View topic - ike

[steelmoney Profile]

PITTSBURGH - Ike Taylor doesn't get much attention for being the Pittsburgh Steelers' primary defender against an opponent's top receiver. Sometimes that's good, because it means Taylor isn't getting beaten for many touchdown catches.Taylor will go against the NFL's hottest receiver, Larry Fitzgerald of Arizona, in the Super Bowl, and he has had lots of time to think about it. Given Fitzgerald's outrageous post-season production, this appears to be a bad matchup for any cornerback."He has 419 yards in the post-season, and it isn't over with.

He's breaking some of Jerry Rice's records," Taylor said. "From what he's displaying week in and week out, yeah, he's one of the best in the world."Taylor isn't as recognizable as All-Pros James Harrison or Troy Polamalu in Pittsburgh's league-leading defence, but he played well enough to be a Pro Bowl alternate. He yielded only two touchdowns in coverage despite being matched against receivers such as Terrell Owens, Chad Ocho Cinco, Plaxico Burress, Andre Johnson, Wes Welker, Reggie Wayne, Derrick Mason, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Santana Moss."Fitzgerald's going to be the talk of the Super Bowl, and that's going to be a key matchup," linebacker Larry Foote said. "If Ike can do a great job on him, our chances of winning increase."Taylor is proud the Steelers easily led the NFL in pass defence, allowing an average of 22 yards per game fewer than any other team. He wonders why the secondary doesn't get as much attention as the rest of the defence."Regardless of what people don't want to say, the recognition that we don't get, we feel like we do a good job," Taylor said.

"We're No. 1 in overall defence, No. 1 in pass defence, No. 2 in run defence, No. 1 in red zone defence. I really don't know who's been putting up those kind of numbers."The Steelers permitted only three teams to throw for 200 yards, and none reached 300. Two were held below 100 yards."Other teams tend to get more pub than we do, but that comes with the territory," Taylor said. "But we do have a pretty decent secondary. They've got a great receiving corps, with the head man in Kurt (Warner), and this is going to be one of our toughest challenges."Ask the Eagles, who watched Fitzgerald make nine catches for 152 yards and three touchdowns in the NFC championship game on Sunday. The former Pitt star has eight TD catches in his last five games and 11 in his last eight, plus five consecutive 100-yard games.Bryant McFadden, Pittsburgh's other starting cornerback, said Harrison, Polamalu, Aaron Smith, James Farrior and LaMarr Woodley are as important to controlling Fitzgerald as the secondary is."The pass rushers, they've been our best friends all year," McFadden said. "They're going to elevate from being best friends to family members.

These guys are going to be the key for us being successful."Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt has a detailed knowledge of the Steelers' defence after previously being their offensive co-ordinator. But Steelers coach Mike Tomlin discounts that as a factor because teams and defences evolve annually.Also, Steelers players are certain that defensive co-ordinator Dick LeBeau, especially with two weeks to prepare, will draw up some schemes Warner and Fitzgerald haven't seen on tape."One thing you have is faith that coach LeBeau is going to find a way to cover all those guys," safety Ryan Clark said of 1,000-yard receivers Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston.As for Fitzgerald versus Taylor, the Steelers believe it is anything but a mismatch, even though LeBeau calls Fitzgerald the best receiver he has seen at elevating to catch a ball."This guy is special," LeBeau said. "We are working on a short stepladder for Ike to carry around with him so he can get higher in the air."Taylor played only one season on defence at Louisiana-Lafayette, but has started most of the last four seasons in Pittsburgh. He was benched for more than a month by former coach Bill Cowher in 2006, only to rebound with two consecutive good seasons.To motivate himself, Taylor keeps a clipping about athletes who have come back from adversity - the headline is "Bouncing Back" - in his locker."Ike's the right guy for this," Foote said. "If you wanted to know who had the confidence and the personality and the swagger in this locker-room (to defend Fitzgerald), Ike would be the first name that comes to you."

[El Nino Profile]

Taylor is gonna be key in this game, and I think the matchup is a good one for him. He's a big, physical corner at 6'2 that isn't a size mismatch against fitz like say, asante samuel was. Historically Ike has been great against taller WR's like chad johnson and TO who rely on size to create mismatches. I don't expect fitz to be totally shut down, but Ike has was it takes to contain him.

[Coach Epps Profile]

Physically, Ike measures up against Fitz as well as anyone.

I'm worried about the mental aspect, especially when the ball's in the air. Ike has HORRIBLE ball skills, both in spotting the ball when it's in the air and in actually making a play on it if/when he does find it, and there's none better than Fitz. I think Ike will be able to jam Fitz at the line (if we decide to scheme around that) and be physical in that sense, the problem is going to be those deep jump balls Warner likes to throw.

Hopefully, we can keep Clark deep and let him punch Fitz in the mouth a couple of times early on.

[thesteelhammer Profile]

Welcome to the board coach. Nice first post.

I've been wondering if it would be better to man Ike up on Boldin one on one, and then double Fitz with McFadden and a Safety.

[Coach Epps Profile]

Welcome to the board coach. Nice first post.

I've been wondering if it would be better to man Ike up on Boldin one on one, and then double Fitz with McFadden and a Safety.

Welcome to the board coach. Nice first post.

I've been wondering if it would be better to man Ike up on Boldin one on one, and then double Fitz with McFadden and a Safety.

Thanks for the welcome.

McFadden on Fitz would certainly be worth trying out. I honestly don't believe there's a solution that is going to work all game. Fitz is just too good. I mean, he made Rod Rutherford almost look like an able quarterback in college. That's a miracle in itself!

I've thought about maybe a zone, but I could see him eating that alive by finding gaps in that zone, then eating us alive with RAC.

Fitz did have some problems in the past getting away from jams by physical corners. I think he's mostly worked through those problems at this point in his career, but could be something worth looking at. If we don't hit Warner, we're in serious doo-doo.

[Scutum Profile]

1.) Fitz needs to be jammed at the line as much as possible to disrupt timing as much as possible.
2.) The pass rush needs to be effective.
3.) Every time Fitz or Boldin crosses the middle, they need to be blasted by Clark, Winged God, Timmons, and anybody else in the vicinity. Punish them.
4.) Just as important, the Steelers can be effective stopping the Cardinals offense by being efficient on offense. Don't let Warner and Co. have a lot of possessions to work with. Grind out first downs with FWP running out of the I. Just not up the gut every play.

I'd be tempted to leave Ike on Boldin 1v1 and double Fitz with McFadden and somebody (depending where the route goes), but I'm a shmuck. I think they have to put whichever CB on Fitzgerald that will be better at jamming him at the line. The Gay/Breaston matchup could also be big.