Ryan Shazier looks to put it all together

[hawaiiansteeler]

Steelers' Shazier looks to put it all together

By DAN SCIFO
— Aug. 6, 2016

LATROBE, Pa. (AP) — Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier's top goal this season is to stay healthy.

Shazier took another step forward in his development during his second NFL season in 2015, though injuries remain a concern. If Shazier can stay on the field for an improving Steelers defense, the former first-round pick figures the rest will fall into place.

"The more you're on the field, the better you get," Shazier said. "My teammates will trust me in certain situations when I'm on the field, they'll know I can do certain things and I'll have confidence, too.

"The more I'm on the field, the more confidence I have and I'll feel like I can do anything."

Shazier flashed that first-round, big-play ability during last season's AFC wild-card game at Cincinnati. He led the defense with a single-game playoff high 13 tackles and finished with his first career postseason fumble recovery. Shazier also forced two fumbles, including a devastating third-quarter hit on Giovani Bernard and a critical late-game takeaway of Jeremy Hill that led to the winning field goal.

"You just have to have confidence in yourself, especially after last year," Shazier said. "I started playing better and started having more confidence in myself. I'm a major competitor. I hate losing and I'm going to do whatever I have to do to win."

The Steelers liked Shazier's 4.4 speed and sideline-to-sideline playmaking abilities when they selected the 6-foot-1, 230-pound linebacker No. 15 overall in the 2014 draft.

The former Ohio State standout made 12 regular-season starts in 2015 and finished second on the team with 87 tackles, 3½ sacks, four passes defensed and a pair of forced fumbles.

But Shazier struggled to stay healthy, missing four games early in the season with a right shoulder injury before playing the final 12 games. Shazier missed all or parts of nine of the Steelers' final 14 games during his rookie season.

"He has to stay healthy," defensive coordinator Keith Butler said. "He has to be on the field. That's the biggest thing for him. If he stays on the field, he'll be productive. He'll be what I think we envisioned him to be."

Shazier definitely feels as if he's stronger and he has a better understanding of the things he needs to do, regarding diet and weight training to preserve his body for the rigors of an NFL season. He's also evolving as a leader on the defense and progressing as a defensive signal caller, a job he took over full time last season.

to read rest of article:

http://pro32.ap.org/post-gazette/art...t-all-together

[polamalubeast]

[Psycho Ward 86]

the only scenario i envision keeping Timmons for past his current contract at all is if Shazier cant stay healthy. Hopefully Williams (or maybe Matakevich?) + Shazier are our future at ILB

[86WARD]

I didn't read the article...is Shazier talking about his career or all the broken parts on his body?!?

[hawaiiansteeler]

10 WORST INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES FROM SUNDAY’S WEEK 3 ACTION

by SAM MONSON

Every Tuesday, PFF will be releasing its list of the lowest-graded players at each NFL position for that week. But Senior Analyst Sam Monson gets a jump on that by picking out 10 individual performances from Sunday’s games that stood out for just how bad they were.

Here are the 10 worst performances from Sunday’s Week 3 action:

3. Ryan Shazier, LB, Pittsburgh Steelers

After an excellent performance in the first game of the season, Shazier has regressed back to poor play, struggling in coverage against the Eagles in particular. He was in primary coverage on five targets, four of which were caught for 103 yards and a touchdown, as he was the chief victim of Eagles running back Darren Sproles out of the backfield.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro...week-3-action/

[Mojouw]

I generally like PFF, but this kind of thing drives me nuts. Anyone who watched the game could see that Shazier was limping around on a bad knee. It wasn't so much that he regressed it was that he played hurt because the Steelers ran out of inside linebackers.

[86WARD]

Was he hurt when Sproles went 70+ yards? I can't remember.

[pczach]

Was he hurt when Sproles went 70+ yards? I can't remember.

Yeah, he basically got hurt on the first Eagles offensive series.

It's pretty tough to beat him up on his performance. At one point every starting LB was out of the game. They just didn't have enough bodies and he gutted it out trying to make a difference. I'm not going to hold it against him.

[SteelerFanInStl]

I generally like PFF, but this kind of thing drives me nuts. Anyone who watched the game could see that Shazier was limping around on a bad knee. It wasn't so much that he regressed it was that he played hurt because the Steelers ran out of inside linebackers.

Yep and they didn't even bother to mention that he was injured. 70+ yards of that came on the one play by Sproles.

[hawaiiansteeler]

Yep and they didn't even bother to mention that he was injured. 70+ yards of that came on the one play by Sproles.

that 70+ yard Sproles TD was the result of bad judgement on Shazier's part, not because of injury.