The biggest mistake the Steelers have made in the past 10 years...

JackAttack 5958 · Jan 26, 2013

Sean Mahan has got to be in the running. He almost cost us the Super Bowl against the Cards.

Thigpen82 · Jan 26, 2013

BigSteel said: ↑

strummerfan said: ↑

By no means was Mendenahall a mistake. He's our best back by a large margin and losing him is going to be painful.
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Drafting Mendy "was" a mistake and letting FWP go because of him was a bigger mistake and just because he is our best back doesn't mean any of them are any good... I'd say neither of them are starter material
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Like I said before - FWP wasn't let go because of Mendy, he was let go because he had become expendable once he lost his speed burst. He was also (for all the Mendy-bashers here) terrible at hitting the hole, hence why his best days were alongside a power back. What did Parker go on to do, exacty, that justifies the belief that letting him go was a mistake?

Homestead____Works · Jan 26, 2013

In the off-season, you guys kill me, sometimes.

jimmyallen45 · Jan 26, 2013

Thigpen82 said: ↑

BobbyBiz said: ↑

ThrowToHeath said: ↑

In my opinion, the biggest mistake that the Steelers have made in the last 10 years was not re-signing Plaxico Burress after the 2004 season. Why? Because this marked the point in which they began a series of misguided ventures at the WR position (Cedric Wilson, Lee Mays, Limas Sweed, Holmes, not resigning Washington, and now the Wallace, Sanders, Brown debacle)

They seemed to lose the idea of having receivers that can do more than just run fast. Remember when Tommy Maddox, in the not-so-pass happy league, passed like a champion and we had two 1300 yard receivers (Ward and Burress)?

And now, before this season began a lot of us thought that our "young-money" receivers were the best grouping we have had since the 70s.

Well, false.

The Steelers should have held on to Burress, and we would have had a very special offense with Ward/Burress/Randel El (I know he left for more money after XL), Heath, and oh yea a guy named Willie Parker.

Drafting Mendenhal was also a mistake, but not as huge as letting Burress go. They should have stuck with Parker and gotten a guy like Redman to compliment his speed. We have not had a competent running game, or at least the knowing that we could score a touchdown anytime we called a running play, since Willie Parker.

I highly doubt that we will see another long tenured WR like Hines Ward in the Tomlin/Colbert era, because quite frankly, they don't seem to understand how the position works.
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I don't know how you can call that the biggest mistake in 10 years, because since they let Burress go, they've been to 3 Super Bowls and won 2 of them. They've obviously did just fine without him.

I think their biggest mistake is overpaying marginal talent out of loyalty to their own guys.
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Quite.

I think, ThrowToHeath, there is a bit of danger of a mixture of hindsight and nostalgia, here. For one thing, Willie Parker was not the same after his injury in St Louis. He lost his speed, and didn't have much else (his running between the tackles was subpar at best).

And while the likes of Cedric Wilson and Lee Mays were never going to light the league up, Sweed had a lot of potential, and was the "big receiver" that Ben seems to perenially pine for. Holmes did set the league on fire, and was huge in our last superbowl win. Both of them left for reasons entirely out of Colbert/Tomlin;s control (in fact, while we might remember Sweed's drops, there was clearly something up with the guy off-field).
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Holmes did more for the Steelers than Plaxico did. And, lest we forget, Cedric Wilson was outstanding in the 2005 postseason. His TD against the Bengals is often overlooked, but I thought it was one of the clutch plays that turned the game around.

blountforcetrauma · Jan 26, 2013

TheSteelHurtin2188 said: ↑

BigSteel said: ↑

strummerfan said: ↑

By no means was Mendenahall a mistake. He's our best back by a large margin and losing him is going to be painful.
Click to expand...

Drafting Mendy "was" a mistake and letting FWP go because of him was a bigger mistake and just because he is our best back doesn't mean any of them are any good... I'd say neither of them are starter material
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FWP was hurt and lost a step and never did another thing. Parker wasn't let go because of mendy he was let go because he was done.
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Yeah and actually Willie has tried out for other teams and been cut there too. Willie Parker was never the long term answer here in my opinion.

Somathus · Jan 27, 2013

It was more his decision then Pittsburgh's. He got a similar offer from us that he signed with the Giants. But he wanted to be the #1 guy, and that wasn't gonna happen with Hines in the prime of his career

BobbyBiz · Jan 27, 2013

Homestead____Works said: ↑

In the off-season, you guys kill me, sometimes.
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Offseason? They kill me during the preseason, regular season, and post season too.

12to88 · Jan 28, 2013

JackAttack 5958 said: ↑

Sean Mahan has got to be in the running. He almost cost us the Super Bowl against the Cards.
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I think you mean Hartwig.

JackAttack 5958 · Jan 28, 2013

12to88 said: ↑

JackAttack 5958 said: ↑

Sean Mahan has got to be in the running. He almost cost us the Super Bowl against the Cards.
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I think you mean Hartwig.
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My bad. I did mean Hartwig.

