Artie Burns

I have to say I'm really surprised with this kid. He played over 80% of the snaps in the last game, and although not a sure tackler, he seems to be more than holding his own in coverage. Leads the team in passes defensed, and although he gave up some catches, he contested every one.

Loving the fight in this kid, I honestly didn't think he'd contribute at all this year, but it does look like he's well on his way to even landing a job as a starter THIS year. To think he's one of the better cover men already and he's still in the infancy stage of his development. I think in a year or 2 this kid could be a pro bowl corner.

could become the Steelers shut down corner

if Gilbert can live up to his potential would be great.

This from today's weekly Tomlin media session

Tomlin: Artie Burns & Justin Gilbert continue to grow at CB. Artie quickly making up lot of ground he missed in preseason

— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) October 4, 2016

Atlanta Dan wrote:

This from today's weekly Tomlin media session

Tomlin: Artie Burns & Justin Gilbert continue to grow at CB. Artie quickly making up lot of ground he missed in preseason

— Ed Bouchette (@EdBouchette) October 4, 2016

As long as Burns has a good attitude and keeps working on his technique, he will continue to get better.  He still is pretty sloppy in his footwork and technique.

Lets not kid ourselves....Tyreek Hill beat him bad on that go route and he never looked back for the football, but Smith underthrew the football.  The more impressive play was the pass to Conley on the sideline that was challenged IMO.  Burns was there to get a hand on the ball and almost wrestle it out.  That and a barely missed swipe of the ball on a Kelce completion.....when he gets better technique, he will be there and with better backpedal and turn, he could be closer to a speedster like Hill and not get burned as bad.

Again, that being said.....if Antowan Blake was back there, Tyreek Hill would have a TD and Blake would still be 5-10 yards away from the passes to Conley or Kelce. I'm so happy Valentio Blake is hiding out in Tennessee.

He looked good against the Chiefs. Made a few mistakes but has the speed to recover. I'm likin what im seeing so far.

EbonySteel86 wrote:

He looked good against the Chiefs. Made a few mistakes but has the speed to recover. I'm likin what im seeing so far.

Just needs to shore up his tackling, and continue to get better. Kid has a bright future if he can do that.

Artie Burns Getting Trial By Fire Early In Rookie Campaign

BY MATTHEW MARCZI OCTOBER 6, 2016

For those who may have been worried that Pittsburgh Steelers rookie first-round cornerback Artie Burns was going to spend all season rotting on the bench—which was the general perception after he was drafted when taking into consideration the fact that he was drafted as a raw underclassman—you can probably set your fears aside for now, because he has played a substantial amount through the quarter pole of the year.

Over the course of the first four weeks of the season, Burns has accumulated a total of 148 snaps, a number that has consistently trended upward on a weekly basis both in terms of raw number and in percentage of snaps played.

This total was produced from a base total snap count for the defense of 284, which means that the rookie first-rounder has played roughly 52 percent of the Steelers’ defensive snaps thus far this year. When you take into consideration the fact that he played a mere nine snaps in the season opener, however, it becomes more obvious how much his role has escalated since then.

During the first game of the season, the Steelers were highly selective with their usage of their quarter defense, using it only nine times in 63 defensive snaps over the course of the game in obvious passing situations.

By the next week, they had grown more ambitious. While they still started out each half using it only selectively, by the end of the second and fourth quarters, they were employing it liberally. They ran out of that look for most of the fourth quarter, and Burns ended up logging 32 of 77 snaps.

to read rest of article:

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2016/10/artie-burns-getting-trial-fire-early-rookie-campaign/

Hmmmm maybe Colbert is getting his act together concerning the secondary

BKAnthem wrote:

Hmmmm maybe Colbert is getting his act together concerning the secondary

I think its more Tomlin he has been a defensive backs coach most of his coaching career.