That is my primary reason for my multi-year advocation of the 4-3. Players can come out of college and play the positions they have played all their lives versus moving DT to DE, DE to OLB and OLB to ILB, etc. IMO it is just a more efficient approach.
I don't know if we ever go to the 4-3 but I do know we are taking too much time to assess whether our young DL and LB can project successfully into their roles in our version of the 3-4.
The result is a potential tallent gap that we may be seeing come to the fore when players like Troy and Harrison can't do it anymore.
"My team, may they always be right, but right or wrong...MY TEAM!"
Steelers D wilts without Polamalu
Pittsburgh needs to get injured star safety back on the field
Updated: September 25, 2012
By Vince Verhei | Football Outsiders
Despite four touchdowns from Ben Roethlisberger and a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, the Pittsburgh Steelers fell to the Oakland Raiders 34-31 on Sunday. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin looked on helplessly as his defense allowed the Raiders to score three touchdowns and two field goals on their final five drives.
It was so bad that Tomlin ordered his offense to go for it on fourth-and-1 with less than four minutes to go in a tie game at his own 29-yard line. Failure would have handed the ball to Oakland in field goal range, but Tomlin apparently felt that if he punted, he couldn't trust his defense to get a stop. The Steelers picked up the first down, but the drive later stalled and Pittsburgh punted on fourth-and-9.
Oakland promptly drove 49 yards for the winning field goal as time expired, proving that Tomlin's lack of faith in his defense was justified. While the loss was obviously disappointing for Tomlin and the Steelers, it shouldn't have been terribly surprising, because Troy Polamalu was in street clothes. When Polamalu is on the field, the Steelers play defense as well as any team in football. Without him, they suddenly become very vulnerable.
[URL]http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8423281/nfl-pittsburgh-steelers-defense-wilts-troy-polamalu[/URL]
Steel Maniac's Time-Based Prediction: Lamar Jackson will be a bust and total flop in the NFL.
What Actually Happened: Lamar Jackson became the youngest two-time NFL MVP winner ever.
Gloat gloat gloat
Boom........
Hahahahahahaha
We were 3-1 without Ben a few years ago and we will find out what we are without Wallace after this season.
The point I'm making is its not like we had Harrsion for 16 games last year or that we can ever count on Troy for 16 games. The issues are what adjustments are being made. IMO, the answer is none. Just run out the same old template with OLBs blitzing a few times a game but not much else. In the Jets game we saw the first real aggressive defense we saw in quite awhile and we were successful. That wasn't an accident.
"My team, may they always be right, but right or wrong...MY TEAM!"
It's always the offenses fault.....
I mean they put 31 points up....how can we expect our D to play better than the Raiders awesome vaunted defense.....or that crazy offense they have otu there....
The 4-3 isn't necessary...it's a possibility that never should be ruled out, but the schemes within LeBeau's 3-4 take advantage of Harrison's and Polamalu's unique skill set...
Other players have a different skill set...scheme to accentuate those...
The problem is, that may require a sea change in philosophy which is not doable over a bye week...
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