Bud Dupree is the perfect candidate for a one-year tag

Yes I agree and I just wanted to go on record as saying by what burg said he is right and yes we were competitive. With that said being competitive is not enough for me and that is just my opinion. Now if we were the clowns then yeah being just competitive would be enough, but like many have posted we are not the clowns. So while what I feel and what we are talking about are 2 different tings I just wanted to say yes we were competitive..........

 

Competitive/not competitive
Tomayto/tomahto
Potayto/potahto

THE LAST FEW YEARS IS NOT STEELER FOOTBALL

Sorry, I didn't mean to yell

 

Got it

 

I agree however some need to feel to make sure other are held to their words.....we were competitive yes.........sorry I better stop there not really feeling the BS today. I do love what ya said however man.

 

But maybe "we" are wrong, maybe "I" am wrong? Maybe the last few years "is" the new Steeler football?

It seems there is a growing number who are "okay" with "not being the worst".

Kinda sums up our society today.

 

Yeah I really think you are onto something however that is as far as I want to go on that...........

 

Perspective right? I counted 9 teams with between 7 and 9 wins last year. Some of the teams wouldn’t immediately make you think “competitive” but somehow at 8-8 we were a couple of what if’s away? If I rattled off the list of teams I’m sure most or all would be met with thoughts of them being bad teams.....so perspective....jmo

 

Maybe by "competitive" people mean right up through week 14?

Problem is, there are 17 weeks. Competitive teams don't lose their last 3 games when the season is on the line.

 

Maybe

 

It could be the new Steelers football for a while. Who knows? Sports are funny and unpredictable. I'd rather take the 8-8 competitive seasons over the bottom out 4-12 seasons until the organization can put together better teams.

I don't think anyone is ok with the Steelers being 8-8 and out of the playoffs. At least some of us understood why it happened. That understanding leads to having hope and optimism that the team can do better in the next season. Constantly complaining about it isn't going to make anyone feel better about the team or solve any problems for the team.

 

What competitive people mean is that the team had the opportunities to win the games. They had opportunities to defeat the Jets and the Bills in weeks 15 and 16. The problem remains is that you don't understand what the word competitive means.

 

I get that but constantly making excuses for it when it is also preceded by a couple of other underachieving seasons is kinda like putting your head in the sand and incessantly arguing that the hurricane, that is whipping your tail feathers, really doesn't exist

 

Who is making excuses? It's about understanding the situation. Understanding can allow some of us to deal with the disappointment better.

The Steelers are not going to make the playoffs every year. They defied the odds in the amount of times they made the playoffs in the free agency era. The odds of winning the Superbowl are against them regardless of how many times they make the playoffs.

At the end of the day there are different ways to measure the success of a team. Sounds like you are going to be disappointed with this team the vast majority of the time short of the Superbowl.

 

That is the point. Keeping Roethlisberger healthy was always going to be the key to the team improving in 2020 and 2021. The Steelers made the decision to rely on him when they gave him the extension before last season. That wasn't going to change whether they tagged Dupree or not.

The offensive supporting cast is a little bit better than it was year ago. Part of that is growth by Washington and Johnson. The addition of Ebron makes them better. So does the addition of Watt. Remember, they only had a fullback for a handful of games in 2019. Even if Watt only matches Nix, they have upgraded there.

They were never going to keep the entire defense together. They were always going to lose either Dupree or Hargrave. You can certainly argue that they should have chosen Hargrave. That would be reasonable, but Dupree plays more snaps and they already have a lot of money tied up in Heyward and Tuitt. The loss of Barron is an issue in that it leaves them a bit thin at inside linebacker. Gilbert is going to have to step up or they are going to have to add help at inside linebacker.

At this point, the Steelers have kept most of the defense together and they upgraded the offense even with the tag on Dupree.

 

I don't think anybody is making excuses for 2018. That was inexcusable. That season was a failure by the coaches and players.

