I'm confused. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Ed Bouchette was asked in a Q&A on Dec. 10 if the advancing age of the Steelers' defense is at least partially responsible for their sudden downfall. His response:
"This seems to be a popular, simplistic, wrongheaded theory. But the most criticized area of this team is cornerback, and there is no starter there older than 29, including William Gay, 24. James Harrison, 31, is still playing in top form. Many point to James Farrior, 34, but I do not believe he's playing poorly, either. Lawrence Timmons is only 23 and in his first year as a starter, LaMarr Woodley only 25 and in his second. I think they do miss one old guy, defensive end Aaron Smith, 33."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09344/1019951-367.stm
But in an article today, he says:
"This team for this era has hit the wall. The Steelers squeezed as much as they could out of their talent during this era with their two Super Bowl victories under two different head coaches. The astonishing part of it is few saw this collapse coming as the T-shirts cranked out "Seventh Heaven" predictions for their next Lombardi Trophy soon after the parade for No. 6 ended.
While there is rampant disgust with what has happened over the past five games, this era, this decade that is coming to a fast close, should be celebrated. It will be regarded as the second-best decade in Steelers history.
Now comes the tough part -- what to do about the early part of the next decade. They can hardly blow things up, and that is not the Steelers' style, anyway. They cannot and should not purge the roster or the coaching staff, but changes need to be made and more drastic ones than those made to the lineup by coach Mike Tomlin in Cleveland Thursday night.
Here are the ages next year of some starting defenders: Casey Hampton, 33; Brett Keisel, 32; Aaron Smith, 34; James Farrior, 35; James Harrison, 32; Ike Taylor, 30; Ryan Clark, 31. And the ages of their top replacements: Tyrone Carter, 34; Deshea Townsend, 35; Travis Kirschke, 36; Chris Hoke, 34; Nick Eason, 30.
Even if all were playing at their top level, those ages would be cause for concern. The problem is the decline in play on defense combined with their getting old. Another year would not make the same group a better defense than it has been this season. The other problem is there are few replacements on the roster.
They have no young, upcoming linebackers behind the starters and only Ziggy Hood in the defensive line. They drafted two cornerbacks in the third and fifth rounds this season and have been reluctant to use or even dress one of them in the face of poor play at cornerback much of the season. Ryan Mundy is their only young safety who could possibly compete to start."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09347/1020571-66.stm
I've said repeatedly on CF that the defense is getting old in critical spots on the D-line and at LB, including the key backups on the line.
Bringing in Ziggy Hood has meant nothing thus far for the D-line, Lawrence Timmons stil has not played anywhere near expectations at LB-and he was a guy Tomlin desperately wanted.
LaMarr Woodley has been very good at times, but at others I wonder what he's doing, especially against the run.
James Farrior IS getting old quickly, regardless of Bouchette's assertion that he's played well this year.
James Harrison will be 32 next year and he and Woodley don't seem to perform as well with Aaron Smith out of the lineup.
Bouchette contends that the secondary is not old so there must be a different explanation for their implosion. Polamalu is out and can't cover up for the deficiencies of the others. Bryant McFadden was O.K. and was lost to the Cardinals in the offseason. Deshea Townsend got old. Ike Taylor was O.K., but hasn't performed well this year at all. Nobody ever said William Gay was going to be good, and being only 24 has nothing to do with it at CB.
Furthermore, Bouchette is living in La-La Land if he thinks Ryan Mundy should get a chance a start. Where was the appropriate level of criticism from other sources besides Caste Football for Mundy's pathetic performance against the Raiders? It wasn't simply that he gave up the game-winning TD. His god-awful tackling on the final drive-leading with his head-resulted in Gay's concussion(which brought Burnette in the game to drop an easy INT), and a 15-yard penalty which led directly to the red zone opportunity for the Raiders.
Looking just at the defense, Tomlin and Colbert have used for three seasons a championship-caliber bunch developed by Bill Cowher and his staff and have not drafted or developed the necessary replacements by any stretch of the imagination.
Tomlin will continue to run the team into the ground while the front office and the DWFs continue to plead for time because he's a HOF-level coach in the making.
My arse.
