Complaints Already??????

A McCarthy/Tomlin rematch. I think Dallas used up all their luck a couple days ago.

 

I'd say it's a draw. Both are equal. Depends on who plays better... Prescott or Roethlisberger.

 

C. Ridley torched that defense. Get Claypool on the field Tomlin. Week before they got ran over.

Your vaunted Ravens will have a L this week, Steelers on top of AFCN.

 

Falcons have a better offense than Steelers right now

 

My problem isn't with you and your rose-colored glasses. My problem isn't whether we will go undefeated. My problem certainly isn't that we're 2-0.

My problem is with the rapidly closing window of opportunity we have to win another superbowl before 2019 becomes the norm for a while.

I don't like Tomlin as a HC. I'm entitled to that opinion. But that doesn't mean I hate the guy or wish we had lost every game since he got here just so I can throw shade at him.

I met the guy. I shook his hand. He's a good dude.

So when I say what I'm about to say, don't come back with my "hatred" of the guy because there simply is none.

Tomlin is woefully out of his depth as HC. He's full of catch phrases and double-speak and hasn't shown the ability, or desire, to lead this team. Instead, he lets it lead him. That's frustrating beyond belief.

Additionally, our defense is not complete. It will not be enough to carry us to wins against elite offenses. We can win those games, but not without complete performances from each unit. Our secondary is a tremendous liability and Tomlin has no idea how to fix it. His gameplans include using the strength of our defense (the front 7) to mask the pedestrian secondary's limitations and then make excuses for their lack of performance. Even when rushing 4 gets pressure, there are still uncovered receivers. That's 7 on 4 (at most) and the 4 still wins.

And finally, 2-0. Winning is the name of the game, but if we drop the next 6, what good does going 2-0 do? Seriously, those weren't even division wins. I'm looking big picture, not just a couple brush strokes. There's far too much to be accomplished to get all geeked over 2 victories over sub-par teams. Is it better than 0-2? Absolutely. But if we end up looking at 2-6 or 0-8, what difference does it make? Do some of you then come back and say, "But we won those first 2 games." Doubtful.

We're not dropping the next 6. I'm just making a point. So don't get stupid when you fire back at me.

We've simply not proven anything so far, other than Ben's surgery was a major success. He looks ready, and that gives our offense, and this team, a fighting chance.

 

The statement in bold a lone shows that your "opinion" of Tomlin shouldn't be taken seriously. The facts reveal Tomlin is a good HC in spite of your opinion. If you had said Adam Gase is out of his depth as a HC then people would take your opinion seriously. But Tomlin being out of his depth? Questioning Tomlin's leadership? Something just isn't right with your neural connections up stairs.

Why wouldn't any NFL HC lean on the strengths of his defense and offense to win games? In today's NFL all passing defenses become liabilities without pressure up front.

I'm more concerned with the amount of turnovers the defense creates and points given up. Those are probably the 2 most important stats for defenses.

Your wacked math job doesn't fit with the facts of today's pass heavy NFL.

 

Because they dropped 40 on the Cowboys. Steelers have a better team than both NFC pretenders.

 

Knowing our Steelers we could go 4-0 against the NFC this season or 1-3.

I wonder what the Steeler Playoff record would have been if Tommy Terrific spent his whole career in the NFC. Our luck if situation was reversed he would have came over to NE now and still beat us.

 

I'm beginning to understand that some people only care about wins and loses. To them I ask, why go to games or even watch the games if all you care about is the win or the loss. Just google it the following day and see if we won.

1. There is a huge difference between wins and losses vs playing well. We've all seen games that were played very well and still lost, that can happen. We've all seen games that were poorly played and still won, happened last week.
2. There is a huge difference between wins and losses vs working to improve your weaknesses. If we lost games and blew opportunities in a different way each time, I don't think people would be so upset about poor play. But the reality is that when we lose games or blow opportunities, it's usually due to undisciplined play by our defense.
   
3. There is a huge difference between the physical mistakes which happen during the pressure of a violent and fast game, and making the same mental mistakes over and over.

If Tomlin would fix his well-known weaknesses, he would win more games and the talk about him would be 99% positive. He obviously doesn't see that he has any weaknesses.

 

Hey The Glory Days.

I wrote about our Defense the other day. In particular the Secondary and my concerns. The short version is that this is not a “homegrown” Secondary with the exception of Edmunds. 3/4 of our Secondary was imported and that can potentially be problematic. Last tally, under the Tomlin regime, we have drafted 14 Secondary personnel. With the exception of Keenan Lewis, each was a “flop”. Fact! And Keenan Lewis, IMO, was a bit better than average.

Now again, out of the four current starters in the Secondary, only Edmunds is a Steelers’ “homegrown” product. And again, his development is not looking good at this present moment. The kicker in all of this is that Tomlin’s forte is the Secondary. Fact. I researched his coaching credentials last year as I was going at it with another poster and YES, the majority of his resume is dominated with Secondary Coaching experience.

Now when we combine Tomlin’s Coaching Resume with the number of Secondary “flops” that this coaching staff has generated, this is a “problem”. As you stated: “he (Tomlin) lets it (the team) lead him.” Sorry to tell you Tomlin loyalists but it is the truth to some degree.

NOTE: Now, I am not completely blaming Tomlin for the underperforming Secondary drafts but he does burden some of the blame IMO.

