The Reid Option: Week 15

by Sammy Reid (SammyReid) Last Updated 2018-12-14 19:45:07 Premium Content Part of the product Combo Lite

Each week, Sammy Reid will break down each position in detail, pinpointing his favorite plays at various salary ranges. Who should we be focusing our core on this week? Read below to find out!

QUARTERBACK

For the better part of the past three seasons, football Twitter has blown up Mike McCarthy for his ineptitude as he wasted the prime of Aaron Rodgers with “just” one Superbowl title in 14 seasons. Recently, I postulated that Mike Tomlin may end up suffering a similar fate by winning zero championships with the Ben-Brown-Bell core. (He did win a title in his second season with Ben in 2008, but this was largely the roster he had inherited from the Cowher era). The failures in the Tomlin era have been defined by two major shortcomings: The first is an inability to play pass defense, ranking an average of 17th in pass DVOA since Troy Polamalu’s last first-team All-Pro season. The second is an inability to beat the New England Patriots, going 2-7 against the Pats in the Tomlin era – with one of those wins coming against Matt Cassel in 2009.

These failures are part in parcel, which is curious considering that Tomlin was originally hired with a reputation as a brilliant young defensive mind; he was the defensive backs coach with the Bucs of the early 2000’s and then the defensive coordinator of the 2006 Vikings – a team that finished #6 in defensive DVOA. When Tomlin was hired by the Steelers in 2007, he acquiesced to continue using the 3-4 zone blitz scheme run by Dick LeBeau instead of the 4-3 Tampa-2 scheme he’d run with Tampa Bay and Minnesota. However, even after LeBeau was fired after the 2014 season, the Steelers outdated 3-4 defensive scheme remained largely in place with new defensive coordinator Keith Butler.