LeBeau’s Folly -- An analysis of the pass rush scheme vs. Titans

LeBeau�s Folly -- An analysis of the pass rush scheme vs. Titans

 

The Stillers meekly bowed out to the Titans 5 days ago.� While the offense once again dawdled around and did little, the supposedly vaunted defense faltered just as badly.�� They got carved up by a career journeyman QB, Ferry Collins, while also getting ground up by the 1-2 RB punch of White and Johnson.� The defense was particularly soft in this game, providing almost no heat or harassment on Collins the entire game.�

 

LeBeau has been lavished with mountains of praise by every media source -- except this one -- for his supposedly clever, ingenious defensive schemes.� Never mind, of course, the cream puffism, injury depletion, ineptitude, and greenhorn naivet� that Dick has feasted on each and every week leading up to the Titan debacle.�

 

For reasons unknown only to LeBeau, the supposed defensive guru went with the Charmin Defensive Scheme against the Titans.� The review of the tape of this slopfest revealed just how soft and vanilla LeBeau played it.� His pass rush was of a passive, chickenshit variety, and his coverage schemes were equally soft and flaccid.�

 

Here�s a breakdown of the pass rush on Collin�s 29 pass attempts:

 

3-man Rush: 2 times

 

4-man Rush:� 23 times

 

5-man Rush: �4 times

 

6-man Rush:� 0

 

This gives a very clear picture of just how pussyfied LeBeau went into this game in terms of attacking, harassing, and laying the wood on the opposing offense.� Rather than teeing off and punishing one of the very slowest QBs in all of pro football, Dick smugly thought he could send 3 or 4 rushers on nearly every pass attempt and stop Collins.� What a dumbass!�� There are 5 (FIVE) offensive linemen, plus oftentimes a TE, AND a RB, providing some blocking assistance.� If you�re going to be a gutless coward and rush FOUR men against 6 or 7 blockers, you sew what you reap.�

 

The rare 5-man rushes were a repeat of late last season, when Dick unveiled The Velcro Blitz.�� This LeBeau scheme calls for rushers to immediately joust with a blocker to their front and stick to that blocker like Velcro, which causes no heat, no harassment, and no push.� The tactic of blitzing is more than just blindly sending bodies at a QB; the real tactic behind blitzing is, similar to a punt block, creating an open window or fissure for a rusher to fly in cleanly and then rip the QB�s head off his neck.� Only once did this happen the entire game, when Timmons came in on a delayed blitz and pressured Bollins into a throw-away at 4:13 1Q.�

 

To exacerbate all of this, the 3 and 4 rushers Tricky Dicky was sending at the QB were mostly comprised of RUN-STUFFING linemen who are mediocre, at best, in providing heat on the QB.� Fat Casey Hampton isn�t going to scare any coordinator with his pass rush, nor will Keisel, Kirschke, or Eason.� Aaron Smith is the best of the DL lot in providing pass heat, and even then, he is far, far from being a Strahan or a Reggie White with his rushing skills.� ERGO, if you�re going to apply the heat and harass a piece of shit QB like Collins from a 3-4 defense that generates next to nothing in terms of lineman pass-pressure, you�d damned well better bring some extra rushers.�� And that includes using corners and safeties on blitzes, which Dick did only once the entire game against the Titans.�

 

To make all matters worse, Dick�s pass coverage schemes were a complete flop as well.� You can possibly get by with a feeble-assed 4-man pass rush, if you�re gonna use the 7 remaining defenders to make life miserable on the opposing receivers.� Miserable?�� Dick practically rolled out a red carpet for the Titan receivers.� He never used his CBs up in press coverage to jam and pop the receivers; instead, Dick had his corners playing 7, 8, even 10 yards off the line of scrimmage.�� So here you have the worst of all worlds--- a softee, chickenshit pass rush, combined with a softee, chickenshit coverage scheme.�

 

And it�s not like the Titans are the modern version of the �88 49ers.� Last week, they scored a whopping 12 points.� A few weeks ago, against the Jets, they scored 13.� It�s beyond all comprehension why Dick trembled in fear and devised this chickenshit defensive scheme against such an ordinary passing offense.��

 

There were 3 key pass plays in this game, as follows:��

 

� 1.)� 3rd & 5 at the PIT 34, 12:50 2Q.� A stop here forces either a punt or a long FG in a 3-0 game.� Instead, Dick, like a complete anal stormtrooper, rushes just 3 men, giving Collins all day and room to casually complete the downfield seamer to Gage for the TD.�

 

� 2.)� 3rd & 20 at the PIT 40, 5:25 3Q.� A stop here forces a punt, with the score (at the time) PIT 14, Tenn 10.� Dick actually sent a 3 (THREE) man rush, and dropped Timmons into a no-man�s land coverage at a point 17 yards downfield.� This served no purpose whatsoever; Timmons would have been far more useful providing a hand in the face of Collins as Collins stood calmly in the pocket surveying the entire field and having enough time to eat a sandwich.� This play gained 19.5 yards, which set up the 4th down running play that Johnson took to the house for a TD.�� Talk about a game-turning play -- if Dick doesn�t use a faggott defense, the stop gets made well short of the sticks (such as a 4-yard dumpoff to a RB, or an incompletion) and the Titans punt the ball away.� �

�

� 3.)� 4th & 3 on PIT 30, 2:00 3Q.� Again, a stop here obviously gives the ball back to the Stillers, with the score Tenn 17, PIT 14.� In other words, at this point, the Stillers were very much in the ballgame, and all they needed was some semblance of a defensive stop.� Instead, Dick calls for a mamby pamby 4-man rush, which creates no pressure whatsoever. Collins plays pitch and catch on a 17-yard completion to Gage, which put the Titans in chippie FG range.�� ��

 

These 3 plays were the difference between being right in the midst of a tight game, and getting blown out.�� All 3 plays were gutless, pussyfied defensive tactics at its worst.� You�ll note that the 2 times the 3-man rush was used, it gave up a 34-yard TD on 3rd & 5 and then a 19.5 yard completion on 3rd & 20.� Note to LeBeau -- stop using the faggoty 3-man rush, you asspump!!

 

Dick�s defense has seen numerous cracks and chinks in the armor the past 4 weeks, which reminds all of us of last year, when the defense sagged and faltered badly down the stretch.� Of course, last year, Dick got a reprieve, because Pola and Aaron Smith were injured.� This year?� The defense has been healthy as a horse these past 4 games, yet they�ve been getting shredded and carved.� Case in point:

 

Rushing yards the defense surrendered in first 11 games:�� 66.5�

 

Rushing yards the defense surrendered in past four games:� 111.5

 

Not a good trend.� Nor is the trend of rushing 3 or 4 men on 25 out of 29 pass plays, and never once rushing 6 men.� This week�s meaningless tilt against Cleveland won�t tell us much of anything, since the game means nothing and numerous scrubs for both teams will see plenty of PT.� Dick has the bye week to get things fixed, and his 1st post-Titans test will take place the weekend of Jan. 10-11.� It will be awfully interesting to see if Dick shows up like a complete homo, or if he grows some balls between now and then and dials up the heat against the opposing QB.� The answer to that question will play a huge role in whether the team advances to the AFCC or meekly bows out and goes home for the winter.�

 

 

(Still Mill and Stillers.com -- when it comes to the analysis of the Pittsburgh Stillers, no one else comes close�.)