Steelers Defeat Bengals: the Secondary is Actually ... Good?

[polamalubeast]

The Steelers tamed the Bengals on Sunday, 24-16, to improve to 2-0. In that win, the Pittsburgh secondary showed the football world that they can no longer be taken lightly.


Yes, you read the headline correctly.


Pass defense has been the Achilles’ heel of the Steelers for the better part of recent memory. Last season, the secondary was torched on an alarmingly consistent basis. On their worst days, the secondary’s ineptitude provided quite the spectacle. Versus Russell Wilson, for example.


The Steelers secondary did improve as the year went on, though, and it served as a central focus of the 2016 offseason. Pittsburgh spent their first- and second-round draft picks on defensive backs, adding Artie Burns and Sean Davis. Antwon Blake was mercifully let go. The Steelers even completed a rare in-division trade for cornerback Justin Gilbert.


This season is still young. But if the Steelers’ 2-0 start is any indication, all that attention is paying off.


In terms of pure yardage allowed, the Steelers secondary appears troublesome (695 yards in two weeks). Upon further inspection, however, the pass defense in Pittsburgh has made significant strides from a season ago.


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http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/steelers-defeat-bengals-the-secondary-is-actually-good-091816?cmpid=feed:-sports-CQ-RSS-Feed

[Born2Steel]

What's impressive is the secondary has improved without improving our pass rush. Getting younger and more athletic all over has given this defense flexibility. Great job so far.

[steelreserve]

I wouldn't call them "good," so much as just barely managing to get the job done somehow ... it's been enough, but still something you worry about.

The pass rush, on the other hand, has been abysmal. We really need to stop the plain vanilla four-man rush. With zero pressure, a decent offense will tear that secondary up in short order.

[polamalubeast]

I wouldn't call them "good," so much as just barely managing to get the job done somehow ... it's been enough, but still something you worry about.

The pass rush, on the other hand, has been abysmal. We really need to stop the plain vanilla four-man rush. With zero pressure, a decent offense will tear that secondary up in short order.


Dalton had 366 yards yesterday but it was on 54 Pass Attempts and 137 of its yards were to his running back, so it was not the fault of the secondary.

The secondary was great yesterday.

[DesertSteel]

Better than the OLBs... that's for sure

[hawaiiansteeler]

Comment From Steve: How impressive has the secondary been this year so far and who do you most credit for the performance? Despite this, was Burns a bad pick at #1, not impressive when on the field from what I saw.

Ray Fittipaldo: The secondary is giving up a lot of yards but not a lot of points. I hate to make judgments on any of these players after two weeks. But so far, I'd rather give up the yards than give up a lot of points. 16 points per game is pretty good. You can win doing that.

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2016/09/19/Ray-Fittipaldo-s-Steelers-chat-9-19-16/stories/201609190136

[polamalubeast]

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[ALLD]

We need more splash plays from players beside Shazier.

[polamalubeast]

On the Steelers: Is the Steelers secondary improved? Eyes, numbers tell different stories



A conundrum persists when trying to describe the Steelers secondary as improved after two games. The eyes say it is better than last season’s. Statistics kept by the NFL say it is not.

The Steelers finished 30th in the NFL in yards allowed through the air in 2015. After two games, they are 31st, or next to last. They have permitted an average of 347.5 yards per game to the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals.

Yet, the Steelers are 2-0, and their defense has allowed only two touchdowns, just one via the pass, a short one to the Bengals’ Giovani Bernard, who turned it into a 25-yard touchdown.

How can a secondary be described as “improved” yet yield so many yards with no interceptions? Coach Mike Tomlin believes it has.

“I’ve been pleased with what they’ve done thus far. They’ve largely kept the ball in front. They’ve particularly been stout when the field gets short and good on possession downs. Those are the things that define a secondary and, particularly, define a defense.”

Many of the passing yards against them came as the Redskins and Bengals fell behind and threw to try to catch up. That is supported by the fact they rank 16th in the league in yards per pass attempt against them, 7.1, and their front has managed just one sack.

They rank highly in one key stat — stopping offenses on third downs. They are third in the NFL, having allowed first downs on 7 of 27 third-down tries, or 26.9 percent.



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http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2016/09/21/On-the-Steelers-Is-the-Steelers-secondary-improved-Eyes-and-numbers-may-tell-different-stories/stories/201609210064?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#link_time=1474431320

[polamalubeast]

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[j-d-s]

Actually, I do not really think the secondary is "better", it's just that we focus more on that by numbers. In the first two games we rarely blitzed or got pressure on the QB. We don't even prevent completions or yardage gains by that, we only manage to keep them out of the end zone and force them to kick field goals, which obviously puts them in a bad position when they have to deal with our offense.

Doing this might work against teams like the Redskins or Bengals (especially when they don't have Eifert), but I'm afraid that a team like the Patriots could beat us if we keep not rushing the passer. Gronk can catch jump balls even in triple coverage and is a monster in the redzone. Same goes for Jimmy Graham of the Seahawks (if they manage to get back on track).

[Edman]

This isn't new, this has been going on for a while.

It's like last year when Johnny Manziel "torched" the Steelers Secondary for 370 yards, but could only manage nine points in a 30-9 blowout loss. You look at the yards the secondary gave up and say they had a "bad" game, but they didn't.

