Do we have the necessary players for cover 2?

[TeeTee]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2548151-pittsburgh-steelers-defense-still-a-work-in-progress-in-preseason-week-2-loss?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=pittsburgh-steelers

I don't think we do, personally. You need 2 safeties who have great wheels, who can cover large areas of field.

So, who do we have who can do that?

Shark is a thumper, but not necessarily that rangey.

Darby?

Allen?

If you watched the game last week, you saw our CBs were often hung to dry because safety help was late. Jags kept finding a gap between the CB and S for a few big plays and a TD.

The other thing you need for a solid cover 2 is pressure from just 4 front 7 (or just 4 DL) and we are a hell of a ways off from having that.

For those 2 reasons, Steelers running a cover 2 could be a disaster.

[LLT]

We are one safety away from effectively using the cover 2.

When our starters are in, we get adequate push from the front line. Tuitt and Heyward are going to be a great tandem and McLendon is underrated.

I believe that Allen and Boykin will be the starters at cornerback and the cover 2 plays well to their skill set. They don't have to turn their backs to the QB and both have the instincts to jump routes.

Most importantly....a key position for implementing a cover 2 is the middle lineback who falls back into the middle of the field. Both Timmons and Shazier (and Spence) are athletic enough to do that. it appears that Timmons is going to be that guy with Shazier playing underneath.

Mitchell has played the cover 2 before and did it very well. Shamarko is a liability at this point. He has to get it together or he leaves the CB's out to dry. The good news is that Allen can fit in until Thomas gets it together. Allen is a technical player who understands assignment responsibility. He isn't going to wow us...but he isn't going to be fundamentally flawed at the position.

[TeeTee]

We are one safety away from effectively using the cover 2.

When our starters are in, we get adequate push from the front line. Tuitt and Heyward are going to be a great tandem and McLendon is underrated.

I believe that Allen and Boykin will be the starters at cornerback and the cover 2 plays well to their skill set. They don't have to turn their backs to the QB and both have the instincts to jump routes.

Most importantly....a key position for implementing a cover 2 is the middle lineback who falls back into the middle of the field. Both Timmons and Shazier (and Spence) are athletic enough to do that. it appears that Timmons is going to be that guy with Shazier playing underneath.

Mitchell has played the cover 2 before and did it very well. Shamarko is a liability at this point. He has to get it together or he leaves the CB's out to dry. The good news is that Allen can fit in until Thomas gets it together. Allen is a technical player who understands assignment responsibility. He isn't going to wow us...but he isn't going to be fundamentally flawed at the position.

I know it was only our 2nd PS game, with a new (albeit familiar) DC and a lot of young guys out there. But I can tell you this: They don't have the cover 2 any where close to being tight at this point. There were huge caps in coverage that you could see even more clearly being at the game live. The space between the CB and S were as wide as the Atlantic ocean.

[polamalubeast]

I'm more worried about the pass rush that the safety position....Regardless of the defense you want to play, you have to put pressure on opposing QB, otherwise you're in trouble.

[TeeTee]

I'm more worried about the pass rush that the safety position....Regardless of the defense you want to play, you have to put pressure on opposing QB, otherwise you're in trouble.

Pretty much always true, but some schemes need QB pressure more than others. If teams can just wait until their underneath targets get open, we will be toasted all day long, like a formerly inept Jags team did.

I have a feeling when we have Deebo, Shaz, Timmons and Moats on the field with Hey, Tuitt and MCClendon in there, we might have more pressure than we are seeing now.

[Psycho Ward 86]

Shamarko showed great range the past 2 offseasons, the closing speed was great. not sure whats going on with him right now, hopefully its just that injury from earlier.

[Mojouw]

The safeties were late with help over the top all last season in what was theoretically a zone blitz scheme.

The whole "Cover 2" thing is totally an over-hyped development. This is simply the Steelers playing a fundamental zone coverage concept behind their front 7. It can be all boiled down to a simple statement "Troy Polamalu retired." Polamalu's unique skillset and instincts were the entire reason for the coverage schemes that were run while he was here. Throw in the loss of Ike Taylor from say like prior to about 2013 or so, and the team also no longer has a match-up corner for along the boundary. What does that mean? It means you no longer have a CB isolated on the oppositions best WR. You no longer have one of the safeties roaming all over the green earth wrecking havoc as he sees fit. That was backed by the single high safety - also known as "Hey! Ryan Clark! If none of this shit happening in front of you works out, hit somebody before they score."

