day. Do that and Brady will shred the zone all day. This is ideally a game that I would like to have Mitchell back for. He and Hogan on the field together would be massive match up problems for that secondary.

They will be both on the field. How close to 100% is another matter.
Since Gronk is really Steelers nightmare Bennett has to step up and Josh has to go to him more.

 

[jimnance]

Their pass rush almost only comes from the edge. Our tackles played fantastic ball the whole season. I think they can hold up juite well. The only player i would be worried about is 6-6, 330 lbs. DE Stephon Tuitt because he can line up inside against Andrews and Thuney to cause problems. On the back end Rookie Sean Davis plays a nice season, other than that i don't see much more noteworthy.

Don't worry about Andrews vs tuitt. Andrews has handled every big DT he's faced. He's had problems vs some speed guys like mercilus. Seems odd due to andrews smaller size. Youd think would be other way around

 

[Minitron]

Don't worry about Andrews vs tuitt. Andrews has handled every big DT he's faced. He's had problems vs dome speed guys like mercilus. Seems odd due to andrews smaller size. Youd think would be other way around

So whoyou think could be a problem up the middle? Dupree?

 

[jimnance]

So whoyou think could be a problem up the middle? Dupree?

Haven't watched enough of steelers to say. Do they send Dupree inside sometimes like Pats do with Hightower? I don't know.

As you stated, most of their pressure comes from the edge. But everyone knows edge pressure doesn't affect TB much, you need to attack him up the middle. But not many teams have the personnel to do that

 

[VrabelJr]

Their pass rush has improved as the year went on but it's a typical Steelers 3-4 where pressure tends to come from the LBs.

Tuitt is a long DE that is good at controlling the point of attack. Everyone else seems like space eaters.

Their ILBs are athletic but smaller. If a guy like Blount gets to the second level it's going to be hard to stop him. Their LBs were basically designed to be able to matchup against guys like Gronk. Shazier is a really good player. Timmons is Timmons.

Their secondary is young. Gay is what he is. Mitchell seems to have revived his career but he can be manipulated. Their other Safeties and Corners are all really young but seem to be playing well. I think they benefit from playing a lot of zone.

I think it's a good but not great defense. Their run D is the biggest weakness as long as we get a lead or it's a close game. The athletic LBs create a very congested zone underneath. To try and open up that zone and get the middle of the field back I think we need to run the ball effectively and/or have success challenging them over the top.

 

[jimnance]

Their pass rush has improved as the year went on but it's a typical Steelers 3-4 where pressure tends to come from the LBs.

Tuitt is a long DE that is good at controlling the point of attack.

Heyward is secretly probably the best player on that defense. Solid all around.

Their ILBs are athletic but smaller. If a guy like Blount gets to the second level it's going to be hard to stop him. Their LBs were basically designed to be able to matchup against guys like Gronk. Shazier is a really good player. Timmons is Timmons.

Their secondary is young. Gay is what he is. Mitchell seems to have revived his career but he can be manipulated. Their other Safeties and Corners are all really young but seem to be playing well. I think they benefit from playing a lot of zone.

I think it's a good but not great defense. Their run D is the biggest weakness as long as we get a lead or it's a close game. The athletic LBs create a very congested zone underneath. To try and open up that zone and get the middle of the field back I think we need to run the ball effectively and/or have success challenging them over the top.

Sounds like we'll see more of Blount this game

 

[RIpats88]

Sounds like we'll see more of Blount this game

I wonder how much of his usage last game was due to him having the flu all week. Even if you get better that stuff lingers.

 

[Nikolai]

I don't think that Bells style of stopping in the backfield and waiting for holes to open is going to work against our defense. Sure he will get some yards because he is a good back and their OL is a good run blocking line, but there are going to be a lot of plays where he hesitates and is swarmed.

Pretty sums up the reasoning for my confidence that the Pats can take him out of the game. I can see him ripping a couple 10+ yard runs, but expect his overall YPC to be in the 3.0-3.5 range.

 

[willard]

Agree, our beef upfront has been impressive. We are going to push Pittsburgh around on both sides of the ball.