Anleitungen » After the Broncos' stirring win over the Steelers

Dermontti Dawson Jersey , Vance Joseph held a game ball up high and called for the man he once wanted to cut."Shelby Harris!" Joseph hollered . "What a great week. He had a new baby girl on Friday. And a game-winning interception" in Denver's 24-17 victory that shook up the AFC playoff picture.In between, he had a shared sack, a pass breakup and three hard hits on Ben Roethlisberger, one of which led to a second interception and another that was tantalizingly close to a safety after he bowled over center Maurkice Pouncey and dropped Roethlisberger on his back in the end zone.Cut a half-dozen times by the Raiders, Jets and Cowboys, Harris signed a futures contract in Denver two weeks after Joseph was hired as head coach in January 2017.Having missed most of the 2016 season after getting cut in camp by the Jets and signing with Dallas just before Christmas, Harris said, "I felt like Denver was my last chance."That didn't translate to making a good first impression, though."He's got about a week before we cut him," Joseph said he told defensive line coach Bill Kollar then."He was just that bad that spring," Joseph recalled earlier this week. "I guess the light came on, and the guy's been playing really good football for a year and a-half since."Harris heeded his coach's admonition to start hustling on every single down every single day."They might have thought that he's a week away from cutting, but the next thing you know he's leading our defensive tackles in sacks last year Chris Boswell Jersey ," linebacker Shane Ray said. "And he's made huge plays this year. That says a lot about his character."In 2017, Harris played in all 16 games for the first time in his career and was second on the team with 5陆 sacks. This year, he's been especially stout in the run game but can still make his mark in the pass rush.Kollar said it all began with a heart-to-heart talk with Harris."What happens when you get up here, everybody's good, everybody's tough. So, to me, you've got to take it to next level. When you're a guy who's just never made it, dude, you've got to change your (stuff)," Kollar said Wednesday. "So, that's what I told him: 'You've got to work your butt off or you're not going to make it. I want you working harder than those guys you're playing across from.'"Kollar said it was a classic case of pairing determination with natural ability."My job is to get it out of them, to do it all the time," Kollar said. "But I ride everybody's (behind) on the D-line."It turns out Kollar was the perfect headmaster for Harris."Bill got me in better shape Merril Hoge Jersey , I'll say that," Harris said. "But really, we do a lot of reps and then he goes and explains it and it kind of opens your eyes a little bit the way he explains it, the certain blocks and the way you're supposed to take them on. And the technique that he teaches is kind of natural for me. And so, everything's kind of just fallen into place with Bill."Harris also credited his teammates for helping bring out his best."The players on the D-line have really helped me out to just become a better player, a better person," Harris said. "The whole D-line and Coach Kollar have helped turn my game into what it is today."Harris said he's taken tidbits from Derek Wolfe, Domata Peko, Adam Gotsis and Zach Kerr: "I try to take little pieces from all of them and add them into my game, and it's kind of worked out perfectly."Harris' only other career interception came for Illinois State against Indiana State in 2013.The only other time he got a game ball came in 2015, when he made a touchdown-saving tackle against the Chargers, when he was also running on adrenalin from sleep deprivation."You want to know something crazy? The first time was after I had my son," Harris said. "And I missed the Thursday practice that time and half of Friday and came back Friday night."He missed practice last Friday for the birth of his daughter ."It was funny. I was joking around with Zach: 'You know Mark Barron Jersey , every time I have a kid, something good happens," Harris recounted. "It was just like a joke we had going on 鈥?and then you saw what happened."Harris insists, however, that it won't go down as his best game in the pros."There's a lot of room to improve," Harris said. "I want to put together a complete game where I'm going out there and being dominant in the run and dominant in the pass."Follow Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: ://arniestapletonIn all facets, the Steelers’ 3-pronged ILB rotation is a disaster waiting to happen Well, it seems the Steelers indeed will be without Vince Williams against the Atlanta Falcons at home on Sunday. Williams has been an incredibly underwhelming presence on the defense, and I dare say he’s currently playing himself right out of a starting job, should one of his three understudies step up.But that would imply this experiment might possibly prove to be a positive. After all, there are three hungry linebackers who want their shots at getting more snaps once Williams returns to the fold. Maybe these guys will offer something Williams does not, and they might at least somewhat remedy an ailing defense as it goes against a top-5 offense in the NFL. Unfortunately for us all, the Steelers’ coaches not only ignore the shortcomings of these backups Donnie Shell Jersey , which cause the idea to be so horrendous, but they also refuse to watch the tape, to give them an idea of the guys who ought to be playing. It seems that’s a huge issue with the Steelers’ current coaching staff. Offensively, it’s curious how the Steelers never use play-action when it works every time they run it. Or why not give Jaylen Samuels some opportunities to play when James Conner and Stevan Ridley are getting stuffed? In the case of their linebackers, though, it’s why not give Matthew Thomas and L.J. Fort all the snaps after what they’ve shown on tape.If anyone watched tape from the Ravens game, they’d see that, in relief of Vince Williams, L.J. Fort actually played pretty well. Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora broke down in two GIFs how L.J. Fort made a difference in the run game right away. Fort makes two excellent reads and navigates through traffic well on both. The rip on the first one is particularly well done. That’s what they call ‘getting skinny.’ On both plays, you can see Fort has the athletic ability that the Steelers have been missing. His range allows him to make those plays and, if anything, he deserves more snaps for plays like this. But instead, he’s shunned to the sub-packages for Tyler Matakevich in base. The most egregiously non-athletic ILB in the NFL is going to be the one you want covering running plays and going into the flat to deal with Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman? That’s not going to work Tyson Alualu Jersey , and this ‘sprinkling in’ of Matthew Thomas needs to be in higher doses. We know Thomas is a raw project, but this team needs some athletic play-making in the middle of the defense.Who offers that? Matthew Thomas and L.J. Fort — so play them. Unfortunately, personnel decisions aren’t the only reason why this is a terrible idea. Since we all know it should be Fort and Thomas getting the bulk of the playing time, why are we rotating three ILBs in the first place? First off, the Special Teams is already hurting heavily with two of its top-3 players down for the count this week. Nat Berhe is done for the season with a torn pectoral muscle and Darrius Heyward-Bey is out with an ankle injury. If Matakevich happens to get injured, and he is a great special-teamer, you’ll be down your three core special-teamers. Not exactly what I’d like to see. But even more importantly, you’re now running two councils — one of four guys at CB2 and three now at ILB. In the past two weeks during which you employed that CB2 council, there were frequent instances of 12 men on the field and 10 men on the field. Personnel didn’t know the play call on many occasions. So now you suddenly think this will change because of this rotation?I highly doubt it and I predict more 12-men-on-the-field penalties this week. You are without your two main communicators on the defense in Vince Williams and Morgan Burnett. Those two are the guys that would communicate the defense if you will. Who does that now?It will likely have to be either Cam Heyward or Joe Haden, which means your main means of communication will never be in the middle of the field. If it happens to be Sean Davis, the young kid ought to be focusing on his improvement at FS — not worrying about handling communication on top of it. And if it’s Jon Bostic — well how do we even know he’s ready to call plays from a playbook he picked up about five months ago?Disarray is going to be afoot on the Steelers’ defense this week and possibly worse than ever. In terms of communication, Mike Tomlin and Keith Butler better have their straps buckled in tight. They’ll need it.