What’s your main concern with 2023 Steelers team?

Will KP take the next step and become a more consistent QB?

 

i believe this is the biggest fix we have at the position. holcomb is more than capable at the position. in fact i like this room now as we sit here. i was pounding the table for them to get rid of jerry for several years. very stagnant at the position with what he was coaching. he was a try hard player but wasn't all that good. his coaching style taught them to play his style of game and it never changed even though the players in it changed. different name same outcome. hopefully this changes for the better. kwiatkoski, muse, holcomb and even neal when used more as a linebacker can all cover pretty well. thorn, you and i have been on the same page about jerry o for some time.

players not having defined roles or labels as in strong safety or slot corner or FB or TE or any other conventional label known in the past is a good thing. if we don't know then the other offense surely won't know. they only have so much time pre snap and post snap to figure it out. with our pass rush that don't give them much time.

we can say the same thing on offense too. weapons everywhere. conner made a living fooling defenses into not worrying about him last year, or where he would come from. they have to commit someone to him which just leaves someone else under covered or completely forgotten about. it's a way to cause confusion.

we have veterans in the defensive backfield mixed with some real talent. our defensive back coach is an up and comer as well. grady brown is considered a very good coach and possibly in line for an OC job at some point. i like our D- backfield in his hands along with our cast of players. again this will be a ball of confusion to offenses. just like the song.

 

Said it before and will say again, most posters know and understand the Steelers better then me. That said, I do not believe Kenny Pickett is the answer. IMO, he won't come close to what Ben or Terry did for the organization. He has a Neil O'Donnell type feel to me. I'm not a stats guy, it is just a feeling.

 

My main concern.
I am always concerned first with if the players a team has load up with, if they come together as a team.

On paper, this Steeler team looks pretty good.
with the preseason, I look to see good execution of the assignments.
If they can come out of the preseason looking good, they should be in the running.

 

My main concern is scoring points by the offense.

Not worried about the defense much. If the offense scores more, the defense will have it easier and will also improve just based on that synergy.

I think the offense WILL improve some and therefor our defense will also improve no matter what (excepting key injuries of course).

I go into this season expecting playoffs.

Will worry later about potential upside as the season progresses.

 

We need to score more points than the other team

On a weakly basis

There I got that off my shoulder

 

I believe this analogy is more appropriate for MacDaddyo's "What's Cooking" thread.

 

At the time, I did my homework somewhat because I was concerned on who Glenn Thomas was and what he brought to the table. These are two of the better articles below. In the three years Glenn Thomas was Ryan's QB coach, Ryan went to Pro Bowl twice. When Falcons HC Mike Smith and his staff was fired, Thomas went back into the college ranks and was hired by Matt Rhule at Temple. He left Temple to go to Baylor with Rhule to be the Co-offensive coordinator & quarterbacks coach sharing duties with a Co-offensive coordinator & running back coach.

The important part in this is the Steelers OL coach Pat Meyer knows Matt Rhule's running game and Thomas knows Rhule's passing game, possibly knowing how to work them together (the both below quotes are from the more recent Canada thread, they detail what Thomas likes to do and his earlier relationship with Pickett.

 

Main Concern:

TJ Watt having an extended injury again. Lost 6 of 7 games without him.

Secondary concern:

To much of a conservative Canada college offense. They need to let Pickett take on more at the line and air it out when needed which includes scoring within the 20's.

 

Thanks for the info on Glenn Thomas.

 

I`m worried they won`t cover the spread.

 

Heyward (FB or H-back)
Leal (DE)
Robinson (ILB)
Sullivan (Slot CB)
Robinson (Slot WR)
Benton (NT)

 

I worry about Holcomb being the only ILB on the team that can play in coverage.

 

While it is true that the Jaguars did fire Darrell Bevell... they also got one of the better Offensive Minds in Football via Doug Pederson. If anything, having Douggie P is essentially having an Offensive Coordinator already despite hiring another one. Yes, they have a new OC in Press Taylor.. but he had Pederson are very close given how Pederson not only knows him very well but he was also on the Eagles Super Bowl LII Staff.


More than likely, Pederson is doing the Offensive Play Calling along with creating the Game Plan for the Offense. Taylor makes some adjustments every now and then though said frequency is likely low due to Pedersons scheme being heavily controlled by him. I do agree on your overall assessment of having Matt Canada as I too am not his biggest supporter. Furthermore, Doug Peserson is far more of an Offensive Guru than Canada will ever hope to be.


