Myles Garrett traded to Rams

To be honest, this is the hardest year to predict that I can remember because of the new coaching staff... So I have no idea at the moment... I still have two months to think about it!

 

This I agree with. Watt has been the face of the defense, the face of the Franchise since Ben retired. They weren't getting rid of that.

Well, that leaves out an important point of context. Many don't complain "that we make the playoffs consistently.". They complain (myself included) about making the playoffs and consistently getting humiliated in the wildcard round. It's been a VERY long time since we could say we actually belonged in the playoff conversation and could actually play a competitive game.

 

I'm thinking about using my winnings from the Steelers beating the over last season and betting it all on the Rams to win the Super Bowl this year.

 

This is the half of the story that supports the idea that winning a couple of playoff games is worth being inconsistent. Although my guess is that many people who didn't like Tomlin thought 2014-2017 (1x WC loss, 2x division game losses, 1x AFCC loss) were bad years. I wasn't on this board at the time, but on the Planet (where I was), there were lots of people who thought this was a horrible stretch. Which is kind of what I mean when I said that we're pretty spoiled in the post you quoted.

It's also the half of the story that isn't as relevant to what I was actually saying about Rooney seeming to believe that he needs to have a team that is consistently in (or at least close to) the playoffs.

The other half of the story is that in the 80s, the Steelers made the playoffs 4 times.

In the 2020s, we've made the playoffs 5 times.

That's more than the 80s, even though we've only played 6 of the 10 years in the 2020s. Granted the rules are different now...and I think there are a few years in there where we didn't deserve to be in the playoffs...which was demonstrated by us getting blown out.

I get that you're upset that we haven't won against teams that were (for the most part) much better than we were in the playoffs. I am too.

Again, I would personally prefer that we focus on the medium term (at least) and try to build for a competitive window when Jackson and Burrow are old.

That's what I think CLE is doing well with this trade.

But the actions of the team make it very, very clear that Rooney doesn't feel the same way.

 

I don't disagree with either of these points.

I think the reason that we got humilated in several of these games (I don't think this was true last year), is because we got a team that wasn't good enough to be a "playoff team" into the playoffs.

As I said upthread, I'd also prefer if we allowed the team to focus on the medium term to try to become genuinely competitive. But that appears to go against the business model.

Seems pretty clear that the plan is the same as the 90s. Keep the team consistently competitive for the playoffs and hope that we fall ass backward into a high quality QB. I think that strategy worked better in the 90s because you could have a decent offense without a great QB then.

 

My guess is that they didn't try. Or at least that they didn't try enough that it was ever a real possibility.

I don't think he would have returned what the Browns got at any time where fans would have thought it was reasonable to trade him.

I think another part of the reason that CLE got so much is probably because they already paid a lot of his contract (kind of like the benefit we got after trading for Minkah, but way more dollar wise). So the rams have him at laughably low cap hits for the next few years. I don't know if the Rams did new restructures when they signed him or if it's left over from the Browns, but his cap hit this year is $9.1MM, then $16.1mm, then $21.4mm.
https://overthecap.com/player/myles-garrett/5585

It baloons up after that, but there's a lot of cap inflation to happen between here and there. And the Rams are in win now mode.

 

I think I predicted 9 last year, but I think I said I was being pretty optimistic. I thought 7 wins would be more likely than 10 or 11.

I kind of think the same for this season. Around 9 wins. But I think we're far more likely to win fewer than 9 vs. more than 9.

 

I used to pick the entire week against the spread with my buddies in highschool. We all threw in something like $2 and the guy with the best record took the pot.

I think I won something like 3 weeks in a row and I though "I've got this gambling thing all figured out, I'm going to play a pick'em".

I picked the 3 games I was most confident in. And I think I went 1/3. But that week, I still got the majority of the games right in our highschool pool.

 

Yes, though I think we've put in a decent effort now to solve the QB position as best we can. Rodgers in the near term. Howard drafted last year, Allar this year. And if McCarthy isn't satisfied with the QB room by season's end, maybe we trade up in 2027 for another go at it.

 

Now do it all both HCs total history. Don't cherry pick. McVay vs Tomlin. Both have 2 SB appearance, both have won one, and McVay has lost to Tomlin every time their teams have played each other.

 

Why is he mocking people with learning disabilities?

 

And??? Remember when we were 11-0
What I remember is the Packers traded for Parsons, and everyone wet themselves in the glory of the Packers, and at the end of the year they did the exact same thing we did, make the playoffs, and lose.

 

Yep.

Turns out that it's hard to be a top 4 team in either conference.

We made the playoffs in a bunch of years we probably shouldn't. We did this by emphasizing a very unentertaining brand of football that was all about limiting turnovers on offense and hoping the D could keep it close and we'd make fewer big mistakes than the other team.

 

Possible, or it could be another Packers of last year. Everyone picks them to win the SB when they got Parsons, and they ended up doing the same thing we did. Making the playoffs, and losing their 1st game. We shall see.

 

You're right about Packers. They looked great in first half of season. I even thought Packers had a legit shot at the NFC Championship game. But yeah, they collapsed in the same way with Parsons out on IR... as Steelers did in 2020 after losing Bud Dupree. The defense fell apart after that.

 

It's not nice to de-humanize anybody. Social Media and hyper-partisan politics have made it normal for this kind of negative behavior.

 

Exactly. It part of the game, that's why I hate giving up too much draft capital on one player.

 

The Rams were the betting odds favorite to win the Superbowl before they traded for Garrett, now they are a big favorite to win it all. But one injury to Stafford and that all goes out the window.

 

If Stafford misses any games... those are likely L's for Rams, unless Simpson pulls an "04 Roethlisberger"... which I highly doubt would happen.

 

We can said that for every contender

 

Injuries can always change things. The Packers didn't just lose Parsons. They had other killer injuries. We all saw the impact Tucker Kraft was making on games early last season, right up to the point that he blew out his knee.

 

Rumors are circulating that Aaron Donald may come out of retirement?