Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

Steelers Today has hooked up with 31 other NFL bloggers from around the country to do a bloggers’ mock draft. All 32 NFL teams are represented in the mock draft.

The mock draft is sponsored by Cleveland Browns blog No Logo Needed. For more details on the bloggers’ mock draft, click here.

With the 27th pick of the 2009 NFL Draft the Indianapolis Colts blog 18 To 88 selects……

Bill Polian has an unblemished record of hitting on first round picks in Indianapolis.  Every player he has taken has become a starter, if not an outright star.  At the same time, many of his picks were roundly criticized at the time.  Edge James wasn’t Ricky Williams.  Dwight Freeney was too small and a reach.  Reggie Wayne should have been passed over for a defender.

The Colts do not draft for need, but always take the highest player available on the board.  2009 is the rare exception where the Colts greatest need IS the highest player on the board.  Polian has said publicly that he doubts the team will take a defensive tackle, primarily because history tells us that good DTs are off the board in the top 15 picks, and that the next ‘value slot’ is down around the 5th round.  If Peria Jerry were to miraculously fall to 27, however, Polian would probably do a dance and happily select him.

Jerry would be the perfect DT for the Colts system, as he is a disruptive tackle who makes plays in the backfield.  His only negative is that he is slightly undersized (something the Colts simply do not worry about).  Indy desperately needs a DT, but will not reach for a player just to fill a need.  The results have been spectacular for the Colts this decade, and the selection of Jerry would cause widespread rejoicing among the Colt faithful.

A word of caution to Mr. Jerry:  If selected he should immediately take out a large life insurance policy.  The Colts are currently experiencing the “Curse of Corey Simon” when it comes to DTs.  Indy has had a need for a top flight DT for 4 seasons now, but every time Polian addresses the need, something horrible happens to the player:

2005 Corey Simon is signed…one year later he is out of the league (chronic fatness)

2006 Montae Reagor is in a severe car accident and never plays for the Colts again

2007 Booger McFarland blows out a knee in training camp

2008 Ed Johnson is cut for refeer

2008 Quinn Pitcock decides to retire at the ripe old age of 23

2008 John McCargo fails a physical and is returned to Buffalo after a trade. He never plays with the Colts.

The draft results so far are shown below. Click on the individual pick to read each blogger’s rationale for his selection.

1. Detroit Lions: Mathew Stafford, QB (Georgia)
2. St. Louis Rams: Eugene Monroe, OT (Virginia)
3. Kansas City Chiefs: Aaron Curry, LB (Wake Forest)
4. Seattle Seahawks: Michael Crabtree, WR (Texas Tech)
5. Cleveland Browns: Rey Maualuga, LB (Southern California)
6. Cincinnati Bengals: Jason Smith, OT (Baylor)
7. Oakland Raiders: Jeremy Maclin, WR (Missouri)
8. Jacksonville Jaguars: B.J. Raji, DT (Boston College)
9. Green Bay Packers, Brian Orakpo, DE (Texas)
10. San Francisco 49ers, Everette Brown, OLB (Florida State)
11. Buffalo Bills, Clay Matthews, OLB (Southern California)
12. Denver Broncos, Malcolm Jenkins, CB (Ohio State)
13. Washington Redskins, Andre Smith, OT (Alabama)
14. New Orleans Saints, Brian Cushing, OLB (Southern California)
15. Houston Texans, Michael Oher, OT (Ole Miss)
16. San Diego Chargers, Eben Britton, OT (Arizona)
17. New York Jets, Tyson Jackson, DE (LSU)
18. Chicago Bears, Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR (Maryland)
19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Percy Harvin, WR  (Florida)
20. Detroit Lions, Aaron Maybin, DE (Penn State)
21. Philadelphia Eagles, Vontae Davis, CB (Illinois)
22. Minnesota Vikings, Mark Sanchez, QB (Southern California)
23. New England Patriots, Knowshon Moreno, RB (Georgia)
24. Atlanta Falcons, Clint Sintim, LB (Virginia)
25. Miami Dolphins, Larry English, LB (Northern Illinois)
26. Baltimore Ravens, Kenny Britt, WR (Rutgers)
27. Indianapolis Colts, Peria Jerry, DT (Mississippi State)

The Philadelphia Eagles are on the clock.

