Pittsburgh Steelers: Dick LeBeau Needs Players To Come To His Defense
The football year couldn't have started any better for Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. He was finally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio for his stunning career as a player.
As a tribute to his more recent work as one of football's best defensive minds, the entire Pittsburgh Steelers roster hopped on buses and, in the middle of training camp, traveled to see their beloved defensive genius get football's ultimate high honor.
Since then, however, things have gone downhill. LeBeau's defense, so good in the team's first four games, has since fallen into a state of disarray to the point that ignoring their huge problems will do no good.
Here's a look at what's going wrong and what should be on LeBeau's radar as the team tries to return to the playoffs.
1. Identity Crisis
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As new players enter and old players leave, sometimes the identity of a unit changes.
With the Pittsburgh Steelers, largely the same cast of characters seems to have lost their longtime identity.
Ever since Dick LeBeau returned to Pittsburgh after a failed head coaching gig in Cincinnati, the Steelers have been an aggressive, blitzing juggernaut. The blitzes can come from anywhere. Safeties, corners, linebackers and linemen all are adept at getting to the quarterback.
The marriage of LeBeau's aggressive strategy and superstar safety Troy Polamalu was a match made in heaven. He also was given gifted linebackers like Joey Porter, James Farrior, James Harrison, Lamarr Woodley and now Lawrence Timmons to work with.
The problem lately is that everyone seems to be doing something they simply aren't good at except for Timmons, who's having a breakout season and should garner Pro Bowl honors for the first time.
Troy Polamalu, who was a roving spy in previous years, has been asked to do more in coverage deep and in support of the team's corners rather than be a nomad who can show up anywhere at any time. Part of what made the team so effective was that quarterbacks never could plan for Polamalu, so they'd spend too much time worrying about his whereabouts.
The linebackers, usually used in crushing blitz packages, are now playing coverage more often than ever.
There's one cause for all of this confusion: a poor, undermanned secondary. We'll get to that in a bit.
The important thing right now is that this unit has no identity. They don't fit well into the coverage mold. It's time to get back to that all-out aggressiveness that not only disguises their weaknesses but strikes fear into the hearts of opposing skill players.
2. What Hasn't Been Working
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Here's a list of things that just aren't working right now for the Steelers vaunted defense:
1. Linebackers in Coverage
James Harrison, James Farrior, Lamarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons are, to a man, pass rush specialists and blitzing linebackers. They are not meant for coverage. They are meant for contact. Lately, the Steelers have been dropping six to eight men in coverage and rushing only three or four. The result has been that quarterbacks have more time to throw and make bigger plays.
2. William Gay in the Nickel
William Gay shouldn't even get paid a nickel for his skills, let alone play in the nickel formation. Gay had an awful season last year while starting opposite Ike Taylor. The solution was to bring Bryant McFadden back and play Gay in the nickel and dime packages where he excelled as a rookie.
The results haven't been there consistently. He had a good first half against New Orleans, but has given up too many big plays otherwise. Lately, he seems to be in on every opposing team's big plays. He's probably best suited to a special teams role or the unemployment line. He certainly can't help this team in his current position.
3. Troy Polamalu in Deep Coverage
There's literally nothing that Troy Polamalu cannot do. He's played well enough as a coverage safety and doesn't get beat deep, but it's not his forte. He's best when he's roaming all over the field and trying to get to whoever has the ball.
Lately, he's been guessing too much, tied to one place on the field too often, and seemingly forbidden to use his excellent instincts to make plays outside of the regular defensive mold. Until he's put back in his old job, he'll continue to be largely a non-factor.
4. The Lack of Blitzes
This is Dick LeBeau's defense. He invented the zone blitz. He coaches the league's most aggressive unit. Where has it been since Ben Roethlisberger returned from his suspension?
The number of blitzes has dropped significantly. Everyone is in coverage. The linemen are rushing by themselves. When they do blitz, it's almost always an outside linebacker or two instead of exotic packages. I'm not even sure Troy Polamalu has blitzed this season.
For a team built around hunting down quarterbacks, this is no way to play defense.
3. A Disturbing Two-Year Trend Gets Worse
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Last year, the Steelers couldn't finish games. They struggled in the second half almost every week. Always dominant in the first half of games, this unit let the team down when the game was on the line.
This year, even in the stellar first four games, the defense has still be rather iffy when it counts most. Except for their nearly disastrous stop of Cincinnati to ice the Bengals on Monday Night Football (the drive ended at Pittsburgh's 12), the Steelers haven't done much in the clutch department.
