Tempered Enthusiasm�
Let me preface this article by stating that Steel Phantom
provides the finest and most thorough analysis of the Steelers that I have read
on any site.� His offseason work has
been tremendous, and anyone who hasn't already I highly recommend you peruse
the archives for his writings.�
Sunday's victory, while somewhat shoddy, is an encouraging
sign of things to come.� On a Sunday
where Houston was knocking off Miami and the Vikings went into Lambeau and
thrashed the Packers, don't let the final score fool you, the Steelers came out
and took care of business against an inferior opponent.� Check that�against a green as grass rookie
QB.
Offensively, I'm very encouraged as Maddox looked very sharp.� Clearly, this is a passing team, and with a
TE like Riemersma in tow defensive coordinators are going to have nightmares
trying to keep up with the Steelers receiving threats.� With Zereoue (a poor man's Faulk) in the
backfield, complementing Riemersma and the best trio of WRs around, this
offense will be the greatest show on turf.�
The O-line did a solid job against a decent front seven.� I liked pretty much everything I saw on
Sunday, from the playcalling to execution (albeit for a few stalled red zone
drives early).� This is an offense that
appears completely in tune with itself and looks to dictate both the flow and
the tempo of the game.
The defense likewise got out of the gate quickly, harassing the rookie Kyle
Boller.� However, I did see an awful lot
of Travis Taylor running free in the secondary, only to have Boller underthrow
or flat out miss him.� Most QBs,
beginning with Trent Green next week, will not oblige like the rookie, and
either the secondary better hold their coverage for a second longer or the 4
man rush better get to the QB a second earlier.� I won't downplay the defensive performance, because it was solid;
however, we saw this last year against Houston, Carolina, and Tampa Bay late in
the year only to be shredded by competent offenses in the playoffs.
Didn't we really hire a second defensive backs coach in Darren Perry this
offseason?� Well if so, where is the
technique improvement to go along with the extra coaching?� Any smart offensive coordinator who has that
game tape, would be foolish to attempt any fewer than about 15 bombs downfield
against our secondary.� For starters, if
there's no blitz, the pressure won't get there.� To top it off, if by some chance Washington or Scott is actually
running with the WR, chances are he won't turn around and look for the damn ball
drawing a flag every time.� Let's call
this Bellicheck Phase II, or Cincinnati Phase II whichever you prefer, but the
fact is, the league has gotten smarter.�
Coaches do study tapes and trends, and the obvious trend from Sunday's
game is that if you chuck it downfield you'll either have a TD or a flag, so
long as your QB can hit the broad side of a barn � which incidentally Boller
could not.� Hell, even if Scott or
Washington is right on coverage and they turn around and look right at the
ball, they won't catch it.� Of course,
another point the offensive coordinators might notice is that Alexander is
never involved in any of the long pass plays.�
Perhaps this is because he's busy "coaching" the rest of the
players into their proper positions.�
Fact is, if the choice is a guy who knows all the assignments but
doesn't have the speed to carry out the assignment versus a guy who's raw and
doesn't know the assignments but has the speed and athletic ability to make up
for it, I'll take the latter every time.�
The guess here is that if the defense gets lit up by the Priest &
Co. next week, Cowher makes a short-term move by inserting Townsend into the
lineup for Washington (my guess is he'll be the scapegoat).� But eventually, Alexander has to be replaced
by Polamalu in the starting package for this defense to be successful.
One follow-up on Bellicheck and the draft on a point I made back in April.� After the draft all the pundits were
applauding the Ravens for an outstanding day.�
They got the sliding Terrell Suggs in the 1st round, then traded their 2nd
round pick along with their 2004 1st round pick for the 19th selection in this
year's draft to take Kyle Boller.� While
everyone was busy applauding the Ravens for their bounty of Suggs and Boller, I
was applauding Bellicheck and the Patriots.�
The thinking here is, a Boller led Ravens team will finish no better
than 5-11, and after what I saw on Sunday it could be even worse.� I wonder how the pundits will feel about the
Ravens draft in 2004 when they don't have a top 5-10 pick.