Why We Are Making the Playoffs

They only missed the playoffs by one game last season, and that was with a rookie QB, and playing one of the toughest schedules in the league.

 

Winner Winner

 

Excuses Excuses

 

He will have to step it up, no doubt, to get to Super Bowl level.
But a team will always beat an individual.
Then of course, coaching must be smart enough to shape the team to its strengths, along with the GM.

I have hopes Kenny Pickett takes it up a notch and I hope becomes one of the QB 'names of the game.'

Speaking of Hurts.
I never liked him, even labeled him as the worst QB in the NFC East at one point.
I think he got very lucky with a coach that understands him and was able to capitalize on what he does good.
He went out and put together two of the very best WR's to add to a very good TE and a versatile RB and designed a pretty good offensive game plan.
Philly has had a solid defense for a while.
It all came together almost perfectly. As much as I dislike them, they did an excellent job by putting the right people in place.

 

I'm glad you are happy with the offense we demonstrated last year. Canada's offense I believe was the reason we missed the playoffs. The point of my post was not to denigrate the effort last year but to point out with this guy running the offense we will have a hard time being successful.

 

I couldn't defend Canada.... He's not feared by many D-coordinators.

It really rubbed me wrong that he had a rookie throwing 53 times in a game.
Then it seemed like either he figured it out or someone took him aside and said 'look, run the ball and throw safe passes and play defense'

It is my understanding that this is Canada's last season on the current contract.
That will make it interesting as his replacement may already be in the house (now it's a whole 'nuther thing if he's any better)
But for now, he's had a season and an offseason to work with his new offense unlike last season.
So, I would expect them to come out of the gate better than last season.

 

Yea, either Tomlin stepped in or he listened to Bill Cowhers words. I'm leaning towards Tomlin stepping in.

As for KP8, it's sounding like he has made an adjustment to his throwing motion. We shall see if that sets him back or gives him a giant leap in his development. But KP8 also hit the weights big time these past four months. We shall see how that helps with his arm strength.

 

Maybe I missed it but no one mentioned what I consider to be one of the biggest problem for Steeler Playoffs. That guy under center in Cincinnati.

 

Burroughs is only getting better.

 

We stand on guard for thee...

 

What, in the senior baseball league?

 

Good one.... lol
"Burrow" not Burroughs... Burroughs is my brother in-law last name.. he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a truck.

 

There was no excuse in losing to the Patriots and Jets. Steelers were more than capable of winning those games... and Trubisky and the secondary pooped the bed. Everybody loves to place all blame on Trubisky/Canada... but Patriots and Jets were able to make splash plays that inevitably doomed the Steelers. The defense was awful during those games.

 

I think the Steelers have to become more complimentary.

They either seem to start the season poorly and then rebound at the middle and finish better.

Or start the season really well and then start trending down at the end.

4 games the Steelers really could of had Patriots, Jets, Cleveland away and, Dolphins away.

All 4 winnable games for them, when just 1 of the 3 and they would of been a playoff team.

But Patriots and Jets two that stand out the most.

 

I always like the "finishers"
Teams that get hot in Nov/Dec.

I've seen too many teams go 9-0 and finish 10-6 (well 10-7 these days)

 

The Patriots scored 17 points and one of those touchdowns came after the gift fumble by Olszewski. Yes, Witherspoon made a terrible play on the long touchdown to Agholor, but otherwise the defense was very good that day. The offense blew that one.

The defense absolutely failed in the loss to the Jets. They somehow managed to make Zach Wilson look good in that game.

 

Add to the half season positives trend - I feel like for a very long time and many years they’ve played well for 30 minutes or 2 quarters in one of the halves per game too.

I put that on Tomlin.

This part of the convo belongs in the Tomlin thread where one member here sings Tomlin’s praises and wants to push the vast majority of the criticism on Ben and the organization (including Tomlin) building around him.

 

Or maybe Canada can show some improvement in 2023, just like we expect Pickett and some of the other players to improve.

 

The offense was awful too, Trubisky was struggling to put points on the board, those were the two games the defense really missed TJ going up against two bad offenses.