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Steelers Today has hooked up with 31 other NFL bloggers from around the country to do a bloggers’ mock draft. All 32 NFL teams are represented in the mock draft.

The mock draft is sponsored by Cleveland Browns blog No Logo Needed. For more details on the bloggers’ mock draft, click here.

With the 26th pick of the 2009 NFL Draft the Baltimore Ravens blog The Ebony Bird selects……

The Ravens have had their most active offseason in team history, re-signing Ray Lewis, signing CB Dominique Foxworth, CB Chris Carr, C Matt Birk and TE L.J. Smith, along with bringing in multiple new coaches and cutting veterans Samari Rolle and Chris McAllister.

In re-signing Lewis, the linebackers corps remains strong, and the secondary should be helped by the new additions and the emergence of Fabian Washington.  Therefore, the main need that the Purple and Black  have is at receiver.  Derrick Mason is getting old, Mark Clayton is inconsistent and Demetrius Williams has never been healthy enough or productive enough to become a regular for the team.

With Joe Flacco as the team’s most successful quarterback since Trent Dilfer, Unibrow Boy needs a “toolsy” receiver to help him become a star.  Britt has very good speed, and great hands, and his 6’3″, 218 lb. frame makes him a big target.  When you combine all of those, you get one of Rutgers’ best receivers in school history.  Seeing him in person 8 times in Piscataway, I can tell you from firsthand accounts how daunting a task it is to cover Mr. Britt.  Picking Britt would bring the Ravens that much closer to the lofty status of Super Bowl champion.

The draft results so far are shown below. Click on the individual pick to read each blogger’s rationale for his selection.

1. Detroit Lions: Mathew Stafford, QB (Georgia)
2. St. Louis Rams: Eugene Monroe, OT (Virginia)
3. Kansas City Chiefs: Aaron Curry, LB (Wake Forest)
4. Seattle Seahawks: Michael Crabtree, WR (Texas Tech)
5. Cleveland Browns: Rey Maualuga, LB (Southern California)
6. Cincinnati Bengals: Jason Smith, OT (Baylor)
7. Oakland Raiders: Jeremy Maclin, WR (Missouri)
8. Jacksonville Jaguars: B.J. Raji, DT (Boston College)
9. Green Bay Packers, Brian Orakpo, DE (Texas)
10. San Francisco 49ers, Everette Brown, OLB (Florida State)
11. Buffalo Bills, Clay Matthews, OLB (Southern California)
12. Denver Broncos, Malcolm Jenkins, CB (Ohio State)
13. Washington Redskins, Andre Smith, OT (Alabama)
14. New Orleans Saints, Brian Cushing, OLB (Southern California)
15. Houston Texans, Michael Oher, OT (Ole Miss)
16. San Diego Chargers, Eben Britton, OT (Arizona)
17. New York Jets, Tyson Jackson, DE (LSU)
18. Chicago Bears, Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR (Maryland)
19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Percy Harvin, WR  (Florida)
20. Detroit Lions, Aaron Maybin, DE (Penn State)
21. Philadelphia Eagles, Vontae Davis, CB (Illinois)
22. Minnesota Vikings, Mark Sanchez, QB (Southern California)
23. New England Patriots, Knowshon Moreno, RB (Georgia)
24. Atlanta Falcons, Clint Sintim, LB (Virginia)
25. Miami Dolphins, Larry English, LB (Northern Illinois)
26. Baltimore Ravens, Kenny Britt, WR (Rutgers)

The Indianapolis Colts are on the clock.

