Schlereth has us returning to the playoffs

finally some sensible reporters. i like it BF. keisel thinks so too. so thats 6 counting us. whooo hoooo super bowl win#7.

sorry, got a little carried away there.

wait, no i didn't.

 

Interesting how Cowher thinks that the 67th ranking will motivate Ben this year. Hope so!

 

Heck Yeah!!!!
Love it when nobody expects us to do anything!!!
It`s when we usually do the best!
There is STILL plenty of talent on this team, folks, and we just may have added a bit in the draft, plus some kids that SHOULD have stepped up before, just MIGHT, this year!
Plus, you can bank, that anyone here last year, KNOWS THEY UNDERPERFORMED, and are looking to rectify that, this year...
I have HIIIGHHH hopes!!! YEAH, hIIIGH hopes!!!:guitar:
GO STEELERS!!!

 

Our lack of depth really concerns me(especially at OL).

 

Really think these guys may be able to keep it together this year. Liking the undrafted OL prospects a lot more than years past as well.

 

i agree. this is the first time in years i'm actually excited about our line and backup possibilities.

 

I'll remain cautiously optimistic. Outside of Foster none of them have ever played a full NFL season and our backups could be truly scary. Beachum played okay(just okay), Malecki is a scrub, and the rest of them have never taken a snap in an NFL game. There's a reason why Malecki has bounced around with 5 different teams(2x with Steelers). I predicted 9-7 at best in 2012 and could see a similar scenario for 2013. If everything goes right(that's a big if) they might be able to make some noise.

 

I was excited about our Oline last year and that didn't go so well at all. I want to be excited about it this year, but it's been so long since we've had a good Oline that I'm skeptical.

 

Under the radar, season wrecked by injuries (which your Sapps etc. seem to forget), bit between the teeth to show the league 8-8 wasn't for real...

Everything is looking good for this season.

 

I'm not worried about injuries, I'm worried about inconsistent play from our Oline, like we've had for 6 years in a row now. I got so excited about last year that I don't want to be let down yet again by the Oline. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so excited about our Oline considering the youth, but I was. So for now I'm just going to temper expectations.

 

Every year, atleast half the teams look like playoff contenders. Injuries are one of the biggest factors. If we didn't have all the injuries last year we might well have been a playoff team. But we did have injuries. At this point in time, trying to guess who will make the playoffs is very much a process of guessing who will have the fewest injuries. This is crystal ball work. If we stay healthy, we should have a good team. Past history doesn't show us staying healthy. We are thin at several positions: O-Line, Safety, LB.... Injuries could put us to the back of the field quickly. Personally, I'm cautiously optimistic. My biggest concerns are Troy and Ben. We are a very different team without them. Ben is a very good quarterback. Troy is an elite safety. Loosing either of them is a big setback.

 

The years I''m more positive, they seem to play worse. The years I'm more cautious, they play better. Maybe this is a good thing because this year I'm cautiously optimistic.

 

I disagree. Take the Maple Leafs most recent playoff lost as an example. I went through such a high that when they finally lost, it felt like someone had stabbed me in the heart. When you're super high, crashing down back to earth hurts that much more.

Besides, it's not like I'm choosing to not get excited about our Oline because I don't want to be disappointed, I'm just not overly excited because it's been such a long time since we've had a good Oline, it's one of those I'll believe it when I see it. It's hard to get excited about an aspect of the team that has sucked for 6 years. I'm excited for a lot of parts of our team this year, the Oline just isn't one of them. There's some hope, but I'm not excited and raving about the potential like I was last year. I'll wait to see what happens, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

 

I think it's way too early to be making these kind of predictions about any team. Injuries, workouts (or the lack thereof), arrests, self inflicted gunshot wounds, DUIs, etc., etc. make these predictions a crap shoot. Besides, most of these guys have the Chargers going deep into the playoffs most years. How can you put credence into predictions like that?

 

Amped up and high expectations are different. I've been let down by our Oline for 6 years in a row, it's kind of hard to have high expectations for them after so long.

 

I'm not talking wins or losses here. We've won a SB with a terrible Oline. I'm strictly talking production from the Oline, and while I want them to play well, I find it hard to have confidence in a part of the team that has let us down for more than half a decade. True, we have some young developing players that weren't part of past Olines, but after having such high expectations last year, I'm going to take a wait and see approach.

The pass rush definitely worries me too. I just hope that we can find some new ways to get to the QB other than our OLB's. We need something from our DL this year because I'm not so sure our OLB's can get it done like they have in past years.

I do think we'll be better than 8-8 this year. 10-6 I think is a very realistic production, but anything from 8-8 or 13-3 wouldn't shock me either. I think the team as a whole lost focus last year and it started with Wallace and Mendenhall. Then we had other players showing up out of shape. I don't think it was so much a lack of talent last year as it was more a team that simply lost focus. I don't see any reason why we'll have that issue again. Tomlin needs to crack down on some of these guys though. If they're out of shape they shouldn't play. If Brown continues to showboat like he has done in the past, then he should be benched. That will send a strong message