Tomlin has lost the offensive side of the team

No disagreement there. I'm not saying bench him to fix him. I don't think he can be fixed. I don't think he'll change. I suggest benching him in the hopes that it will work, but if not, get rid of him. Trade him for whatever they can get.

I also suggest benching him to stave off other plays copying that behaviour. A message needs to be sent that his behaviour won't be tolerated. The trade deadline has passed. So either he gets cut or benched. I'm all for benching him and then looking to see if a trade is possible in the off season.

 

I think you are not taking into account the politics of the situation. When you make a decision to punish a player for anything, you better believe it is a decision that involves the GM as well as ownership. There are so many layers to an organization you have to consider: players union, who the guy’s agent is. I know you going to say that doesn’t matter but it does. This does not work like HS or College. It’s a business, big business and players are assets. As for the Russ thing, Richard Sherman and Michael Irvin tore into Payton on TV. I agree with Payton!! But that type of coaching is not accepted anymore. Find a HS coach that unloads on a kids on the sideline like that now a days, he won’t be there much longer.

 

Yeah, because that explains everything. Every generation thinks the younger ones have/had it easier. Oftentimes this is true due to advancements in technology, infrastructure, and culture.

Slinging political hyperbole around to act as if only negative effects have come from the progress we have made as a society (and that it comes from generally one form of thought) lacks the more nuanced type of thinking that allows us to make better decisions down the road.

 

Maybe it won't work, but you don't really know until you try.

The discipline should have already been occurring long ago, not in the 15th game of his second season. That in itself is a coaching failure IMO. Tomlin trying to inspire him with words is all well and good, but at some point there has to be consequences.

I would have started by pulling him off the field for a play or two when it happens during a game, and tell him why. Then talk to him about it.

If his lack of effort continues, he gets taken out for a series or two.

If he is still doing it, don't let him start games and only come off the bench.

And so on, and so on. Discipline him by taking away what he wants most.....stats, attention, and eventually cash.

I would take away his playing time and his screen time. For this game, I would sit him on the bench and push the ball to the player that takes his place. Let it be an example that players that play hard get rewarded. There is much less chance of it working now because this should have been happening from the beginning.

Make sure that you let him know that he has to earn his time on the field because when he isn't blocking anybody.....any other receiver is better than him on that play. He isn't needed.

When he doesn't run his routes full speed or give real effort....any receiver is better than him on that play, therefore, he isn't necessary.

Make sure he is told that his talent is only necessary when he is using his talent AND his effort. Just one isn't good enough. Only trying on plays where he's the first read isn't really playing football, so he isn't earning being a starting WR.

He may laugh in the coaches faces, but that will just tell you everything you need to know about him.

Mike Tomlin not disciplining him is sending a message to every other player on the roster that what Pickens is doing is acceptable. You cannot let one player set the bar so low that far too many of the team think they are doing enough instead of working harder and striving for greatness.

It still matters.

If it doesn't reach him or bring him around, so what. At least you tried and you have set an example to the other 52 men on that roster that no matter how much talent you have, it means nothing if you don't cultivate your talents by practicing hard and playing hard. Talent + Effort = Greatness.

Strive for greatness and you just might find it. Don't and you surely will not get there.

 

sadly Tomlin said Pickens will start. Embarrassing!!

 

Of course he did.

 

I am still trolling for info on those Time Outs at the end of the game.

Did Tomlin inform anyone that he was going to call those time-outs and give the offense another shot on the field. Did Mike Sullivan and Eddie Faulkner know that they were getting the ball back at the end of the game? Did all the coaches come together and discuss that if they called these time out they would force the Colts to score 30 point and then call 2 draw plays to end the game?

"Mason, when we get the ball back, I want you to go out there and run 2 draw plays up the middle to end the game."

 

For me, I honestly don't think Pickens is gonna be a Steeler come 2024 anyways. If anything, Pickens has probably had it with both Tomlin and Pickett collecitvely; the former having done little to fix the horrendous Offense and the latter for simply being not good enough to satiate his bottomless appetite for success. Mind you, this doesn't absolve Pickens of anything; he was a Top 15 talent coming out of Georgia but his Character Flaws are clearly going WILD as a result of not just the losing itself but in the manner in which the losses happen.


These final three games of 2023 will determine whether or not Pickens will be a Steeler moving forward. Given the team's lack of Offensive Success however, I seriously doubt that the results are going to be any different barring extreme circumstances.

 

Dale Earnhardt Incorporated?????

 

Wouldn't there actually have to be an offense for it to be lost

 

Exactly. That is JV and HS style coaching.

 

I would have loved it had they kept Flores as DC

 

As much as I hate to say this, Shannon is 100% spot on. Mike has allowed the behavior of the WR corps over the years to be me over we. Now we are reaping the rewards of that Coaching behavior. Watch this.