Steelerfury.com Post Game Grades Week 5 – Detroit Lions

The stage was set,  the intensity built,  and 70,000 terrible towels flooded Ford field in Detroit as Steeler Nation gathered and formed a sea of black and gold in support of the “jaws of life” that made up their defense.  Only problem is,  that was 2005 and the opponent was the Seattle Seahawks.  Fast forward to 2009 and the latest version of that defense chooses not to win with “style points”.  Last years version of Blitzburgh could watch a man go down on defense and that unit wouldn’t miss a beat.  Not so this year,  as key departures and injuries have all of Steeler Nation asking the same question……..Where’s my DEFENSE ?!?!?

-In 2007,  the coverage unit failed,  and they fixed it

-In 2008,  the “offensive” offensive line failed,  and they seemingly fixed it.

The Steelers wont survive if 2010 becomes the year of  “fix my defense”.  The problems are correctable,  the talent is there,  the coaching is top notch,   and the desire is plenty.  But it leaves the question,  is this defense showing its collective age?

COACHING – C+

Any time a defending Superbowl champ marches into a game with something to prove against an opponent that’s a feeble 1-20 in its last 21 games and you open with a 3 & out and allowing a long scoring drive to open the game,  you had a bad plan.  Possibly the same bad plan you’ve taken into every 4^th QTR of every games this year.  The one that allowed Daunte Culpepper circa 2004 where he spun the ball all the way to the pro bowl.  Fast forward 5 years and 3 knee operations later and the Steeler defense made him look better than the guy who cant start over a rookie on an 0-16 team.  Thank your lucky stars the effort put forth was during Detroit week,  b/c after Thanksgiving against a quality team you can chalk this one up as an “L”.  Going forward,  I refuse to just accept this defense as mediocre and accept it as the norm much like a large portion of Steeler Nation did with its OL over the last few years.  Fix it,  and fix it now. 

Offense – B

The collective effort was a winning effort.  Anytime this team puts up 28 pts this Steelers team should roll to victory with 3^rd teamers in the 2^nd half.  They came out with a feeble effort on the opening drive.  Im not a fan of emptying the backfield with motion on manageable downs and telegraphing WR screens on the first series every week will eventually come back to bite you.  But after that series,  they put their foot on the gas pedal racking up three 1^st half TD’s along with “gimme” TD that was dropped and followed up with a Plax and Sweed like over reaction of kicking the ball.  The run game did little else but kick ass and take names in the first half showing the kind of burst we’re accustomed to seeing.  They did it by controlling the ball for over 17 minutes in the first half with one punt and one their only turnover.  The effective use of screens kept the Lion defense and blitz off balance and one even resulted in a TD to Heath Miller.  The only series I wasn’t a fan of was attempting to go deep in the 4^th QTR to put the game away resulting in a sack when eating the clock in the run game was still the right call.  The first down sack forced a second down throw that ended in the same fate.  But anytime this offense is perfect in the red zone on 3 trips,  you wont find many complaints from me.

QB:  B+

23/30 – 277 yards – 3 TD’s – 1 Int – 123.9 QBR

He continued his near flawless execution and spreading of the football to 6 different receivers and effective use of blitz and hot reads.  He did take 3 sacks,  but also led 5 scoring drives.  The problem with that stat is one of them was telegraphed and floated into the hands of a Lion defender and ended up for 6 the other way.  Ben continues to light the league on fire with his arm and has become the clear leader of this squad.  This football team will only go as far as #7 takes them.

RB:  A

17/85 – 1 TD – 5 Rec / 36 yards

Rashard Mendenhall continued to impress at a 5.1 per carry clip walking into the endzone twice,  having one called back on a Matt Spaeth hold.  He started out hot in the first half then cooled after halftime when Detroit made adjustments in their run fits.  He continues to do an excellent job in blitz pick up and recognition and is quickly proving he can be an every down back. 

WR:  B+

13/191 2 TD’s

The trio of Hines Ward,  Santonio Holmes,  and Mike Wallace are becoming a force to be reckoned with.  After 5 games,  Mike Wallace is already the best WR3 the Steelers have had in a long time.  When he turns the jets on, he has a gear unmatched by any nickel CB in the NFL.  Santonio Holmes continues to draw double teams and brackets allowing his counterparts to work free and light the scoreboard up.  Hines Ward made a catch that only a vet of his ilk could make and fought his way across the goal line.  Two negatives stood out.  Mike Wallace needs to keep his composure on bad drops.  Taking a penalty for your own mistake is not the mark of a championship team.  I expect he’ll learn from it.  Secondly,  as Im a fan of Limas Sweeds potential,  he remains in the doghouse until he works his way out.  He only had one chance,  one that the CB made a very nice play on,  but sometime redemption comes in the form of adversity. 