Pointing out the way injuries devastated the team in 2019 is a different matter. Just the hits they took at quarterback alone were enough to sink a season. They didn't just lose their starting quarterback, a future Hall of Famer coming off one of his best seasons. They lost his backup to injury twice. Even when Rudolph returned from the concussion, he wasn't the same.

It isn't about the number of injuries, either. It is about who they lost. Tuitt was playing better than any defensive lineman on the team when he was hurt. Injuries up front disrupted the offensive line. Conner's injuries continued to be a problem. They were also left without a fullback most of the season.

Some of those are issues the team has to plan for going forward. It would be stupid to count on Tuitt or Conner to remain healthy. But they have chosen to rely on Roethlisberger, for better or for worse, for at least two more seasons. If he gets hurt again or falters, they're screwed. That isn't an excuse. That is a reality.

 

I'm not saying "you" are making excuses, many have, and continue to. And I am not disappointed by not making the playoffs every year, I am a realist too. What I am disappointed in is that we have "underachieved" multiple years in a row and when I ask myself why, I don't have to look to far. We have an owner who doesn't seem to care, a head coach who is more about letting the inmates run the prison than he is about winning football games, and some assistant coaches who appear to be pretty incompetent.

Now before anyone goes all out of their head about the inmates comment, like so many here do when they take one tiny piece of an overall premise and start a fight about the tiny piece without ever addressing the main premise, that's how I see Tomlins lack of discipline; you may see it different. The bottom line is that "I" add all of this up.....it doesn't look very pretty. Others may be perfectly satisfied with non-losing, I am not.....it is not Steeler football.

 

2017 was underachievement
2018 was underachievement
Losing the last three games against lesser opponents in 2019 was underachievement.

Three years in a row of underachievement in the NFL spells a problem.

If a person wants to feel better about their day, they can tell themselves all kinds of things to convince themselves that they shouldn't be worried.

 

Again perspective right? If you choose to take every season and separate it from the others you can come up with reasons they didn’t achieve the goal of a SB. It’s when you take the past 10yrs and put it all together it becomes easier to see that they have underperformed and underachieved over that span considering all the positives they had going for them. It’s up to the individual on what perspective they choose to have. I think when you look at 3 playoff wins in 10yrs for this franchise you’re kidding yourself if you don’t think they’ve been underachieving as a team.

 

Sorry, but no, 2019 was not underachievement given the injuries.

Your characterization of 2017 and 2018 was absolutely fair, but your take on 2019 was not.

 

....And don't come to a message board and talk about it cause you will get called a complainer.

 

Those were some bonehead coaching decisions the wildcat in the Buffalo and Baltimore games, both decisions led to turnovers .

 

The Bengals lost 8 games by one score or less last season, does that make them competitive (by your definition)?

 

.....and told there’s nothing we can do about it and we shouldn’t complain so often by the same people who just as frequently complain about the complainers, making it a endless cycle. You know instead of just “passing on by”?

It’s OK ...apparently there’s only a few “well informed” opinions that count around here anyway. Even though some of their “facts” are anecdotal at best....I guess if you say something loud enough and long enough it makes it factual.
Wait a minute....how come my incessant complaining doesn’t win me any of these discussions then? ...oh well

stay safe everyone. You guys are almost like family. Doesn’t mean I have to like you al the time...I’m sure the feeling is mutual...

 

They were competitive in those games. There is typically a small margin between winning and losing in the NFL. Every team has the coaching and talent to compete in the NFL. It's one reason why upsets happen.

 

Well that certainly isn't true for everyone. It's true for the individuals that don't see anything good and complain chronically. Sorry if you offended.

Seriously why do people follow a team in which they believe the ownership doesn't care and feels the coach isn't good? To me this is almost AB level mental stuff.

Better to look at how the team can improve instead of believing they sucked and always underachieved. It could be worse. The past is done and can't be changed.