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March 22, 2009
By Donald Starver

As the NFL draft approaches, coaches and general managers are busy evaluating potential draftees.  However, players’ college statistics, physical attributes, and combine performances can’t be looked at in a vacuum.  Defensive players in particular, must be evaluated within the context of the specific defensive scheme that the drafting team will utilize.

For example, a particular player may be viewed as too heavy and too slow to play defensive tackle in a 4-3 defense, but might be perfectly suited to play nose tackle in a 3-4 defense.

Before we look at how the Steelers’ 3-4 defense impacts their requirements at each specific position, we first need to define the two key defensive front alignments in the NFL, the 4-3 and the 3-4.

The first number refers to the number of defensive linemen, and the second number refers to the number of linebackers.  So a 4-3 defense would utilize a 4-man front with 3 linebackers behind them.  Contrarily, a 3-4 defense utilizes a 3-man front with 4 linebackers behind them.

In a 4-3 defense, the pass rush is generated by the defensive linemen.  The linemen are tasked with penetrating the offensive line, getting to the ball carrier, or sacking the quarterback.  The defensive ends, in particular, must be able to apply pressure to the quarterback.  Examples of 4-3 defensive ends include the the Houston Texans’ Mario Williams, and the Carolina Panthers’ Julius Peppers.

The linebackers in a 4-3 defense primarily provide run support, and match up against the tight end.  While their role is important, the linebackers in a 4-3 front tend to play a secondary role to the defensive ends and defensive tackles.

In a 3-4 defense, the emphasis is on the linebackers.  The primary role of the defensive linemen is to occupy the blockers to free up the linebackers to make plays.  The pass rush in a 3-4 defense is generated by the outside linebackers.  Examples of 3-4 outside linebackers include the Steelers’ LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison, and the Dallas Cowboys’ DeMarcus Ware.

While there are exceptions to this rule, in general, the defensive linemen in a 3-4 are bigger than the defensive linemen in a 4-3.  This is because each defensive lineman in a 3-4 should ideally be able to occupy more than one offensive lineman.

The outside linebackers in a 3-4 are also bigger than the OLBs in a 4-3.  This is necessary to allow them to take on offensive tackles. Many 3-4 OLBs were defensive ends in college.

The NFL is a copycat league, so many teams are moving to a 3-4 front due to the success of teams like the Steelers, New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, and San Diego Chargers.  However, neither system is inherently “better”.  They are just different.

I often hear fans say, “I wish the Steelers would switch to a 4-3″.  This makes no sense to me.  As I mentioned earlier, neither system is better than the other.  There are plenty of teams that do quite well using a 4-3 defense.  The key is the team’s personnel.  If a team tries to implement a 3-4 defense without a dominant nose tackle, they are destined to fail.  Similarly, a 4-3 team that doesn’t have DE’s who can pressure the quarterback will not have much success.

The Steelers’ current roster lends itself to the 3-4.  They don’t have the personnel to run a 4-3 consistently.  In particular, they lack the defensive ends to provide pressure off the edge that the 4-3 requires.  They’d also need to draft a different type of tackle than Casey Hampton and Chris Hoke in order to run a 4-3 consistently.

The Steelers’ famous “Steel Curtain” defense was a 4-3 defensive front.  In fact, the Steelers played a 4-3 until 1983, the season after L.C. Greenwood and Mean Joe Greene retired.

The Steelers have used the 3-4 as their base since that time.  At one point in the mid-90′s, the Steelers were the only NFL team still utilizing a 3-4 defense.  This made it easy for them to get the “tweeners” that typically are converted to linebackers in a 3-4 system, and the oversized nose tackles the 3-4 demands.  However, with many more teams now playing the 3-4, the competition for college talent is much more intense.

Even within the 3-4 alignment, there are many different ways to execute the defense.  There are two primary versions of the 3-4 in the NFL.  The first has its origins with Bill Parcells and the New York Giants.  Parcells utilized Hall-of-Fame outside linebacker Lawrence Taylor in his 3-4 system, and led his Giants to the Super Bowl championship in 1986.  One of Parcells’ assistant coaches was Bill Belichick, who took Parcells’ system to New England.  Belichick disciples Romeo Crennel and Eric Mangini spread his system to other NFL teams.

