Positives on Defense

[Buzz]

L.J. Fort -- got some warts, but right now, he's the best ILB we've got.

Ola Andeniyi (spelling?) -- not bad for his first action

Javon Hargrave -- played well the past few weeks

[Starlifter]

From a technical standpoint I don’t disagree.

But when a team and defense melts down like that and blows such a large lead - there really are no positives to the game.

[Steel Maniac]

From a technical standpoint I don’t disagree.

But when a team and defense melts down like that and blows such a large lead - there really are no positives to the game.

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[RuthlessBurgher]

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These ingenious insights of yours add so much to the conversation.

[squidkid]

These ingenious insights of yours add so much to the conversation.

maybe you could wow us with a cut and paste draft bio

[Ghost]

I know this is about positives but I have to ask - how do you have a starting LB, 2 weeks in a row be invisible? Last week Dupree had NO STATS. You wouldn't even know he dressed looking at the stat sheet. And this week Bostic has 1 assisted tackle, 0 tackles.

[Steel Maniac]

Ghost, can I ask who is ultimately responsible for this in your opinion?

[RuthlessBurgher]

maybe you could wow us with a cut and paste draft bio

Just showing that you are making stuff up as you go when you say "no one heard of him" (that NFL.com draft profile shows that analysts employed by the league itself projected Burns to be a 1st or 2nd round pick). Unlike you, I know how to look for evidence that backs up my assertions. Knowledgeable fans knew who Burns was going into the draft...if you never heard of a guy with a borderline 1st-2nd round grade, then you don't know much about the draft at all. But knowledgeable fans also knew that picking Burns was certainly not a "steal of the draft" pick either. He was a project pick with upside potential, as that draft profile also shows. We were drafting a guy with desirable physical traits who we hoped could be molded into being a shutdown corner one day. He was by no means anywhere close to a finished project on draft day, which is why no one here ever called him the "steal of the draft." You are just making that up.

[squidkid]

Just showing that you are making stuff up as you go when you say "no one heard of him" (that NFL.com draft profile shows that analysts employed by the league itself projected Burns to be a 1st or 2nd round pick). Unlike you, I know how to look for evidence that backs up my assertions. Knowledgeable fans knew who Burns was going into the draft...if you never heard of a guy with a borderline 1st-2nd round grade, then you don't know much about the draft at all. But knowledgeable fans also knew that picking Burns was certainly not a "steal of the draft" pick either. He was a project pick with upside potential, as that draft profile also shows. We were drafting a guy with desirable physical traits who we hoped could be molded into being a shutdown corner one day. He was by no means anywhere close to a finished project on draft day, which is why no one here ever called him the "steal of the draft." You are just making that up.

lol...nice
so you are knowledgeable but never mentioned his name as a first round pick for us, huh?
so none of the fans on this site are knowledgeable either because nobody mentioned his name as a first round pick until after he was picked.
according to you now, (seeing that it was a bust pick and a major reach) nobody at the time liked the pick and supported it(such as yourself)
keep leaning on the exact words 'steal of the draft' to try to support your angle

[RuthlessBurgher]

lol...nice
so you are knowledgeable but never mentioned his name as a first round pick for us, huh?
so none of the fans on this site are knowledgeable either because nobody mentioned his name as a first round pick until after he was picked.
according to you now, (seeing that it was a bust pick and a major reach) nobody at the time liked the pick and supported it(such as yourself)
keep leaning on the exact words 'steal of the draft' to try to support your angle

I'll give you another more recent example of being knowledgeable about a player throughout the predraft process but not touting him as a potential first round pick:

I knew who Terrell Edmunds was prior to this last draft, but I never mentioned him as a first round pick for us. I mentioned him as a possible day two pick for us. I mentioned his younger brother as a guy I would have liked to have seen as a first round pick for us. I wanted to trade up for his brother when he fell into the middle portion of the first, so if LB Tremaine Edmunds actually fell all the way down to us at #28, I would have called him the steal of the draft (the last time I actually said that about any of our picks was David DeCastro...anyone who was on this board then knew that I raved about him leading up to the draft and was shellshocked when he actually fell into our laps....a true steal). I knew plenty about Terrell, but since I saw him as a day two prospect, I never would have used a "steal of the draft" label for him.

I didn't necessarily like the Artie Burns or Terrell Edmunds picks on draft day, but I am certain that the team knows a hell of a lot more about them than I do. Even though I would not have picked either guy myself (based on my limited knowledge compared to a professional scouting staff), I still supported both guys once they became Steelers.

[Ghost]

Ghost, can I ask who is ultimately responsible for this in your opinion?

Combination of responsibilities. I don't believe Porter has coached up an OLB since he's been here and Jones was a bust and Dupree, even with the side switch, is a huge let-down. He disappears consistently, has no power move,and gets blocked out of the play with wide arch rushes to the QB. How much of that falls on the player to work on improvement? He's a freak athlete and a huge guy. He was a projected 1st rounder so it wasn't an over reach. But he no where near lived up to being a first rounder.

I think they did what they could with Bostic. Outside of leveraging the farm, and getting a K Mack, there simply weren't many guys (if any) with the abilities to replace Shazier. They were in a tough spot. I do think they overestimated their LB crew though. Big Red, Chick, Fort, Williams are complimentary pieces, not game changers.

I would say that the D scheme falls on the coaches - Tomlin & Butler. Allen ran wild on them and no changes were made. It isn't about making adjustments at the half - they were killing it the first half, why change? It's about making adjustments on the fly as you watch the other team start to destroy your plan. That never happened.

[Steel Maniac]

Combination of responsibilities. I don't believe Porter has coached up an OLB since he's been here and Jones was a bust and Dupree, even with the side switch, is a huge let-down. He disappears consistently, has no power move,and gets blocked out of the play with wide arch rushes to the QB. How much of that falls on the player to work on improvement? He's a freak athlete and a huge guy. He was a projected 1st rounder so it wasn't an over reach. But he no where near lived up to being a first rounder.

I think they did what they could with Bostic. Outside of leveraging the farm, and getting a K Mack, there simply weren't many guys (if any) with the abilities to replace Shazier. They were in a tough spot. I do think they overestimated their LB crew though. Big Red, Chick, Fort, Williams are complimentary pieces, not game changers.

I would say that the D scheme falls on the coaches - Tomlin & Butler. Allen ran wild on them and no changes were made. It isn't about making adjustments at the half - they were killing it the first half, why change? It's about making adjustments on the fly as you watch the other team start to destroy your plan. That never happened.

ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!!! We have a winner!!!

[NorthCoast]

Wonder how the Class of '78 felt watching the game last night? All the greats in town to watch a record being broken by the Steelers....