My thoughts on the wildcard...

#5 seems like a (mostly) league-wide epidemic. The vast majority of players I see now try to body guys down and don't even attempt to wrap up.

 

The Steelers seem to always lose the turnover battle in the playoffs, the Bills got 14 points off of the Steelers two turnovers.
They didn't lose because of the refs, but man Buffalo got away with a lot, PI on the Bills CB covering Pickens at the end and the OL hitting Porter in the back. It's good for the young guys to get some playoff experience, hopefully losing will have guys come back hungry.

 

You are forgetting Taylor

 

The NFL is getting the match they wanted, Chiefs vs Bills, because the Chiefs beat the piss out of Mia.and the Bills beat the piss out of Pgh.

 

those fumbles are the difference between a Noll and Tomlin team. Noll would drill into the players heads to protect the ball with two hands in those situations. Like his quote about mastering the routine is the formula for winning

 

No, he didn't look like he was going to slide. It's called making a move and it is allowed. The Steelers just need to tackle better.

 

Watt, Holcomb, and Alexander are all fast guys for their position. Missing them made the defense look slower. That said, relying too much on Peterson didn't help. He's got no wheels left at all.

 

Rudolph was decent, especially when you consider the poor pass protection much of the night, but that interception was just devastating. He forced a throw when it wasn't necessary. It was only second down. Throw the damn thing away.

I would be very surprised if they re-signed Rudolph and just handed him the job. They might want him to return and compete for the job, but I doubt he's going to do that. Sitting Pickett and having him watch and learn for two years does nothing for him. It is too late to make a decision on him then.

 

I agree with some of that and I would add that Steelers will not resign Rudolph.

This is because they are going with Pickett next year starting no matter what. If Rudolph is on the team and Pickett continue to struggle (likely), the fans and media will go nuts asking for Rudolph to play. Tomlin and Rooney will want to avoid that situation so they will not bring Rudolph back.

 

Please…some of you guys forget how bad the 80s teams would lose games.

 

To be honest, I got hopeful when they got it to 7.

Then that penalty on the PAT I got that feeling that the Bills drive was going to score.

refs didn’t make Minka miss that tackle, but there was no way they weren’t getting points on that drive.

the Roberts holding call after they knew they couldn’t call PI because of the uncatchable ball sealed it for me.

 

Yep, I said this in the GDT. Allen and Jackson know that defenders are going to be aware of the flags. There’s no reason why a slide should signify giving yourself up - it’s far more dangerous than dropping to the knee.

Good point on the 4th down as well.

 

You might want to check the fumble stats. Noll’s teams had as many if not more during the 89s.

 

Same here. There were some real head scratchers of ref decisions. Even the Heath fumble

 

If TJ retired the Steelers would never win another game.

 

I am going to disagree that the INT was on Rudolph. WR101 states that the reciever should always come back to the ball on throws like that, DJ was back peddaling which allowed the defender to cut inside and make a play on the ball. If DJ comes to the ball, its either a TD or an incomplete pass most likely. I blame the WR more than the QB on that turnover.

 

If we fire Tomlin and cut TJ, this franchise will never ever win again. So we must stick with mediocre Mike and find the Ponce De Leon fountain of youth ASAP for TJ.

 

TJ will never win a playoff game. Sad

 

Maybe he should stay healthy, and be more dominant in the playoffs .

 

He might if we actually do the right thing and actually re-build this team from scratch, because he'd be traded to a contender for draft capital.

I'd hate to see him go, but this team is not close to being good enough to win anything. They need an actual rebuild, not this half-assed signing of aging vets. Look at where Green Bay is compared to us.

 

it is - LEAKY D. Do we really think this D would have SHUT ANYTHING down when push came to shove?

 

Watt did just as much, injured, in street clothes on the bench vs Bills as Myles Garrett did vs Texans.

 

No one is forgetting, those teams were full of holdovers from the dynasty teams way past their primes and mediocre young players. Noll didn’t have half the talent in the 80’s that we had in the Ben era.

 

1. So hope we dont resign Peterson next year. Way too slow and old. We should be able to do better then him.

2. I know tackling is a league wide problem but I have seen high school players tackle better.

3. For Tomlin to say we were having problems all season with Tight Ends across the middle. As a defensive guru do something about it. Also not very high on Austin defensive schemes. Why not blitz more like the Peterson wiff, at least we could get more pressure on the QB. He had done this all year.

4. No to resigning Myles Jack.

5. Punter should not have been on the team from 1st day.

6. Why keep running up the middle for 1 or 2 yards when teams are lining up so many people in the box. When are we going to learn this. Too conservative and too predicable.

A complete makeover of coaches and schemes is needed, we can't continue to do the same things over and over.