McMillan has agreed to terms.

[DisturbedShifty]

It still blows my mind how rookies aren't all signed by the Monday after the draft. Tuesday latest. I know Apatow, or what ever name is, loves her offset language but in the days rookie wage scales it really shouldn't take more than a couple days to sign everyone.

 

[Zounds]

It still blows my mind how rookies aren't all signed by the Monday after the draft. Tuesday latest. I know Apatow, or what ever name is, loves her offset language but in the days rookie wage scales it really shouldn't take more than a couple days to sign everyone.

Maybe if you download your contract from Legal Zoom, which is always a bad idea. There are still negotiable items such as payment structure, bonus money, and other contingencies. And many of these agents have mutiple clients that also have ongoing negotiations. I'm amazed that we have anyone signes 2 weeks after the draft.

 

[Superself]

While I'm looking forward to McMillan making his presence known; let's not forget that the jump from college to an NFL playbook can be difficult. It may take a bit of time before everything falls into place for the rookie.

Let's not lose our patience with him and/or the coaching staff for not starting him.


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[Sons Of Shula]

While I'm looking forward to McMillan making his presence known; let's not forget that the jump from college to an NFL playbook can be difficult. It may take a bit of time before everything falls into place for the rookie.

Let's not lose our patience with him and/or the coaching staff for not starting him.

Ohio St. DC Schiano runs close to an NFL defense (many top notch collegiate programs do schematically speaking and playbook wise). Burke is also a first time coordinator and has talked of streamlining our defense (not personally thrilled to hear that) so I don't see there being much of a learning curve for at least McMillan who is pro-ready.

 

[Sherif]

Ohio St. DC Schiano runs close to an NFL defense (many top notch collegiate programs do schematically speaking and playbook wise). Burke is also a first time coordinator and has talked of streamlining our defense (not personally thrilled to hear that) so I don't see there being much of a learning curve for at least McMillan who is pro-ready.

Burke seems difficult to understand. I believe it is a big question mark promoting him to his first coordinator position. SOS what do you see them doing or mean about streamlining the D.

“So we’re taking all those guys. I know the question is asked about Kiko [Alonso] and Lawrence [Timmons] and now Raekwon [McMillan] and we need, and you guys saw what happened to our linebacker depth last year. We had a plan going into Week 1 and Koa Misi by Week 3 is not playing. And Jelani Jenkins is in and out and all this stuff so.

“Our plan for all those guys is to literally cross train them. And to try to get the most and find out what the best fit is and honestly it may be week to week. I don’t know. It may be this week Raekwon fits better for us in this position and Lawrence is out here. Or maybe there’s a better option to match Kiko up with somebody we feel good about.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/s...-salguero/article149048739.html#storylink=cpy

 

[Sons Of Shula]

Burke seems difficult to understand. I believe it is a big question mark promoting him to his first coordinator position. SOS what do you see them doing or mean about streamlining the D.

“So we’re taking all those guys. I know the question is asked about Kiko [Alonso] and Lawrence [Timmons] and now Raekwon [McMillan] and we need, and you guys saw what happened to our linebacker depth last year. We had a plan going into Week 1 and Koa Misi by Week 3 is not playing. And Jelani Jenkins is in and out and all this stuff so.

“Our plan for all those guys is to literally cross train them. And to try to get the most and find out what the best fit is and honestly it may be week to week. I don’t know. It may be this week Raekwon fits better for us in this position and Lawrence is out here. Or maybe there’s a better option to match Kiko up with somebody we feel good about.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/s...-salguero/article149048739.html#storylink=cpy

Looks like Burke will rely heavily on his roots of the gym shorts attacking philosophy. The "attacking" adjective may be deceiving to some as it does not refer at all to a heavy blitz scheme. In fact, it's the opposite as we'll stray from the zone blitzes that VJ used and the primary focus of the pass rush will be solely on the defensive line to get to the QB. Blitz packages will be minimal as that responsibility will be on the front four from wide pass sets (wide 9 alignment by the DE's). The LBs will read run first and react to the pass by then dropping into coverage. CBs will press and the safeties will be in Cover 2 with some Robber coverage (one safety rocks down underneath, the other rolls to the middle of the field) at times post-snap to provide a different look now and then. Simple assignments and the defense will rely heavily on execution instead of disguise and confusion. That's what he means he says he will streamline the defense.

