StillCurtains
09-26-2016, 06:21 PM
Hello All!
First off I feel that the Eagles are a better team than many fans as well as the Steelers themselves gave them credit for. Some felt that because they beat Cleveland and Chicago that the Steelers would wipe the floor with them. The reality is that it's not who you play, but how you perform against them. The Eagles have beaten the Browns, Bears and now the Steelers handily.
I posted a thread at the start of the season and some of those concerns are rearing their ugly head. The Eagles have used the same strategies that Baltimore has used against us in recent meetings. The Eagle's strength is the speed of their front 7. They used their speed and caused confusion to our o-line to hurry Ben's throws. What is familiar with what Baltimore does was recognizing the absence of Bell and Bryant.
Bell is an excellent blocker as well as a pass catcher. He does a great job in knowing who to block to give Ben extra time as well as when to shed blockers to be a pass catching outlet for Ben. Ben didn't have this at his disposal vs the Eagles and he also didn't have this in 2 of the last 3 meetings vs Baltimore. The other element was to roll their coverage to AB recognizing that we have no true #2 WR. AB had his numbers but his effectiveness was limited. This is what Baltimore has also done in recent meetings. The Eagles forced our other weapons to have to make plays in which they didn't.
I will give Wheaton a little slack being that it's his first game back, but will he ever emerge as our true #2? Coates is not yet consistent, Eli is a slot receiver and I recognized he left the game with a toe injury. Hey Bey is a #3 or #4 at best. At TE Greene has yet to see the field and James has shown flashes but still a work in progress. The truth is that no one has yet emerged as a #2 receiving threat outside of Bryant which has led to some of Baltimore's success against us. Bryant has played in 3 of the last 4 meetings vs Baltimore but he has been effective while in there.
It's not just his talent but also his size and physicality that helps him win matchups vs DB's. There has been only one time when Ben, Brown, Bell and Bryant have all been on the field vs Baltimore and the result was a blowout. On Defense, I really began to be concerned with the loss of Dupree. He has shown promise as a rookie last year and with him going down hurt dramatically.
Our OLB position is the clear weakness. Moats is only serviceable, Jarvis is nonexistent, Harrison is limited due to age and Chickillo still needs time to develop. There is not much that Butler can do right now. This is also an area that Baltimore realizes and they have taken advantage. The safety play has been good enough. Our corners can play better of course, but as the season progresses they will and are not the weakness.
The cushion by our corners is due to the inability of our linebackers covering the short and intermediate passes and their missed tackles in space. The corners not only have to keep the areas of their particular zone and/or receivers in front of them, but also the lapses of coverage and missed tackles of the LB's. The corners can do better in tackling as well, but most of their misses in tackling come from the LB's missing tackles in space from screens putting the corners in bad angles trying to get past blocks to make tackles in the second line of defense.
A corner's strength is not to shed blocks to make a tackle. That is supposed to be the strength of a LB. The truth is that the LB's are not shedding blocks in the screen game and are taking bad tackling angles. For this reason Butler has no choice right now but to only rush 4 and have the corners in a cushion to try and compensate for the LB's.
Notice that Butler was much more aggressive last year. It goes to show how sometimes one player can affect a defense. Although Dupree did not have high sack numbers last year, he applied a lot of pressure. Right now we have no pressure coming on the edges and teams know that, so right now teams are concentrating on our pressure in the middle from Heyward, Tuitt and Hargrave.
Bottom line is we still have the tools to get it done, but we desperately need someone to emerge as the #2 WR to replace Bryant's production and also guys to step up and get it done for our pass rush on the edges or it will be a long season.
First off I feel that the Eagles are a better team than many fans as well as the Steelers themselves gave them credit for. Some felt that because they beat Cleveland and Chicago that the Steelers would wipe the floor with them. The reality is that it's not who you play, but how you perform against them. The Eagles have beaten the Browns, Bears and now the Steelers handily.
I posted a thread at the start of the season and some of those concerns are rearing their ugly head. The Eagles have used the same strategies that Baltimore has used against us in recent meetings. The Eagle's strength is the speed of their front 7. They used their speed and caused confusion to our o-line to hurry Ben's throws. What is familiar with what Baltimore does was recognizing the absence of Bell and Bryant.
Bell is an excellent blocker as well as a pass catcher. He does a great job in knowing who to block to give Ben extra time as well as when to shed blockers to be a pass catching outlet for Ben. Ben didn't have this at his disposal vs the Eagles and he also didn't have this in 2 of the last 3 meetings vs Baltimore. The other element was to roll their coverage to AB recognizing that we have no true #2 WR. AB had his numbers but his effectiveness was limited. This is what Baltimore has also done in recent meetings. The Eagles forced our other weapons to have to make plays in which they didn't.
I will give Wheaton a little slack being that it's his first game back, but will he ever emerge as our true #2? Coates is not yet consistent, Eli is a slot receiver and I recognized he left the game with a toe injury. Hey Bey is a #3 or #4 at best. At TE Greene has yet to see the field and James has shown flashes but still a work in progress. The truth is that no one has yet emerged as a #2 receiving threat outside of Bryant which has led to some of Baltimore's success against us. Bryant has played in 3 of the last 4 meetings vs Baltimore but he has been effective while in there.
It's not just his talent but also his size and physicality that helps him win matchups vs DB's. There has been only one time when Ben, Brown, Bell and Bryant have all been on the field vs Baltimore and the result was a blowout. On Defense, I really began to be concerned with the loss of Dupree. He has shown promise as a rookie last year and with him going down hurt dramatically.
Our OLB position is the clear weakness. Moats is only serviceable, Jarvis is nonexistent, Harrison is limited due to age and Chickillo still needs time to develop. There is not much that Butler can do right now. This is also an area that Baltimore realizes and they have taken advantage. The safety play has been good enough. Our corners can play better of course, but as the season progresses they will and are not the weakness.
The cushion by our corners is due to the inability of our linebackers covering the short and intermediate passes and their missed tackles in space. The corners not only have to keep the areas of their particular zone and/or receivers in front of them, but also the lapses of coverage and missed tackles of the LB's. The corners can do better in tackling as well, but most of their misses in tackling come from the LB's missing tackles in space from screens putting the corners in bad angles trying to get past blocks to make tackles in the second line of defense.
A corner's strength is not to shed blocks to make a tackle. That is supposed to be the strength of a LB. The truth is that the LB's are not shedding blocks in the screen game and are taking bad tackling angles. For this reason Butler has no choice right now but to only rush 4 and have the corners in a cushion to try and compensate for the LB's.
Notice that Butler was much more aggressive last year. It goes to show how sometimes one player can affect a defense. Although Dupree did not have high sack numbers last year, he applied a lot of pressure. Right now we have no pressure coming on the edges and teams know that, so right now teams are concentrating on our pressure in the middle from Heyward, Tuitt and Hargrave.
Bottom line is we still have the tools to get it done, but we desperately need someone to emerge as the #2 WR to replace Bryant's production and also guys to step up and get it done for our pass rush on the edges or it will be a long season.