So why did Miller retire?

Nah, it's clear from last season that the depth chart is:

1. Ben
2. Landry
3. Ben, in whatever state he's left in.

 

my question is, does this mean spaeth will now stay?

 

Pretty much.

 

thats depressing to me as much as heath retiring at this point.

 

I just can't see them going with a new Starter, 2nd, and 3rd all in the same year.If nothing else bringing Spaeth back gives a little stability at the position.

 

bouchette tweeted yesterday that the organization had said nothing to him. the decision was all his. "for the record, Heath Miller chose to retire with no prodding from the steelers. just felt it was time"

 

Miller's play has declined slightly but he still caught a lot of passes last year, and there is no doubt that he was by far the best TE on the roster and the best TE in Steelers history.

He also took a pay cut that was bigger than his drop in play.

Sorry Strummer I just can't agree with you here. TE production/threat just got halved.

We'll just have to disagree.

 

Where is Lady Steel? Hopefully off crying on a corner and not on a ledge with Real Steel.

 

Was it last year or the year before you advocated for a power running game. I think your argument was defenses were too finesse based and youwanted to wear them down. Now you want towear them down with 5 wide

 

Was it last year or the year before you advocated for a power running game. I think your argument was defenses were too finesse based and youwanted to wear them down. Now you want towear them down with 5 wide

 

We should keep Spaeth around, but if he's number one in the depth chart we're in trouble.

My suspicion is that he goes into camp as the de facto no.1 and then either James or a new guy unseats him. Still, he's good for no,2 or 3.

 

Yep as Defenses have changed our Team has changed and Ben is a lot better pre snap than he was 5 years ago. 5 years ago we didn't have the talent at WR that we do know, we didn't have the QB play that we have now . The type of RB that Bell is is also better suited for open field running and catching the ball out of the backfield and even spreading out as a WR..Also we don't have the defense to try and use the run 1st. menality. If you are going to pound the rock you need a defense to make the 3 yards and a cloud of dust work..

A good Coach changes based on talent...I don't think anyone who knows anything about Football would argue that the Steelers deepest group is at WR and that group just got more valuable now that Miller has left..

 

Tight end? Ben is going to force the ball to AB 20 times a game to keep the business boomin' beleedat.

 

I'm sick of the our defense sucked bs. Is it a legendary defense? Not by a longshot, but we still were 10th in the league in points allowed. A couple more pieces and the defense will be solid. I disagree with the assessment Ben has improved. There's a reason why we take the play clock down to the wire all the time. Ben and his presnap reads. Up until this season he was just taking fewer shots down field and using his check down more. He sure as hell hasn't figured out taking a sack that knocks us out of FG position is a bad thing.

 

I will agree with the sack part , but taking one is better than turning the ball over which he still does to much of for my liking ..As far as the Defense goes they suck . They have to use smoke and mirrors to get pressure , none of the CB'S can cover or tackle that well. The Safety spot is a joke ,they have no ability to read a route or the ability to react and actually make a play on the ball..

We are at least 3 or 4 players away from being able to play good Defense . This Team can only play a bit of D when they are protecting their own endzone..The reason is the DB'S suck and the tighter field helps hide that fact . Between the 20's I bet this D ranks dead last or very close to it, which means they need multiple players back there not just a few...

 

How can anyone disagree that Ben has improved? I fully expect that the Steelers will be a top 5 offense next year. 5 years ago it was "Well, we'll probably finish 20th in yards and might crack top 10 in scoring."

I think the game plans are stupid and that shootouts don't win football games. But Ben is executing stupid game plans very well and I'm sure he loves the stupid game plans.

He is throwing for 100 yards more per game than when he was winning Superbowls. The Steelers put up big yards and points against top defenses like Seattle and Denver.

Ben has definitely improved. He will always force throws and take sacks at bad times while looking for a big play. That isn't a measure of improvement.

 

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He's still making the same stupid mistakes. He's still taking 40 seconds to make his reads. Wasn't 2015 the 2nd highest int total of his career? He's only had 4 seasons with fewer touchdowns and two of those were his first two years. WHen you stop making those mistakes it is improvement. Those are rookie mistakes and cost your team wins. That's part of the maturation of a player. Ben has been in the league for 10 years and he's still doing the same stupid ****.

 

we talk about the o-line improvement but heath stayed in to block much more than in the past and that was why we had so much improvement. it will be a noticeable difference. i agree strummer, ben hasn't changed nor will he at this point, but the weapons around him are better. that and heath helping to block because of better weapons is why he is making the offense look better. believe it we will miss heaths blocking this year.

 

Ben's INT rate was his 4th highest. Only his first 3 seasons were higher. That is still improvement.

How can you compare this season to others when he played 12 games?

And Ben still holds the ball but he gets it out faster than he used to. The % of sacks to dropbacks the last two seasons is way down.

Ben has become a 5000 yard passer and runs the best passing offense in the NFL but has not improved from his days specializing in play action and handing the ball off?

 

I don't think he's stating that the team is better off without him....

He's just saying that there was a drop in his play some (Mainly blocking, sometimes he just couldn't get there) and that it was probably the best time for Heath to go out on top.

 

WHo gives a crap about total yards? Yards don't mean a damn thing. We have a better wr corps, better rb, and a better offensive line, but Ben is still doing the same boneheaded crap he did years ago.