Monday Evening Quarterback - Week Five

For the past 23 games or so, the main article section of Monday Evening Quarterback has been predominantly focused on the Steelers' offense, and rightfully so.  In that time frame, the defense deserved very little criticism, while the offense typically struggled. 

A strong trust had developed.  The offense could commit whatever atrocities they pleased and the defense would swoop in like a band of "cleaners," mopping up the blood and destroying the evidence.  That unwavering trust is officially gone, especially late in games.  The Steelers have given up 48 points in the 4th quarter this season, the worst mark in the league.

The Steelers are doing plenty of good things on defense.  They are gangbusters against the run, extremely effective on 1st and 2nd down and have notched 10 sacks over the past two weeks.  There are a handful of individual players (Casey Hampton, Ike Taylor, James Harrison and Lawrence Timmons) that are playing inspired football right now.

But there's just a little something missing from the defense that is preventing it from getting off the field on 3rd down and closing out games.

So, what's the recipe for improvement?

Rotate the Linemen

Hopefully yesterday's more frequent substitutions become a trend and not a one-off fluke.  Going into the Lions' game, Brett Keisel and Aaron Smith were playing over 90% of the defensive snaps.  That's far too much action for those two. 

The Steelers have to have interior pass rushers who can push the pocket and make it difficult for opposing quarterbacks to step up. 

Keisel is a grizzled vet who has been a stalwart in this defense.  By not getting him off the field and rested, the coaching staff isn't giving him a chance at the end of games when his job is to fight off blockers and chase the quarterback play after play, usually against no-huddle offenses.

Last season, the full 2nd team defensive line would come in for an entire series.  This year, the backups had barely seen the field until yesterday.

Travis Kirschke has been making plays when given the chance.  Ziggy Hood has more inside pass rush potential than any Steelers lineman since Ray Seals. 

These guys have to play more often so Keisel and Smith have some explosiveness left for the end of games.

Take Away the Cheap Stuff

I mentioned it last week, and instead of getting better it got worse.  Tight ends and running backs have been killing the Steelers so far this year, which is one thing when it's guys like Chris Johnson or Greg Olsen or Antonio Gates.

Against the Lions, backs and tight ends caught 11 balls for 138 yards, spread among 5 different receivers.

Some of this was great playcalling by Scott Linehan of the Lions, making use of the fullback, backup RB and backup TE when the Steelers were dialed into the wideouts coming in, especially when they were expecting Calvin Johnson to be their main challenge.

It's not so much the catches themselves, but the yards after the catch that kill the team.  This is a simple tackling issue.  

James Farrior is typically a very sure tackler.  He wasn't yesterday.  Keiwan Ratliff missed at least 3 tackles.  Brett Keisel had a chance at Kevin Smith on a short pass but was stymied.  Others missed opportunities to bring receivers down quickly, and no one else had a chance until the big gains were in the books.

RB's and TE's running free is a problem that will be addressed when Troy Polamalu returns from injury, but his return will not solve some of the tackling issues the team has been having.

Address the Secondary Personnel

This is the biggest key, and of course it starts with the return of Troy Polamalu.  His return makes two positions better - strong safety and nickel back, with Deshea Townsend moving back to his more natural position.  If defenses are still picking apart a fully-loaded Steelers' secondary, I'll finally be legitimately concerned.

Troy's presence solves so many issues.  He destroys the short passing game with his ability to close.  He's an athletic pass defender in the deep middle.  He catches the ball when he has a chance for an interception (the Steelers got their first non-Troy interception of the season yesterday on the gimme to Ryan Clark).  Most importantly, he complicates a quarterback's presnap read and puts indecision into a quarterback and into an offense.

He'll be back soon.

As it is now, the biggest priority is to get Keiwan Ratliff off of the field.  He went from being inactive in week one to playing about 60% of the snaps the last 2 weeks.  That's too much considering how often he's been burnt, including allowing Dennis Northcutt to run right past him for a touchdown yesterday.

