We need a traditional NT

[feltdizz]

until we do that the run game will continue to suffer.

Don?t care if he only plays 2 downs or teams try to go uptempo.

Play Fehoke or whatever his name is and see if the run game improves.

[SteelerOfDeVille]

I'd like to see Benton supplant Montravius Adams, but it's hard to do with Cam (and now Leal) out and he's needed to move around.

Ideally, you'd have Cam, Benton, Larry O across the front - and I think they'd be fine.

[Chucktownsteeler]

Not sure if you?re talking draft, but need a Center as well. Need to get these lines anchored.

[LPMAN]

I said this forever on SN....If you are going to play a 3-4 defense you need a great NT like Casey Hampton & Joel Steed. But all i hear back is we rarely play the 3-4 & mainly play sub packages so it doesn't matter.

[SidSmythe]

How about a really good DT and 2 viable 3 down ILBs??

[Flasteel]

I though Fehoko should have been on the roster all along. You have to be able to stuff the run first and foremost and having the best run-stuffing lineman on our roster waste away on the practice squad seems absurd.

If Tomlin is guaranteeing changes, then start with the trenches. Well...I'd rather he start with Canada but that doesn't seem to be in the cards for the moment.

[Joel Buchsbaum]

I'd like to see Benton supplant Montravius Adams, but it's hard to do with Cam (and now Leal) out and he's needed to move around.

Ideally, you'd have Cam, Benton, Larry O across the front - and I think they'd be fine.

You wish has been granted. Teeedledum is starting Benton. What took so long?

Now if the Steelers want to up their run defense even more, they start Robinson!

[SteelerOfDeVille]

I said this forever on SN....If you are going to play a 3-4 defense you need a great NT like Casey Hampton & Joel Steed. But all i hear back is we rarely play the 3-4 & mainly play sub packages so it doesn't matter.

Honestly, I've been saying the same. But, it seems the closest we're going to get to it is a Hargrave type. IMO, that's what Benton is

[SteelerOfDeVille]

You wish has been granted. Teeedledum is starting Benton. What took so long?

Now if the Steelers want to up their run defense even more, they start Robinson!

Not at NT, though. I read that he's filling in Cam's spot while Larry O and Adams stay in. I'd rather see him in the middle with Larry O and Leal at DE's

[Chadman]

I don't know why, or when, the sub-packages became better than the traditional defence.

I do not believe the Steelers are beaten, time & again, through the air. Tom Brady used to shred us on the dink & dunk for a few years & the Steelers went away from 3-4 & into sub-package heavy play & we never reverted back.

What happened after that? Well, now we get shredded for 5 yards per run on the average.

Stop the run. Let teams try and beat you through the air. Get great DB's. But stop the run. It helps the Steelers control the clock.

It's what we used to do THE BEST.

Brady & the Patriots CHANGED the Steelers.

[WindyCitySteel]

Not sure if you?re talking draft, but need a Center as well. Need to get these lines anchored.

Yup. For a team that says it's primary goals are running and stopping the run, no matter how out of touch that is with the NFL in 2023, they can't roll out Montravious Adams and Mason Cole as the anchor of both lines.

[SteelerOfDeVille]

I don't know why, or when, the sub-packages became better than the traditional defence.

I do not believe the Steelers are beaten, time & again, through the air. Tom Brady used to shred us on the dink & dunk for a few years & the Steelers went away from 3-4 & into sub-package heavy play & we never reverted back.

What happened after that? Well, now we get shredded for 5 yards per run on the average.

Stop the run. Let teams try and beat you through the air. Get great DB's. But stop the run. It helps the Steelers control the clock.

It's what we used to do THE BEST.

Brady & the Patriots CHANGED the Steelers.

Something changed the league around then, too. People started passing more and more and everyone went away from run-oriented offenses.

Back then, you'd run on 1st and 2nd and the traditional 34 would stuff that. They'd put you in 3rd and long and the OLB would devour the QB...

Then the Pats (and the league as a whole started passing more).

• In the 90's, you'd have one guy per year over 100 receptions, IF THAT.
• We kicked off the 2000's with Marvin Harrison and Mushin Muhammad tied for league lead with 102. And it went up from there
• Since the 2010's the league leaders often are in the 120's (Jefferson last year with 128, Kupp with 145 in 2021 - Michael Thomas set a record in 2019 with 149 catches)

This is where people see a problem with the traditional 34 defense. It's really good when you know you're facing the run - except teams don't run as much.

I think you need both a traditional NT and a more agile NT. They rotate for sub-packages anyway. They specifically have a nickel CB. Why not do the same on the d-line? That way, you have a guy for pass downs, but you also have a guy for when the opponent is going for a critical 3rd and short; or trying to salt away the clock at the end of a game

[Chadman]

Something changed the league around then, too. People started passing more and more and everyone went away from run-oriented offenses.

Back then, you'd run on 1st and 2nd and the traditional 34 would stuff that. They'd put you in 3rd and long and the OLB would devour the QB...

Then the Pats (and the league as a whole started passing more).

• In the 90's, you'd have one guy per year over 100 receptions, IF THAT.
• We kicked off the 2000's with Marvin Harrison and Mushin Muhammad tied for league lead with 102. And it went up from there
• Since the 2010's the league leaders often are in the 120's (Jefferson last year with 128, Kupp with 145 in 2021 - Michael Thomas set a record in 2019 with 149 catches)

This is where people see a problem with the traditional 34 defense. It's really good when you know you're facing the run - except teams don't run as much.

I think you need both a traditional NT and a more agile NT. They rotate for sub-packages anyway. They specifically have a nickel CB. Why not do the same on the d-line? That way, you have a guy for pass downs, but you also have a guy for when the opponent is going for a critical 3rd and short; or trying to salt away the clock at the end of a game

Weirdly though- there has been an explosion of teams with 1 or 2 quality RB's (Browns, Bengals, Ravens...for example) that have since gouged the Steelers defence on the ground.

Yes, the NFL moved toward a more pass happy league. But now, teams are running through paper thin D-Lines. As well as passing.

I would prefer to control the ground game. Make teams pass. Load up on quality DB's & get the more athletic ILB's in the game. Maybe instead of downgrading the DL to add DB's, the better mix is a FS that plays like a CB coupled with an ILB that plays like a SS? But still retaining a dominant 3-4 DL, with the NT type absorbing some of the run defence responsibility we place on, lately, inadequate ILB's.

Much like the Steelers need to be dominant at the point of the snap with the OL (get a premium Center), if the Steelers can collapse the other teams OL from the snap, you invest in the Shazier/Farrior/Timmons style athlete at ILB & let them be dynamic.

Right now- the Steelers can be beaten through the air or on the ground. Surely that is worse than being suspect against the pass but dominant against the run?

[Oviedo]

With the RPO being the predominant offense in college football...are "traditional NTs" even being produced in the pipeline?

You can also make the run more difficult playing a 4-3

[Chadman]

With the RPO being the predominant offense in college football...are "traditional NTs" even being produced in the pipeline?

You can also make the run more difficult playing a 4-3

A 4-3 wouldn't be the worst idea. But, you still need to dominate against the run. There is ALWAYS a place for a large, strong, angry man in the middle of a defence. There are always large, strong angry men playing OG for example.