If the Colts take us

You do realize Cowher made to AFC Championships with Neil O'Donnell, Kordell Stewart and a rookie QB, right?

Can Tomlin say this? He hasn't sniffed a playoff win with ANY QB not named Roethlisberger.

 

If / When they are eliminated from the playoffs then it makes sense to prepare for the next season. This is how smart teams operate. Play the young guys if /when this happens. That is " throwing in the towel. " Come March 2026, expensive cap players that performed well below standards should be cut!

 

Ok. I guess when we get eliminated in week 17 or 18, or in the playoffs, we can quit then. That's fine.

 

It's a much different league now though.

I don't think you can Marty-ball your way to the AFCC anymore. Too many rules changes that make it so it's harder to play good defense. And too many good to great QBs in the AFC for most of Tomlin's career. That's why Ben "only" has 6 probowls. Pretty much all of his career with at least two of Brady, Manning, or Mahomes in their prime.

Really hard to make the AFCC on the back of your great RB and crushing D. Who's the last team to do it? The Titans in 2019?

Baltimore couldn't get to the AFCC game last year even though they had an all-time great season at RB and a QB that finished 2nd in MVP voting. Defense wasn't amazing, but they weren't bad. 10th in yards allowed. 9th in points allowed.

In the NFC, I think it would have been possible over the last few seasons (the Eagles were kind of of this mode?). If not the NFCC, at least to the divisional round. I think that the Eagles were a very strong team last year who certainly deserved to win. But could they have gotten through the gauntlet of the AFC if they had to play 2 or 3 of the Bills, Rats, and Chiefs? I don't know. Those were all elite teams.

If you don't have an elite QB, you really want to be in today's NFC vs. AFC. Even if you do. Would the Rats / Lamar be known for losing in the playoffs if they got to play on the other side of the bracket?

 

Did you think this team was good at 4-1? Or did you look at the performances and not the standings and realise that playing that way and being successful wasn't sustainable?

I just want to get a read on how good you thought the team was at 4-1 and how good do you think it is now?

 

I think we are the same good now as we were at 4-1. Good in some areas but not so good in other areas. I think we are vastly improved in our run game. I think the pass game is still hit or miss, they all seem to be 50/50 balls.
Now, answer my question which you quoted but didn't answer.

 

So many teams make the playoffs it is possibly going to be determined with the last week

 

No, I don't think we just throw in backups and quit, Heyward says the team has no fight in them, so asking me whether we should quit or not is moot really.

I thought the team was a fraud @ 4-1 and I still think that, the negatives far outweigh the positives, and I think every decision they make now should be with an eye towards the future, not with an eye towards more self-delusion which led to this "one last roll of the dice" season. I could see the rationale before pushing all the chips in the middle with AR etc but it has failed miserably.

 

That last part is where I think your opinion diverges from mine. I think it is still way too early to say it has failed. Too much season left. This week is the first of November games, and there are 4 of those.

 

we suck. Who thought we were good? the LEMMINGS??!?!?!?!!!

 

ok - we are a notch above SUCKS.

mid-TIER and have been since Ben left - and only WERE NOT b/c HE WAS HERE

 

I think the Steelers offense is going to put up season high numbers against the Colts. So, I guess that would be 33+ range and higher. Question is, will that be enough? As much as we have to watch out for Taylor I feel they’re gonna see a lethal dose of Warren too.

And, I also feel that Herbig kid is gonna make his presence known too. That hopefully helps TJ and ole man Heyward. Wilson has a better game too I feel. Maybe a TO game for us which would be about time and would help in the shootout that I feel is coming.

Again will it be enough? That I don’t know but I feel we’re gonna fight which is good.

Go Steelers!

 

If Lamar is healthy for the rest of the season,it will be a miracle to win this division and they need to win the division this year to have a chance to make the playoffs.....The steelers have no hope for the future at this pace,they need a full rebuilding very fast and I said this since 2022

 

Yeah, Ravens will only be 1 game back from Steelers after Steelers lose to Colts on Sunday.

At this rate, Bengals/Flacco will also catch the Steelers eventually. I'm sticking to my 7-10 prediction. Steelers may squeeze out 3 more wins. 5 is the absolute ceiling if things go better than expected.

 

That sucks being 4-1 to possibly going to 4-4 then the Ravens would only be one game back, this Colts game is a must win.

 

Yeah if they want to even be in this division race come December this is a must win game.

 

The Seahawks and Packers losses aren't as bad. The Bengals loss is a double whammy since it's a division and conference loss. Losing to the Colts would be almost as bad since they look to be headed to the playoffs this year. It would determine seeding.

 

If the ravens split the season series against the steelers and win the other games against the afc north,the ravens are going to have the tiebreaker in the afc north because of our L vs Bengals

I think the ravens will finish at 10-7 at least with a L against the packers and the other vs one of the steelers or pats matchup....maybe the steelers in week 18 if the ravens rest their starters

 

The Ravens are going to win at least 10 games. The Steelers are going to win no more than 8, I see absolutely no harm in playing Will Howard in the last couple of games to see how he does.

 

Ravens have all of their tough games done and over with. Steelers still have to play Colts, Chargers, Bills, Ravens and Lions... which will all highly likely (95% chance) be losses, unless there's injuries to starting QBs.

 

They wouldn’t play WH until they are mathematically eliminated. You don’t bring in Rodgers and do that to him if they still have a shot. The way they are playing they may be eliminated with a couple weeks left.

 

Even if they squeeze into the playoffs it will likely be as the 7th seed playing against the #2 seed. Gee, that story sounds familiar. And we know how it ends. Sadly.