D is not dead...

[Jooser]

Re: D is not dead...

Chadman gets jhansle's point, and agrees...to a point.

The 49ers Defense is 'stout' in this modern version of the NFL. If you don't play well against them, they will own you. They play hard, they hit hard, they swarm.

Ok, they gave up points. That does happen.

Thing is, in today's NFL you can't JUST be 'stout'. You have to be able to make 'splash plays'- plays that result in turnovers, lack of yardage, loss of yardage...anything that actively works towards getting the ball back for the Offense.

If you let teams get forward yardage in this NFL, the way passing attacks work now, anything under 5 yards on a 3rd down is almost an automatic 1st down.

So teams CAN be stout for 2 or so plays in a series, but if you don't produce 'splash plays', you will still get scored on. Time in possession is the key- if you have the ball, you should score.

This is why 32nd ranked Defenses are not terrible- so long as they produce enough turnovers to give their Offense more time with the ball.

That's what I was thinking Chadman. I'd add that "stout" teams have something this year that the Steelers lacked most of the year because of injury and various other reasons: a continuous push to the QB. In other words, you don't have to necessarily get to the QB every play, but pressure him to make a quick decision. I'd venture to guess that for every 5 "snap" decisions a QB under pressure makes, one has a chance at being some sort of splash play for the opposing defense. Our DB's and LB's were often times caught in no-man's land while the opposing QB was standing tall like a tree growing roots just waiting to find an open guy. Denver was the biggest example of this. Tebow had 5-8 seconds per play to pick out someone 1-on-1 in coverage. More to the point, we played pressure and got after Tom Brady in October and beat the P*at's arses.

So D isn't dead, but D has transformed so that there is now a placed emphasis on getting after the QB in a hurry to stop this pass-happy league.

[steelz09]

Re: D is not dead...

Chadman gets jhansle's point, and agrees...to a point.

The 49ers Defense is 'stout' in this modern version of the NFL. If you don't play well against them, they will own you. They play hard, they hit hard, they swarm.

Ok, they gave up points. That does happen.

Thing is, in today's NFL you can't JUST be 'stout'. You have to be able to make 'splash plays'- plays that result in turnovers, lack of yardage, loss of yardage...anything that actively works towards getting the ball back for the Offense.

If you let teams get forward yardage in this NFL, the way passing attacks work now, anything under 5 yards on a 3rd down is almost an automatic 1st down.

So teams CAN be stout for 2 or so plays in a series, but if you don't produce 'splash plays', you will still get scored on. Time in possession is the key- if you have the ball, you should score.

This is why 32nd ranked Defenses are not terrible- so long as they produce enough turnovers to give their Offense more time with the ball.

That's what I was thinking Chadman. I'd add that "stout" teams have something this year that the Steelers lacked most of the year because of injury and various other reasons: a continuous push to the QB. In other words, you don't have to necessarily get to the QB every play, but pressure him to make a quick decision. I'd venture to guess that for every 5 "snap" decisions a QB under pressure makes, one has a chance at being some sort of splash play for the opposing defense. Our DB's and LB's were often times caught in no-man's land while the opposing QB was standing tall like a tree growing roots just waiting to find an open guy. Denver was the biggest example of this. Tebow had 5-8 seconds per play to pick out someone 1-on-1 in coverage. More to the point, we played pressure and got after Tom Brady in October and beat the P*at's arses.

So D isn't dead, but D has transformed so that there is now a placed emphasis on getting after the QB in a hurry to stop this pass-happy league.

The Steelers are in a tough spot defensively and I don't quite know what the answer is...
I personally think our defensive rankings didn't quite accurately represent our defensive struggles. I obviously watch all the games and watch them closely... and these were th 2 biggest defensive struggles I saw:

1) Against an average to above average running attack, the Steelers had to sell out to stop the run. A few teams that ring a bell... Denver, Ravens, Rams, Houston. I thought we did 'ok' against the run vs the Bengals and 49ers but I thought we had to sell out and that made us way to vulnerable against the play action.

2) We need to send WAY to many people to get to the QB. We don't do well w/ just 4 or even 5... forget 3. We bring the house and that obviously exposes our secondary.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Re: D is not dead...

Chadman gets jhansle's point, and agrees...to a point.

The 49ers Defense is 'stout' in this modern version of the NFL. If you don't play well against them, they will own you. They play hard, they hit hard, they swarm.

Ok, they gave up points. That does happen.

Thing is, in today's NFL you can't JUST be 'stout'. You have to be able to make 'splash plays'- plays that result in turnovers, lack of yardage, loss of yardage...anything that actively works towards getting the ball back for the Offense.

If you let teams get forward yardage in this NFL, the way passing attacks work now, anything under 5 yards on a 3rd down is almost an automatic 1st down.

So teams CAN be stout for 2 or so plays in a series, but if you don't produce 'splash plays', you will still get scored on. Time in possession is the key- if you have the ball, you should score.

This is why 32nd ranked Defenses are not terrible- so long as they produce enough turnovers to give their Offense more time with the ball.

That's what I was thinking Chadman. I'd add that "stout" teams have something this year that the Steelers lacked most of the year because of injury and various other reasons: a continuous push to the QB. In other words, you don't have to necessarily get to the QB every play, but pressure him to make a quick decision. I'd venture to guess that for every 5 "snap" decisions a QB under pressure makes, one has a chance at being some sort of splash play for the opposing defense. Our DB's and LB's were often times caught in no-man's land while the opposing QB was standing tall like a tree growing roots just waiting to find an open guy. Denver was the biggest example of this. Tebow had 5-8 seconds per play to pick out someone 1-on-1 in coverage. More to the point, we played pressure and got after Tom Brady in October and beat the P*at's arses.

So D isn't dead, but D has transformed so that there is now a placed emphasis on getting after the QB in a hurry to stop this pass-happy league.

The Steelers are in a tough spot defensively and I don't quite know what the answer is...
I personally think our defensive rankings didn't quite accurately represent our defensive struggles. I obviously watch all the games and watch them closely... and these were th 2 biggest defensive struggles I saw:

1) Against an average to above average running attack, the Steelers had to sell out to stop the run. A few teams that ring a bell... Denver, Ravens, Rams, Houston. I thought we did 'ok' against the run vs the Bengals and 49ers but I thought we had to sell out and that made us way to vulnerable against the play action.

2) We need to send WAY to many people to get to the QB. We don't do well w/ just 4 or even 5... forget 3. We bring the house and that obviously exposes our secondary.

$$$
Good observations, and I hope the team really does something to address these issues.

If we could find a NT who was really a stud, who could not only plug the run, but consistently push the pocket and even occasionally bring some pressure on the QB, that would be huge, IMO.

I'd love to see Heyward in more, because I think he could bring some more pressure on the QB.

Of course, it didn't help that we almost never had a healthy Harrison and Woodley on the field at the same time. I still think Woodley is too inconsistent, and I'm not sure Harrison will ever be the player he once was. I'm not writing Worilds off yet, but I'm not convinced that he's ever going to be able to become a great pass rusher.