Da Stellars · Jan 28, 2013

I think one thing the Steelers have neglected that has plagued the team for a long time is not finding a proper replacement for Alan Faneca.

TheSteelHurtin2188 · Jan 28, 2013

Da Stellars said: ↑

I think one thing the Steelers have neglected that has plagued the team for a long time is not finding a proper replacement for Alan Faneca.
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Easier said then done that like saying we haven't found a replacement player for smith or ward those players don't come up everyday.

Wardismvp · Feb 3, 2013

Da Stellars said: ↑

I think one thing the Steelers have neglected that has plagued the team for a long time is not finding a proper replacement for Alan Faneca.
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They finally did this last year with the selection of Decastro.

HugeSnack · Feb 3, 2013

ThrowToHeath said: ↑

In my opinion, the biggest mistake that the Steelers have made in the last 10 years was not re-signing Plaxico Burress after the 2004 season. Why? Because this marked the point in which they began a series of misguided ventures at the WR position (Cedric Wilson, Lee Mays, Limas Sweed, Holmes, not resigning Washington, and now the Wallace, Sanders, Brown debacle) Holy moly, man. Cedrick Wilson was a low paid free agent who helped us win a Super Bowl. Lee Mays is a name also thrown around a lot as a bust, but he was a 7th round draft pick, so just making the roster twice is an overachievement. Sweed obviously turned out to be a bust for several reasons: three drops, his own weird off-field issues, injuries, and mistakes that the team made that are completely separate mistakes from signing Burress. Holmes was only here for one contract, but was a great player throughout, and REALLY helped us win a Super Bowl. I'm not sure we win that game without him. Worth it. Not re-signing Washington was an easy and correct decision. He was overrated while he was here and was given $28 million by the Titans. Matching that would have been insane. And I'd say it worked out, since the Wallace, Sanders, Brown "debacle" came around. Those were 3rd, 3rd, and 6th round picks. Wallace and Brown are massive overachievers, and even if we don't keep one of them long term, we still got about 100 times more use out of that guy than 90% of other 3rd round picks. And they both helped us get to a Super Bowl. Sanders is no slouch in his own right, and is as good or better than his draft status. By the way, the pick we used on Brown was one of the ones we got by trading Santonio Holmes, who was not going to stick around anyway. Good decision FO?

Oh, and all of this is operating under the assumption that not re-signing Burress was even a mistake to begin with, which I don't believe. He was a much better player with the Giants than he ever was with us. He was inconsistent and could catch about as well as Mike Wallace if Mike had both eyes closed, and spending over $25 million on him (an even bigger number in 2004) would have been a huge risk. Indeed, would he even have shown as much improvement as he did if he'd stayed here and not gone to NYG? Maybe, but did we need him? I guess we'll never know... Oh wait, yes we will, because that already happened. We won the Super Bowl the very next year with Ward, Randle El, and Wilson (three great WR decisions by our FO). And when ARE left the next year because of the oversized novelty check the Redskins gave him, we got Holmes to replace him, which won us another Super Bowl and proved to be another great WR decision by our FO. Then we swapped Holmes for Brown, who, had he seen more playing time in his Super Bowl appearance, might have helped lead us to a win in that one. Another great WR decision by our FO.

They seemed to lose the idea of having receivers that can do more than just run fast. Remember when Tommy Maddox, in the not-so-pass happy league, passed like a champion and we had two 1300 yard receivers (Ward and Burress)? Yeah, let's go back to the days of Tommy Maddox. What a champion! He was so good that he landed us the #11 overall draft pick so we could take Ben Roethlisberger and never ever have to think about Tommy Maddox ever again. I know you're not the only one that looked at the yardage totals and assumed we were playing well, but most people have come around since then.

And now, before this season began a lot of us thought that our "young-money" receivers were the best grouping we have had since the 70s. Well, false. I wasn't here for the 80s, but this is the best group since I became a fan in the early 90s. And I still think that, even after their "terrible" season this year. Weird stuff like dropping the ball for no reason even after you catch it aside, this is the most talented group (Cotchery included) I can remember. They weren't perfect this year, but they did have a few obstacles that past Steeler teams didn't: they have no running game to support them, and no pass protection to help their oft-injured quarterback. And this year, we decided to turn Mike Wallace's route tree into Hines Ward's. That didn't help. Anyway, I don't really care about the title of how good they are. I don't see how keeping Burress around would have helped, except help keep these guys off the roster.

The Steelers should have held on to Burress, and we would have had a very special offense with Ward/Burress/Randel El (I know he left for more money after XL), Heath, and oh yea a guy named Willie Parker. Oh, so you do know that ARE left after XL. Then you know that your very special offense would have only lasted one year. A year in which we won the Super Bowl anyway, without Burress.

