Funny, I made most of these same points before the season even started. But regardless, we are agreeing loudly now. Before a team can improve it has to establish something to build on, something to hang its hat on, and move on to improving what is broken. The things that ARE solid seem to be A. Brown, the rushing of Bell, Miller and letting Ben go no huddle. And the OL has shown some sparks, and some horrid play as well (see Gilbert, who the moronically resigned before his deal was even up). What isn't working is Haley calling plays, even when we are up by 24 in the 2nd half. He even F'd that up.
Now, the many holes that need repaired....
- DL play, especially NT. It is real simple. The only times this D has been bad is between having good NTs. When we lost Joel Steed, we took a big step backwards, then we picked up Casey and we were rock solid again. Now that Casey is gone, and we haven't found an adequate replacement, we are struggling again. Same story. Hopefully, McCullers can be that guy, but he isn't build like our traditional NT, with a low center of gravity and huge butt. But I agree it's time to try him, when he is healthy. Keisel is actually not playing that bad - better than everyone else, Heyward is on his way. Tuitt has to be the eventual real deal, from all the praise the coaches are throwing his way (or that could be more Rooney PR, to sell the draft picks they made, which they often do)>
- The D, and team, is reliant on pass rush from the OLBs. They ain't getting it done. If JJ was the real deal, he'd be be showing flashes by now. I am starting to agree that the only time he gets in the backfield are on broken type of plays; I don't see him flat out beating the man in front of him. He takes a charge and then just gets planted, making no penetration at all. Worilds is playing out of position, trying to cheat to guess on the play call. I believe my earlier assertion that he is all about inflating his sack #s to get a big contract next year is at play.
- ILBs will be fine with a big body in front of them. As mentioned, even Ray Lewis was lacking when he had to deal with OGs being able to get mitts on him. Once we take care of the middle, Timmons and Shazier will be great.
- DBs are a mess. Troy is still taking risks, and guessing wrong. Yea, so he is flying around again - all in the wrong direction. In the movie, "Sea Biscuit," the horse owner, played by Jeff Bridges, asked the trainer upon watching the horse run the track, "Is he fast?" and the character played by Chris Cooper said, "Yea, in every direction," which is how I view Troy: showing flashes of great bursts, but never in the right direction at the right time. He has become embarrassing. And the way the refs are calling things, we are doubly doomed. What, was Dick sleeping the past few seasons? They are not going to allow us to hammer WRs anymore. When Ryan Clark was still here, he said, "In this defense, a hard hit is better than an interception." Well, the league won't allow for it anymore. Wake the F up. That may be the "Lubeae and Steeler way" but it is now outlawed, so make the adjustment, or keep getting flagged and fail. Mitchell, due to all the previous mention, is not showing much, other than a temper.
Again, tack down what is somewhat solid and fix the other areas from there. With Ben calling plays, Bell really appears to be everything we thought he could be; he is a nice blend of power, speed, agility and a good receiver. Brown is awesome. OL could be OK if we find a way to get Gilbert off the field. Who is his primary back up? Put him in, whoever it is (unless it's Adams, the other giant FAIL of a 2nd round pick at OT).
It ain't pretty. The largest holes are at NT, and OLB. Had those areas been solid, we'd not look as nearly as terrible right now. JJ not panning out to being an elite 3-4 OLB is going to kill us for years.
First, Nose Tackle will continue to be a problem because when we had Joel Steed and Casey we were one of fewer than 25% of the league looking for that type of player. Now more than 50% want the same thing
JJ is IMO still in the "show me" stage. Yes he got a sack, but he beat a very average blocking TE to get it. Still haven't seen him be able to beat a good Left tackle.
ILBs won't be fine because we won't find that big NT anytime soon. If we can't control the LOS with three how about the radical idea of using four.
I agree DBs are a total mess. No way to fix that soon except find a real pass rush again and get some free agent additions.
"My team, may they always be right, but right or wrong...MY TEAM!"
Steelers Steve McLendon top PFF rankings in loss to Ravens
By Neal Coolong on Sep 13 2014
The positives weren't many but the negatives sure were in looking over the PFF grades in the Steelers' 26-6 loss to Baltimore.
In a game with few positives, there weren't really many positives in terms of player rankings. Pro Football Focus, an NFL plays evaluation web site, agreed with that, by and large, giving only two Steelers players grades above 1.0 from Pittsburgh's 26-6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens Thursday night.
Steve McLendon left the game in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury, but not before having played a pretty solid game overall. Every member of the Steelers' defensive line shares some blame in allowing 125 rushing yards to Baltimore, but McLendon held his own individually. Perhaps the rough games from defensive end Cameron Heyward (-4.9, lowest of all Steelers) and Cam Thomas (-2.1) were larger contributory factors toward that.
Wide receiver Antonio Brown missed a portion of the game, but recovered and managed to secure a 1.1 grade, his fifth consecutive game on the positive side dating back to last season. Brown had 90 yards on seven catches, giving him 18 consecutive games with at least five catches and 50 yards.
After those two, it's all in the red for the Steelers. Along with Heyward's -4.9, the lowest of his career, cornerback Cortez Allen had a -4.5, and free safety added a -3.3 in one of the worst combined grades the Steelers secondary has had since the site's inception in 2007. That probably won't surprise any Steelers fans who have watched this team since then.
The lack of pass rush is showing as well, as Jarvis Jones (0.8 overall) and Jason Worilds (0.3) combined for a -2.8 pass rush grade. The Steelers failed to register a sack or even a hit on Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.
Offensively, WR Justin Brown's -3.5 was likely influenced by his fumble on the opening drive after his only catch of the game. Left guard Ramon Foster had a -3.0 and Ben Roethlisberger had a -1.9.
[URL]http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/nfl-pittsburgh-steelers-news/2014/9/13/6143643/steelers-ravens-report-card-nfl-week-2[/URL]
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