2024 Season

[Superbelt]

What a fine group to be lumped together with......

Give him another 18 years of contracts, he might make it to #1.

 

[Superbelt]

It doesn't matter if we swap out one DC for another. Could be anybody. But Tomlin designed and runs the defense. So as long as he is in control, it'll be the same thing.


The last couple years of LeBeau, Tomlin had taken over, and then pushed him out. Butler admitted that he was just a flunky and it was Tomlin's Defense, with Tomlin designing and calling plays.

Keith Butler: Mike Tomlin called Steelers defensive plays for Dick LeBeau, too

Keith Butler revealed Monday that Mike Tomlin didn't just call defensive plays throughout his time as the team's defensive coordinator, he did so in the final seasons Dick LeBeau was the team's coordinator, as well.

www.dkpittsburghsports.com

“The last couple of years with Dick LeBeau, Mike was calling the plays, too,” said Butler. "It's something he wanted to do. It's something he had done. He wanted to do that here, and as the head coach, he should be able to do what he wants to do.​

Tomlin isn't going to stop meddling, so it won't matter if Austin is canned and someone else is brought in. Ravens were laughing in the locker room after the game about how easy our Defense was to outscheme. I'm pretty much doomspiraling here.

{53:30} [Danny Heiftiz] ‘All I will say is, I was in the Ravens lockeroom, I heard multiple Ravens offensive players laugh about how thinly disguised the Steelers defense was and about the ways they tried to disguise it. They were not fooled what so ever."​

​

Boys, we're a joke.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Right there with ya on the doomspiraling...

Nothing we haven't heard before about the defense... Feels like for the better part of a decade we've been hearing opposing teams make a mockery of our defensive schemes. Really gets loud in the postseason for obvious reasons, because thats when good coaching actually schemes differently & put forth effort to make their opponents uncomfortable... Whereas in Pittsburgh, our staff does next to nothing to change their approach & instead relies on individual performances to rise above. And elite QBs are never fooled by these schemes. When they go with zones they get shredded by short passes & crosser routes over the middle. And when they go man, they still get shredded by short passes because this team sucks at coaching technique & prefers to keep DBs 8-12yds off the line of scrimmage in soft coverage. The "Bend Don't Break" philosophy is a Tomlin staple.

I will say, even though Tomlin 'runs' the defense... It still seems odd to me that Keith Butler was vastly superior at dialing up blitz packages. With Austin, we seem to primarily rush 4 all game long. Did Tomlin have a shift in defensive philosophy, or is the coaches calling the plays really just blown out of proportion? My belief is that, while Tomlin does have his fingerprints all over the defensive schemes, the coordinators still call the majority of the plays and Tomlin only steps in when he sees fit. Under that working belief, I think Austin is too passive. He keeps too much personnel on the back end in hopes his coverage schemes will hold up, while relying on individual effort from his front 4 rushers to generate pressure. Running that >70-80% of the time just doesn't work in todays NFL.

But this problem is compounded by the offensive woes. You'll always be behind the 8 ball when your offense is routinely going 3 & out and hanging their own defense out to dry. No defense can withstand that amount of pressure under today's NFL rules that favor the offenses.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]