However, comparing an OC to Canada to a Head Coach like Pederson isn't possible due to how much more command of the Offense Pederson possess. Canada can call plays and is in charge of adjustments (whatever they are) but Tomlin can override them if he so chooses.. which could potentially be a good thing. Pederson doesn't need to worry about anyone overruling him in any form of final decision.. not to mention his superior game plans. In addition, Pederson had the benefit of learning under Andy Reid; arguably the greatest Offensive Mind within the last decade to 15 seasons. Canada's Mentors are not even in the same Solar System and never mind universe in comparison. Add the previous statement that Press Taylor is more so an OC in title only and Canada really cannot be compared to someone like Doug Pederson.

 

In defense of Glenn Thomas in Atlanta, the turnaround of Defensive Talent from 2013 to 2014, coupled with very poor Offseason Team Building doomed not just him but also Mike Smith and Mike Nolan. Rather, Dan Quinn saw to it that Glenn would not be retained. Furthermore, Glenn Thomas was not the Offensive Coordinator calling plays. As such, it is unfair to cast him as a scapegoat in terms of why Atlantas Offensive Performance was so porous; that honor belonging to Dirk Koetter. One final thing to note; Matt Ryan was a Pro Bowler in both 2012 and 2014. 2013 was a complete wash for the entire Falcons Team as they were bitten by both talent losses in that Offseason in addition to many injuries during that year.



Now... regarding the multiple moves to multiple Colleges in that many seasons?! He had a good relationship with Matt Rhule and often went wherever he did until UNLV in 2020. In both cases of UNLV and Arizona State, both UNLV and Arizona State employed concepts very similar to what Canada does though at a more successful rate; an article here being more in depth. One final aspect of Glenn Thomas that needs to be accounted for; NFL Experience.


While that may have been years ago, in the Subsequent years entering College Football, Temple, Baylor, UNLV and Arizona State all possessed NFL based Concepts that are still used in Today's NFL. I would imagine that many of these principles will be either baked in or tweaked from Canada's Offensive Play Calling to facilitate a more well rounded Offensive Game Plan.

 

The NFL Is transitioning to position less football. Tomlin talks about it al of the time. It is all about situational football and matchups.
My biggest worry is in this order:
1. Kenny Picketts Development.
2. TJ Watts Health
3. Matt Canada - Opening up the offense and being innovative in his play calling
4. Heywards Health
5. The OL Development
6. the young DB Development and Cohesion
7. ILB’s
8. 2nd Year Player Jump
9. Rookie Development
10. Starting out Slow

 

I agree the NLF is too quick to label guys. These guys are all Athletes at this level. Why not take a look at Green at Fullback on occasion. Why did they never consider Derek Watt at MLB? I understand a higher caliber Pro you don’t want to have them playing a bunch of different positions, but when you have a limited number of players on the roster why can you look at some of these depth players in a way in which they can serve multiple positions and perhaps develop into a really good player in one of this positions.

 

Sadly like most things in this world it's tied to money. Different positions have a different amount of money attached to them. Remember Bell wanted not only top rb money but also to be paid like an upper teir wr as well. Matt Fieler wanted to move from guard to tackle because tackle money was way more than he'd make staying as a guard. Often times RT's try to move to LT because that's where the money's at. Even though subpackges are all the rage and situational football begins to gain popularity, no team wants to have players holding out for more money based on a multifaceted role on the team.

 

Sadly....I believe this is in part true.

 

More elegant and a but more wordy than Pimply Dan, but according to this old reddit story, may it have the same results!

BTW for those unaware, Pimply dan said something like..."win more, no more lose" lmao

The basic story:

There was actually a time when the Steelers had an official message board. A thread emerged on the old board during the 2005 season, at the time when we were basically falling apart, on a losing streak etc. The thread went on for a long time, basically mocking it's creator. "Pimply Dan" (as they became known) was frequently referenced as a bit of a joke.

But from the week the thread was created, the Steelers went on their legendary streak and won the superbowl. Because so long had been spent berating pimpdylan, as the season went on people began to suggest that his thread was, in fact, the turning point in the season, and his sage words of encouragement may well have been the catalyst for the superbowl victory.

Pimpdylan was never seen again.....

 

I remember being on there , and when We lost bad to Indy on a night game.....most had said the season was over , and guaranteed Cowher could, and never would win the big one.

 

Biggest concern has to be the offence, particularly the red zone offence. It was really really poor in 2022 and left too many points out there while settling for field goals. This is the single biggest thing that needs to drastically improve IMO

I liked a lot of what I saw from Kenny Pickett in 2022 and hope that he can take that next step. All we can do is wait and see.

 

That is a pretty good recount of the funniest thread I ever had the pleasure of reading. Not just because of the pimply pimps legendary statement that needed to be deciphered, but the endless response comments.

Someone here once had all of it or just the initial gem saved. Let’s make it a sticky on the main page if possible. Anyone…?

It should be enshrined in the Steelers Hall of Honor for everyone to read while standing in the queue.