stillers4me
05-22-2012, 06:39 AM
Since the way the position is played is changing, it’s appropriate that the people being asked to play it are changing as well.
When the Steelers defense takes the field as a unit during the first of 10 OTAs today, there will be no No. 51 in the center of the huddle. There still is a No. 51, but rookie Sean Spence (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/team/roster/sean-spence/be819128-6117-419b-8586-f0c71facd389/) will be on the sideline when the call goes out for “first Okie.”
James Farrior is gone, and while there will be attention paid to the issue of who replaces him at inside linebacker, an even bigger issue for the Steelers as they prepare for the 2012 NFL season is how the position of inside linebacker has evolved and whether they have the personnel to deal with that.
Used to be that inside linebackers made tackles on running plays. Find the ball, get the man carrying it on the ground. That’s how Jack Lambert played it once Chuck Noll switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4 in the early 1980s. Then David Little after him, and Levon Kirkland after him and Earl Holmes after him and Farrior after all of them. But running the football isn’t as big a part of contemporary NFL offenses, and teams have become both unapologetic for that and creative in ways not to do it..........
read more @ http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/A-lot-has-changed-at-ILB/20e9bccb-da50-4dae-8573-14fb5db58892
When the Steelers defense takes the field as a unit during the first of 10 OTAs today, there will be no No. 51 in the center of the huddle. There still is a No. 51, but rookie Sean Spence (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/team/roster/sean-spence/be819128-6117-419b-8586-f0c71facd389/) will be on the sideline when the call goes out for “first Okie.”
James Farrior is gone, and while there will be attention paid to the issue of who replaces him at inside linebacker, an even bigger issue for the Steelers as they prepare for the 2012 NFL season is how the position of inside linebacker has evolved and whether they have the personnel to deal with that.
Used to be that inside linebackers made tackles on running plays. Find the ball, get the man carrying it on the ground. That’s how Jack Lambert played it once Chuck Noll switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4 in the early 1980s. Then David Little after him, and Levon Kirkland after him and Earl Holmes after him and Farrior after all of them. But running the football isn’t as big a part of contemporary NFL offenses, and teams have become both unapologetic for that and creative in ways not to do it..........
read more @ http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/A-lot-has-changed-at-ILB/20e9bccb-da50-4dae-8573-14fb5db58892