I have been making comments all week about Pitt's new DC that were basically soft toss pitches for any of you guys who wanted to bash on Teryl Austin.

Austin was DB coach for the Ravens when they won the Super Bowl in '12.  He was first hired as a DC by the Lions in 2014.  The Lions made the playoffs on the back of Austin's defense that finished 2nd in yards allowed and 3rd in points.  He immediately had multiple interviews for head coaching positions, and even turned down an interview with the Broncos.

Here are the rankings in his 4 seasons as a DC since then

TEAM.....PTS..YDS
15 DET... 23... 18
16 DET... 13... 18
17 DET... 21... 27
18 CIN... 30... 32

His defenses also ranked 25th or lower in take aways 3 of those 4 seasons.

I admit that Austin did not have a lot of talent on that '18 Bengals defense, but when he was fired after 9 games the Bengals were on pace to give up the most yards in NFL history (7272).  

Yeah when they hired him I thought it was pretty funny because of how terrible he was here. Then they hired Brian Flores who I was kind of upset about because I think he's a very good coach. Thanks for the info on his career as I was too lazy to look it up. I think the Steelers are better than people are thinking they will be.

It's strange to see Teryl as a coordinator and Flores and the assistant. I'd be a bit more nervous if Flores was the DC. He might help fix the softness Pittsburgh displayed in tackling last season. He still may.

Teryl seems like a guy that did well a long time ago that made a lot of connections around the league. Experienced HCs like to have him on staff.

It's as Willie Anderson once said. NFL coaching jobs have as much to do with connections and established relationships as they do with actual results. Just ask Jim Turner.

Flores will eventually overtake Austin as their DC for sure

Atkins, Dunlap, Johnson, Bates, Williams, Burfict, Lawson, Jackson III, Kirkpatrick, Dennard... Not overwhelming, but good enough that 30th scoring/32nd overall means the DC is not good.

Steelers have a good defense. I don’t see Terhl making them better but he could make them worse.

Mike Tomlin runs that defense and has since Dick Lebeau left.

The Steelers beat the Bills in game 1 last year.

(09-10-2022, 11:22 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: The Steelers beat the Bills in game 1 last year.

Everyone has been (rightfully) bringing this up, but they don't mention the story behind the score. 

The Bills had 270 yards passing and 117 yards rushing.  

The steelers had 188 yards passing and 75 yards rushing.  

Two huge plays won the game for the steelers:  A fumble on a sack in pitt territory right before the half by Allen and a blocked punt returned for a TD at their own 23 yard line in the fourth quarter.

It wasn't like pitt came out and manhandled Buffalo or anything.  Two big turnovers.  Sure, they created the turnovers and they executed the plan, but the score can be a bit deceptive to the actual tone of the game.  

(09-11-2022, 10:03 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: Everyone has been (rightfully) bringing this up, but they don't mention the story behind the score. 

The Bills had 270 yards passing and 117 yards rushing.  

The steelers had 188 yards passing and 75 yards rushing.  

Two huge plays won the game for the steelers:  A fumble on a sack in pitt territory right before the half by Allen and a blocked punt returned for a TD at their own 23 yard line in the fourth quarter.

It wasn't like pitt came out and manhandled Buffalo or anything.  Two big turnovers.  Sure, they created the turnovers and they executed the plan, but the score can be a bit deceptive to the actual tone of the game.  

Yep. Turnovers are always the variance that can allow a worse team to win. It’s week 1 and weird things happen in week 1, but I’m hoping with the crowd and the defense essentially returning everyone, that’ll buy enough time for the offense to get in sync.

I expect and low scoring game.

We care…why, exactly? We have a good DC, too.

(09-11-2022, 10:03 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: Everyone has been (rightfully) bringing this up, but they don't mention the story behind the score. 

The Bills had 270 yards passing and 117 yards rushing.  

The steelers had 188 yards passing and 75 yards rushing.  

Two huge plays won the game for the steelers:  A fumble on a sack in pitt territory right before the half by Allen and a blocked punt returned for a TD at their own 23 yard line in the fourth quarter.

It wasn't like pitt came out and manhandled Buffalo or anything.  Two big turnovers.  Sure, they created the turnovers and they executed the plan, but the score can be a bit deceptive to the actual tone of the game.  

Just shows any given Sunday.

I think Solomon Wilcots said it best this week.

As the Steelers do have a strong defense and our offensve line has zero game snaps together, we need to come out pounding with Mixon to protect the line and force the defense to be one dimensional. Establish the run game and use PA to get the deep game going and let the line become confident in their communication.

Players and coaches... its definitely a marriage. Talent & chemistry superceedes coaching.

(09-11-2022, 11:06 AM)jfkbengals Wrote: I think Solomon Wilcots said it best this week.

As the Steelers do have a strong defense and our offensve line has zero game snaps together, we need to come out pounding with Mixon to protect the line and force the defense to be one dimensional. Establish the run game and use PA to get the deep game going and let the line become confident in their communication.

we should have. Mixon had his normal 3 yard per carry game. Take away the huge 4th and 1 he averaged closer to 2 yards per carry. Eithe the line is still a work in progress or mixon and Zac don’t know how to run the ball. Who delays hands off on 1st and 1 on the goal line? 1st and 1 and settle for a FG, again. Looks like last year so far.