Heads up!!! This is a MUST win!

I'm just giving you guys a heads up and I hope like crazy that this doesn't come to fruition. But...IF the Steelers lose to the Jags tomorrow, which I don't think they will by the way, this board will absolutely GO NUCLEAR in its criticism of everything from Tomlin, to Colbert, to DL, to Rooney. IF it happens, for those of you that don't want to hear criticisms of Tomlin et al, you might not want to come to this board next week.

If ever we've had a "MUST WIN" game in our recent history, this is it by a longshot! We CANNOT lose to two winless teams in back to back games and expect the Steeler world as we know it to continue like nothing's wrong. We're in dangerous waters here. We should go to Jacksonville and win the game handily, but how many times have we said THAT in the recent past only to lose. Blake Bortles is a rookie, but he looked pretty good in his first outing and I'm sure he's watched the game film and salivated when studying the Steelers secondary. If he gets going early and gains some confidence, watch out. We've seen it happen over and over again where a young or second tier QB has gotten into a rhythm and has picked the Steelers apart.

To me, this is the worst possible scenario for the Steelers, playing winless teams in back to back weeks and already losing to one in unimpressive fashion. IF we lose to the Jags, we'll be the talk of the NFL world on Monday. THIS IS A MUST WIN!!!

 

Agreed 100%, as I'm sure everyone else will do... SO try this on; IF (and using IF with hesitations) IF Pittsburgh would lose.. how will it change much of anything that the fans aren't already feeling?

 

A loss to the Jags would take the fans from feeling that the team is playing badly to this is just a bad team period.

 

I wouldn't be so sure about that dino.

 

Come on, Blast. Are you telling me that back to back losses to two winless teams would not have even the most ardent Tomlin supporters like yourself questioning whether or not he's the right guy to lead this elite football organization?

 

No, because there's more than just the final score. Why did we lose? Did Ben play well or was it knucklehead Ben with another multiple int game, taking unnecessary sacks etc? What happened on defense? Was it a solid effort or were our holes exploited? Did the refs affect the outcome? That's why I hate those we should have won these games lists. You can look at what transpired during the game or take the easy way out, ignore the facts, and blame the coach.

 

Strummer, I know you say you hate these kinds of lists and you commented on another list that someone else posted that talked about all of the bad losses we've had the last three seasons, but don't you think some of this information could possibly lead one to believe that we are not a well coached football team? You can't ignore the evidence and the evidence shows that the Steelers are starting to develop a pattern of losing games that they really ought to win (like losing to a winless team last week who was losing 56-0 through 3 quarters the week before!). I realize that people will draw different conclusions from the information that's presented, but my observation as a fan who follows the team pretty closely is that we've far too often looked flat, uninspired, unprepared and absent a strategic gameplan in many games the last few years under Tomlin's tenure. Hope this is a moot point, but if we lose on Sunday to the Jags after losing last week to the Bucs, it's going to get really ugly and I'm afraid that the team might enter a death spiral from which it will never recover.

 

Only if you ignore the fact that this team had nearly a decade at the top is now going through a complete rebuild and like jumping to conclusions. You and your ilk love to throw these terms around like flat, uninspired etc. They sound all nice and pretty, but there's absolutely no way to quantify them. Absent a strategic game plan? Really? I guarantee you 99.9% of football fans couldn't identify a game plan if their life depended on it. And the same holds true for another favorite term, adjustment. It's amazing what 10 days of preparation can do for a team. It worked for the Steelers in week 3 and against them in week 4. By all means enjoy the easy way out, but I'll continue to watch what actually transpired on the field and refrain from using tired meaningless cliches.

 

[video=youtube_share;fSEpkcHUlm0]http://youtu.be/fSEpkcHUlm0[/video]

 

Jack here is a list of questions for you. WHich of the following significant moments in last weeks game are Tomlin's fault?

Ben giving up the ball on the 10?
Suisham missing a FG?
Beachum and Wallace getting beaten like a drum?(can we please put an end to the beachum expirement?)
Refs giving the bucs a td instead of 3rd and goal from the 13?
Brown dropping a td?
Ben missing yet another wide open receiver? This time for a td.

 

It's an important game for setting the tone of the rest of the season. But we know consistency is not this team's forte at the moment. I would be surprised if the team were not fired up for the Jags, but not shocked.

I suppose, for me, it will be the same as always. If the game is lost due to coaching, then it's on the coaches. If it's lost due to errors by players, it's on them. If it's a rough call by the refs, then there's that. The likelihood is, if we lose, it will be a combination of a lot of things.

I agree though, Jack, that if we lose the board will go nuclear, and that's a shame, because it will make for quite a dull season if every thread turns into a fire Tomlin discussion. As you know, I have no problem with someone saying that it all ultimately comes down to the HC, so long as there's still room around here to discuss the details of the plays etc.

