https://steelersdepot.com/2018/09/fi...d-over-middle/
So really despite the wailing around here, everything I have come across this morning indicates that the defensive problems are centered around 3 guys:
1. Bostic in coverage
2. Davis/Edmunds in rotating over in zone - viewing this as one guy because it still isn't clear which one had what responsibility
3. Cam Sutton getting owned.
I'm gonna give Burns a pass on Hill making him look foolish. Hill and Reid's play design have and will do that to far better players than Burns.
So we are left with an ILB we all knew wasn't that great in coverage being not great in coverage. We also have uneven safety play in a position mostly held down by a rookie and a dude in his second start a FS. And finally we have Cam "I'm totally over-matched on the outside in the NFL and can I just play in the Slot, Please" Sutton.
None of this is surprising or shocking to me to read about. Here is what is frustrating:
1. Why none of these "new" packages we heard about? In the linked article that looks like a more standard nickel package where DL have been swapped out for a DB or two and both Bostic and VW are left on the field. My only guess is that the threat of Hunt in the run game drove a decision to leave the ILBs on the field. And to that I can only counter with isn't one or two of the 15 active safeties on the roster intended to play a :dimebacker: role? I thought that meant they could handle the run stuffing chores?
2. I find the above far more frustrating than placing OLBs on WRs. That's standard 3-4 zone-blitz stuff and was used to generate pressure against Cleveland (I saw Watt on Landry at least twice). Yesterday it didn't get home, but the 50+ sacks they generated last year says it is a gamble that the Steelers usually win.
3. The defense still lacks a playmaker or playmakers. No one on the top 14 guys in the defensive rotation is a threat to consistently cause turnovers. Losing Shazier wasn't just about his preternatural ability at the LB level, it was the fact that almost every turnover caused by the defense in 2016 and 2017 was rooted in something Shazier did. In a stand-up fight against a good to great offense (which I truly think KC is and will be throughout this season) this defense does not have enough power to trade punches. They need to "steal" a round or two by causing turnovers and they have NO ONE to do that.
Really for me it is simply that we, as fans, are not able to know why much of what training camp and the preseason seemed focused on - several personnel groupings designed as solutions to the consistent issues faced by the defense in contending with 4-5 receiver routes (be they backs, TEs, or WRs) and that any decent TE can open the middle of the defense like a can opener. Now, again I have not watched either of the first 2 games very carefully, but I do not believe these fancy new defensive alignments have been rolled out all that much. So the question is why?
Options included:
1. Butler and Tomlin are idiots. At this point, I'm not going to even pretend that this isn't entirely possible.
2. Burnett is hurt or not as good as advertised.
3. The desperation to get a "playmaker" on the field is more than we have guessed and they are prioritizing Edmunds being on the field and therefore are limiting the packages they use to try and make him effective. Maybe they add things each week and by sometime in 2021 it all comes together...
4. They simply underestimated Mahomes and KC. The gameplan against Browns was solid and led to a totally stifling of the offense and 7 sacks. They assumed they were better than the Chargers and could put pressure on Mahomes and make him make mistakes. They were wrong. KC's line was better than advertised and Mahomes' reads were quicker and his accuracy both better than many suspected.
Which one is it? Or is it a combination of all? We will never know. I think that the Steelers self-identify "communication" as both an actual problem but also as a cover story for the press. In other words, Mike Hilton can not come out and say that Bostic and Sutton got their asses kicked, so he says "communication" and we are off to the races about scheme and coaching. Now, I do think scheme and coaching are a part of it. Putting players in good spots versus bad spots etc. But I think a lot of it is that guys that were intended to be good just aren't. And no one can take the ball away.