Originally Posted by
Craic
I'll leave number one alone. Number 2 and 3, however, are just not true. Let's start with 3. When Tomlin came on staff, we ran a fire-blitz defense putting outside CBs on an island and depended on linebackers, cbs, and even safeties firing from weird positions and odd angles to get to the QB. The front three were supposed to be pylons. Unmovable. They didn't need much forward push and they could not get moved backwards. Each guy was supposed to take up 2 blockers (including TE on run plays). That left the seams open for OLBs to stunt and sometimes, for ILBs to do the same. So, the ILBs had to be fast enough to cover but big enough to be run stuffers. The OLBs had to be bulls with speed to get to the QB or seal off the outside on run plays.
Then, football shifted to an even more focused pass attack. So, we shifted along with it. Front three now were not as responsible for eating up lineman. Instead, they were tasked with getting to the QB. The ILBs we drafted were smaller and better equipped (supposedly) to cover the third or fourth wide-out. That defense was just beginning to take shape when the major cog in the machine broke. However, the offensive side of the ball kept changing, so the defense kept changing as well. In the last year or so, they've tried moving to what has been termed the "dollar" defense or a 2-2-7 in specialized situations (.2percent of the snap) and playing more dime (37.2 percent) and as much nickel (29.4 percent) defense as their base defense (30 percent) (which has been going on for a few years now). They've also inserted a 4-3 they ran ten percent of the time last year. That's a 8 percent drop in dime defense, 7 percent rise in nickel defense, and a 13 percent increase in dime. As for blitzing, they went from 28 percent blitz in 2014 to 44.1 percent blitz in 2018. So, yeah, I'd say the defense has changed in approach quite a bit.
As for adjustments at half time, this is a real headscratcher. I know the mantra, but what do the stats say? Pittsburgh was the fourth best offense in the NFL last year in the tird quarter for 1st down percentage, tied for second for most TDs in the third quarter, and tied for seventh best in most plays ending in 1st down or TD. They were 1 behind Kansas in sacks allowed in the third quarter as well. Now, many of these compare about the same to the second quarter stats, all but one. Sacks. Pittsburgh allowed 8 sacks in the second quarter. I'd say that means adjustments were made to keep Ben clean.
The difference that you may be noticing in the defense. But, it's not that the Steelers failed to adjust. It's that other teams adjusted to the Steelers defense at half time. The stat difference is stark. Only 3 teams allowed less first downs in the second quarter than the Steelers. The Steelers were 9th in getting turnovers in the second quarter, and were in third place in TDs allowed and tied for second in 1st downs allowed. In the third quarter, 13 teams allowed less first downs, they were 31st in getting turnovers, 14th in fewest TDs allowed, and 16th in fewest first downs allowed.
So, no there's no problem with half time adjustments AND there's been significant changes. The problem is that our defense was too easily understood by opposing offenses and picked apart at half time by the other team, and our defensive changes haven't amounted to much due to a few bad draft picks an one major injury at the heart of the defensive scheme.
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