The second version of the 3-4 was developed by the Pittsburgh Steelers.  While the Steelers have used a 3-4 front since 1983, the current version was really developed in 1992 by Bill Cowher and his assistants, Dom Capers and Dick LeBeau.  Dick LeBeau has tweaked the system significantly since that time, but his system’s origins are clear.

The primary difference between the two systems is where the front 3 line up.  The Parcells-Belichick system is a two gap system which requires their front 3 to line up directly in front of an offensive lineman and control the gap on both sides of that offensive lineman.  Since they have to control 2 gaps, that system is referred to as a “two-gap” system.  The Steelers version is primarily a “one-gap” system.  The Steelers’ linemen play slightly to the side of their blockers, rather than directly in front of them.  They are responsible for controlling only one gap, while the linebacker behind them is responsible for the other gap.

“With the guys we have right now, when you play two-gap you tie them down”, said Steelers’ defensive line coach John Mitchell.  “Aaron Smith can run.  Brett Keisel can run.  Casey does a good job running.  We have good inside linebackers who can cover ground.  We can get away with a line playing one gap”.

Because of the differences in how they execute the 3-4, the Steelers and Patriots will look for slightly different characteristics in their draftees, even though both teams play a 3-4 defense.

In the upcoming installments of this series, we will look at each position within the Steelers’ 3-4 defense to see how that position is utilized, and who the Steelers might consider to fill that role.  First up, in Part 2 of this series is the most important position on any 3-4 defense; the nose tackle.

To read the other installments in this series, click below:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

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Steelers Today has hooked up with 31 other NFL bloggers from around the country to do a bloggers’ mock draft. All 32 NFL teams are represented in the mock draft.

The mock draft is sponsored by Cleveland Browns blog No Logo Needed. For more details on the bloggers’ mock draft, click here.

With the 25th pick of the 2009 NFL Draft the Miami Dolphins blog The Phinsinder selects……

There were two ways to go about this pick.  I could have taken the player I like the most that is still on the board – which would have been either CB Darius Butler or CB Sean Smith.  That would have also addressed Miami’s most glaring hole.  But this is a mock draft – and I’m going to select the player that I think the Dolphins would most likely draft if the actual draft played out this way.

Bill Parcells loves linebackers.  That’s no secret.  And among Miami’s top three needs is the outside linebacker position (right up there with CB and WR).  Larry English has the size and strength that this regime loves.  And while I worry a litle bit about English’s ability to drop back into coverage due to his lack of fluidity in his hips, I do think that Larry’s upside here is tremendous as a pass rusher and potential heir to Joey Porter.  He’s also tough, smart, and a “high-motor” player – all things that Bill Parcells demands from his linebackers.

The draft results so far are shown below. Click on the individual pick to read each blogger’s rationale for his selection.

1. Detroit Lions: Mathew Stafford, QB (Georgia)
2. St. Louis Rams: Eugene Monroe, OT (Virginia)
3. Kansas City Chiefs: Aaron Curry, LB (Wake Forest)
4. Seattle Seahawks: Michael Crabtree, WR (Texas Tech)
5. Cleveland Browns: Rey Maualuga, LB (Southern California)
6. Cincinnati Bengals: Jason Smith, OT (Baylor)
7. Oakland Raiders: Jeremy Maclin, WR (Missouri)
8. Jacksonville Jaguars: B.J. Raji, DT (Boston College)
9. Green Bay Packers, Brian Orakpo, DE (Texas)
10. San Francisco 49ers, Everette Brown, OLB (Florida State)
11. Buffalo Bills, Clay Matthews, OLB (Southern California)
12. Denver Broncos, Malcolm Jenkins, CB (Ohio State)
13. Washington Redskins, Andre Smith, OT (Alabama)
14. New Orleans Saints, Brian Cushing, OLB (Southern California)
15. Houston Texans, Michael Oher, OT (Ole Miss)
16. San Diego Chargers, Eben Britton, OT (Arizona)
17. New York Jets, Tyson Jackson, DE (LSU)
18. Chicago Bears, Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR (Maryland)
19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Percy Harvin, WR  (Florida)
20. Detroit Lions, Aaron Maybin, DE (Penn State)
21. Philadelphia Eagles, Vontae Davis, CB (Illinois)
22. Minnesota Vikings, Mark Sanchez, QB (Southern California)
23. New England Patriots, Knowshon Moreno, RB (Georgia)
24. Atlanta Falcons, Clint Sintim, LB (Virginia)
25. Miami Dolphins, Larry English, LB (Northern Illinois)

