Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

After a very long wait, Steelers Defensive Coordinator Dick LeBeau was inducted into the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame.

LeBeau, who has spent over 50 years in the NFL as a player and coach, finally achieved his dream of being in the Hall-of-Fame.  Several of LeBeau’s Detroit Lions teammates like Lem Barney, Yale Lary, and Dick “Night Train” Lane have been in the Hall-of-Fame for years.  But despite the wait, LeBeau is finally where he belongs.

LeBeau played cornerback at Ohio State University.  Upon graduation, he was drafted in 1959 by the Cleveland Browns, but he was cut during training camp.  He was picked up by the Detroit Lions, and the rest is history,

LeBeau became a starter in the middle of his rookie season and then didn’t miss a single game until late in 1971.  He started 171 consecutive games, which is still a record for cornerbacks.

At the time of his retirement, LeBeau’s 62 career interceptions was second all-time among pure cornerbacks, and third all-time among all positions.  His 62 interceptions is still 8th best in NFL history.

During LeBeau’s acceptance speech, he talked about his days growing up in Ohio, he talked about his time at Ohio State, and his time with the Detroit Lions.  But mostly, he talked about his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers.  He acknowledged most of his starters on the Steelers’ current defense like James Farrior, Ike Taylor, Ryan Clark, and Troy Polamalu.

The Steelers canceled training camp practice yesterday, so that the entire team could be in the audience in Canton to support coach LeBeau.

Congratulations, Coach!  It was a long time coming, but you’re finally where you belong.

Click on the link below to see a video of LeBeau’s induction speech.

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After waiting for what has probably seemed like an eternity, Dick LeBeau was finally voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. LeBeau was added by the HOF veterans committee after being by-passed for Hall of Fame induction for decades.

LeBeau played cornerback for the Detroit Lions from 1959 – 1972. He played 170 consecutive games at cornerback, which is an NFL record at the position. LeBeau had 62 career interceptions, which was third most in NFL history at the time of his retirement. His numbers have been surpassed by several players since then, but he is still among the top 10 in interceptions in NFL history.

LeBeau played in the Pro Bowl in 1965, ’66, and ’67. He also was named Second-Team All-Pro 3 times.

After finishing his playing career, LeBeau turned to coaching, and has coached in the NFL for 37 years. LeBeau is best known for being a coaching innovator, and is credited with creating the zone blitz, which is now common in the NFL.

Also being inducted in the NFL Hall of Fame class of 2010 are two other players with Pittsburgh connections, Russ Grimm and Ricky Jackson.

Russ Grimm played his college ball at Pitt, before joining the NFL’s Washington Redskins. Grimm was part of the Redskins famous “Hogs” offensive line. Grimm made the Pro Bowl four times, and played on 3 Super Bowl championship teams. Following his NFL career, Grimm also spent time as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers before leaving for his current position with the Arizona Cardinals.

Like Grimm, Ricky Jackson also played his college football at Pitt. In the NFL, Jackson played for the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco 49ers. Jackson played outside linebacker for the Saints from 1981-1993, where he made 6 Pro Bowl teams. He played his final 2 seasons at defensive end for the 49ers.

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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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February 18, 2009
By Donald Starver

Here at Steelers Today, we are not content to sit back and speculate on what the Steelers are going to do during the off-season.  Instead, we prefer to take a more proactive approach.

We’ve hacked into Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s PDA, and we were able to locate his “to do” list.   Here it is, exclusively on Steelers Today.

Mike Tomlin’s “to do” list

1. Convince Dick LeBeau that it’s not appropriate for me to call him “dad”.
2. Find more ways to use the word “men” at press conferences.
3. Sucker Ken Whisenhunt into signing Chris Kemoeatu.
4. Make James Harrison run more 100 yard dashes.
5. Convince Bruce Arians that “fullback” is not a bad word.
6. Send Terrell Owens a free agent contract on April Fool’s Day.
7. Pretend to respect the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals.
8. Sucker Ken Whisenhunt into signing Willie Colon.
9. Teach Ben Roethlisberger the difference between a broken toenail and a broken leg.
10. Send 50 cases of rice cakes to Casey Hampton’s house.
11. Explain to Limas Sweed that wide receivers are supposed to CATCH the ball.
12. Place Jeff Reed under house arrest to avoid more “incidents”.
13. Mandatory drug tests for Santonio.
14. Get fitted for ring.
15. Sign contract extension.

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I love it when the Steelers win. When they beat the New England Patriots, that’s even better. And when they totally kick the Patriots’ arses, well, that’s like Christmas in November.

On Sunday, Christmas came early to Steelers fans when the black and gold defeated the New England Patriots 33-10.

The game started off badly, when Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception on the Steelers’ very first possession. Former Steeler Mike Vrabel intercepted Big Ben’s pass, and the Patriots started their first drive on the Steelers’ 14 yard line. Patriots’ quarterback Matt Cassel, who was coming off of consecutive 400+ yard passing games, took over and three plays later, the Patriots were in the endzone. 7-0 Patriots.

The first half remained a hard-fought battle, and the two teams went into their locker rooms at halftime tied 10-10. But that would be the last time that the Patriots were in the game.

Steelers’ defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau is one of the best in the business when it comes to making halftime adjustments. Those adjustments became evident when the Steelers completely shut down the Patriots in the second half. After gaining 186 yards in the first half, and scoring 10 points, the Patriots were completely shut out in the second half and held to only 81 yards of second half offense. The Steelers forced 5 Patriots turnovers in the 2nd half. After leading 10-3 at one point in the game, the Patriots were then outscored 30-0. Ouch!

One of the Steelers most responsible for keeping the Patriots in check in the second half was linebacker James Harrison. Apparently, someone forgot to tell Harrison that he doesn’t have to cause a forced fumble every time he sacks a quarterback. Twice Harrison sacked Matt Cassel, and each time he forced Cassel to fumble the ball. In case anyone is wondering, Harrison actually leads the NFL in forced fumbles (with 6). Sacks may be more glamorous, but a forced fumble is actually more valuable to the team.

Another Steeler defender who played a critical role in the win was safety Troy Polamalu. Polamalu collected his league leading sixth interception. Polamalu almost had a seventh, but he dropped one that was right in his hands.

But perhaps the most valuable player on the Steelers’ defense was safety Ryan Clark. Clark leveled Patriots’ receiver Wes Welker with a devastating hit that knocked Welker out of the game. Welker is the Patriots’ leading receiver, and without him, the Patriots were never able to find their rhythm. (To see Clark’s hit on Welker, click here).

On the offensive side of the ball, the Steelers had one of their highest scoring outings of the season. But scores can be deceptive. The Steelers still struggle to put the ball in the end zone when they reach the opponent’s red zone. Far too often, they have settled for field goals when they should have had touchdowns. Nobody is going to complain about a 33 point outing, but if the Steelers really want to be a championship caliber team, their offense has got to raise their game. Roethlisberger has got to stop throwing unforced interceptions. The running game has got to start imposing it’s will upon opponents. Otherwise, the Steelers will make the playoffs, but fall short of the ultimate prize.

With their win, the Steelers (9-3) remained one game ahead of the Baltimore Ravens (8-4) in the AFC North. In the meantime, the Patriots dropped to a second place tie with Miami in the AFC East. Most importantly for New England, the loss dropped the Patriots a game behind the Ravens and Colts in the AFC wild card race.

For a more humorous look at the game, please see our Steelers vs. Patriots Recap Haiku by clicking here.

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