The 3 Secondary Lapses that Cost the Season

[coldrolled]

1. Troy takes bad angle on Houston's Arian Foster late, big TD jaunt: Steelers lose 17-10.
2. Ravens' Torrey Smith gets behind Wm. Gay for last second TD catch: Steelers lose 23-20
3. Last night's dagger in O.T.: season over.

So much for Carnell Lake's first year as DB Coach. Great players don't always make great coaches.

If we are winning by 2 touchdowns using our super powered offense.. minus an OC from EA sports..We would not worry about a few lapses in game.

Watch Greenbay and New Orleans play, they give up big plays and have lapses. They cover thaose up with their offensive attack.

we were 12-4 with a offense scoring less than 21 points a game. its not really the defenses fault.

the pats score 30+ points a game, they are rehiring mcdaniels...

[steelspikes]

Peter King on ESPN (Colin Coherd radio show) just said that that last play was not "zero coverage," but that either Troy or Mundy "saw something" indicating a run. So the error of having no safety help for Ike Taylor was really player error. Doubtful that a more experienced Ryan Clark makes that same mistake.

--- Added 1/10/2012 at 11:02 AM ---

If we are winning by 2 touchdowns using our super powered offense.. minus an OC from EA sports..We would not worry about a few lapses in game.

Watch Greenbay and New Orleans play, they give up big plays and have lapses. They cover thaose up with their offensive attack.

we were 12-4 with a offense scoring less than 21 points a game. its not really the defenses fault.

the pats score 30+ points a game, they are rehiring mcdaniels...

See articles I've written for SA. It's all about Steelers' lack of scoring under Bruce Arians. Will be pushing for a Mike Martz hire in upcoming posts/article.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

I will say this if you think Carnell Lake didn't do a good job then you must be watching the wrong team. The secondary, all of them greatly improved their game. Is it a coincidence that Ike Taylor has his best year the same time Lake took over? If you watched the play of Gay and Lewis you notice that their technique improved as well. They didn't get caught with their hips turned the wrong direction or get run by nearly as often.

Yes those plays were costly but overall in the season I will take this secondary over any group since super bowl XL.

[steelersbabex25]

I could never complain about this years secondary after watching the abysmal secondary of a few years ago. A complete 180 this year IMO. From one of the worst in the league to the best in the league. Ironic as it may be, that it one of the units that I'm not worried about going into the offseason.

[steelspikes]

After hearing what Peter King said on ESPN radio (above) I am not so critical of Steeler staff. Agree that overall secondary play this year was good. But sticking to my guns that the three breakdowns I list at the start of this thread were crucial to the Steelers' fate this year.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

Just imagine the secondary that the Steelers had the last couple of years before 2011. Imagine that group being on the field during this years run with so many injuries to the defensive line and linebackers? Instead of finishing #1 overall they'd have been lucky to finish 31..LOL.

I'll take this years DB's over anything in a quite awhile.

[steelspikes]

Bottom line: our playoff run was hi-jacked by an inferior team...which sucks big-time.