Aggressive defense...guess who?

[Oviedo]

Stop acting like building a defense cant be cyclical.

Why wasn't the offense explained away as "cyclical" when everyone was calling for Arians' head for several years and Haley's until this year? However, when it is the defense that has been declining in performance now it is "cyclical."

[TheRig77]

So again we apparently have some who believe that our "legendary," Hall of Fame Defensive Coord who is lauded far and wide as a genius becomes a deaf mute during the evaluation of potential draft picks and is not allowed to speak in the draft room. Just a victim of other's shortcomings. That is so laughable. The reality is if our defensive coord was 48 years old and not 78 there would not be the level of tolerance for the decreasing performance of our defense over the past 3-4 years and the failure to develop players on that side of the ball. But hey, we have a Def Coord who tells a mean "Twas the Night Before Christmas" during the holidays. Why worry about sacks and INTs when you have that.

^^^^^ This.

Dick LeBeau's overrated reputation and the obsession with preserving it is the #1 reason why this franchise has slipped into the mediocre state that it's in.

[K Train]

Why wasn't the offense explained away as "cyclical" when everyone was calling for Arians' head for several years and Haley's until this year? However, when it is the defense that has been declining in performance now it is "cyclical."

I didnt agree on any counts there so im not sure why you assume i think its ok one way and not the other.

Wasnt the biggest fan of arians, mostly because of his offense was getting ben killed (which was fine when ben was 25 and welcomed contact with open arms) but the "**** it im going deep" attitude was getting him pummeled. It was cyclical on the oline though....went from a top 5 oline to a band-aid oline of misfits. And i never thought haley should be fired

Also, im not opposed to moving on from lebeau, i just dont share your completely blind hate for him like a player busting is all on him and it taking 12-25 years to learn the defense and the corners playing 75-90 yards off (steelers fans tend to have trouble with the concept of rounding)

I know you had historically bad expectations for the defense coming into the season, and you know what? Theyve played adequately despite having some big holes, weaknesses, and injuries

[Jigawatts]

Theyve played adequately despite having some big holes, weaknesses, and injuries

Adequate just isn't good enough. We're Steelers fans.