zulater
11-08-2011, 04:59 AM
On the Steelers: Defense not in the zone in tough loss to Ravens
Did success against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots spoil the Steelers pass defense Sunday night against the Baltimore Ravens?
The Steelers tactics on defense Oct. 30 against Brady were hailed for shutting down one of the great passers in NFL history. The Steelers, who usually play plenty of zone defense in the secondary behind Dick LeBeau's famed fire-zone blitzes, did little of that while beating New England, 25-17, and holding Brady to 198 yards passing.
Instead they played more man-to-man, their cornerbacks coming closer to the line of scrimmage opposite the receivers in what is known as "press" coverage.
And, likely under the theory that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, they played a lot of that same defense against Joe Flacco and the Ravens.
Only this time, Flacco torched them. He completed 28 of 47 passes for 300 yards and he converted 14 of 21 third downs, the most conversions in Ravens history.
Despite his success, the Steelers played that defense right up until the bitter end, with corners playing man-to-man press coverage as Baltimore swept downfield from its 8 and moved in for the kill. Flacco threw deep a number of times against that coverage and a couple of times, his receivers had the coverage beat. Rookie Torrey Smith dropped one of those in the end zone after beating Ike Taylor on a pass from the 37.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11312/1188283-66.stm#ixzz1d6u58U9f
See this is what I don't get, why couldn't we change into our normal zone coverage if what we were doing wasn't working? which clearly it wasn't. :frusty:
Did success against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots spoil the Steelers pass defense Sunday night against the Baltimore Ravens?
The Steelers tactics on defense Oct. 30 against Brady were hailed for shutting down one of the great passers in NFL history. The Steelers, who usually play plenty of zone defense in the secondary behind Dick LeBeau's famed fire-zone blitzes, did little of that while beating New England, 25-17, and holding Brady to 198 yards passing.
Instead they played more man-to-man, their cornerbacks coming closer to the line of scrimmage opposite the receivers in what is known as "press" coverage.
And, likely under the theory that if it ain't broke, don't fix it, they played a lot of that same defense against Joe Flacco and the Ravens.
Only this time, Flacco torched them. He completed 28 of 47 passes for 300 yards and he converted 14 of 21 third downs, the most conversions in Ravens history.
Despite his success, the Steelers played that defense right up until the bitter end, with corners playing man-to-man press coverage as Baltimore swept downfield from its 8 and moved in for the kill. Flacco threw deep a number of times against that coverage and a couple of times, his receivers had the coverage beat. Rookie Torrey Smith dropped one of those in the end zone after beating Ike Taylor on a pass from the 37.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11312/1188283-66.stm#ixzz1d6u58U9f
See this is what I don't get, why couldn't we change into our normal zone coverage if what we were doing wasn't working? which clearly it wasn't. :frusty: