(11-22-2023, 10:53 AM)Wyche Wrote: Just a little devil's advocate....the defense puts up bad numbers and Lou's still a genius and the unit isn't as bad as the numbers dictate. The offense struggles a bit, and it's worse than the numbers actually show and we should fire the coach.

Defense does not have a player who is on a level of the QB and WR group the offense has. Who is the best player on defense? Trey? He has high impact games and others where you don't know if he got six snaps. 

Defense I see that can be fixed. Offense needs playcalling and O-line. Fixable, for sure. Will it happen? It's been the same for years, so....

(11-20-2023, 11:41 PM)tms Wrote: I don't think they're that bad. Rex Ryan was on ESPN Pregame with a devilish grin fantasizing about all the things we had planned for Stroud. "There's no one in the league better than Lou Anarumo!" That was just two weeks ago.

The praise of Anarumo is starting to feel like when we used to hear all about 'THAT Mike Zimmer Defence' every single week, even when it was clear that defence had deficiencies. It is ok to criticise these guys!

I don't think they're as bad as 'worst in the league' territory, and I can certainly remember more porous defences than this years D. But they haven't been as great as previously.

I think a few games in particular have broken the defence's back a little statistically. Really bad against Houston, Tennessee. When we had our win streak, they were doing a great job of keeping points off the board. Been a pretty up and down year by from them in my opinion. Not the level of consistency we'd have needed from them in the playoffs, but maybe they'd have found their stride in the big games like they've seemed to under Lou.

This defense has had some really good games this season and some very bad!! It's just weird how on and off they've been. I don't have an answer as to why? It's just been really odd

Well Hubbard is back so if the D shines today we will know that he is the key to the whole thing. The last 2 games without him they played terrible. Don’t know why that would affect coverage etc but the whole unit went to crap for the two games he missed.

(11-23-2023, 11:42 AM)Destro Wrote: Defense does not have a player who is on a level of the QB and WR group the offense has. Who is the best player on defense? Trey? He has high impact games and others where you don't know if he got six snaps. 

Defense I see that can be fixed. Offense needs playcalling and O-line. Fixable, for sure. Will it happen? It's been the same for years, so....

Boyd seems on downside, Higgins bad year and Chase is great then avg in games, ans we know Mixon is limited in long runs and we have no established TE..

(11-26-2023, 02:11 PM)Clark W Griswold Wrote: Well Hubbard is back so if the D shines today we will know that he is the key to the whole thing. The last 2 games without him they played terrible. Don’t know why that would affect coverage etc but the whole unit went to crap for the two games he missed.

Agreed but no CTB is going to hurt and skew this analysis a bit.

They gave up 16 to the Steelers starting squad. Felt like 30, but 16 isn’t going to get anyone fired given the number of snaps they were forced to play and the score they held them to.

(11-26-2023, 06:21 PM)jj22 Wrote: They gave up 16 to the Steelers starting squad. Felt like 30, but 16 isn’t going to get anyone fired given the number of snaps they were forced to play and the score they held them to.

They gave up 450 yards to the worse offense in football..

(11-26-2023, 06:41 PM)Tony Wrote: They gave up 450 yards to the worse offense in football..

That's what happens when you keep giving an offense chances to move the ball. Its a miracle there was only 16 points. Just wait until they keep handing the ball back over to a real offense...

(11-26-2023, 06:46 PM)Synric Wrote: That's what happens when you keep giving an offense chances to move the ball. Its a miracle there was only 16 points. Just wait until they keep handing the ball back over to a real offense...

Pittsburgh had 9 offensive drives. That’s really not that bad. This was more about the defensive being extremely poor on 3rd down and not being able to get off the field, than anything else.

(11-26-2023, 06:41 PM)Tony Wrote: They gave up 450 yards to the worse offense in football..

Yards ain't points. Look at the drive chart for the game. The offense was in and out and defense stayed on the field. 

Tackling was horrible. And nothing gets me as mad as poor tackling. Letting the TE feast has been a Bengals way, only second to the helmet stripes. 

(11-26-2023, 06:54 PM)Destro Wrote: Yards ain't points. Look at the drive chart for the game. The offense was in and out and defense stayed on the field. 

Tackling was horrible. And nothing gets me as mad as poor tackling. Letting the TE feast has been a Bengals way, only second to the helmet stripes. 

I get the TE thing. But, you don't like the helmet stripes?

(11-26-2023, 06:41 PM)Tony Wrote: They gave up 450 yards to the worse offense in football..

(11-26-2023, 06:46 PM)Synric Wrote: That's what happens when you keep giving an offense chances to move the ball. Its a miracle there was only 16 points. Just wait until they keep handing the ball back over to a real offense...

This is what happens when there is an OC change.

Remeber Ken Zampeze?  His offense didn't score a TD for two games.  He got fired and Bill Lazor immediately called a 3 TD 24 point game (overtime loss).  There is nothing charted on a new OC, so every defensive call is an uneducated guess.

You could chart the entire season for Pittsburg's offense through last week, and it would not have helped you today at all.  The high probability of the play call for a particular alignment and personnel package is no longer valid as it was for what Matt Canada would call, not what the new guy would lean towards.  The Steelers offense will continue like this for a few more weeks while the tendencies are starting to get charted, then defensive coordinators will start getting a better feel what to anticipate.

(11-26-2023, 06:59 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: I get the TE thing. But, you don't like the helmet stripes?

Love the stripes 

(11-26-2023, 06:41 PM)Tony Wrote: They gave up 450 yards to the worse offense in football..

The 7 to Johnson that got called no catch made it look better.

Steelers RB Najee Harris averaged a career-high 4.0 yards per rush before contact, per ESPN Stats & Info.

— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) November 26, 2023

(11-26-2023, 08:04 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote:

Steelers RB Najee Harris averaged a career-high 4.0 yards per rush before contact, per ESPN Stats & Info.

— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) November 26, 2023

Just wait the Steelers are probabaly the worst offense the Bengals play... give any offense as many opportunities they did today and the numbers are gonna look ugly.

He's been a bust. We make him look like Payton.

On the one Johnson dropped in the endzone, he just ran by our cb. It looks like our cb just stood there, then caught up at end.

The Bengals defense has given up 2 explosive plays in 2 drives to the least explosive offense in the NFL.

Not the same defense as the last 2 seasons.

— Andrew Russell (@Andrew_Russell7) November 26, 2023

The defense has been bad. But I can't blame Lou when he told us in the off-season that we had to hang onto at least one of the safeties. That if we lost both, it would be "a dark day." He added that losing both "would be huge," and that they lost not only talent but leadership.

When the DC tells you that, the front office has to find a way to keep one. Or get a stellar replacement.