I'd completely caught Juan Thornhill off-guard. This was early Monday afternoon at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, the Steelers' first day back at work since ... oh, you know.
I'd been seeking out as many members of the suddenly beleaguered secondary as possible and, in the process of asking the starting free safety about Cincinnati, I just happened to spit out that he and his teammates now rank No. 31 in the 32-team NFL in pass defense.
What's above was his reflexive reaction, soon followed by, "I'm gonna be honest, I don't even pay attention to stuff like that. But I'm very surprised that we're 31st. It's crazy."
That's one term for it.
Another is accurate: The Steelers have allowed 258.8 passing yards per game, better only than the Cowboys at 260.3 and almost double the 141.2 of the No. 1 Falcons.
Another is all-encompassing: It's not just the yardage, nor the modest five interceptions, nor the 16 missed tackles by defensive backs. Get this: They're now the very worst at allowing air yards -- distance the ball travels forward on completions -- at 157.2.
Another is ... well, let's just swing back to crazy. Because I'm sorry, I don't care what percentage of this room teeters on either side of 30, there's not a soul in the solar system who expected this from Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, Joey Porter, DeShon Elliott, Brandin Echols, Jabrill Peppers, Chuck Clark or Thornhill.
"We just gotta lock in on our details, make sure we're doing everything we can right into game day," Echols told me. "We just gotta get our swagger back. What we put on tape in that last game ... that just didn't feel like us. I'm around these guys every day. I know what we put into it. That's not it."
"We can't panic. That's where to start," Clark told me. "There's a lot of football season left. We're 4-2. That's real. And a lot of football's left. We're in the second quarter still. I've been in the same situation, other years, different teams ... so we can say, 'Y'all 31st right now,' but we'll see where it falls come the end of the year."
"Shoot, man, we've just got to put it back together," Slay told me. "We've got to get out on that field and get to work. And to start, we've got to look ourselves in the mirror, correct our mistakes, and then, be ready to compete. Really get after it."
I liked the mirror usage. I'm focusing on the secondary here, but no one's exempt on the defensive side. Not one player. Not one coach.
Certainly not Mike Tomlin or Teryl Austin. Their combined strategies/schematics have been picked apart the past few days more than the secondary itself, and it's even uglier than the execution, as I see it. The entire defense appeared poorly prepared, painfully slow to adjust and, maybe worst of all, so off their collective game that they seemed to drag. You know, like, end-of-2024-season drag, when even effort came up.
As was the case before Tomlin and Arthur Smith did their own mirror-gazing before flying to Ireland, there has to be change. Meaningful change, not just the tackle-harder-you-guys variety. Lay it all out there to get questioned:
• If it was OK for Smith to add a sixth offensive lineman in Spencer Anderson to trigger the run, why wouldn't it be OK to keep three defensive tackles on the field more often to stop it?
• Being more specific, if Keeanu Benton still isn't doing the job against the run -- and he isn't -- why would he log 46 snaps to Yahya Black's 13 in Cincinnati?
• If mixing up the defensive looks worked so well against the Vikings overseas, then back here against the Browns, why'd everything resume being so static against the Bengals?
• If Ramsey's the guy in this "coverage people" concept, whose idea was it to have him be part of double-covering Ja'Marr Chase when two lesser corners should've been on that while he'd take someone in isolation?
• While I'm at it, is this "coverage people" thing fried? And if it isn't, maybe offer up some intricate, analytical output to explain how it isn't after what was just witnessed, coupled with the cumulative result?
Tomlin's press conference comes today at noon, and he'll almost surely again bring up the offense turning the ball over twice. Tune it out. Tune out everything that doesn't sound like authentic accountability, the type that tangibly preceded Dublin.
Otherwise, know that there's a massive difference between a momentary regression and a reversion to the real mean. Can't make it the former without fixing the latter.
THE ASYLUM
DK: The secondary can't just wash this one off
"Oh, that's new to me."