Drafting Mendenhal was also a mistake, but not as huge as letting Burress go. They should have stuck with Parker and gotten a guy like Redman to compliment his speed. We have not had a competent running game, or at least the knowing that we could score a touchdown anytime we called a running play, since Willie Parker. By 2009 (and really, the end of 2008), Willie Parker's career was over. He was done. He was great while he lasted, and then he stopped lasting. He's also the kind of running back that cannot succeed without good blocking. He had Smith, Faneca, Hartings, Simmons, Starks turn into Starks, Kemoeatu, Mahan/Hartwig, Stapleton/Misc., Colon/Essex. Not exactly the same thing. Oh, and Dan Kreider turned into Carey Davis, and Jerame Tuman turned into Matt Spaeth. When Mendenhall took over in 2009, the running game drastically improved, all because we changed running backs. Willie Parker was not a threat to do anything, which is why he was not picked up after we cut him.

I highly doubt that we will see another long tenured WR like Hines Ward in the Tomlin/Colbert era, because quite frankly, they don't seem to understand how the position works. Clearly.
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I do agree with the "ThrowToHeath" part, though.

HugeSnack · Feb 3, 2013

jimmyallen45 said: ↑

Thigpen82 said: ↑

BobbyBiz said: ↑

ThrowToHeath said: ↑

In my opinion, the biggest mistake that the Steelers have made in the last 10 years was not re-signing Plaxico Burress after the 2004 season. Why? Because this marked the point in which they began a series of misguided ventures at the WR position (Cedric Wilson, Lee Mays, Limas Sweed, Holmes, not resigning Washington, and now the Wallace, Sanders, Brown debacle)

They seemed to lose the idea of having receivers that can do more than just run fast. Remember when Tommy Maddox, in the not-so-pass happy league, passed like a champion and we had two 1300 yard receivers (Ward and Burress)?

And now, before this season began a lot of us thought that our "young-money" receivers were the best grouping we have had since the 70s.

Well, false.

The Steelers should have held on to Burress, and we would have had a very special offense with Ward/Burress/Randel El (I know he left for more money after XL), Heath, and oh yea a guy named Willie Parker.

Drafting Mendenhal was also a mistake, but not as huge as letting Burress go. They should have stuck with Parker and gotten a guy like Redman to compliment his speed. We have not had a competent running game, or at least the knowing that we could score a touchdown anytime we called a running play, since Willie Parker.

I highly doubt that we will see another long tenured WR like Hines Ward in the Tomlin/Colbert era, because quite frankly, they don't seem to understand how the position works.
Click to expand...

I don't know how you can call that the biggest mistake in 10 years, because since they let Burress go, they've been to 3 Super Bowls and won 2 of them. They've obviously did just fine without him.

I think their biggest mistake is overpaying marginal talent out of loyalty to their own guys.
Click to expand...

Quite.

I think, ThrowToHeath, there is a bit of danger of a mixture of hindsight and nostalgia, here. For one thing, Willie Parker was not the same after his injury in St Louis. He lost his speed, and didn't have much else (his running between the tackles was subpar at best).

And while the likes of Cedric Wilson and Lee Mays were never going to light the league up, Sweed had a lot of potential, and was the "big receiver" that Ben seems to perenially pine for. Holmes did set the league on fire, and was huge in our last superbowl win. Both of them left for reasons entirely out of Colbert/Tomlin;s control (in fact, while we might remember Sweed's drops, there was clearly something up with the guy off-field).
Click to expand...

Holmes did more for the Steelers than Plaxico did. And, lest we forget, Cedric Wilson was outstanding in the 2005 postseason. His TD against the Bengals is often overlooked, but I thought it was one of the clutch plays that turned the game around.
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The one against Denver wasn't bad, either. And it was a better personal effort by him, burning the shoes off of Champ Bailey.

blackandgoldpatrol · Feb 3, 2013

JackAttack 5958 said: ↑

12to88 said: ↑

JackAttack 5958 said: ↑

Sean Mahan has got to be in the running. He almost cost us the Super Bowl against the Cards.
Click to expand...

I think you mean Hartwig.
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My bad. I did mean Hartwig.
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That was actually a blessing in disguise...... if it weren't for mahan and hartwig being so bad, we never would've drafted pouncy

Rush2seven · Feb 3, 2013

Da Stellars said: ↑

I think one thing the Steelers have neglected that has plagued the team for a long time is not finding a proper replacement for Alan Faneca.
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I know we've been to 2 superbowls since, but I'll go with never finding a proper replacement for Betis. Short yardage and goal line runs have been terrible these last 7 years.

defva · Feb 3, 2013

I would say burress and Holmes. But what get me is that there was no player leadership after porter left. You can't replace player leadership. Ask the ravens about this next season when lewis is gone .

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The biggest mistake the Steelers have made in the past 10 years...

JackAttack 5958 Well-Known Member

Thigpen82 Bitter optimist TSF Supporter

Homestead____Works Well-Known Member

jimmyallen45 Well-Known Member

blountforcetrauma Well-Known Member

Somathus Well-Known Member

BobbyBiz Well-Known Member

12to88 Well-Known Member

JackAttack 5958 Well-Known Member

Da Stellars Well-Known Member

TheSteelHurtin2188 Well-Known Member

Wardismvp Well-Known Member

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