ILB Breakdown: 'We Don't Have Another Ryan Shazier'

[hawaiiansteeler]

ILB Breakdown: 'We Don't Have Another Ryan Shazier'

By JIM WEXELL

PITTSBURGH -- That salty dog Vince Williams put the playoff loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars this way:

"You just gotta eat something like that," said the Steelers' buck inside linebacker. "It just sucks that it happens in the playoffs. That's terrible. You don't want to play the worst game of your season in the playoffs."

Williams was talking about the entire defense, but he could've been talking about himself. Or Sean Spence. Or the safeties. He could've been talking about anyone in the middle of the field.

"We just couldn't stop the run. Obviously," Williams said. "Leonard Fournette's a great guy. That offensive line catches a lot of flack -- [Blake] Bortles catches a lot of flack but he's pretty good on the play-action -- and they were able to generate enough run to where they could trick us with the play-action, because we didn't know it was coming."

Thus, the constant, chronic, consistent calls from the media for the Steelers to draft an inside linebacker.

to read rest of article:

https://247sports.com/nfl/pittsburgh-steelers/Article/Steelers-ILB-Vince-Williams-We-Dont-Have-Another-Ryan-Shazier-118440658

[EzraTank]

We went from our 2008 defense to this being the norm. Sad.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

We went from our 2008 defense to this being the norm. Sad.

I guess that can happen when all 11 starters from 10 years ago are gone.

Names like Polamalu, Keisel, Hampton, Smith, Harrison, Woodley, Farrior, Taylor, Clark, Townsend are all gone. Those were some very good players.

[hawaiiansteeler]

I guess that can happen when all 11 starters from 10 years ago are gone.

Names like Polamalu, Keisel, Hampton, Smith, Harrison, Woodley, Farrior, Taylor, Clark, Townsend are all gone. Those were some very good players.

Tomlin can only win with Cowher's players :stirthepot:

[Hawkman]

Lest we forget impact/potential impact defensive players who had major injuries......Spence, Golson, Shazier. I’d call those big set backs, especially after losing the names mentioned.

[Dwinsgames]

We Don't Have Another Ryan Shazier......

maybe , maybe not ...I think until live snaps are played we just do not know what we have YET

I am excited to see what T.E. can do ... I do not believe they plan on using him as a pure safety or they wouldnt have snagged a poor mans version of him in Allen later

[Born2Steel]

Who in the NFL IS another Ryan Shazier? Not many in that category to start with. IMO, this is the very reason why the steelers looked so bad in that playoff game. First let me emphasize the facts. That was a catch by James, the Steelers beat the Patriots and should have ended the regular season at 14-2 with the #1 overall seed in the AFC. However that would only have prolonged the inevitable. This defense was not equipped personnel-wise to stop the Jags or Patriots without Ryan Shazier. Yes the Matakevich injury hurt as well but was not the game changer that the Shazier injury was.

Having a LB core unit of VW, Bostic, and Matakevich on the field together is very interesting. I don't think any RB wants to meet any one of these guys in the hole. This front 7 could end up as a base hybrid 4-3 with Heyward(Alualu) and Tuitt(Hargrave), Watt(Chickillo) and Dupree(Adams), and VW(Fort), Bostic(Edmunds), and Matakevich(Allen).

https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2018/5/10/17336290/new-defensive-additions-could-equate-to-even-less-base-defense-for-the-steelers-3-4-nfl-scheme

This article gives some very good diagrams and info on personnel and defensive alignment ideas.

[hawaiiansteeler]

Pittsburgh Steelers inside linebackers say they're solid even with Ryan Shazier out for season

Jeremy Fowler
ESPN Staff Writer

PITTSBURGH -- The Steelers' inside linebackers might as well come with a warning label: Don't write us off just because Ryan Shazier is out.

Pittsburgh will miss Shazier, who will not play football in 2018 due to spinal stabilization surgery in December, but Tyler Matakevich "absolutely" takes issue with the perception that linebacker is a problem area.

to read rest of article:

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/23642097/pittsburgh-steelers-linebackers-good-minus-ryan-shazier