I'd completely caught Juan Thornhill off-guard. This was early Monday afternoon at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, the Steelers' first day back at work since ... oh, you know.
I'd been seeking out as many members of the suddenly beleaguered secondary as possible and, in the process of asking the starting free safety about Cincinnati, I just happened to spit out that he and his teammates now rank No. 31 in the 32-team NFL in pass defense.
What's above was his reflexive reaction, soon followed by, "I'm gonna be honest, I don't even pay attention to stuff like that. But I'm very surprised that we're 31st. It's crazy."
That's one term for it.
Another is accurate: The Steelers have allowed 258.8 passing yards per game, better only than the Cowboys at 260.3 and almost double the 141.2 of the No. 1 Falcons.
Another is all-encompassing: It's not just the yardage, nor the modest five interceptions, nor the 16 missed tackles by defensive backs. Get this: They're now the very worst at allowing air yards -- distance the ball travels forward on completions -- at 157.2.
Another is ... well, let's just swing back to crazy. Because I'm sorry, I don't care what percentage of this room teeters on either side of 30, there's not a soul in the solar system who expected this from Jalen Ramsey, Darius Slay, Joey Porter, DeShon Elliott, Brandin Echols, Jabrill Peppers, Chuck Clark or Thornhill.
And by this, I mean this:
Uh-huh. And much more.
So, what to do?
I asked 'em all ...
"We just gotta lock in on our details, make sure we're doing everything we can right into game day," Echols told me. "We just gotta get our swagger back. What we put on tape in that last game ... that just didn't feel like us. I'm around these guys every day. I know what we put into it. That's not it."
"We can't panic. That's where to start," Clark told me. "There's a lot of football season left. We're 4-2. That's real. And a lot of football's left. We're in the second quarter still. I've been in the same situation, other years, different teams ... so we can say, 'Y'all 31st right now,' but we'll see where it falls come the end of the year."
"Shoot, man, we've just got to put it back together," Slay told me. "We've got to get out on that field and get to work. And to start, we've got to look ourselves in the mirror, correct our mistakes, and then, be ready to compete. Really get after it."
I liked the mirror usage. I'm focusing on the secondary here, but no one's exempt on the defensive side. Not one player. Not one coach.
Certainly not Mike Tomlin or Teryl Austin. Their combined strategies/schematics have been picked apart the past few days more than the secondary itself, and it's even uglier than the execution, as I see it. The entire defense appeared poorly prepared, painfully slow to adjust and, maybe worst of all, so off their collective game that they seemed to drag. You know, like, end-of-2024-season drag, when even effort came up.
As was the case before Tomlin and Arthur Smith did their own mirror-gazing before flying to Ireland, there has to be change. Meaningful change, not just the tackle-harder-you-guys variety. Lay it all out there to get questioned:
• If it was OK for Smith to add a sixth offensive lineman in Spencer Anderson to trigger the run, why wouldn't it be OK to keep three defensive tackles on the field more often to stop it?
• Being more specific, if Keeanu Benton still isn't doing the job against the run -- and he isn't -- why would he log 46 snaps to Yahya Black's 13 in Cincinnati?
• If mixing up the defensive looks worked so well against the Vikings overseas, then back here against the Browns, why'd everything resume being so static against the Bengals?
• If Ramsey's the guy in this "coverage people" concept, whose idea was it to have him be part of double-covering Ja'Marr Chase when two lesser corners should've been on that while he'd take someone in isolation?
• While I'm at it, is this "coverage people" thing fried? And if it isn't, maybe offer up some intricate, analytical output to explain how it isn't after what was just witnessed, coupled with the cumulative result?
Tomlin's press conference comes today at noon, and he'll almost surely again bring up the offense turning the ball over twice. Tune it out. Tune out everything that doesn't sound like authentic accountability, the type that tangibly preceded Dublin.
Otherwise, know that there's a massive difference between a momentary regression and a reversion to the real mean. Can't make it the former without fixing the latter.
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