Cajun's state of the Steelers, you won't like it!

Being right against the salary cap hasn't helped things either, all we can afford are the scabs that nobody else wants.

 

Remember how everyone thought Colbert was a genius when Cowher was coaching the players that he drafted and signed as free agents? Hmmm?

 

I think Tomlin has some say for sure. If you notice in his midweek pressers he will often mention an opposing player that he feels they need to keep an eye on and will talk about how he watched them on their pro day. It's gotta make you wonder if they were so impressive why in the crap did WE not draft them? LOL!

 

Aye. We all know how Tomlin operates. The media is a game for him. That has no relationship to his coaching ability, whether it's good or bad.

The problem I have with Cajun's post is that it doesn't really cover the good spots on the team, and it doesn't break this stuff down into details. As much as some people want it to be "all on the coaches" or "all on Tomlin" or whatever, each problem the team has is complex. Like I said in another thread, we're inconsistently inconsistent. There are a ton of variables at work with each issue. That's not to water down their seriousness, or give anyone a free pass. It's just to call it as it is.

The one exception to all of that is Mike Mitchell. He just needs to go.

 

You're right Thig, not very positive mentioned nor breakdowns. I didn't want to write a small book and really thought most of that would get covered in the debates to follow.

To my defense some I did say we'll go where Ben takes us, good & Bad, and that we have to great weapons in Bell & AB. I will say Munchak has our OL finally playing some good football in the trenches and Haley contrary to many fans has this offense rolling. We're ranked #2 barely behind the colts. We have a balanced and potent attack. He has Ben reading defenses better and Ben is getting rid of the ball much quicker. He's benched the Archer experiment and is bringing M. Bryant along at the right pace. He's still a couple years away from being that true pro-bowl weapon but he has the raw talent. Still needs to run better rtes. He rounds off his cuts instead of planting and making the hard quick cut, that'll come in time.

Blast- I'm not a flower kind of guy..LOL... but to your points.... No way was Art ll concerned about arians saving face. In this league you're fired, move on. No way would I ever want Kahn as a GM. He's a numbers guy type of executive and not a talent evaluator. I'd go after some-one from Greenbay like Mike Eayrs or the Seahawks Scott Fitterer.

See the Lake thread to view my Lake concerns.

Elvis- I so agree about LeBeau. I love the coach. He has always struggled with being determined to stay the course and not be very flexible when opposing OC discover cracks in his armor and devise schemes to defeat them. His defense is so complicated it requires disciplined veterans. Shazier has ALL the talent in the world but seemed so lost most of the time. In order for his defense to work a dominate NT is needed. He hasn't had that. Effective pass rushing OLBers are needed, nope, that's gone too. ILbers who can stop the run and cover the TE. Only had 1 of those. CB's who'll keep the WR in front, make the tackle and doesn't get beat deep.....Nope, in-effective CBs/ best we have is now Gay. Safeties who can stop the run- Troy doesn't tackle very well and a FS to protect being beat deep...........WHERE'S Mike M????????????

Our defense is ranked 16th and doesn't pressure the QB very well. While all is not lost if our offense can't outscore opposing teams odds are we'll lose. I don't see this defense saving the day. Looking at this defense our LBers are better suited for the 4-3. Only exception is Worilds who is on a 1 yr deal and due to mis-management his next contract with us will cost us an avg yearly salary between 9-10 mil. He isn't worth that so we may loose him. Tight against the cap and Ben being given a HUGE extension will hurt. Our DL isn't designed for a 4-3 set up so we're stuck between base schemes. I feel it would be better having our DL play 4-3 instead of our LBers play 3-4. But who am I???

Cajun-

 

Has many of the players that left the Steelers gone onto a different team and become a great player? The coaching staff has developed good players on offense just not on defense, AB, Bell, Pouncey, DeCastro and even Beachum.

 

For sure, I imagined as much. I agree with your assessment of the positives.

Also agree on a later point - I'm increasingly thinking that the poor safety play is the number one problem for the D this year. I know others say it's the line, but the safeties are constantly caught out of position, and if you're getting burned on big plays, those are the guys I'm looking to for reasons why.

 

Yeah, its not going to happen any time soon. We have the perfect set of LBers for the 4-3. We are going to lose worilds ( our only 3-4 pass rushing OLB ) and JJ is NOT the answer to James Harrison @ ROLB. Moats is getting better in that role but he's a true NFL 4-3 OLB. Vince is the perfect run stuffing "Mike". Spence is a very solid Mike type guy with more speed than Vince. Both have solid instincts ( reads ) with maybe Spence being a bit ahead. Timmons & Shazier could be real solid Weak & strong side OLBers. We could have the deepest and best set of LBers in the 4-3 scheme in the NFL.

Our DL...???? Agree our DT's would be strong. Move McCullers and McLendon to 1-Tech and Tuitt at the 3-tech. Heyward, Has pass rushing skills but as you noted is not the typical size for the 4-3 DE as he's a bit thicker. I would not ask him to trim down but instead as you advocate move him to the strong side DE as is. He could better handle the coming double team, handle the run better and even pressure the QB while not having the typical speed of a 4-3 DE. In fact this wrinkle could be a new type of scheme where our strong side DE, with his increased size/strength actually allows the strong side LBer to be more free, allowing him more space in his reads and better blitzing using "his" speed. We still need to acquire either a typical 4-3 DE or replace worilds in the draft in the 1st rd....again.


I'm very proud of this offense. Haley has done a superb job, along with Munchak. We have the players and scheme to be a Superbowl Champion on offense. I still don't like how shark isn't getting any snaps on defense or baby zilla- Thomas- is still here. Same with DHB. Loosing Mauro,williams & Wesley Johnson STILL eats at me. Mis-managing our roster like that angers me somewhat.

Cajun-