Here are the drawbacks and weaknesses to that approach. Since the D-line's first job is to get to the QB, they can often leave creases and cutbacks for RB's if the don't react quick enough to the run. This can happen regardless if the LB's flow properly to their assigned gaps, especially with our front's wide alignment. With the LBs reading run first they are susceptible to the play action game be being sucked in and leaving space behind them. If we can't initially stop the run we'll have to use more Robber coverage for an 8th man (safety) in the box which will then remove press coverage b/c we don't have a true S2S Free Safety over top, putting us in more Cover 3 situations where they CBs will have to bail into a deep 1/3 zone. All in all, if/when a good offense can stall or nullify our execution we don't have much to rely on in terms of switching it up in favor of blitzing and confusion. It's a very straight forward scheme.

As far as cross training, I hope that it's simple camp/preseason process to feel out our new LB unit. It's good to cross train, happens often along units like the offensive line as well, but players need a spot to settle and get comfortable with. Not really a fan of not having a solidified leader at Mike to call the plays and line up the front 7.

 

[Wildbill3]

My question sos is... if we assume the gym shorts defense shows us more of the same problems even with improved personnel, do we have the horses to run a more effective defense and if so which one?


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[Sons Of Shula]

My question sos is... if we assume the gym shorts defense shows us more of the same problems even with improved personnel, do we have the horses to run a more effective defense and if so which one?

Not at the moment b/c it's how we've built up this particular defense with our players. Our DE's, though fast and good pass rushers, are too small to be moved over the tackles, and we don't have any LBs with good pass rush skills to play on the line or blitz with any regularity. Also defenses that a more blitz based tend to have a true Free Safety that can cover sideline to sideline.

This scheme is what the staff believes in with the players and talent they have and is more effective with their saying that it is, "built to play with a lead". Problems arise if/when offenses decide they want to run the ball regardless, or we fall behind on the score board. It's also quite brazen to believe we can just line up talent wise vs any offense and out do them by execution without having the advantage of disguise or confusion in terms of who's coming or going in the pass rush as 85-90% of the time it's our d-line only.

 

[Eesti]

I will reserve judgement on Timmons until I actually see him in action....and healthy. He was pretty bang up last year with a turf toe to start the season followed by a severe shin injury (puncture wound) that called for him to be rushed to the hospital during the game on Sept. 25th. It should be noted that he still hasn't missed a start since 2010.

I found this PFF article talking about how a scheme change in Pit was "hanging Timmons out to dry"...

https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-an-steelers-hanging-timmons-out-to-dry-not-putting-players-in-position-to-succeed/

Notice how Burke did not mention Misi as starter? Only talked about Alonso, Timmons and McMillan.

 

[Sons Of Shula]

I will reserve judgement on Timmons until I actually see him in action....and healthy. He was pretty bang up last year with a turf toe to start the season followed by a severe shin injury (puncture wound) that called for him to be rushed to the hospital during the game on Sept. 25th. It should be noted that he still hasn't missed a start since 2010.

I found this PFF article talking about how a scheme change in Pit was "hanging Timmons out to dry"...

https://www.profootballfocus.com/pro-an-steelers-hanging-timmons-out-to-dry-not-putting-players-in-position-to-succeed/

Notice how Burke did not mention Misi as starter? Only talked about Alonso, Timmons and McMillan.

That PFF article is horrible. Hoops and I dissected it a while back. They were off on quite a few things including not even being able to properly ID coverage, defensive assignments and the simple fact that offense's will/can find and force matchups. It's a waste of a read.