Bad as they want to
be:
On the field, the Steelers� high water mark occurred during Game 7 against the Ravens when they scored for the 4th time in four possessions.� Prior to that, they had thwarted Manning on Monday Night; prior to that, they had mercilessly flogged the Bengals.�
After that possession, they pulled in their horns.� Over the 2nd half in Baltimore, the Ravens rolled up and down the field while the Steeler O-side did little to nothing.� In Cleveland, Butch Davis�s obstinate refusal to go 4-wide handed the B&G a win but, in turn, the Steelers blew a 17-point margin against the Falcons at Heinz before getting rolled last week in the Music City.� Seasons come and seasons go; there is an ebb and flow and, while the tide�s been out here for a time, maybe, Pittsburgh�s own Ahab, William Laird Cowher, can get his ship righted, out of port and back in the hunt.
Bad mojo that as things didn�t go too well for the whalers; fortunately, Das Jaw will be on Heinz Beach not in the Pacific deep Sunday and, while insight hasn�t been his long-suit so far, I did like one thing he, reportedly, said this week:
�We�re going to explore not so much who we�re doing it with but what we�re doing.����
Good idea, especially considering �the who� won�t be changing.� Reportedly, Oakland worked all winter on their attack-mode here; the Titans� imitated that approach, to the extent of their (lesser) ability.� The Steelers had a chance to get things fixed over the bye week following the Raider game but, as is obvious in the 3rd down stats cited in my Week 11 Review, accomplished little.� Now, injuries to Logan, Poteat and Iwuoma, if not insight from their coaching staff, should force the Steelers to alter their D-side approach.�
You can�t play much dime with just (6) DB healthy; that�s all good but in fact it�s going to be more who�s not available than any deep, focused analysis that will force the Steelers� hand this weekend and, probably, for some weeks to come.� I expect Kendrell Bell will play on 3rd down because, at this point, there�s no one else.� However, I don�t know that�ll make much difference; here are a few more items to consider:
- Check Dillon�s yardage when Hampton is on the field.� Check Dillon�s yardage when Casey takes a seat.
- Check how deep Joey Porter has to drop in the dime.� Ask yourself why?� Could be that the Steelers� field the slowest safety tandem in football?
- Donovan Darius, Tebucky Jones, Chris McAllister and Dre� Bly are due to be FA next winter.� Not that it�ll happen but consider a secondary with Scott, DW, DD and Jones.� Is that better than, say, McAllister, Bly, Alex and Flowers, or is it worse?
Much has been made of the Steelers sub-par work on defense.� Media-wide, the consensus seems to be that it is the players, not the schemes that are at fault.� After all, the same schemes worked last year and, fairly well, in the years before.� Then again, the same players were working the schemes last year.� If schemes don�t count, then what were Raider Coach Bill Callahan and his group doing with their time last winter?� Players or scheme, the Raider O-group dominated at Heinz and, with different players but a similar scheme, so did the Titans last week.�
My money is on the scheme; after all, it was Coach Lewis who saw no D-side weakness here, before the season began.� IMO, the Steeler staff was asleep at the switch, resting comfortably on the notion they had the finest base run defense in football and that this year, like all others, if they stopped the run, they�d be able to dictate tactics to their opponents.� Coach Callahan, though generally regarded as a Davis-stooge, saw the Steelers� strength against the run and schemed accordingly.� In this case, the stooge won out; that fact accounts for why Das Jaw and his staff are now swamped and floundering. ���
I don�t know; I�m no journalist. �Maybe that�s why all the fuss about Jason Gildon eludes me.� Leaving the Dong Report, which certainly is on one end of the spectrum, consider all this double-team stuff.� You know, last year Gildon had 12, or 12.5, of the Steelers� 55 sacks.� That�s about 22%; purportedly, that is why all teams have focused on the great Jas this season.�
Of course, last year the Steelers had (4) legit pass rushers to include Smith, Bell and Porter.� In 2000, the Steelers had at most (2) legit rushers, Gildon and Porter.� Gildon had 13, or 13.5, of the Steelers� 39 sacks that year.� That�s 33% or so, half again #92�s 2001 ratio.� Both years, Gildon went Hawaiian.� What I don�t understand is this: if opponents are scheming Gildon in 2002 following a season when a (4) man rush threat emerged here, how come they didn�t scheme his ass in 2001 when his was the main event in the Steelers� Two Ring Sack Circus?
Whatever.� Gildon�s performance this year has not been good but it hasn�t been any worse than the safety play, excluding of course Mike Logan.� The Pats showed you could beat the Rams state-of-the-art offense with athletic safeties; the Bucs and Saints showed you could beat them with a ferocious front four.� The Steelers haven�t played the Warner-Rams; maybe last year their LB-led defense would have had a shot but, for sure, they haven�t stopped any competent offense this year.� Well, maybe the Colts but otherwise�
Figure (8) wins gets in, presume a tough go at Tampa Bay and Jacksonville, that leaves (4) @ home.� Better they beat the Bengals now and avoid going to Florida on a (3) game no-win streak than rely on whipping the Ravens late.�
Of course, that�s just the conventional wisdom and we�ve seen, with Gildon, with the schemes, with the sea change towards the pass-first-last-and-always mode endemic in the league this year that conventional wisdom means squat.
Play on.