Our "old" defense

[sick beats]

If I did my math right, the average age of our _pressumed_ starters is 26 years-old.

And after Ike retires next year it will get even younger.

That is not old. They say athletic peaks happen at 27 years old. We are 1 year younger than that.

Just food for thought. We will mostly likely look like this.

Ike Heyward McClenden Tuitt Allen

Worilds Shazier Timmons Jones


Troy Mitchell

[Steelhere10]

Add in Troy, which I believe to be the last year in Steelers uniform and it will be even younger.

[feltdizz]

The D was old when they called it old...

thank goodness we finally addressed the obvious.

[sick beats]

The D was old when they called it old...

thank goodness we finally addressed the obvious.

I don't blame the for keeping the group together after the 2010 Super Bowl run. Why not? They had came one win away from another ring. If I have any criticism, it would be regarding 2012-2013, and not all that much. They seemed to try to hold on to old guys a tad too long, but Dick LeBoo loves his vets, to a fault. If Jones, Shazier and Tuitt become big hits, we are on our way to being what we are used to. But next year we MUST pick up a free agent CB AND draft a good one. They can't possibly ignore CB any longer than that.

[hawaiiansteel]

OLD AND SLOW? LOL!

Jim Wexell
Publisher SteelCityInsider.net
May 30, 2014



This isn't your father's -- or even your older brother's -- Steelers defense anymore. As one RB put it, "Athleticism is taking over."

Thursday was a day to work on the long ball, and Le'Veon Bell got his.

Bell, the running back who lines up as a receiver at times, ran even with William Gay but Ben Roethlisberger got rid of it early and timed it perfectly, or just before the new free safety, Mike Mitchell, could get over to the far sideline.

Bell came down with the ball, a rare defeat for Mitchell, who's the Steelers' new free safety, and a fast one.

While Ryan Clark showed the Steelers how to win with brains, it's also true that speed kills. And Mitchell, who was timed in the 40 by the Oakland Raiders at 4.39 at his 2009 pro day, is just another speedy addition to the Steelers' next-era defense.

Has Le'Veon noticed a difference?

"Most definitely," said Bell. "For one I think a lot of guys are able to play faster because it's their second year, guys like Jarvis (Jones) and Shamarko (Thomas), guys like that knowing exactly what they've got to do and doing it a lot faster. Obviously Ryan Shazier is a very fast guy. He can close fast. And LT (Lawrence Timmons) is obviously a fast guy. Overall they're playing faster and they know where they have to be. Athleticism is taking over."

The Steelers lost leadership in Clark, LaMarr Woodley, Larry Foote and Brett Keisel this off-season, but added speed in Mitchell, first-round pick Shazier, second-round pick Stephon Tuitt and free agent Arthur Moats.

Shazier, the new mack linebacker, was timed by the Steelers at 4.40, while Tuitt, a 310-pound defensive end, was once timed at 4.78. Moats, the backup to Jason Worilds at LOLB, was timed at 4.69 at the 2010 combine.

As Bell pointed out, the Steelers are also expecting faster play from second-year players such as Jones and Thomas, as well as Vince Williams and Terence Garvin. They also signed cornerback Brice McCain, who was timed at 4.33 seconds during the 2009 draft season.

Throw recovering linebacker Sean Spence into the mix -- and even the fastest LB coach in the NFL, Joey Porter -- and the national media can finally stop using Warren Sapp's "old and slow" comment from 2011 to describe the Steelers' defense.

"Even the nose tackle can move," said reporter and former player Craig Wolfley. "I was standing on the sideline when Steve McLendon was running past me to get to the ball down the field. I think I now know what it's like to run with the bulls at Pamplona."

No one on the unit flashes to the sideline like Shazier, but the most obvious upgrade is Mitchell, who was described by one Steelers scout as "an overdrafted core special-teamer until he broke out last year."

The scout said that Mitchell "made one wow play after another last year," but Mitchell, who had 4 interceptions, 2 forced fumbles and 3 1/2 sacks last season, was too humble to pick out a favorite.

"I have a wow moment," he said, "and that was beating the Saints at home and clinching our division and then beating Atlanta (and) getting our bye. That was a wow experience for our whole team. Me, personally, I don't know. We had some good moments. I made some decent plays but I feel that was just me sticking my toe in the water. I expect to make even bigger, better plays this year, and I've got a great guy to learn from in Troy Polamalu."

And that's more speed, because spring absentees Polamalu and Ike Taylor have long been the fastest guys on the Steelers' defense. Maybe they don't run in the 4.3s as they did coming out of college, but their honed instincts no doubt make them the fastest graybeards in the league.

"When he gets here I'm going to be all in his pocket trying to figure out what he does," Mitchell said of meeting Polamalu. "I don't know if I'll be jumping over the center, but I do plan on taking the ball away."

And that could very easily become a theme for this defense.

[URL]http://pit.scout.com/story/1407065-old-and-slow-lol?s=68[/URL]

[steelz09]

The D was old when they called it old...

thank goodness we finally addressed the obvious.

And Sapp called it and everyone here got all upset over it. All he did was speak the truth... but the truth hurt some and others simply didn't want to believe it.

[ikestops85]

And Sapp called it and everyone here got all upset over it. All he did was speak the truth... but the truth hurt some and others simply didn't want to believe it.

Sorry but I'm one of those that didn't believe it when Sapp said it. He said it right after the Ravens kicked our butts to open up the season. The defense played well for the most part the rest of the season. Now, a few years later what he said was true. We still had most of the same players starting and they had some age on them. But it was still a good, not great, defense when he made the comment.

Sapp is a mouth without a brain. I'm still amazed at what a good football player he was given his lack of intelligence.

[sick beats]

And Sapp called it and everyone here got all upset over it. All he did was speak the truth... but the truth hurt some and others simply didn't want to believe it.

The issue most had with Sapp is he said it and they became the #1 D in the NFL AFTER he said they were "Old, Slow and Done for." Then, they really did get old and slow, but they were still pretty good when he made the statement.

[sick beats]

Sorry but I'm one of those that didn't believe it when Sapp said it. He said it right after the Ravens kicked our butts to open up the season. The defense played well for the most part the rest of the season. Now, a few years later what he said was true. We still had most of the same players starting and they had some age on them. But it was still a good, not great, defense when he made the comment.

Sapp is a mouth without a brain. I'm still amazed at what a good football player he was given his lack of intelligence.

D Lineman don't have to be too smart to play that position. You just chase the ball carrier of QB, not much thinking is involved (unless it's a LeBoo defense).

[SteelerOfDeVille]

totally random fact... My money is still on Spence to start at ILB, ahead of Shazier... who is ... well... WAS... also fairly fast for the position.

[Flasteel]

Sorry but I'm one of those that didn't believe it when Sapp said it. He said it right after the Ravens kicked our butts to open up the season. The defense played well for the most part the rest of the season. Now, a few years later what he said was true. We still had most of the same players starting and they had some age on them. But it was still a good, not great, defense when he made the comment.

Sapp is a mouth without a brain. I'm still amazed at what a good football player he was given his lack of intelligence.

You are 100% correct brother. If I'm not mistaken, we finished that season as the top-ranked defense in the league...then turned around and did it again in 2012. We all realize that 2012 ranking was flawed, but we none the less finished on top for 2 straight years after that slob ran his cake hole.

I'm not going to give him credit for predicting the future when he was clearly referring to what he thought was the current state of the defense.

[DukieBoy]

The issue wasn't so much about Sap being right or wrong, as it is Sapp being Sapp. Lazy, fat and stupid is no way to grow old.