Switch to 4-3

[wu-dai clan]

Steve, Giff calls Liuget our second best pass rusher as a Dlineman.

I am concerned about stoutness vs say, the Raiders, and lack of a true 2Gap 3Tech.

Jatavis can be switched from SAM to MIKE or WILL in 4-3 Over vs 4-3 Under, and he's perfect as LB
in 4-2-5.

I like our DBs now, especially the depth, even though we did not draft a Safety early.

[Steve]

Yeah.....but there is a lot that precipitated the change. The biggest problem was they allowed their D to get OLD at LB and in the secondary at the same time. they wiffed on some edge players, and no longer were able to do what made them successful for so long. Their pass rush suffered which exposed their young DBs. They also wiffed badly on DBs in successive drafts. What had allowed them to be successful for so long under Lebeau was the personnel was rotated through and drafted in advance, especially OLBs. They got OLD all at once, failed on a few restocking efforts and ended up with a weak D in a short period of time.

Did you actually read the article? Not mentioned in the article is that even going back to the early Cowher Blitzburgh teams, when they played passing offenses, Pitt had some epic meltdowns that let passing offenses destroy their secondaries. Typically, their their secondary was the weakest link.

By design, zone defenses leave holes that top QB can exploit. Pitt is just decided that they cannot win that way and now feel like they have to get man coverage guys, and they drafted Artie Burns in the 1st last season to prove the point. They want man to man guys, and they are spending top draft picks to get them.

More importantly, we have our bump and run guys. Verrett and Heyward are both bump and run guys, so I don't know why we would go with a zone D. Bradley prefers man to man and since we have those kind of players, why play zone?

Steve, Giff calls Liuget our second best pass rusher as a Dlineman.

I am concerned about stoutness vs say, the Raiders, and lack of a true 2Gap 3Tech.

Jatavis can be switched from SAM to MIKE or WILL in 4-3 Over vs 4-3 Under, and he's perfect as LB
in 4-2-5.

I like our DBs now, especially the depth, even though we did not draft a Safety early.

If you consider Leo as the rush LB spot (not a DE) then, yes, Liuget is our 2nd best pass rusher. I consider Bosa, then Ingram our best pass rushers, but Liuget needs to get some pressure up the middle. Liuget actually had a very good season vs the run last season. He did a very good job being stout and not running around blocks. In some ways' it was his best season. But he needs to do a better job of being productive. Liugets cap number is $10,250,000, which is a lot for a guy who didn't get any sacks last season. Liuget is tied as the 14th highest paid DT in football (includes 34 DE). He needs to produce more. Plus, he is no longer the center of attention. But we have to get the inside push. Prevent the QB from stepping away from Bosa and Ingram. Or Liuget gets the sacks when the DE flush the QB to him. But it all falls down if the inside pressure isn't there, and that is why Liuget has to produce.

To me, Brown is locked in at WIll LB. He will be in space and have an extra DL to cover him up. He can use his speed to an even greater degree than last year, and he was good last year. Toomer, Emmanuel and Perry are the wild cards at the other LB spots. They have the right combinations of speed, size and other skills. One of them needs to step up. If they don't, then I think Perryman can be a solid Mike LB who lacks a bit of speed, but is pretty good otherwise. I don't want him on the field on passing downs.

King is the other guy that is really going to help. The nickel back (LB/S/CB) is the key to modern D. He is going to be on the field 60-75% of the time. Put a playmaker like King on the field that much, there are a lot of big play chances and a guy like King makes very few mistakes.

The Seattle D doesn't play their 3 technique as a 2 gap guy all the time. When they have bigger, stronger guys, then they tend to ask their strong side DE and 3 technique as 2 gap players. But they play them as 1 gap guys too. It is very flexible that way. I can be used as a pure 1 gap D, or mostly a 2 gap, or any combination in between. I think Liuget is going to be OK, but he is disposable after this year if he doesn't start to produce. This D fits his skills and body, plus Giff Smith is a good DL coach, so he is running out of excuses.

[SDFan]

where does Achoochoo fit? Rotation guy as pass rush DE or LB?

[Boltjolt]

We have known for months they were switching to a 4-3. Ingram at DE is a no brainer.. I like the switch and the coach they got to run it.