 

Okay, strummer, let's not blame Tomlin for anything . None of this mess is his fault. It couldn't be. He's untouchable. Sure the team has been 8-8 the last two seasons after getting Tebow'd the year before, but that's not Tomlin's fault. It's the players. It's the coordinators. It's the execution, it's (insert reason other than Tomlin here). BUT...

...Tomlin singlehandedly took us to to two Super Bowls, winning one of them! Don't give me this crap that it was the solid veteran leadership that took us to those Super Bowls! It was Tomlin, plain and simple.

Do you see the hypocrisy in this way of thinking, strummer? I realize that the HC may get too much blame and too much credit, but there are those that don't seem to want to put ANY blame at all on Tomlin but HE GOT US TO TWO SUPER BOWLS!

 

Typical, just ignore the questions and spew a bunch of pooh.

deflect
deflect
deflect

must deflect at all costs

 

How about the people that complain about the Steelers nonstop stay away next week wether we win or lose.

Fingers crossed !

 

You're wasting your time.

 

We are obviously at loggerheads, strummer. Only time will tell whether or not Tomlin is the right coach to lead this team out of Mediocreville. I have serious doubts that he is but I could be wrong. Stay tuned...

How about the rose-colored glasses Polyanna brigade who never think it's okay to criticize the Steelers OR TOMLIN for anything go and create their own board, Glenn? Maybe you could head that up!

 

I'm not a "Fire Tomlin" guy but some of that I would put on Tomlin. He should have known that Suisham would more than likely miss that FG since he has only made 5 from that distance in his whole career. Also Beachum does suck and I totally agree with you but he's flat out Tomlin's "guy" and if you've ever listened to Tomlin's pre game interview on WDVE you would have heard Tomlin say this. So two of those I really do chalk up to the coaching staff because they need to put the best guys out there for the team to have success. I don't blame Ben for crappy o-line play now that Max Starks is gone because Ben was the one that was constantly lobbying for him. I DON'T think Gilbert OR Allen deserved a long term contract but the organization saw it differently and time will tell if that was the right thing to do. I'm just of the opinion if a guy hasn't showed anything BEFORE the money he's probably not gonna show it after. Ben also missed a wide open Wheaton on the sidelines but I really wonder if the pressure he had been under sorta got him off his game a little.

 

To quote Glenn.

"You're wasting your time."

 

We will win and win big ...If we don't this season is all but over ...We wont get a better match up the rest of the year . If we can't win really no need to complain just take it as the season is over and start preparing for the draft and the rebuild..

 

Heath Miller we can ALL agree on!

 

I just checked and Suisham is 50% for his career of 50 yards or more. That's not great, but it's a higher percentage than going for a td in the final seconds from 35 yards out. It was and is the smart play.

I've heard Tomlin talk about beachum I would say he's supportive of his players more than Beachum is just Tomlin's guy. Beachum was exactly where he was supposed to be until Adam's fell flat on his face. Now he's just the lesser of two evils. The hate Gilbert gets around here is asinine to me. His problem has always been consistency and that appears to be improving. He's solid against the run. If he can keep improving on his consistency then signing him long term was the right move. If he can't the singning is on Colbert as that is his job. Coaches coach the players the GM delivers.

 

I've got all the time in the world. LOL. I just think there's enough blame to go around that everyone should shoulder some of it. I mean Tomlin himself says in his pressers that he "accepts full responsibility" for these performances. So either that is a cliche or he is at least partly to blame. For clock mgmt I blame Tomlin. For holding the ball too long I blame Ben. For Suisham being told to kick from outside his range, whether he SAYS he thinks he can make it or not, I still blame Tomlin. For AB and Bell getting dumb penalties I blame them AND a little on Tomlin as well. There obviously have not been enough consequences to stop this crap. For inconsistencies on both sides of the ball I would say the players and staff are equally to blame. I mean I blame the "cushion" on the staff and the poor tackling on the players. I just think there is plenty of blame to go around. I DON'T think "youth" is a very good argument because on the d side Sunday it was a veteran unit and we still got owned. I've not seen anyone point that out that I know of.

 

I agree about Colbert. I just wonder how much he makes his decisions based off of what the staff tells him. Not just Tomlin but DL and Haley and Munchak and whoever. I wonder if there are guys on the roster that are basically "forced" on to Tomlin by the "powers that be" or does Tomlin say that he thinks the guys can be coached up to a point to where they are worth signing long term? The NFL, and all pro sports in general really, seem now to pay guys more on "potential" than "production" and that is killer when you have to deal with a salary cap. Would you be in favor of Colbert getting the ax?