A JJ supporter who must admit concern

[steelz09]

Football players don't lift weights and take illegal substance for appearance, they do it to get stronger. And JJ is definitely not doing either.

Yeah... because you know better than Joey Porter and other coaches that have said the complete opposite.

[steelz09]

I thought Jones got reasonable penetration last season but was unable to get to the QB because the DL couldn't collapse the pocket.

I don't think we see the best of any of the LB's until the DL is sorted out.

Thank you for providing a bit of insight into a thread that zero of it.

Now, lets get back to the discussion at hand... we need to switch to a 4-3. JJ is a bust. Lebeau forgot how to coach. I think that pretty much sums up 80% of the posts lately.

[K Train]

He has to be better this year, but what he has had to showcase has hardly been enough of a sample size to determine whether he has improved or not. 9 guys on defense looked lost and scared against the eagles

[feltdizz]

He has to be better this year, but what he has had to showcase has hardly been enough of a sample size to determine whether he has improved or not. 9 guys on defense looked lost and scared against the eagles

Nah.. we have seen enough. Especially against a hight tempo spread offense. I mean, those are the offenses where OLB's always have huge games. JH and Woodley used to wreak havoc on the Pats when they spread us out. (sarcasm)

[Steelhere10]

Yeah... because you know better than Joey Porter and other coaches that have said the complete opposite.

Please provide me with a link where Joey said JJ was in the weight room or anyone for that matter because I missed it. However I do remember plenty of articles stating Joey was brought in to light a fire. Don't sound like dedication to me, I also remember Dulac saying that JJ didn't work in any pass rushing moves. Along with Dave Te Thomas a thirty year draft expert saying JJ didn't lift weight, and took practice lightly and called out on a podcast saying he would be a bust. But I guess you are seeing something different that I'm missing.

[phillyesq]

Pretty much sums it up for me. Seeing him manhandled by the Philly LT does not inspire confidence. I hope he is wildly successful but just don't see him living up to hype that came with him last year.

The Philly LT is Jason Peters, one of the best in the business. There was also a play where Peters and Evan Mathis, the LG, absolutely pancaked Cam Heyward. I think Jones will be much improved this year. He still has a long way to go to get to the level of Joey Porter, but I think its far too early to proclaim him a bust (not saying that you are doing that Ovi).

[Shawn]

When you give JJ some real help on his end at DE...his numbers will reflect that.

[Oviedo]

When you give JJ some real help on his end at DE...his numbers will reflect that.

Are you saying JJ gets a pass. I guess since he has Kiesel there now, same as Harrison, we should expect Harriosn like production.

BTW--wasn't Heyward at that DE position?????

[K Train]

Are you saying JJ gets a pass. I guess since he has Kiesel there now, same as Harrison, we should expect Harriosn like production.

BTW--wasn't Heyward at that DE position?????

They switched heward back to LDE after signing keisel, I guess they saw the same ****ty strong side run defense we did with cam thomas there.

Harrison like production would be nice...8 sacks, few FF...id take that as a successful sophomore campaign

[feltdizz]

Are you saying JJ gets a pass. I guess since he has Kiesel there now, same as Harrison, we should expect Harriosn like production.

BTW--wasn't Heyward at that DE position?????

of course he gets a pass for LAST year. It was his ROOKIE SEASON.

this year, with an old ass Kiesel at DE, JJ should be better...

[Shawn]

Are you saying JJ gets a pass. I guess since he has Kiesel there now, same as Harrison, we should expect Harriosn like production.

BTW--wasn't Heyward at that DE position?????

I know you are brighter than you seem. But, some of your points are like what the %^&*. Keisel is now ancient. That's like saying our secondary should be awesome because Troy and Ike are back there. Harrison played with Keisel in his prime...and in his prime he was very good. He is so bad now that no teams wanted him. So, give JJ a pass? Well, I'm saying you have to give him a quality DE before we will know what we have in JJ.

[papillon]

My question about Jones is the following (and I liked the pick): Can he accomplish anything on his own? Or, will he need a Pro-Bowl DE in front of him. It just seemed that he was incapable of winning his matchup on Thursday. Now, the Eagle LT might be an All-pro I have no idea, but Jones certainly wasn't able to shed him, run around him or force him into a mistake. I hope it's an anomaly what I saw Thursday, only time will tell.

Truthfully, the Bills offense didn't do bad against the defense, but the defense made some big plays and they made zero big plays against the Eagles, save for Polamalu's interception which the inept offense quickly turned into a 3 and field goal attempt.

Pappy

[steelz09]

Please provide me with a link where Joey said JJ was in the weight room or anyone for that matter because I missed it. However I do remember plenty of articles stating Joey was brought in to light a fire. Don't sound like dedication to me, I also remember Dulac saying that JJ didn't work in any pass rushing moves. Along with Dave Te Thomas a thirty year draft expert saying JJ didn't lift weight, and took practice lightly and called out on a podcast saying he would be a bust. But I guess you are seeing something different that I'm missing.

The articles are out there. I'm not your personal internet librarian. I'm simply stating that they are out there and you could find it easily if you wanted to do some research.

I don't get the hate on the guy personally.

Heyward did nothing his rookie year and very little his 2nd year.
Timmons (a higher pick) did nothing his rookie year and took the majority of his rookie contract to develop into an every down ILB
JJ performs better than both of these guys his rookie year (although struggled at times) and he's somehow a bust after 1 year. Maybe it's because people had huge expectations. I don't know.

JJ played no worse than Jason Worilds last game. Worilds had a terrible game IMO. Jones had a QB hit where he beat Peters (one of the best LTs in the game) and missed out on the sack by a split second. He held his own in run defense on his side... better than last year. The Eagles have a solid o-line and Foles has a quick delivery. Overall, they dominated the Steelers D. People are just taking every opportunity to bash the guy for some reason. It's the latest Steelers message board and blog trend I guess.

There is definitely some improvements I'd like to see from Jones. With that being said, I'm much more concerned about our poor rush defense, McClendon, and our entire pass defense.

[Shawn]

My question about Jones is the following (and I liked the pick): Can he accomplish anything on his own? Or, will he need a Pro-Bowl DE in front of him. It just seemed that he was incapable of winning his matchup on Thursday. Now, the Eagle LT might be an All-pro I have no idea, but Jones certainly wasn't able to shed him, run around him or force him into a mistake. I hope it's an anomaly what I saw Thursday, only time will tell.

Truthfully, the Bills offense didn't do bad against the defense, but the defense made some big plays and they made zero big plays against the Eagles, save for Polamalu's interception which the inept offense quickly turned into a 3 and field goal attempt.

Pappy

At this point, we don't know what we have in JJ. We have seen one season and a few preseason games. I think we know he isn't yet a star...probably not even average. That is certainly concerning...but I also realize just about every 3-4 OLB needs help from a quality DE.

[steelz09]

Can Eifert play OLB? Maybe Colbert is on the phone with Bengals management to appease people on this board.