I was going to do this myself even but you beat me to it. Agree with you on everything, as far as YPA, KC Joyner has Ike and Townsend both at 10 (which is very bad) and McFadden at 5.4 (which is elite). Townsend I think is because of injuries, he looked good in the first game, but after the injury hasn’t. One note on Ike Taylor; the NFL Scouting service has him at about 5.3 YPA, and in an article I quoted earlier this week, said he was the best Steelers corner for sure.

So obviously, there are discrepancies in how these scouts regard coverage. I’d lean toward accepting the Scouting Services number for Ike, as they have been doing it longer, and are probably better acclimated with the zone coverages we play. Ike does alot of bumping receivers off of routes, and then passing them onto the safety so he can play run support, and he does this extremely well. The two deep balls to Mason broken up by Polamalu were a result of this. Polamalu got the highlight, but Ike did a good job of being physical with the receiver off the snap as well, helping Troy get time to get over.

McFadden is definitely a much better ball hawk and more aggressive going after the pick than Ike, he hasn’t been burned by it yet, but he may be later in the season (look at Cromartie this year as teams have picked up on his tendency to jump routes early).

Clark has been solid and unspectacular, I’ve seen him blitz on a couple of occasions even, and obviously this is done because teams are expecting Troy to come, and then Clark comes and they think they have an opening on the deep end, but Troy flies back to the ball and makes the play. Great design by LeBeau.

Troy. Yup, DPOY of the year, by FAR this year. Can’t remember him making a mistake yet. Sure he allowed a couple completions against Winslow, but he broke up a few as well and did a great job giving up a ton of size. He can play 4 positions at a very high level: SS, FS, CB, and LB. Simply incredible. At the height of his powers, even better than 04-05 when he was healthy. You are right that if either Harrison or Woodley end up with 20 sacks they will probably get it because of the bias towards pass-rushers in the POY voting. We’ll see though, if Troy ends up with 6-8 picks, tons of tackles and a few sacks, FRs, FFs, he’ll be right there.

Didn’ t know Ike was that good in bump coverage, I always felt that he could be around the ball but couldn’t always get a hand on it (hence no pics since when?), read an article on SI.com about how good Shawn Springs does against TO because he can get physical (with success). We do play them this year, so that is a little more incouraging. Also shows how the secondary must play like one much like the o-line.

I do hope we can re-sign Big Mac, especially if he can keep up the solid play. Tomlin did switch Ike to the right side, I forget the reason though. If we did indeed have a CB who could lock down his side of the field the D will be mentioned with the great ones of all time.

I think it might be the injury that Deshea is suffering from, numerous times players and coaches alike have said that he is the smartest of the DB’s, and you don’t lose that with time. Now he was never the fastest nor that athletic in terms of jumping. So age isn’t as much of a detriment to his abilities.

Troy is flat out amazing although he did get beat on the goal line play action in the Balt game. Still, I’ll take him over any safety someone cares to throw out there, go ’head I DARE YOU!!!!

Ryan Clark is ok, and thats really all we need right now, though he has made a play or two. I’m more concerned about how far Anthony Smith has fallen down the depth chart. Here’s to Ryan Mundy getting well soon!

I remember a lot of Polamalu doubters on this site over the summer. I tried to tell everyone he never went anywhere, and hes really proving me right this year. Its almost like hes playing fast but not out of control. I think a sack or two might help his chances for defensive mvp. I`m sure he will have at least 6 ints before the season is over.

As far as the rest of the secondary i agree that they are all playing well. Townsend looks like he has lost a step with that heel, but hopefully the bye takes care of that. Clark quietly playing solid. He takes good angles to the ball and is rarely out of position.

…as far as coverage is concerned. QBs could throw underneath him all game long if they wanted to. For my money he is the weakest spot on the defense at the moment, despite all the hype he gets (or gives himself) from some Steeler fans.

..in the near future. Polomalu and Clark are both a bit brittle at the safety spots, particularly considering the demands of the position in the Steeler scheme. None of the corners on hand are outstanding or ever will be. Outside of Troy there isn’t much natural talent at the position in comparison to the LBs or the front three. It is a unit that has just been hanging on through a combination of Dick Lebeau’s genius and the play of the defenders at the line of scrimmage.

Top priority at next year’s draft IMHO.

I had my doubts about the secondary early on, especially against Philly when we didn’t have a pass rush and somehow we didn’t cover either. But now it looks like we straightened things out, which leads to my question:

Do you think our secondary is improved this year over previous years because Tomlin is in at head coach? I know he coached secondary in Tampa, and I’m wondering what kind of impact he’s had on these guys