Why are the Steelers so bad against the spread offense? (1 Viewer)

[CrossEyed]

the weakness of the Steelers secondary is being greatly exaggerated here.

I agree. The only spread offense they have had significant trouble with consistently is New England. And I'm thinking Brady's play in those games has a lot more to do with it than anything else.

Rodgers has been red hot. Historically hot in fact. Thus the comparison.

Didn't see the game against the Bears, but his numbers looked pretty mediocre. In fact, less than mediocre.

 

[fred_1_15301]

the weakness of the Steelers secondary is being greatly exaggerated here.

I agree. The only spread offense they have had significant trouble with consistently is New England. And I'm thinking Brady's play in those games has a lot more to do with it than anything else.

Rodgers has been red hot. Historically hot in fact. Thus the comparison.

Didn't see the game against the Bears, but his numbers looked pretty mediocre. In fact, less than mediocre.

If you hadn't watched the game against the Jets, you would say that Ben played one of the worst games of his career. Rodgers made a couple mistakes but he played fine against the Bears. He's looked stellar in these playoffs IMO.

 

[Ksquared]

The big equalizer/neutralizer will not be in Dallas, the slow crappy field in Chicago. The GB passing game is vastly different when the field conditions are decent to good (aka Atlanta the previous week). Since Dallas is an all weather surface with the dome closed, I would be really be surprised if GB offense looks anything like it did the last 3 qtrs of the ball game in Chicago.

 

[CrossEyed]

If you hadn't watched the game against the Jets, you would say that Ben played one of the worst games of his career. Rodgers made a couple mistakes but he played fine against the Bears. He's looked stellar in these playoffs IMO.

Not trying to downplay Rodgers' ability whatsoever. Just saying that the Steelers of recent years have not had the same kind of problems with other spread offenses as they've had with Brady. The Cardinals came into the SB a couple years ago with a pretty high powered offense and the Steelers managed to win that game.

 

[TheWheel]

The reason is obvious. When you run a 3-4, more often than not you have glorified defensive ends at the outside linebacker spot. Harrison and Woodley are big men. Dropping them in coverage is not their best usage. The team is more talented blitzing. Even with Timmons and Farrior doing different things, this defense is geared to stop the run. Their zone defense is also picked apart by an accurate QB. Throw four or five wide out there and the zone gets stretched to the limit. You don't beat the Pats with a zone defense. The reads they have will tear it apart. Also with a spread offense vs. a 3-4 or even a 3-3-5 or 1-5-5 you have to choose whether to keep players in the box or spread them out to stop a quick pass and easy yards. It's really why Polamalu is so important. He can play deep and cover the run. It is his job, more often than not, to compensate for the holes inherent in the defense.

Basically, the more you lean to the pass the more the Steelers get out of their game. If you can keep them honest, they can be beat. The problem is to keep them honest you have to possibly waste a play on a running play going nowhere.