The Steelers have options.  They drafted Keenan Lewis and Joe Burnett to inject athleticism and youth into the secondary, but neither has been given a chance. 

Lewis looked like a sure-fire contriubutor in the preseason, but he hasn't dressed since week one. 

Burnett looked shaky on the outside in the preseason, but his home figures to be covering slot receivers.  He's been dressing and playing special teams.

There's no way either one of them can be any worse than Ratliff at this point.

Perhaps one of them can be eased into things by playing in the dime defense once Troy returns, so if there is an injury in the secondary over the remainder of the year, they have a little experience to build upon.  I'm all for veteran guile and moxie, but not when that veteran guile and moxie isn't producing.

Weather the Storm

I fully believe that the defense is a lot closer to being the unit that shuts teams down for the first three quarters than it is to being the unit that folds in the 4th quarter.

Some of this is just simple bad luck.  The Steelers are forcing fumbles, but not recovering them.  There's no coaching involved there, it's the bounce of the ball.  The Steelers are getting hits on the quarterback but the quarterback is still completing the pass in fluky fashion.  Somewhere along the line, that ends.

The design of the defense is to limit big plays, stop the run and make the opposing quarterback play the game of his life, authoring long drives to score points.  The design of the defense is working, but quarterbacks are making great plays to move the ball.

Like I said, this space is usually about the offense, a group that has climbed a big hill over the last year to finally find some consistent success.

The defense doesn't have a big hill to climb - they're very close to where they need to be if things just start to break their way.

If they can get healthy, sub a little more, tackle a little better and tweak the nickel and dime package personnel, there's no reason this defense can't reach their level of play from last year. 
This isn't a matter of hope, it's a matter of expectation.  I expect them to improve, which is saying a lot because when compared to other defenses, they're pretty good right now, warts and all.

When that happens, the rest of the league is in big trouble.

FURIOUS FIVE

1.  Denver Broncos

The only thing easier than having all the answers to the test is being the guy who wrote the test.

2.  Indianapolis Colts

The Colts have no running game, and it will hurt them later in the year.  And I still don't buy into their run defense, though they have gotten bigger at defensive tackle.

3.  New York Giants

It gets a little harder than Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Oakland (teams the Giants have feasted on the last three weeks) over the next stretch - New Orleans, Arizona, Philadelphia, San Diego and Atlanta actually have NFL-caliber passing games.

4.  Minnesota Vikings

Here's to hoping that Brett Favre saves his now long overdue mistakes for one more week.

5.  New Orleans Saints

They've got a ton of talent all over the place, but I need to see the defense shut down a quality offense before I'm a believer.

AWARDS

Offense

Ben Roethlisberger

He gave away six points, but was otherwise lethal, tossing 3 touchdown passes.  The Steelers are 5-1 the past two seasons when Ben has 2 or more touchdown passes.

Defense

James Harrison

It couldn't be anyone else.  He made Jeff Backus look like a department store mannequin on a number of plays while finishing with three sacks.

Special Teams

This award has been cancelled.  Lack of any semblance of blocking for Stefan Logan in the return game.  Another long return allowed.  Three penalties, two of which were declined.  Enough.

Goat

Keiwan Ratliff

In folklore, "Keiwan" was the Arabic version of a sun god, translating literally to "the upright one." 

While this fit for Keiwan Ratliff late when Dennis Northcutt ran by him for a touchdown while he was standing flatfooted, it didn't fit earlier on when he tripped over the 30 yard line on Daunte Culpepper's long scramble.

QUOTABLE

"I guess he figured if we're going to get beat, if we're going to give up leads, let's give them up being who we are."

- Ryan Clark

STATS, STAT

After five games last season, the Steelers defense had 5 interceptions, had recovered 3 fumbles and had 18 sacks.  This season at the same point, they have 2 interceptions, 2 fumble recoveries and 15 sacks.  Lack of pressure is not the issue right now, it's a lack of creating turnovers.

