some highlights from Gerry Dulacs chat

for those of you who may not be familiar with Dulac, he is a reporter for the Pittsburg Post Gazette. he does a weekly online chat and answers fans questions. Gerry keeps it real and isnt afraid to call a spade a spade.

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports...s-Steelers-chat-12-29-21/stories/202112290106

 

the things i learned from the chat.

1 butler may retire
2 tuitt may be a cap casualty.. i hadnt considered him not coming back because of money.
3 tomlin deserves more of the blame than some fans are willing to admit.

Dulac has been covering the team forever. he has his hand on the pulse of the team and sources inside and out. so when he says something its not just BS. some of the writers in pittsburg are just cheerleaders and mouth pieces for the team. Dulac isnt afraid to paint with a different brush.

 

Nice article. I am amazed it's taking the Steelers would consider promoting from within rather than spending the money to get quality assistant coaches. I hadn't realized that it was even an issue. If that's the case we will see no improvement in this team for a long time. I still have hope that they will look around and at least try to hire someone with the skills needed to build this football team. Tomlin needs to go but he will never be fired.

 

Eff Dulac, he blocked me for no reason

 

Good afternoon Gerry this is Joe sports fan from Peanut Gallery USA. Isn't it obvious to the Rooneys that MT is just an average coach that will never win another Superbowl? I mean everybody down at the Peanut Gallery tavern knows that he has never had a losing season and we often cheer about that amazing accomplishment but when are we finally gonna get rid of this overrated coach?

Gerry. The Rooneys are cheap and feel like all fans have blind faith so get used to it.

 

How many years does Heyward have left?

I can't imagine losing Heyward and Tuitt almost back to back. That would be devastating.

 

Do you think Tomlin is willing to relinquish calling the defense and/or hire coaches that are strategically smarter than he is?

 

Sort of trick question.

do I think he would. Yes. Do I think he would hire, or the Rooneys would pay, for one smarter than him? uh...

I actually think he would hire one, but that he's budget constrained. I'm not absolving Tomlin here either, he has to put his foot down like Cowher did in the power struggle between him and Donahoe. He has to tell ARII, either I get the money to hire quality coordinators or I walk.

 

Why would someone have a tree they cut everything from. That's freaking crazy looking, or is it a photo shop pic???

 

A broad one? Couldn't resist.

Or threaten his position.

Hopefully Butler retires.

I want a new defensive coordinator hired from the outside and to have Tomlin be the head coach only. I feel if they were to promote Teryl Austin he will just be a puppet.

Canada could get the gate but I feel he will get another shot.

 

They have been saying Teryl Austin is going to be the next DC for a few years now.

I would expect that to happen. It is the right scenario for Tomlin to remain calling defense.



Canada has never stayed anywhere long. I wouldn't be surprised if he is Steelers OC next year and then takes a head coaching gig in college somewhere.

 

there are 3 reasons a person leaves a job to go do the very same job somewhere else

1 better work environment
2 more money
3 the opportunity to pad their resume to make more money in the future.

there are credible rumors that the steelers are thrifty about paying coaches
if i were a coach trying to build my rep, i would take one look at this roster and say OH HELL NO. you guys aint dragging me down. same with a QB. why would aaron rodgers or russell wilson want to join a team that is clearly in rebuild mode and probably years away from being a legit competitor. there is a reason brady chose the Bucs. the reason the bad teams are always the one jackin up player salaries is because they have to overpay and make them an offer they cant refuse. they have nothing to offer but money.

 

the real question is how does one coach for as long as tomlin and not have a single hire move on to bigger and better things. cowher brought in arians.

 

Simple it’s the buddy system on the cheap. I have no idea of the purse situation but my whole life I’ve heard the rooneys are penny pinchers old to see them cash cow some players this last decade.

I don’t know who has the call in hires/fires or whatever but the current mold ain’t cutting it.

 

Hmm... so.. here are my personal thoughts.


1.) Butler was gone regardless if he was retiring or not. His contract is up and it is likely that either Austin or Dunbar are next in line for promotion.


2.) This was a given. May have even been written in stone after Tomlin stated "not imminent" a while back. Again, no official word but I will not be surprised if he ever plays again.


3.) This fact is notorious regarding the Rooney's. They have never have been big spenders when it comes to hiring big name coaches. Sometimes this has worked out, sometimes it has not. For every Teryl Austin, there is a Shaun Sarrett. Adrian Klemm's departure was more so of him returning to the collegiate ranks as he has had more success there and is more comfortable with the Pacific Northwest Collegiate Scene than he ever would have been with the NFL as a whole... even though he was not only severely under gunned but also in over his head as a whole.

 

Putting aside the unsupported speculation that Tuitt will never play again and assuming he does want to take the field in 2022, we will find out what type of man he is. Unless it really was all due to a knee injury, the Steelers basically paid him to take a season off this year to deal with his grief. A good man would repay that favor by working with the team to get his cap hit to a reasonable number in 2022. I'm not saying the Steelers should tell him he owes them. They shouldn't have to.

Again, this all assumes he is willing and able to play in 2022.

 

Is that possible with out continuing the pattern of extending guys or reworking deals in order to gain cap space that eventually lands you in the losing season bracket because you have 47 million invested in your soon to be 40 Quarterback. I'd love to have Tuitt back in his peak and ready to terrorize blockers, I don't think any of us are interested in having him back if he feels obligated and his playing to say thanks and then hangs it up. too many unknowns with that.

 

Your post makes the assumption that he would only be coming back to pay the team back. That's not what I'm saying. My point is that if he does want to come back, if Tuitt wants to keep playing, he should work with the Steelers to make sure it is in Pittsburgh. If not, he should retire.

 

When Ben retires doesn't cap space free up?

I heard some where we are poised to have the most cap room in the NFL, or second most?

 

I believe that was before Watt's new contract.

 

I really don't have an answer. I do know I have seen quite a few coaches that have a huge coaching tree...Yet when they branch out they all fail....So is one (like I'm talking about) really any better than the other???
The one... people say ....well I don't want them....the other ....Dang...somehow they tricked Me into wanting them, but they suck. LoL

 

I use to pay for the Post-Gazette on line but stopped thanks to so many people posting the sport reports on message boards.

I use to deliver the Pittsburgh Press as a youngster. Use to sign up people and win Steeler tickets. That is how I went to Steeler games in the 60's.

 

Ben will have a dead cap hit of 10 million, the Steelers are projected to have 46 million in cap space.