Prevent defense is a universal evil to all who dared use it. It prevents victories and allows lots of yards and points. For a team lacking secondary help, a prevent defense is suicidal. Yet Pittsburgh (and every other team) continue to employ it whenever they have a late lead.
The Steelers have to get better at closing games. How?
The answer is simple to me. Do what you did in the first half.
In most games, the Steelers get after the quarterback early with blitzes and heavy rushing, slam the door on opposing runners and create mismatches and turnovers. Then they get lazy and protective and go into the prevent.
How about coming out in the second half looking to improve on the dominance? Get more sacks, more turnovers, more negative yardage. How about running more blitzes in the second half than in the first? If you have the lead, the odds are in favor of passing. The best way to counteract a passing attack isn't to sit back and try to cover everyone. The best way is to rush the quarterback, throw bodies right in his face and make him panic and throw wildly.
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4. Fixing What Ails You
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Remember that list of problems? Well here are your solutions. Feel free to add ideas. Maybe someone will see this and realize that it really isn't hard to fix something like these defensive issues. Fans can hope, right?
Blitz, Blitz, Blitz
Bring the house. Make opponents beat you. The best way to play when you have such good pass rush specialists and fast players in the secondary is to bring them after the quarterback.
Blitzes, particularly up the middle, scare quarterbacks. Bodies in their face force them to do things they aren't ready for or aren't comfortable with. For example, the Patriots' Tom Brady is a great quarterback, but if you look at video, teams that throw blitzes up the middle can consistently rattle him and get him to make poor throws and mistakes.
Also, bring back the blitzes by players not usually seen blitzing. Have Ike Taylor storm into the backfield, bring Ryan Clark and/or Troy Polamalu up the middle, anything to keep teams guessing.
Troy Polamalu, 0043
The secondary's best player is at his best when he's not lining up. What that means is Polamalu is at his best when he's in a spy or monster role. That means he has no set spot on the field, no coverage to maintain. He's allowed to go wherever, do whatever and play however he thinks is best.
Few players can match his skill and instinct. When he's allowed to turn it loose, he's a devil for opponents. You can't game plan for someone you can't predict. That's what makes him dangerous.
Get Troy back in his comfort zone and watch the fireworks.
The Keenan Lewis Show
So Lewis has some issues with penalties and isn't exactly the best starting cornerback prospect in history.
He's better than William Gay. Kind of like being left-handed and breathing in baseball, that alone should get him some time on the field. Gay has been awful. He's not a good nickel back. Lewis needs his shot. Let's see it happen.
Lewis is aggressive, something you'd like in this defense. He needs to be schooled on channeling that correctly, but he's a good player when he's not covering top talent. He'd likely be good against slot receivers and tight ends, especially with Ryan Clark roving in the area.
5. Depth Concerns
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This unit is banged up. The last thought for this piece is that it simply can't take another major blow.
The depth just isn't there.
Losing Brett Keisel and Aaron Smith for gobs of time has left them razor-thin on the line. Should they lose Casey Hampton or one of the backups now playing regularly (Nick Eason, Ziggy Hood), there's little chance they could replace them effectively.
At linebacker, the backups are all young and inexperienced with the exception of Larry Foote, who's older and not as talented. They can't afford a loss here, particularly on the outside.
In the secondary, the starting talent (save for Polamalu and Clark) isn't very good. That doesn't bode well for what's on the bench.
The point of all of this?
It's time to start drafting smarter. I could write a whole separate article on draft decisions in the last two years. The reality is that the team has ignored its depth problems, especially in the secondary, in favor of always taking the best players available. That's great, but what good do nine linebackers do you when you need a lineman or a corner?
None.
Dear Dick LeBeau,
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Here's my open letter to Coach LeBeau:
Dear Coach LeBeau,
Please stop using prevent defense, pedestrian blitz tactics and linebacker coverage to disguise the defense's biggest problems: age and talent. Start disguising it by being aggressive for 60 minutes every Sunday on the field.
Here's my wish list for you:
—Blitz almost every down and from every possible angle, especially right up the middle.
—Let Troy Polamalu do whatever he wants, or whatever you had him doing in 2008.
—Forget everything conventional and line up with lots of players overloading one side, linemen not down in stances and exotic coverage mixes (like the Browns did to beat New Orleans and New England).
—Don't ever take your collective feet off of the opponent's collective neck.
—Ask Mariano Rivera about closing out games. Whatever advice he gives you, adapt it to your defense.
—Be not only a Hall of Fame player and a previously Hall of Fame coach, be a Hall of Fame coach every single minute of every single game.
Thank you!
Nick DeWitt
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