The Baltimore Ravens (booo!) are on the clock.

(If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a comment below. Also, please subscribe to our blog by pressing the orange button below. Thanks.)

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Steelers Today has hooked up with 31 other NFL bloggers from around the country to do a bloggers’ mock draft. All 32 NFL teams are represented in the mock draft.

The mock draft is sponsored by Cleveland Browns blog No Logo Needed. For more details on the bloggers’ mock draft, click here.

With the 24th pick of the 2009 NFL Draft the Atlanta Falcons blog The Falcoholic selects……

Some may consider this pick a slight reach, but Sintim fills the absolute number one need for the Falcons. I would trade my first born son and the draft rights to my third born for a living, breathing pass rush in Atlanta, and Sintim goes a long way toward helping that.

Despite their magical, pixie-dust sprinkled season in 2008, Falcons not named John Abraham proved remarkably terrible at getting to the quarterback. Sintim could immediately contribute because he knows how to make his way into the backfield and has the speed and tackling potency to be one of the better pass-rushing linebackers in the league. He’s also no slouch against the run, making him–in my addled brain, at least–a legitimate first round talent.

The Falcons do have a host of needs here, including holes at safety, potentially at cornerback and a real need for a dual threat type of tight end. The first need is the pass rush, though, and Sintim represents a big piece of the puzzle.

The draft results so far are shown below. Click on the individual pick to read each blogger’s rationale for his selection.

1. Detroit Lions: Mathew Stafford, QB (Georgia)
2. St. Louis Rams: Eugene Monroe, OT (Virginia)
3. Kansas City Chiefs: Aaron Curry, LB (Wake Forest)
4. Seattle Seahawks: Michael Crabtree, WR (Texas Tech)
5. Cleveland Browns: Rey Maualuga, LB (Southern California)
6. Cincinnati Bengals: Jason Smith, OT (Baylor)
7. Oakland Raiders: Jeremy Maclin, WR (Missouri)
8. Jacksonville Jaguars: B.J. Raji, DT (Boston College)
9. Green Bay Packers, Brian Orakpo, DE (Texas)
10. San Francisco 49ers, Everette Brown, OLB (Florida State)
11. Buffalo Bills, Clay Matthews, OLB (Southern California)
12. Denver Broncos, Malcolm Jenkins, CB (Ohio State)
13. Washington Redskins, Andre Smith, OT (Alabama)
14. New Orleans Saints, Brian Cushing, OLB (Southern California)
15. Houston Texans, Michael Oher, OT (Ole Miss)
16. San Diego Chargers, Eben Britton, OT (Arizona)
17. New York Jets, Tyson Jackson, DE (LSU)
18. Chicago Bears, Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR (Maryland)
19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Percy Harvin, WR  (Florida)
20. Detroit Lions, Aaron Maybin, DE (Penn State)
21. Philadelphia Eagles, Vontae Davis, CB (Illinois)
22. Minnesota Vikings, Mark Sanchez, QB (Southern California)
23. New England Patriots, Knowshon Moreno, RB (Georgia)
24. Atlanta Falcons, Clint Sintim, LB (Virginia)

The Miami Dolphins are on the clock.

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