What do you have? You have two rangey safeties that like to hit and you have oodles of speed and athleticism at the inside LB position. So you roll your CBs up into the shorter zones, back them with both safeties (since one of them will no longer be leaping the center guard gap) and unleash at least one of your 'backers to roam the medium-deep middle to help replace some of that havoc that you lose when Polamalu hung up the cleats.

Only unanswered question is the pass rush. That was going to be a problem no matter what defensive coverage scheme is played behind it. Plus no one says you can't rush more than 4 and play a cover 2 behind it. Shazier runs like a damn safety anyway. So bring Shamarko off the edge and drop Shazier into the deep middle. Not all the time, but you can still marry cover 2 shell to a zone blitz concept.

But what do I know. It works in my mind, but for some strange reason I am still waiting for my paycheck from an NFL team!

[TeeTee]

The safeties were late with help over the top all last season in what was theoretically a zone blitz scheme.

The whole "Cover 2" thing is totally an over-hyped development. This is simply the Steelers playing a fundamental zone coverage concept behind their front 7. It can be all boiled down to a simple statement "Troy Polamalu retired." Polamalu's unique skillset and instincts were the entire reason for the coverage schemes that were run while he was here. Throw in the loss of Ike Taylor from say like prior to about 2013 or so, and the team also no longer has a match-up corner for along the boundary. What does that mean? It means you no longer have a CB isolated on the oppositions best WR. You no longer have one of the safeties roaming all over the green earth wrecking havoc as he sees fit. That was backed by the single high safety - also known as "Hey! Ryan Clark! If none of this shit happening in front of you works out, hit somebody before they score."

What do you have? You have two rangey safeties that like to hit and you have oodles of speed and athleticism at the inside LB position. So you roll your CBs up into the shorter zones, back them with both safeties (since one of them will no longer be leaping the center guard gap) and unleash at least one of your 'backers to roam the medium-deep middle to help replace some of that havoc that you lose when Polamalu hung up the cleats.

Only unanswered question is the pass rush. That was going to be a problem no matter what defensive coverage scheme is played behind it. Plus no one says you can't rush more than 4 and play a cover 2 behind it. Shazier runs like a damn safety anyway. So bring Shamarko off the edge and drop Shazier into the deep middle. Not all the time, but you can still marry cover 2 shell to a zone blitz concept.

But what do I know. It works in my mind, but for some strange reason I am still waiting for my paycheck from an NFL team!

For some of the reasons you mention, the team knew it probably had to change the scheme. My hope is they simplify the damn thing. One other thing that needs attention: Our 3-4 has never worked without a dominant NT. I don't think we have one, and without, the D will never be that good. Our D has been solid when we had a Joel Steed or Hampton at NT; whenever we didn't, we got soft.

[hawaiiansteeler]

so far our pass defense has allowed a 77 % completion rate and a passer rating of 127.7.

to give you an idea of how bad this is, the worst-ranked defensive completion percentage in the league last season was 69 %, and the worst-ranked defensive passer rating was 108.3...

[TeeTee]

so far our pass defense has allowed a 77 % completion rate and a passer rating of 127.7.

to give you an idea of how bad this is, the worst-ranked defensive completion percentage in the league last season was 69 %, and the worst-ranked defensive passer rating was 108.3...

That's horrid, but I wonder how much can be blamed on PS and 4th stringers in for much of the game? Don't know, just wondering.

[Mojouw]

As to the NT, Big Dan hasn't played yet. I think he is going to have monster year.

[BigNastyDefense]

I'm not worried about completion percentage and QB Rating against the defense in the preseason when scrubs play at least a half if not more of most of the games.

The S I am worried about is Shamarko because (1) he's been hurt so damn much while not getting a ton of PT in his career I don't know if he can do 16 games, and (2) if he isn't the guy at that S position we might be looking to take a guy early in the next draft.

Like a poster before said, the scheme was going to have to change because Polamalu retired and he was the reason we played coverage the way we did. And it also doesn't help that we don't have a lockdown corner to put on the other team's top wideout.

I think it'll work out in the long run. This plays to the strengths of our cornerbacks. I think Mike Mitchell will be fine. Hopefully Shamarko comes around.