TE:  B

5/54 – 1 TD

As I watched this game,  it seemed like Heath Miller caught 20 balls.  He was constantly open and continued to get yards after the catch.  He and Matt Spaeth did a decent job in the run game but I take points off the overall grade for 2 key Matt Spaeth penalties,  one of which nullified a touchdown

OL:  B-

This unit continues to look sharp.  From LT to RT,  they looked solid and nasty in the run game.  All except for Justin Hartwig who was beat like a drum for 60 minutes.  Grady Jackson and Andre Fluellen walked him 3 yards deep in the pocket far too many times.  Luckily,  a lot of quick hitting off tackle plays were called allowing him to wall his man off from the play.  All in all,  the pass protection was solid allowing 3 sacks overall,  but a 2^nd half adjustment from Jim Schwartz effectively took away most running lanes in the 2^nd half. 

DEFENSE:  D

Another 4^th QTR struggle and another 4^th QTR comeback.  This defense alone should be all that’s needed to shut down a Detroit Lions as a team.  They remain solid in run fits,  but are lost in coverage and even with 7 sacks on the day,  seem to struggle to get pressure unless they manufacture it through scheme.  Last week everyone wanted the CB’s up on the ball,  this week they did it and made Daunte Culpepper look like Peyton Manning.  The press man looks with the vanilla 2 deep shell isn’t working without Troy disguising presnap looks.  I understand when you have 2 new faces at 2 new positions in Ratliffe and Townsend its best to keep it simple,  but at some point you have to impose your will and take over. Luckily they did that on the last drive by dialing up 3 CB blitzes

DL:  B+

Not the most impressive showing from this unit,  but overall a winning effort.  They held Kevin Smith to 53 yards on 20 attempts,  but did their part in failing to take away cut back lanes at crucial moments.  Rookie Ziggy Hood got his share of PT in the 2^nd half in the absence of Aaron Smith.  Ziggy looked good and it seems it only took John Mitchell 5 weeks and one training camp to get his patented collegiate spin move out of his bag of tricks.  Casey Hampton continues to dominate,  when he wants too,  but Brett Keisel was erased too many times from cutback lanes. 

LB:  C

I give them this grade even after knowing they racked up 5.5 sacks on the day.  James Harrison notched 3 by himself,  but was held too silent early on by Jeff Backus and Brandon Pettigrew.  Once able to pin his ears back,  he dominated.  It was nice to see he acknowledged fallen comrade Larry Foote on one sack by mimicking his patented “Foote Stomp” deep in the Lion backfield.  Lamar Woodley got on the board for the first time this year with 1.5 sacks of his own,  but each were 2^nd effort sacks,  which still count,  but he still isn’t dominating right tackles like he needs to be.  He also lost contain on his rush early on allowing Daunte Culpepper to scramble for a 32 yard gain.  Lawrence Timmons was decent in all phases and delivered some blows between the hashes.  He did a nice job of playing down hill in the run game as well attacking the line of scrimmage.  But his technique is still raw and he’s allowing far too many 2^nd level cutback lanes uncharacteristic of this defense.  As noted, James Farrior continues to seem a step slow in all phases.  Getting caught in the wash more than ever before and not finishing like a Steeler LB and team captain needs too. 

DB: D

Its becoming apparent this unit is missing some key starters.  Namely Troy Polamalu and Bryant McFadden.  I prayed for a McFadden extension but the gods wouldn’t listen.  Ike Taylor and Willie Gay remain solid options as starters,  but I’ve preached that my opinion is the 2008 version of the Steeler secondary was so good b/c they went 4 deep at CB.  With Troys knee injury,  it move Townsend out of his nickel role to SS,  and insert Keiwan Ratliffe into the nickel slot.  Ratliffe has never been a world beater or shutdown corner,  he’s simply been a solid #3 option and a cover 2 zone corner in his career.  And with Troy out in the secondary,  there isn’t a QB in this league that fears the Steelers safeties with all the cover 2 – man under calls they’ve run and everyone is attacking the middle of the field.  Back to my point on Ratliffe,  he’s never been a man cover CB,  so why use him that way?  When your playmaker safety is out,  your ILB isn’t getting the depth in his drops he used too,  why let Ratliffe run down the seam with anyone,  especially Antonio Gates or in this case,  Dennis Northcutt.  Hopefully Troy is back next week to revive this unit. 

Special Teams:  D+

There was a time,  not long ago, that everytime the ball was kicked off,  I’d pray mid-flight for Gary Russell to “just show me the 30”.  That’s all I wanted,  the 30 yard line.  Now,  I’ve lessened my expectations in the return and all I want to see is the 20 yard line,  b/c its becoming apparent that Stefan Logan is struggling to achieve the 20 yard line.  From Billy “white shoes” Johnson,  to Dante Hall,  I’ve never seen a return man,  specifically small return man,  go down so quickly on first contact.  Its 11 of the most finely tuned athletes in the world foaming at the mouth to dislodge your head from your neck.  So at some point you at least have to break an arm tackle.  Luckily,  contain was broken one time allowing Logan the sideline to get near midfielf.  Otherwise,  he was a non factor again.  In other news,  Skippy was perfect on PAT’s and Dan Sepulveda never had a punt blocked,  at least until he visits Jerry Jones and his scoreboard.  The coverage team looked lackluster allowing PSU standout Derrick Williams the 30 yard line far too many times. 

In the crosshairs:  A team that just had more rushing attempts than passing yards.  Is it too much to ask to win one convincingly?