Pittsburgh Steelers Thread

OOnegative

dfx- wrote: »

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ugh.

Dogfight now to the end of the season with the Ravens to see who wins the Division. We should really be 9-3-1 but we’re not.

kiers47

I had serious concerns about those 2 games as i mentioned. But in reality we should have at least won one of them if not both. I dont think ive seen things transpire so much against us than that Chargers game.
The good news i guess is that we surely have 2 very winnable games left in Oakland and Cinci who are pretty f*cked without Dalton or Green.
That and the Ravens have to go away to the Chargers and Chiefs.

Sit back and hold on tight it seems

Tom Mann Centuria

Wheels have fallen off just at the wrong part of the season. Coming out the wrong side of close games every week now.

OOnegative

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Wheels have fallen off just at the wrong part of the season. Coming out the wrong side of close games every week now.

Wheels completely fallen off, the early games last night done them some favours with losses for the Ravens, Patriots & Texans but we didn’t capitalize on them. IF we make the playoffs it won’t be a long run.

The_Honeybadger

Steelers quite unlucky past few weeks with the Boswell slip, bad calls vs Chargers, Ben and Conner injuries etc. Patriots at home is a must win now as they’ll need two from the final three to make it you would think. Should be a cracker.

kiers47

OOnegative wrote: »

Wheels completely fallen off, the early games last night done them some favours with losses for the Ravens, Patriots & Texans but we didn’t capitalize on them. IF we make the playoffs it won’t be a long run.

Pretty gutting stuff really. The defensive play calling has been brutal i thought the past few weeks. Really really one dimensional. So easy to read and pick apart.
The secondary is just killing us. We need to draft or trade for replacements or at least help for Burns, Davis, Edmunds et al.. Im not convinced they are up to it tbh and they certainly dont perform well together.
Burns and Edmunds are 2 of our last 3 first rounders and they would struggle to get on the top 20 defenses. Not good enough really.

I suppose there is zero chance Tomlin would consider someone like Earl Thomas. But he will be entering free agency and he would be a good base for to build a half decent secondary. He will be 30 next year but i think he is still capable of performing to a level well above what we currently have. Wishful thinking i would imagine.

dfx-

You've got to wonder how many first round draft picks have gone into that defense for the last five years and they just cannot turn the ball over or even cover anyone (in Burns' case)

What is Burnett doing here:

https://twitter.com/Alex_Kozora/status/1071968722422824960

Tom Mann Centuria

Great win, didn't really expect it how previous defensive displays have gone, but that was great.

discobeaker

I need a sit down after that match. MASSIVE win for us

dfx-

Another season preserving win.

Lose to the Raiders 'comically', beat the Patriots with an INT on Brady. A good run at 2nd seed has turned into hanging on to 4th seed. What might've been...

The_Honeybadger

Take a bow Jaylen Samuels and those OL and DL what a win. Hopefully that 48 yarder will see Boswell back to his best as well. Steelers have been unlucky these past few weeks and hopefully this is a corner turned. Got some serious breaks with all those penalties admittedly.

Pats will be disgusted with their performance and their indiscipline in particular but they just don’t have the talent they once had, Gronkowski is a shadow of himself and Brady is only playing ok by his standards. They are where they are only because they are in the weakest division in football.

dfx-

Win in Baltimore, beat the Patriots, push New Orleans all the way in the Superdome and probably should've beaten them too.

But the playoffs are realistically over. Denver and Oakland.

The_Honeybadger

Those calls on the two NO scores in the first half were killers but the fake punt attempt was just suicide at that stage. Pittsburgh were the better team tonight in many ways. F it anyway.

Cannot see Cleveland being good enough to go in to Baltimore and win so you’d imagine that’s the season done.

OOnegative

With a roster as talented as the Steelers have, you shouldn’t be losing to the likes of Denver or Oakland. If we miss the playoffs it’s the teams fault. See the Bengals game has been switched to 9.25pm next Sunday for whatever reason.

dfx-

There's also another year wasted of Ben. He's not got that many left - 2 or 3 maybe? AB doesn't either, the OL as well. When they are able to compete in the Superdome, there should've been nothing to fear on the road in the playoffs, but they won't be there.

The defense has badly let the team down again, not getting any stops and not turning the ball over. Too many times it has been down to Ben to run final drives - even in Cincinatti.

The_Honeybadger

Secondary needs huge work in the off season and probably a change of coordinator. Backfield should be easily enough sorted. Team probably has a two year window to make a run if they get it right in the draft and make a few good pickups with the Bell money.

I wouldn’t rule out the Browns doing Pittsburgh a favour next weekend they are on a roll with a dynamic young team and we have seen crazier results this year.

OOnegative

The_Honeybadger wrote: »

Secondary needs huge work in the off season and probably a change of coordinator. Backfield should be easily enough sorted. Team probably has a two year window to make a run if they get it right in the draft and make a few good pickups with the Bell money.

What do we have left in regards a Super Bowl window, 2 years? Big Ben will most likely be gone by then, AB, unless he does a Jerry Rice will be on the wind down. Ju Ju will be in his prime but most likely will be like the D’Andre Hopkins of old before D’Sean was drafted. Possibly Washington will have broken out to.

We really need to make the best of 2019/20 before we go into another down period for the franchise, have resigned myself to the fact we’re missing the playoffs this year. The secondary is a huge problem and needs sorting, god bring back 43!!

The_Honeybadger

OOnegative wrote: »

What do we have left in regards a Super Bowl window, 2 years? Big Ben will most likely be gone by then, AB, unless he does a Jerry Rice will be on the wind down. Ju Ju will be in his prime but most likely will be like the D’Andre Hopkins of old before D’Sean was drafted. Possibly Washington will have broken out to.