[Panamamike]

Did you actually read the article? Not mentioned in the article is that even going back to the early Cowher Blitzburgh teams, when they played passing offenses, Pitt had some epic meltdowns that let passing offenses destroy their secondaries. Typically, their their secondary was the weakest link.

By design, zone defenses leave holes that top QB can exploit. Pitt is just decided that they cannot win that way and now feel like they have to get man coverage guys, and they drafted Artie Burns in the 1st last season to prove the point. They want man to man guys, and they are spending top draft picks to get them.

More importantly, we have our bump and run guys. Verrett and Heyward are both bump and run guys, so I don't know why we would go with a zone D. Bradley prefers man to man and since we have those kind of players, why play zone?

My comments were directed only at PITT and their specific case and team. I never once advocated for playing a zone blitz D here. I am a Big fan of Bradley's D, and have always preferred a press man coverage on the outside and an attacking D. i think our personnel is going to excel with the change . Pressure is Key; pressure without having to sell your soul at the crossroads to generate it is even better.

Yes, I read the article. I also agree about top Qbs vs zone blitz....but the same is true vs any blitz. If you don't get to the QB you will be exposed. If u make the correct read vs Lebeau's 3-4 zone blitz, Quick hitters and dink and dunk all day; The fact is it was their D which won PITT Multiple SBs. It was a dominant unit for many years, and personnel groups, BUT it got OLD at multiple levels all at once; OLB, C, and safety. They had always managed to keep the defensive shelves stocked and roatate guys through, always a guy waiting in the wings that was drafted before they were needed. All at once it was like WTF...where did everybody go?

Of course sometimes you get lit up playing that style of D. It is predicated on confusing the QB at the line, and challenging him to make the right read quickly. It is a calculated gamble, but with large pots, all based on getting pressure on the QB quickly. If you don't, u leave a glaring mismatch to be exploited, even more so than other schemes. A Team that was always a league leader in sacks and pressures no longer was near the top. Age caught up to their pass rush, and replacements like Jarvis Jones busted out. Without pressure that D is garbage. Even at its best, it will give up big plays and some big days. At other times it can befuddle the best too.

[Formula 21]

My comments were directed only at PITT and their specific case and team. I never once advocated for playing a zone blitz D here. I am a Big fan of Bradley's D, and have always preferred a press man coverage on the outside and an attacking D. i think our personnel is going to excel with the change . Pressure is Key; pressure without having to sell your soul at the crossroads to generate it is even better.

Yes, I read the article. I also agree about top Qbs vs zone blitz....but the same is true vs any blitz. If you don't get to the QB you will be exposed. If u make the correct read vs Lebeau's 3-4 zone blitz, Quick hitters and dink and dunk all day; The fact is it was their D which won PITT Multiple SBs. It was a dominant unit for many years, and personnel groups, BUT it got OLD at multiple levels all at once; OLB, C, and safety. They had always managed to keep the defensive shelves stocked and roatate guys through, always a guy waiting in the wings that was drafted before they were needed. All at once it was like WTF...where did everybody go?

Of course sometimes you get lit up playing that style of D. It is predicated on confusing the QB at the line, and challenging him to make the right read quickly. It is a calculated gamble, but with large pots, all based on getting pressure on the QB quickly. If you don't, u leave a glaring mismatch to be exploited, even more so than other schemes. A Team that was always a league leader in sacks and pressures no longer was near the top. Age caught up to their pass rush, and replacements like Jarvis Jones busted out. Without pressure that D is garbage. Even at its best, it will give up big plays and some big days. At other times it can befuddle the best too.

All right, a Sam and Dean fan.

[Steve]

It's not just the rush that gives up the big plays and big days. Pitt was giving up a lot of downfield, chunk plays. It was not just death by a thousand cuts. I think the problem has actually been Pitt pass coverage. Pitt always seems to get pressure, because they blitz. Yeah, they need the individual rushers to exploit the man on man part of the blocking, but they usually seem to manage forcing the QB to get rid of it. At some point, coverage needs to take away the 1st, 2nd, 3rd reads and give the rushers a chance to get to the QB. That is what the new Pitt D is signally. Play press man to man, and it takes time to get the receivers open.

It just sounded like you were suggesting that we could get by with 2nd best pass coverage guys. NFL contenders need good pass coverage and pass rush. Hell, they need to be good everywhere (every position group).