Everyone calm down.

This morning, driving back to Albuquerque from Denver alot of thoughts went through my head.

There is nothing wrong with our head coach. He should not be the emotional leader of this team, a player has to step up and do that job.

We can't win with all the injuries we had (before and during the game).
Back-up center
Back-up safety
Back-up running back
Going into the game missing a d lineman, and losing the other 2. (so no starting d lineman after the 2nd quarter)
Losing ANOTHER O lineman during the game (so now down 2 or 3 o lineman after the second quarter)

IF we had won last night, we would have gotten beat in Foxboro.

Let's just be realistic and not point fingers, it just wasn't our year this year.

And Ike, love him or hate him, got smoked last night (but that might have had something to do with Clark not being in there)

Off season;
Retiree's;

H Ward
A Smith
C Hampton
J Farrior
L Foote

 

Hey! Common sense will not be tolerated around these parts. Now stop it. And from now on your must include at least THREE of the following:

Ike sucks
Tomlin sucks
Arians sucks
LeBeau needs to retire
Ben sucks
Timmons sucks
The defense sucks
Arians sucks
The defense is over rated
The offense sucks
Arians sucks
Lebeau sucks
Gay sucks
The Steelers suck
Arians sucks
The cornerbacks suck
This is the end of an era
The Steelers are rebuilding
and lastly:
Arians sucks

 

I will tell you what was bad. Ben's fedora. Looked too small for his head. LOL

 

That just made my day, thank you.

 

Ben looked PIMPTASTIC!!! Not really.

 

Haha I love it! I am glad there are fans on this board that don't think the world is coming to an end because the Steelers were knocked out.

 

good posts from all, thanks.

 

If it makes people feel better I felt the same way in 1977 when the Bradshaw, Greene, Swann, Lambert etc. team got beat in Denver by a 37 year old gimpy Craig Morton.

 

Yep - and they were seeking their 3rd SB in a row! I remember it well - no internet at the time, but all you had to do was visit your friendly neighborhood barber shop to hear - "FIRE NOLL!" "CUT BRADSHAW!" "HARRIS DOES NOTHING BUT RUN OUT OF BOUNDS! He's a BUM! GET RID OF HIM!" (That one was from my dad.) "GREENE IS TOO OLD!" "WE'RE DOOMED!" Blah blah blah. When you're used to a dominant team, and they get dominated - these reactions happen.

Winning a Super Bowl is as much about good fortune as it is about talent - and sometimes, the best teams don't win it - in particular teams with the best record during the regular season. Would anyone disagree that Green Bay was the best team in the NFL this season? What happens if they go down next week? We got beaten twice by the Ravens. What will people say if the Texans pull off the upset next week? Or - in the VERY unlikely possibility that Denver goes all the way - will people honestly say they were the best team in the NFL in 2011?

The Steelers were a VERY good team in 2011. Were they the best? Nope. But they made it to the tournament and, until the first play of overtime almost earned a chance to play New England (whether or not they would have won). I've told my son over and over again that the most exciting part of the season is qualifying for the playoffs. After that, anything can happen. So, when the Steelers play in the playoffs, we both agree that we're going to enjoy every play of every game. While losing the Super Bowl last year was a HUGE disappointment, and yes there were tears, it soon became clear that there were 30 teams sitting at home watching our team play for the Championship.

This year, there were only 20 teams to envy our position. The Steelers fought hard and valiantly against very difficult odds. In fact, when Ben went down against Cleveland, I kind of knew it would be a longshot to get very far - but at least we met the first goal and made the playoffs. I have no doubt that the players - and coaches - who return will be motivated, rested, healthy and ready to give us some more thrills next year. And if we make the playoffs - the rest is a gift. We'll root as hard, loud and proud and hopefully go further or even all the way - but in the end, whether they win it all or come up short, we'll be back, watching and waiting for when it does happen again.

 

Damn it!

I said theres no place for logic or reality here.

Stop it!

 

Bobby - sometimes I can't help it. You said that to me yesterday and well - I even said I was going to leave the board for a couple months. And now look at me - still here - and still talking sense. Somebody SLAP me! Hmmmmm there's an idea - we need a FISH-SLAP smilie!!

 

I was able to find this little gem from 2002. This is why owners don't listen to fans. http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/fir ... owher.html

 

HAHAHAHAHAHA!! I wonder how many people signed it! I didn't even KNOW there was a Facebook in 2002. Frankly - by 2002, Cowher SHOULD have been fired according to the standards of many on this board. He hadn't won a Super Bowl and he went to ONE with a team that probably didn't deserve it. Yeah - he was emotional - to the point that the caricatures of him, his chin, and the spit flying out of his mouth was hilarious - but he hadn't won a sausage and his teams were underachievers. Yet - the Rooneys knew a good thing when they saw it - stuck with him - and he got it done. Now - every team wants him as he sits in his comfy CBS Chair. My hope is that we keep Tomlin until he is ready to retire and he joins the growing list of career Steelers head coaches.

