Teams know how to beat us

[Captcoolhand]

With Hines out for this weeks match-up, teams will find NO reason to bring Double covrage to any of our non-surehands WR. So, what does that mean;

Steelers guard Alan Faneca and center Jeff Hartings are Pro Bowl regulars, yet even they are struggling as opponents often send more blitzers than the Steelers have blockers to defend them.

"Teams watch film and that's the way to get things done, to bring the house," Roethlisberger said.

Asked if he expects Tampa Bay to gamble Sunday by sending extra pass rushers, Faneca said, "If they're smart, they're going to do something like that, so we have to expect anything."

One reason why defenses keep teeing off on Roethlisberger is the inconsistency of the Steelers' running game. Willie Parker has gained at least 100 yards in four of their five home games, including a 213-yard effort against New Orleans. But Parker has been held below 50 yards four times on the road.

Also, the Steelers are constantly falling behind early in games, and that is forcing them to throw much more than they ordinarily would. They know they can't allow that to happen against Tampa Bay (3-8), especially with top receiver Hines Ward out with a knee injury.

"We need to get that (running game) going," Roethlisberger said. "I know the line will take that on their shoulders."

So point being that, how do we as fans stand back and down our O-line for all the sacks, but we don't take in consideration for the 7,8,even 9 guys that are being rush at our 5, sometime 6 guy:scratch: Same with Parker,How does a guy gain yards when they bring that many people to the House:dunno: We all know that Parker is not a Powerback nor, IMO is He the future Back for this team. Contributer, yes but that's it:2cents: Parker isn't a leader and that is what this team needs is a Star leading RB
Like mentioned in another thread, Maybe they should allow the Roles to be switch more and have Dookie handle more balls. Try Parker at ST, returning Footballs. What do we have more to loose? At least then, we will get more feel for Najah and what he can do. You to remember, Najah has never been a Starter in the NFL. He's always played behind someone.
IMO,I hope for the Steelers to win But I don't see this as being easy:dunno:
With that, I open the floor for further Comments :yesnod:

[House of Steel]

Great Points Capt. I agree with you on all of this. I am more in the way of stratching my head over the Najeh's project. Why in the hell don't they use him as the powerback and rotate with Willie? This would definitely in my opinion, would shuffle the defense and allowing fewer pass rushes. I believe this could really open the game up for Ben to do his stuff. It is a gamble to take. I wish I was a High School Coach cause I know this game and I love to gamble on formations and rotations cause I know for sure what works and what doesn't. The is the constant problem all season long is exactly what you mention, TEAMS NOW KNOW HOW TO BEAT US, and the question is WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS? We have to start mixing up the plays again and start rotation in the rushing game as well as passing formation. If the Steelers are too easy to figure out, then somebody on the Coaching Staff is not doing their job in working and sitting down planning new strategies to avoid the repeating the problems. Football and being victorious is about confusing the opponent, if you can't do that nor have the personnel to do it, then your in deep trouble cause you won't win many games this way. Common sense would tell you that.

[Captcoolhand]

Another thing, If they bring that mant players to the line, How come we don't see more screen passes?:scratch: :dunno:

[House of Steel]

That is true too, but lately, they have been lining up Willie for the Screens I thought, especially in the game against Cleveland, I seen this happen a few times, but your right, they need to open up the screen pass formation more often than they have, this could very well work to our advantage. Willie is at his best assess at this part of the game.

[AZ_Steeler]

I agree Capt... I was going to bring up the screen pass too :bigthumb: It's exactly what the Bungholes did to the Ratbirds last night... the Ravens were being overly aggressive as they were against the Steelers and the Bengals said fine... "you want to be that aggressive then here's a shovel pass up your ass!!! Oh you didn't get the message... fine again here's a screen pass up your ass too!" The Steelers don't take advantage of these types of situations like the Bengals did last night. There is an answer for every defensive scheme it's just a matter if your coach is smart enough to pick it apart especially during the game so he can make the adjustments! :2cents:

[Captcoolhand]

Checkdowns and screen passes will back them off and that is what they are going to have to do with Tampa. Ravens are only winning because they are trying to use our style of football:2cents:

[SteelerFan87]

Well the article mentions that our running game is bad. Well, this game is at home (where Parker pwns) and against Tampa Bay, who we've always been able to run against.

Also, yeah, if teams are going to bring the house against us, we need some more screen passes to Holmes, Parker, and Najeh. And more shotgun would probably help too. Use the spread offense more to against an aggressive blitzing defense. I mean, we should be experts at this, because we've seen every way teams have tried to counteract our aggressive defense.

[SteelersWoman]

I read a little while ago that Willie has run the ball like 200 times this season--Najeh only 25 times. That doesn't sound like Bill's given enough the biggest back we have to see what he can really do when given the chance--Bill gives up on him too fast.

[Iron City South]

Najah will be retained as a Steeler and will compete next year for the "change of pace" power back that people are calling for.

I think him coming in late this year, then being thrown into the special teams role where we absolutely need him right now has a lot to do with him not automatically getting the nod at the power back role this year. It takes a player a good season to really understand our playbook, especially the blocking roles.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

People sending Blitz's at us is nothing new here, they've been doing it for years and years. It's not like we've never seem teams bring the house at us and it's not like our OL hasnt blocked it effectively as well. Does anyone actually think that teams didn't blitz us last year and bring the house? Of course they did, all year long.

The difference this year is the entire OL is not blocking and picking up their assignments. They arent holding their ground in the middle and pressure is busting through the Center and OG's. That's where the problem is here. Pressure from the outside can be avoided easily because Ben can just step up in the pocket, but this year there is no pocket because it's collapsing from the middle and Ben can't run anywhere or step up because he has no room.

Russ Grimm is a great OL coach and our players blocked this effectively right up until this year, now all of the sudden teams have figured us out?? No way ! We're just not doing our jobs at all anywhere on the offensive side of the ball, the way we used too. That needs to change this offseason.