Bend but don't break defense: Doesn't work vs elite QB's

I was a supporter of this scheme for a while, but I notice a common trend. Whenever we face a team with an elite QB, our defense always performs bad, or at best, below the bar.

Sitting back and tackling the catch, waiting for the opponent to make a mistake works against the kirk cousins / joe flaccos in the league, but whenever we face someone like brady or rodgers, they don't make the same mistakes, and that results in a bend AND break defense.

Sure you might give up more big plays playing aggressively, but I do think they need to bring back that attack style of defense, or we'll see a lot of the same vs any top 5 QB. The only teams that have success against brady is the ones that get in his face and don't give him the easy throws. We don't seem to do either.

Fire Arians wrote:

I was a supporter of this scheme for a while, but I notice a common trend. Whenever we face a team with an elite QB, our defense always performs bad, or at best, below the bar.

Sitting back and tackling the catch, waiting for the opponent to make a mistake works against the kirk cousins / joe flaccos in the league, but whenever we face someone like brady or rodgers, they don't make the same mistakes, and that results in a bend AND break defense.

Sure you might give up more big plays playing aggressively, but I do think they need to bring back that attack style of defense, or we'll see a lot of the same vs any top 5 QB. The only teams that have success against brady is the ones that get in his face and don't give him the easy throws. We don't seem to do either.

I definitely agree with you. We need to keep a balance on defense by mixing up the play calling more. Whatever happened to the element of surprise? The only way to beat Brady is to confuse his offensive line and pressure him. What's the point of playing zone most of the time if they are just going to control the time of possession and score anyway? With that being said, I still think injuries have been killing us, especially on defense.

I've always believed you've got to be able to play some man/press in this League.... Zone all day will get you picked apart by accurate QB's

The idea of a "bend but don't break defense" is a misnomer anyways. Reality is that if you play to limit the big plays and get to the red zone and there is a shorter field that you have to defend. Then, you have to be able to stop the run and that doesn't happen with Heyward out, less than stellar play from your OLB's to set the edge and NT inside.

Its why the run and shoot offenses of Houston Oilers put up huge numbers and long TD's, but were relatively ineffective in pounding the ball in the end zone from the 20 yard line in.

The current Steelers still are not limited by scheme on defense, they are limited by talent. I bet you can name 20 or 30 safeties in the NFL that are better than Mike Mitchell, and he is the Steelers best safety. Likewise, you can probably name 20 better OLB's in the league than Moats or Jones.

Fire Arians wrote:

I was a supporter of this scheme for a while, but I notice a common trend. Whenever we face a team with an elite QB, our defense always performs bad, or at best, below the bar.

Sitting back and tackling the catch, waiting for the opponent to make a mistake works against the kirk cousins / joe flaccos in the league, but whenever we face someone like brady or rodgers, they don't make the same mistakes, and that results in a bend AND break defense.

Sure you might give up more big plays playing aggressively, but I do think they need to bring back that attack style of defense, or we'll see a lot of the same vs any top 5 QB. The only teams that have success against brady is the ones that get in his face and don't give him the easy throws. We don't seem to do either.

Elite quarterbacks? We've been scorched by some of the worst QBs in the league. A week after throwing 6 interceptions against the Chiefs, we let Ryan Fitzpatrick throw for nearly 300yds against us. We've made guys like Johnny Manziel, Carson Wentz, Brian Hoyer, etc... Look like future hall of famers. It's not just the well known, household names that have picked apart our secondary, the no names have torn it apart as well. That needs to stop, and it starts with having some kind of pass rush. I thought Butler was creative last season, and our sack numbers went up from the past few seasons before that. Come 2016 all of a sudden it's all bend-but-don't break, and almost no blitzing. I know Dupree has been out, and Heyward has been hurt but we can't expect our leaky secondary to cover guys forever, we're putting them at an automatic disadvantage.