Edit - Oops - missed it. It shows in the upper right. 57 signatures. LOL! THOUSANDS - maybe MILLIONS of citizens of Steeler Nation and they were able to muster up 57 signatures.

 

Yep - look at the Stains. One thing that happens WAY too often in Cleveland is that the team owners and management bow to fan pressure and look where that leaves THEM every year. This team has succeeded because of the consistency at the top. I'm not saying that BA should stay or any OTHER coach for that matter - except for Tomlin. He's the Admiral of this ship and he'll be around for a good long time - hopefully!

 

AWESOME POST (makes me feel alot better)

 

This is an outstanding post, however they were not going for a 3rd straight SB in a row, in 1977 as they had lost in the AFC title game the previous year to Oakland (wh0, for those of you not around then, were the Ravens of those days). Tom Jackson was the guy who really killed them in that playoff game that year.

Indeed, the Steelers had a tough year in 77, a lot worse in some ways than this season. Lots of dissension then, lots of injuries too- and at the end of the year, a bunch of good players (including my friend Jimmy Allen) were sent elsewhere. The team refocused though and had one of the best seasons in team history in 1978.

Let's hope the analogy holds. I was thinking all of a historical comparison to yesterday's loss, and I keep coming back to the Jacksonville game after the 07 season. Lots of similarities- main RB injured, a favored Steelers team fell behind early with a terrible first half, a gutsy comeback in the 4th quarter, and then a heartbreaker loss due to a QB who was a better runner than passer. The Steelers learned from their mistakes in 1977 and 2007, and came back and won the Super Bowl the year after.

 

Ben looked PIMPTASTIC!!! Not really.[/quote:17m5ocpi]

I agree with your assessment-too many injurie-Penguins got it much worse though. Tomlin and Ben are challenging Reid and McNabb for worst clock management ever. Also didn't see any reason to have 9 at the line after it was clear they could stuff the run. I think Hampton and Starks require surgery, so glad they didn't have to go to Foxboro.

I was just in Albequerque for Christmas to visit my fiancee's mom and check out the luminarias, get some Los Cuates, Dions, Sadie's, Lota Burger and Hurricanes. Visited family in Sante Fe and Galesteo. It's a much different world (vs. Philly/east coast). Also visited Las Alamos-her grand dad and grandma were physicists on the Manhattan Project. The Nuke museum near Sandia was worth the trip alone. Girl went to St. Pius-I think that is near Rio Rancho??? Gonna do some skiing next trip-torn ACL and lateral menscus this trip.

 

after cooling off and clearing my head, I completely agree with every point you made!

 

Had to do a double-take on this one - thought you said REFEREES. Which also would have been a true statement.

 

They wouldn't have just lost. They would have been destroyed.

 

Oops - I was thinking of the previous year. It was a long time ago - and I was only a year off. However, the rest holds. If there had been an internet back then, I can't imagine the stuff we would have been reading. Noll, Bradshaw, Harris, Greene, and others would have been huge villains. Everyone would have been calling for a rebuild with new coaches, etc. The next two years were pure heaven - AND - the offense went from a running to a passing offense (as much as it could have in the late 70s) with Bradshaw having some incredible years. I'm not predicting a Super Bowl last year based on this comparison, but I do think that Ben's best years are still ahead of him. This year, he'll have OTAs and better contact with the organization to continue to fine tune his timing with the young receivers. The maturity level of the young guys will improve and I foresee a better focus for this team. Contrary to other posts who predict a downturn in the Steelers fortunes, I think we are at the cusp of becoming dominant. A piece here and a piece there will make all the difference (as it would in some marriages! - I couldn't help it.). Of course the wildcard is always injuries, which hopefully will be minimized next year. We've got some great years ahead of us. I don't care what the naysayers say. If I'm wrong, it will be because the potential of the core group of players is not reached.

 

Yes, I have thought exactly the same thing (part I bolded above). Back then, the closest thing was radio call in shows.

For example, Tunch Ilkin is nowadays a well liked personage and respected member of team history. However, as I mentioned in a thread about Marcus Gilbert, if this board would have been around c. 1983-84, Tunch would be getting ripped on here worse than any of our current lineman (RE- he must have set a team record for sacks allowed through one lineman that year, capped by running his mouth against, and then giving up three sacks to, Lyle Alzado in the playoffs). But it wasn't of course, and time takes care of a lot of perspective.

In that light, here's hoping that Ike Taylor is remembered by us all 5-10 years down the road for the right reason- for making one of the most crucial interceptions in Steelers history in SB XL.

 

Nice to see that some of us here are understanding that we just can't win the Superbowl every year. Sometimes things just happen that we can't control. Like Injuries.