We really need to make the best of 2019/20 before we go into another down period for the franchise, have resigned myself to the fact we’re missing the playoffs this year. The secondary is a huge problem and needs sorting, god bring back 43!!

You’d wonder what Ben will be like in two years but there is at least another good season in him if he stays healthy. AB will be 31 at the start of next season but he is a great athlete and pro and I could see him playing at a high level in to his thirties.

Looking at the secondary questions need to be asked about the draft and why they took another receiver and a third choice QB early when there are so many holes on defence. They should have a top 20 pick next time for the first time in years so they will surely use this on the best defensive player on the board and try to pick up a good free agent or two as well. Trade up in the draft if needed. Butler is surely a goner?

The season overall has been a bit of a disaster, the Oakland game in particular was just a calamity and looks like it’s going to cost us a playoff place that should have been a formality for an insanely talented team like the Steelers. We can’t close tight games and all of the losses are littered with sloppy silly mistakes and cheap turnovers. Refs screwed us a bit in the chargers and saints games too but it shouldn’t have mattered and can’t be used as an excuse.

The Bell situation was far from ideal, they were full sure he would be back and by the time they realised he wasn’t coming it was too late to make any personnel moved. Imagine what €14m could have done for that secondary if you knew you had it available at the start of the season. I still don’t understand his decision but I’m glad he is gone now and the cap space will be a huge plus going in to 2019. I’m not sure who is in contract years on the OL and DL but if they can be kept reasonably intact and they put together even an average back seven then the Steelers are as good as anybody.

I still can’t believe they will miss the playoffs having been 7-2-1. Could Tomlin be in trouble I wonder?

dfx-

Ben's contract is up to and including 2020 I think, but he might go longer. He might be around longer than 2020, but might not be at his peak anymore.

He has been protected well recently with a good offensive line and rarely sacked, but how long has Pouncey, Foster and Gilbert got left? Foster might go this year, Gilbert is always injured.

Juju will be getting near a new contract in 2020 and that complicates things even for fan favourites.

I just don't think there's time left to fix the secondary to make use of all those^, unless they hit the ground running. The Steelers are still going to be low in the draft, they're not getting any first picks soon. It's not how the Steelers generally do things, but they have to make a splash outside of the draft imo.

The_Honeybadger

There is no time to fix anything through the draft but the Steelers have €18m to roll in to 2019 after the Bell no show. They will have to make a few FA moves and have cap room to do so. We all agree they have one, possibly two years before they hit reset.

Of course there are several issues to look at but in terms of making a run in 2019 the Steelers are not in a bad place at all as long as it is well managed. The longer term picture is much more uncertain.

dfx-

If you wanted to be optimistic, the Steelers did end up with a tough schedule with the strong AFC West with the Chargers being 5th seed with 11 wins and the Saints in New Orleans.

I saw a tweet earlier that they've lost to the no 1, 2, 3, 5, 12 and 28 ranked teams.

OOnegative

Well, we in or out tonight?

dfx-

Out I think.

OOnegative

dfx- wrote: »

Out I think.

Yeah, realistically the Browns ain’t doing us no favour later. Shame as I think we could have done damage in the playoffs if we got in regardless of our regular season form.

Edit: I know earlier in this thread I said we wouldn’t last long in the playoffs, comment made out of frustration that one.

The_Honeybadger

Don’t count the Browns out but I’m not optimistic at the same time

AB out afaik

OOnegative

Good god, no need to be hoping!!! Bengals the worse defense in NFL this year?

The_Honeybadger

Ravens comfortable so it won’t matter anyway by the looks of it. Nobody will want to play those ravens in the playoffs that run attack is a nightmare.

Edit: great effort in the end by the Browns they are going to be a massive threat next season they have a great young QB and star quality everywhere. Well done to the ravens they probably deserved it more than the Steelers in all fairness. Not going to bother staying up hoping for a miracle later on.

OOnegative

Call a shovel a shovel, distractions aside the Steelers should have made the post season? Bad bad season end of.

Team underperformed.

The_Honeybadger

OOnegative wrote: »

Call a shovel a shovel, distractions aside the Steelers should have made the post season? Bad bad season end of.

Team underperformed.

Without a doubt. There seem to be an underlying issue of some sort, the team is not clinical and failed to execute the basics far too often and at great cost. Missed kicks, fumbles, defensive penalties etc etc game after game.

They really need to get things right in the off season. Baltimore and the Browns are going to be really good next year and there will be an absolute slugfest for the division. 2018 level of performance just won’t do for Pittsburgh.

Tomlin is fortunate that he is at a conservative franchise that rarely sacks coaches because there are several others that just wouldn’t tolerate what has played out this season. By all accounts he is calling the shots on that defence, I’d love to see them get in a first class DC and let them take over.

Itssoeasy

The_Honeybadger wrote: »

Without a doubt. There seem to be an underlying issue of some sort, the team is not clinical and failed to execute the basics far too often and at great cost. Missed kicks, fumbles, defensive penalties etc etc game after game.

They really need to get things right in the off season. Baltimore and the Browns are going to be really good next year and there will be an absolute slugfest for the division. 2018 level of performance just won’t do for Pittsburgh.

Tomlin is fortunate that he is at a conservative franchise that rarely sacks coaches because there are several others that just wouldn’t tolerate what has played out this season. By all accounts he is calling the shots on that defence, I’d love to see them get in a first class DC and let them take over.

It's the thing I give the Steelers organisation huge credit for. I mean think about it, since 1969 the Pittsburgh steelers have had THREE head Coaches. That's 49 years and three head Coaches. That has to be a record in american sports.