The last time I thought the secondary had an awful game was last year against Seattle. Other than that, they've been who they are.

In Philly Sunday, I'm pretty sure they will surrender a lot of yards to the Eagles Offense as well, but I'm pretty sure Philly will barely sniff 20.

[polamalubeast]

The only reason why the Steelers are 31st against the pass(in yards) is that the opponent attempted 97 pass in two games.Also against the Bengals, 137 of the yards of Dalton was at his running back.

But nobody will be sold to the defense no matter how they play before the game against the Patriots in Week 7, but if the defense played very well against them, many will begin to be sold in this defense.

[Craic]

We need more splash plays from players beside Shazier.

I hope not. I'd rather see a defense develop where we're not dependent on people stepping up big to win games. I'd be very happy with no splash plays, but every player playing their part solid; DBs knocking down passes and tackling the receivers in front of them when they do make receptions, DL and LBs not allowing the run, and the entire defense growing stout during trips to the redzone. Lebeau's defense grew too dependent on splash plays and once we no longer had the players that could make them consistently, the defense became a joke real fast.

[Rotorhead]

I think we could use more splash plays, not to be dependent on them, but to end drives and put our off in good field position. Plus it is a big confidence booster to get those TO's!

[Edman]

I hope not. I'd rather see a defense develop where we're not dependent on people stepping up big to win games. I'd be very happy with no splash plays, but every player playing their part solid; DBs knocking down passes and tackling the receivers in front of them when they do make receptions, DL and LBs not allowing the run, and the entire defense growing stout during trips to the redzone. Lebeau's defense grew too dependent on splash plays and once we no longer had the players that could make them consistently, the defense became a joke real fast.

That was the achilles heel of the Lebeau Defense for many years. Overreliance on Troy. As great as he was, he became our only playmaker. The D didn't have this problem from 2004-2008, but 2009 was when the decline happened.

As soon as Troy was out of the lineup or neutralized, the Defense went from great to just decent.

[LloydWoodson]

That was the achilles heel of the Lebeau Defense for many years. Overreliance on Troy. As great as he was, he became our only playmaker. The D didn't have this problem from 2004-2008, but 2009 was when the decline happened.

As soon as Troy was out of the lineup or neutralized, the Defense went from great to just decent.

Steelers had the #1 D in 2010, 2011 and 6th scoring/1st yards in 2012. 2009 was an off year not a decline.

The reality is the D can't carry the O any more. And the O has never been good in the red zone though it is better than it has been.

Still waiting to score 20 in a playoff game under Haley for all the adulation the offense gets in the regular season.

[polamalubeast]

Steelers had the #1 D in 2010, 2011 and 6th scoring/1st yards in 2012. 2009 was an off year not a decline.

The reality is the D can't carry the O any more. And the O has never been good in the red zone though it is better than it has been.

Still waiting to score 20 in a playoff game under Haley for all the adulation the offense gets in the regular season.


I just hope that this time, the Steelers will be healthy on offense if they make the playoffs.

In 2010, our defense was very good but not in 2011 and 2012.The QB than the Steelers faced in 2011 were atrocious and the defense were often awful in the last few years with Lebeau in the 4th quarter,in sacks and in turnovers.

[Iron Steeler]

It was raining . too hard to tell

[fansince'76]

Steelers had the #1 D in 2010, 2011 and 6th scoring/1st yards in 2012.

...which was largely a mirage that was aided greatly by an offense that ranked #5, #2 and #2 in TOP, respectively, during each of those years.


Still waiting to score 20 in a playoff game under Haley for all the adulation the offense gets in the regular season.

Speaking of coming up small in big games, the only reason Rodgers didn't drop 50+ on us in SB XLV was because of several lucky (for us) drops by wide open WRs, despite a huge chunk of their starting roster being on IR. And that is only the most high profile example of what a statistical mirage "the best D in the league for years on end!" really was.

The Tebow wildcard debacle was another.

[tube517]

Steelers had the #1 D in 2010, 2011 and 6th scoring/1st yards in 2012. 2009 was an off year not a decline.

The reality is the D can't carry the O any more. And the O has never been good in the red zone though it is better than it has been.

Still waiting to score 20 in a playoff game under Haley for all the adulation the offense gets in the regular season.

Troy got hurt during the 2010 season and it showed in the playoffs. Rodgers exposed the weak secondary.

2011's defense was statistically good but realistically shitty. Maybe the weakest 12-4 team for the Steelers. They barely beat a Colts team led by Curtis Painter lol. They had to blitz him so many times it was embarrasing.

So, yeah, Edman is correct, 2009 was the beginning of the end.

[polamalubeast]

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[Craic]

I just hope that this time, the Steelers will be healthy on offense if they make the playoffs.

In 2010, our defense was very good but not in 2011 and 2012.The QB than the Steelers faced in 2011 were atrocious and the defense were often awful in the last few years with Lebeau in the 4th quarter,in sacks and in turnovers.
Last few years? We were ALWAYS awful in the fourth quarter. I remember in 2004 turning to a buddy of mine and asking, "Doesn't it feel like the Steelers just trade yards for clock time, hoping to run out of clock before they catch up?