New CBA hurting performance.

[SteelJunkie]

Between the lockout and new CBA performance has suffered. Our issues are fundamentals such as blocking and tackling. Now back in the days Noll and Cower would have had full weeks of padded practices to make up for the deficiencies. As it stands now you have to practice in shorts and have limited contact.

Would more padded practices help all our problems? No, but it would of help shore up a lot. You can preach fundamentals all you want but unless you practicing with full contact its not going to improve performance. Coaches are going to have to be creative in teaching the skills and make sure it sinks in, also making sure you use the most out of the time you are practicing in pads. Its not just the Steelers I've seen tons of missed tackles across the league.

[Black@Gold Forever32]

Its what Fuhrer Goodell wants.....NFL is close to being unwatchable anymore....seriously I'm finding myself not enjoying the sport as much as I use to......

[Katmandu]

I would buy this argument if it were not for the fact that this is the most experienced team in NFL history.

[NC Joker]

Between the lockout and new CBA performance has suffered. Our issues are fundamentals such as blocking and tackling. Now back in the days Noll and Cower would have had full weeks of padded practices to make up for the deficiencies. As it stands now you have to practice in shorts and have limited contact.

Would more padded practices help all our problems? No, but it would of help shore up a lot. You can preach fundamentals all you want but unless you practicing with full contact its not going to improve performance. Coaches are going to have to be creative in teaching the skills and make sure it sinks in, also making sure you use the most out of the time you are practicing in pads. Its not just the Steelers I've seen tons of missed tackles across the league.

That is so true.

[SteelCityVoice]

Offseason work had nothing to do with it, in fact it should favor a team like Pittsburgh as it keeps them from wearing down too much, plus they should know the fundamentals by now. This is one of the most experienced teams in the NFL.

No what's killing the Steelers is their inability/stubborness to address an awful offensive line seriously. Yes they invested a first rounder in Pouncey and a 2nd rounder in Gilbert this year, but the rest of this O-Line is simply not good period.

You get what you pay for and the days of Ben avoiding the rush this line allows are over.

It's a shame the team sees fit to protect their $100 million dollar investment with a bargain bin line.

[Katmandu]

No what's killing the Steelers is their inability/stubborness to address an awful offensive line seriously.

And what excuse does the Defense have for acting like a wet paper bag ?

[BlitzburghRockCity]

You took the words right out of my mouth Junkie. I was going to start a thread about this tomorrow. The new CBA does not allow for many padded practices and that hurts the Steelers. Tomlin can't work on the fundamentals in practice because you can't hit anyone anymore. This team thrives on that, we saw as much even last year. When the coaches started putting them in pads more in practice, we saw dramatic results on gameday.

The Steelers thrive on contact, emotion, hitting someone. You can't do it in training camp hardly at all, nobody does it in preseason, and now in the regular season it's more of the same. This team was built on physicality and asking them to just turn it on for the game each week might just not work for our Steelers.

[SteelCityVoice]

And what excuse does the Defense have for acting like a wet paper bag ?

The D-Line is way too old. No push, no sucking up blockers and therefore the playmakers (linebackers) can't do their jobs. Aaron Smith should never have been resigned for as much as he wanted. Not after coming off two straight injury shortened seasons. Casey Hampton just isn't dominating like he used to and Kiesel is hurt.

It doesn't help that Foote and Farrior are too slow either.

At this point you need to give more reps to Heyward and Hood so we can see what we have in them. They are the future. Smith is the past at this point.

[SteelDad]

I will go only so far in saying that the lack of OTA's and the like are part of the problem. The reason I don't put much into it is that EVERY team is dealing with this issue so perhaps some handled it better than others, who knows? My feeling is that OTAs should not have stopped this team from finding the proper personnel in places that even the lamest of fans knew where it was needed.

[Nolrog]

You took the words right out of my mouth Junkie. I was going to start a thread about this tomorrow. The new CBA does not allow for many padded practices and that hurts the Steelers. Tomlin can't work on the fundamentals in practice because you can't hit anyone anymore. This team thrives on that, we saw as much even last year. When the coaches started putting them in pads more in practice, we saw dramatic results on gameday.

The Steelers thrive on contact, emotion, hitting someone. You can't do it in training camp hardly at all, nobody does it in preseason, and now in the regular season it's more of the same. This team was built on physicality and asking them to just turn it on for the game each week might just not work for our Steelers.

That's also true of Baltimore. They don't seem to be having any problems. In fact, right now they look like one of the best teams in the AFC. They man-handled the Jets last night just like they did for us.

It's only the Steelers that seem to be affected by this, so to me, that means it's a problem specific to the team and not something caused by league decisions.