Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

Tom Mann Centuria

Delighted with that win, another good, close game again after a couple of shockers. Were the Ravens cocky in going for it like that?

Tom Mann Centuria

Making the Vikings look very good in the early stages.

Edit: I went to bed, they kept it closer than it looked like it was going to be, but still think sleep was the correct decision.

The_Honeybadger

I took the sleep option as well, early start.

I didn’t fancy them at all last night on the road after a tough game Sunday and with the Vikings looking to bounce back from a humiliating loss

Ill watch the highlights later but looking at the box score it looks like they didn’t start playing until the game was all but gone again.

Tom Mann Centuria

You never know do you. Didn't see that result coming after the first half showing.

The_Honeybadger

Great effort by the defence, albeit they got lucky with some of the takeaways

Still in the playoff hunt somehow

dfx-

They were due takeaways, but it's not the best plan to be 23-0 down at HT every week with the Chiefs, Browns and Ravens to go....

Dufflecoat Fanny

Chiefs are going to be without a lot of player due to Covid by the looks of it. Should even the odds for us.

The_Honeybadger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118360689#Comment_118360689

The guys they have put on the Covid list are vaccinated afaik and have a chance to play. But yeah, if Hill and Kelce in particular are out it would improve the Steelers chances dramatically.

The league will probably move the game to Tuesday rather than let that happen however, they moved several games last weekend.

dfx-

What do people put the dreadful first halves down to? Is it awful schemes, lack of preparation with the training (more/less music fiasco), letting 'Ben be Ben' in the 4th quarter...

The_Honeybadger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118363925#Comment_118363925

All of the above perhaps? I think part of the 4th quarter success is down to defences dropping off trying to avoid the big play and protect their lead, gives the OLine a more favourable situation and allows Ben to get lots of stuff underneath. Even allowing for that Ben has been awesome at times though.

Why they are so putrid in the first half is probably down to a couple of things like scheme, execution etc, but fundamentally this is a deeply flawed team with a bottom 3 OLine and they are probably the easiest offence in the league to gameplan for. Canada was supposedly this mad scientist that was going to shake everything up on offence but it’s mostly the same offence as last year. I was sceptical that Ben would want to learn all this new stuff given where he is in his career, so I would cut Canada some slack perhaps.

Appointing an OC and OLine Coordinator with almost no NFL experience to develop a bunch of new guys was still very risky and they both look a bit out of their depth. I don’t know why they have gone that way when they had relative success with experienced guys like Hayley and Munchak in the past.

Dufflecoat Fanny

Joe Burrow just humiliated the Ravens setting a new franchise record for passing yards.

Ben throws an interception on his 1st throw ffs

Tom Mann Centuria

This is going to be a long evening...... Don't think I'll see too much more of it though.

The_Honeybadger

Absolutely dire stuff on both sides of the ball as they take their customary first half off

The_Honeybadger

That fumble from Diontae is one of the worst you’ll ever see. He was under no pressure whatsoever

Tom Mann Centuria

Canada seems to be the whipping boy on Twitter. Rightly or wrongly, but an awful lot seem to be giving Tomlin a free pass, as head coach he's had 4 playoff wins in 14 years. Not exactly setting the world on fire, Roethlisberger is so obviously not up to it anymore either.

The_Honeybadger

Difficult to say who is to blame for this awful offence without knowing how much control Ben has over play calling but it’s all totally devoid of imagination, throwing short of the sticks continually, Ray Ray McCloud getting targeted like a #1 receiver in recent weeks for some unfathomable reason etc. Last night was just dreadful to watch.

The patchwork OLine has been a disaster and makes it very hard for anything else to work on offence, they really should have done more with that unit in the offseason.

Dufflecoat Fanny

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118378704#Comment_118378704

I noticed Mahomes was releasing the ball just as quick as Ben is forced to last night but Mahomes was moving the chains. I've a feeling Ben just can't play the scheme. Plenty of able WR's on the squad it doesn't make sense. Either way he won't be back next year in Pittsburgh. He had a good run and should have won another SB if it weren't for the likes of Bryant, Brown and Bell being wasters and spoilers.

The_Honeybadger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118378981#Comment_118378981

Mahomes can scramble and keep plays alive when the protection breaks down however, Ben used to be the best in the league at that but he can’t do it at all any more.