MAKING THE ROUNDS

1.  It was sad to see Gerry Dulac join in the chorus of misinformed critics accusing Bruce Arians of abandoning the run in the 2nd half, when that simply wasn't the case.  The Steelers scored on their first and only full possession of the 3rd quarter on the deep ball to Mike Wallace.  Should they have run the ball more on that drive?  The next drive, after three consecutive Mendenhall carries and a false start, the Steelers faced 2nd and 20 and would punt two plays later.  Not exactly a running situation there.  The next possession, Arians called the play he was actually talking about in the quote that was bludgeoned by Dulac, a deep ball on first down with roughly 10 minutes left after calling four consecutive first down runs.  Trai Essex and Justin Hartwig were both beaten off the snap by the backup defensive linemen they were facing, and Willie Colon stood still and blocked no one as Cliff Avril stunted around to clean up the mess.  That left them in 2nd and 19, not exactly Mendenhall time.  On their last actual drive  they fed Mendenhall the ball twice but were held to a three and out when Ben's short throw to Wallace skipped off of the turf.  This is yet another example of how numbers (only 6 second half carries?  Gasp!) obscure reality.

2.  Lawrence Timmons missed a few tackles here and there, but he delivered four devastating pops, two of which were in the hole against running backs.  His coverage skills are going to look even better when Troy returns.

3.  Carey Davis was a breath of fresh air last week at fullback, but the coaching staff rightly played David Johnson almost exclusively at the position yesterday, and he played well.  If Johnson is going to be the fullback and Davis is going to be relegated to special teams, it would make more sense to me if they cut Davis again and elevated Donovan Woods, who could give the coverage and return units a serious jolt.

4.  Just a general thought - when past-their-prime players make plays, it's because of their vast experience.  When they don't make plays, it's because they're too old.

5.  How's this for an odd scheduling tic?  After next week's game against the Browns, the Steelers play the Vikings, the Broncos and the Bengals.  Each of those teams plays the Baltimore Ravens the week before they play the Steelers.  Call me a conspiracy theorist, but doesn't that look like a little bit of a scheduling make-up call after the Ravens begged their way out of an opening night match-up with the Steelers?

AROUND THE LEAGUE

6.  So much for the idea that rookie wide receivers can't contribute.  Kenny Britt, Mike Wallace, Percy Harvin, Austin Collie, Mohamed Massaquoi, Johnny Knox, Jeremy Maclin, Louis Murphy and Julian Edelman have all played significant roles for their teams.

7.  Trying to figure out the Jacksonville Jaguars is like Tim Tebow taking a calculus test shortly after vomiting all over the Lexington blue grass.  A week after looking downright good against the Titans, they were humiliated by the Seahawks.

8.  If someone rolled out a Juggs machine instead of a quarterback, put it on random launch and let it simply fire away after the snap, it could probably complete more than 2 passes in a 60 minute game.  The Steelers cannot let Derek Anderson do to them what the last 5 quarterbacks have done.

9.  I hate to feed the ego of Jerry "Princeps" Jones, but Miles Austin had more receiving yardage yesterday than Terrell Owens has on the season.  The Cowboys should still be embarrassed, Kansas City wouldn't win the Big 12 North.

10. Do you like offensive balance?  If so, I hope you skipped the shootout in the desert yesterday.  The Cardinals and the Texans threw the ball a combined 88 times while running the ball only 35 times, with 9 receivers notching 4 or more catches between the two teams.  Andre Johnson is the best wide receiver in the game in my opinion, and I really don't think it's that close.  He has elements of all the other top WR's all rolled up into one.  He can run tight routes like Reggie Wayne.  He can make plays on jump balls like Larry Fitzgerald.  He can run past people like Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson.  He can run after the catch like Anquan Boldin.  He can bully people like Hines Ward.

IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Joe Thomas

Thomas only gave up 4.5 sacks all of last season.  He's given up 3 so far this year, and he hasn't even faced James "he brings it every play" Harrison yet.