#17

I was at the game today and specifically watched Wallace on a number of occasions. First, he was the last player into the huddle numerous times as the playclock was under 25 seconds due to his loafing. Second, on one occasion he was standing with the linemen when the qb, rb and wrs were huddled around the coaches. Third, he doesn't even make token attempts to attempt to catch passes. It is obvious his mind is elsewhere. Time to let him leave and spend the $$$ on upgrading the talent on this team.

 

Wallace has been pissing me off since the second half of last season. Hell, even the SB game against GB it seemed like he was sucking. I can't stand Wallace and I hope he's gone next year. I'm SO glad we did not pay him! The guy gives no effort...

 

For whatever reason Tomlin seems to love him, and i just dont see why

 

I personally think Mike Wallace is a symbol for the kind of offense Tomlin would really like to have. I mean it took the Rooney's stepping in for him to get rid of BA. Now Wallace was EXACTLY the kind of guy BA wanted and NEEDED to run his offense. Haley's not in to all that greatest show on turf bull.

 

I've been accused of being a Wallace hater but I'm really not. I am extremely frustrated with him and let me lay out the case as to why:

1) When Wallace first came into the league he seemed to take opposing defenses and DCs by surprise with his world class speed. As a result, he had some early success which seemed to go to his head. I thought it was great that we had a guy with this much speed but one thing I noticed was that he wasn't a very natural receiver. The ball didn't seem to "melt" Ito his hands the way it does with sure handed receivers like AB for instance. Instead he seemed to want to trap the ball against his body and it always seemed to take great effort to catch the ball, it wasn't natural for him. But that was okay because I thought that he'd understand his shortcomings and would work hard to improve on them. I really thought tat he could develop into a very good receiver if he'd work on his route running, his hands, his effort, but instead of working on these challenges Wallace decided at some point that he had already arrived and had become GREAT. He was wrong.
2) I really feel that Wallace failed to negotiate with the Steelers in good faith in the off-season. Even his agent seemed to get a little frustrated with him when, by most accounts, Wallace turned down a 5 year, $50 million contract. Wallace apparently thought he was worth more. I've been a Steeler fan for a long time and one thing I can say s that they are pretty good at establishing the value of a player that they want to keep. They wanted to keep Wallace and they put their best foot forward to try to do so. Wallace thumbed his nose at their offer and reported to the team at the last possible minute, forgoing all OTAs and training camp. I think Wallace has proven this year that he's nit even a number one receiver and therefore not worth the kind of money he was demanding in off-season.
3) Wallace has not stepped up when the situation calls for it the way a great receiver does. He has disappeared the second half if the last two seasons, has been a non-factor in EVERY post season game he's played in.
4) Wallace has dropped and/or fumbled on numerous occasions this year, does not seem to fight for the ball, seems to lack effort at times, and just doesn't make the big play when he has an opportunity to do so.

I really try not to be biased where Wallace is concerned, but I'm open to be proven wrong. Am I being unfair to Wallace or are my points above valid? I guess I'm upset with Wallace most of all because he had so much promise based on the success he had the first two years, and then seemed to turn a blind eye to some of his deficiencies. Am I wrong?

 

The thing that makes me so confused is that I really don't know where to focus it. I mean Batch sucked. Wallace sucked. Redman sucked. Mendy sucked. Dwyer sucked. Will Allen sucked. Ike couldn't catch. Kirby Wilson sucked. Tomlin sucked. Offensive line sucked. Penalties sucked. It's like I'm in this parallel dimension where I am surrounded by things that make me mad but I don't know which one that makes me the maddest. It's like all this just piled up today and maybe I need to make a list of all the crappy things that each one of them done and just yell at their name on the paper and then I can get on with my life. But as of now I just need some time to reflect on life and all that it implies to quote Urban Cowboy.

 

Here BFT have a snickers.

 

You're being totally fair. I also REALLY liked Mike Wallace early on. The negotiation stuff really has no bearing on how I feel about him either. It's STRICTLY on the field. I just DO NOT see him making plays that cause me to say "yeah he's worth more than $50 million". I honestly hope that there's noone on this board who believes he is worth that kind of money. I also don't see how you can defend his drops, fumbles, lack of effort, and all that stuff. Sanders shows up ready to play every time he's on the field. He's quickly becoming my 2nd favorite. The thing I've always loved about the Steelers is that we seem to get players that are not really "stars" but have enough talent and buy in to our philosophy that they are successful for a long time. Wallace just seems to be a guy that wants to ride his one attribute to a paycheck. He may very well do it. But he won't do it here and I'm totally fine with that.

 

I really want to know what is up with Tomlin and his attitude with RB's and fumbling. HE doesn't pull any other players from the game when they make a mistake like that yet he pulls and benches his running backs. What is even more perplexing is that he lets them get cold on the sideline when at least two of them(Redman and Dwyer) need to be continuously fed the ball in order to be really effective. How does that help the team or the player to do better next time? I would think it would screw with their head even more such as what happened to Mendenhall.

 

Well they all have fumbled at some point this year. I know that Mendy is not a chronic fumbler as some say that he is but it also seems that he manages to fumble at the WORST possible times. The thing that kills me about this coaching staff is that it just seems that our guys never seem ready for the moment ya know. I mean look at that game the Pats played the other night. The Pats are a vastly superior team to the Jets and they totally looked like it in all three phases of the game. We NEVER seem to look superior to the teams that we OUGHT to look superior to.

 

Also there are a lot of teams playing with backup qb's that are doing fine. The 9ers, Jags, and Titans have all won games with backups this year. I personally hope that if the 9ers decide to go with Kapernick that we could get Alex Smith to backup Ben. He's a guy that can play when he has to. He's not a guy that's gonna lead you to a Super Bowl I would say but he's a guy that could do enough for you to not lose games you shouldn't lose and isn't that the ideal guy we are looking for?

 

But then how can he say "the standard is the standard"? LOL. I think that's why people get so irritated with his demeanor because they see him benching some but not others. I even said during the game thread today that Tomlin had benched himself in to a corner because they were all sitting there. That's what makes it so hard to institute such a policy. Though in his defense how could he have seen it coming that EVERY rb on the roster would fumble? I honestly wonder if that's ever happened in NFL history. I mean EVERY guy!

 

What you want Smith now? Im losing my only ally I have here to get Colt.

 

I would hope that is the way of it but to me, outside looking in, it sends a mixed message if one position is held accountable in such a way but others can cough the ball up and cost the game without so much as a series off. By hey that is why I stick parts in a box for a living and don't coach football.

 

Ben is BY FAR the best thing this team has. Notice the Rooney's gave him the money Wallace would like to have. I guarantee you if Ben was in today and Wallace was out we would have won that game easily. That's the kind of crap the Rooney's need to explain to Wallace.

 

Seems accurate to me. If this was a write-up on an annual performance review, Mike would be below the "meets expectations" line for a #1 WR.

 

No I still want Colt. But wouldn't you say in a perfect world that Smith is probably a little better than him? I don't see that happening I was just saying if it did in like a hypothetical way. In reality I would LOVE to have Colt as a backup. He is also a good person off the field and I like having guys like that. Don't worry I am still your ally for sure.

 

Him and his agent probably lost $20+ million by not taking the deal the Steelers offered, whatever it was. There's just no way he gets big money now.

 

Just busting your chestnuts. Smith is better than Colt but he would come at a much higher price. Id rather have Colt for a 6th than Smith for a 3rd.