I agree he will almost certainly retire after the season, also agree that he is probably limiting what Canada can do and that’s why we have the same shotgun scheme as recent years, OLine compounds the issue.

Theyll have an interesting conundrum when Ben is gone. They have a lot of other needs on the roster and can’t afford a blockbuster trade for Rodgers or Wilson. If they don’t like anybody in the draft they could go for a stop gap free agent like Mariota to compete with Rudolph while they try to build the roster back up through the draft.

dfx-

There are some really bad clips and gifs of the some of the holes that KC had for the RB. Parting of the Red Sea stuff, width of the logo size gaps down the middle...

They have to sort out the QB, you just cannot start Rudolph next season regardless of other issues. They supposedly have the cap space.

Dufflecoat Fanny

Antonio Brown had one of his tantrums again and walked off the sideline and threw his jersey into the crowd. Tampa Bay released him soon after the game. What an absolute bellend. I hope he never plays another down of football.

The_Honeybadger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118407931#Comment_118407931

He is almost certainly mentally ill, very sad. I expect he is done in the NFL now

The_Honeybadger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118401733#Comment_118401733

Its very bad, losing Tuitt and Alualu for the season was a disaster and then Bush has struggled after coming back from the ACL tear. Never mind losing Bud, Hilton and Williams who were all good run defenders in recent years and then all the niggly injuries to Watt and Highsmith. It’s no surprise they are struggling

They have money to spend for once but they have some guys to re-sign as well, Minkah and Diontae will probably get extended this offseason and they may want to re-sign Juju as well. If you also plug a few holes in free agency there won’t be a whole lot left

No idea who the QB will be in 2022. It’s not a good year to be looking to the draft by all accounts

The_Honeybadger

To make the playoffs we need to beat the Browns on Monday and the Ravens next Sunday and hope the Jags beat the Colts. Not likely but there is a faint glimmer of hope at least.

Im glad the Bengals won the division rather than the other two. Looks like they have struck gold with Burrow and they have some serious weapons as well. They have really turned the team around in a short space of time

dfx-

Witherspoon at CB with an INT seems to have done well after not playing much early on. Some trying to read into the game on Monday night like the run game was better, Garrett not doing much...but it was only about getting Ben a win and victory formation with the slim playoff hopes. By any means necessary. Another not losing season which is as miraculous as 2019 was. Much better than ending with last season's playoff defeat.

Ben looked his age as he hobbled off at the end. A quarter lap of honour rather than a lap🙂

The_Honeybadger

Colbert has announced that he is retiring after the draft. You’d imagine that his successor is already be in the building and this is a planned transition, otherwise this announcement now makes no sense.

Dufflecoat Fanny

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118443857#Comment_118443857

Glad to hear this. He's had some years where we only came out with 1 starter after 2 years and a lot of reaches in the 1st round. Omar Khan should get the job. I hope he does anyway. I always thought we weren't active enough in free agency or in trading players for picks. The Patriots kept their team stocked with talent over the years by being smart with trades and they used to pick in the bottom 10 all the time.

The_Honeybadger

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118444279#Comment_118444279

I think that’s a little harsh. Colbert has had a great career and has drafted a lot of excellent players, too many to mention them all, but take that team they had in the middle of the 10’s with Ben, AB, Bell, Pouncey, DeCastro, Heyward, Tuitt, Shazier, Watt etc. That was exceptional team building from a talent POV, I know it soured with AB and Bell at the end.

They definitely have struggled in the draft since and it has left a roster now with a lot of holes. 2017 when they got Watt and Juju was very good but otherwise it has been really underwhelming in recent years, 2018/19 in particular look brutal.

Colbert has been year to year in recent years so this was coming. Job is probably going to go to Khan or Brandon Hunt who is long time head of scouting / personnel. Real end of an era with Ben leaving as well

Dufflecoat Fanny

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118444399#Comment_118444399

End of an era is right. I started following NFL and the Steelers 2 years before Ben was drafted and Maddox was QB. 20 years went very quick.

The_Honeybadger

Unbelievable, we might be heading for a playoff game next wknd, was not expecting that. Thought the Colts would easily handle the Jags

All eyes on the late game now, surely a tie can’t happen even in this crazy season

dfx-

The Detroit mess of a game with two fumbles late on from 10-7 and whisker from 3rd/4th seed. Remarkable.