Now grant it, we have a Defensive Coordinator and a Secondary Coach. However, when a “below the line” product (The Secondary) is constantly being outputted, then yes we have a problem. Most Head Coaches want to stay “hands-off” to an extent. They do not want to meddle into the workings of the Assistant Coaches. However, when there is a glaring problem that is what the Head Honcho is supposed to do, meddle. And up to now, Tomlin’s “meddling” in regards to the Secondary has proven totally ineffective if not detrimental.

The “saving” aspect of all of this is that we “negotiated” for three very good Secondary personnel (Haden, Nelson and Fitzpatrick) from other teams. Players that we had no hand in developing and are doing a terrific job back there. And again the weak link is (drum roll) Terrell Edmunds. Again a home grown borderline “flop”.

Back to another quote of yours The Glory Days:

“My problem is with the rapidly closing window of opportunity we have to win another superbowl before 2019 becomes the norm for a while”.

Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes. Time is never on a team’s side. Below is a part of a poem I wrote years ago that applies to the concern of Time.

“Time is the greatest thief known to man. Steadily eroding the present into the past. Gradually, turning moment to memory.” STEELWINDS (1985)

A Memory. That is all we are going to have soon with Haden, Nelson and Fitzpatrick. So we better capitalize on what we have with them now. Because as soon as they are gone, the “Secondary River of Plentiful” is going to dry up. And if the past (and present with Edmunds) are any indicator of the future, then once again this Administration has shown that they are incompetent of drafting, and maybe more so, of developing Secondary personnel.


STEELWINDS The East Side Kid

 

Dallas defense is trash

 

I think NE made TB vs TB made NE. NE just has a top down solid organization and coaching. TB will find this out in Tampa. Foles was the same way in Philly. Super Bowl MVP and now what? Foles just fit in the Eagles offense for some reason and I'll be they wish they had him back. NE was still winning when TB was suspended because their system makes any decent QB look good. The real question is what if BB were in the NFC would they have been what they had been.

 

Whatever. That game will go down to the wire regardless of how "trash" Dallas' defense is.

 

Yep. Depends if our offense gets better by then. If we can score enough to force dak to only throw they won’t have a chance.

 

Well said. The only point to add to your thoughts was that I was referring more to the window of opportunity as it relates to Ben. When Ben hangs them up, 2019 and the lackluster qb play will become the norm for a while. No offense to Mason Rudolph, but we don't have a decent replacement for Ben on the roster.

Regarding the defense, Minkah is solid, but other than him, we could flip the rest of the secondary without a dropoff in production. Our secondary sucks. If our front 7 doesn't disrupt the passing game, our secondary can't hold up. And our LB's aren't able to cover in space. TE's like Fant will kill Bush and co. all year beyond 10 yards.

 

"Our secondary sucks" that opinion simply is not true and not backup by stats or facts. Fact the Steelers rank first in the league on completion pct against and 3rd on QB rating against. So explain how after 2 games and not supported by actual stats can you make that ridiculous claim? You can say the secondary sucks into your blue in the face but the facts are an exact opposite. QBs complete 67.8 pct of their passes over the first 2 games but the sucking Steelers secondary only allows 57.8 pct completions.

 

It is not just about wins, it is about being a serious contender. Flawed teams that stack wins are paper champions, never Super Bowl champions.

As long as we finish the season strong with offense and defense clicking, then that will be all that matters. I have seen years when we had a very good record and knew we were not going far. We have time, but we better not be playing like we did last game heading into the playoffs. That is worth complaining about.

 

Hey The Glory Days.

I got you on the Ben point. What I am semi-concerned about is the Secondary. I know it is only two games. I realize that in many game instances you have to make a trade-off, a sell-out of sorts. For example, in the Giants game we sold out the pass to shut down the run and we did a super job.

I am having some issues bridging the Defensive gap from last season and where we are currently. We looked solid all the way around on Defense last season. My only concern was Edmunds and he still is. However, some here were "freaking" out about Nelson giving up a TD in the first game. Then his name isn't called in the second game. This time it is Haden.

Personally, I still hold true that I think this is the most "complete" Defense we have had in a long time. Historically, we have been good in shutting down the run. Not so good against the pass. When we got Haden, Nelson and Fitzpatrick on board, that all seemed to turn around last season. We now have as complete a Defense as we have had in a while from my vantage point. Again, and it is only two games now, at least no one's name in the Secondary has been called out two weeks in a row. If it was, I would be more than semi-concerned.


STEELWINDS The East Side Kid

 

Last year's defense didn't have teams needing to score on them very often. 20pts was a win against the Deer/Duck Steelers.

 

Well, let me help you understand. You are trying to use incomplete statistics to tell the entire story. I've said this for quite some time now that many of you quote statistics in a vacuum. Your statistics after only 2 games are not representative of the league as a whole. They represent 2 games. And in the Steelers' instance, they represent results against bottom dwellers.

But here are some numbers that are representative of what our defense has done...of the 4 td's scored against us, all have been by the pass.

Did you know that points scored against contribute to losses more than completion % against or qb rating against? I know, winning and losing is hard to understand, but it usually comes down to who scores more. Stick around here and I'll help you learn stuff.

If we give up 70% of all points scored against us through the air, there's a problem. Now, granted, that stat is in a vaccum. We gave up >70% of all points scored against us through the air to incomplete offenses with marginal talent at qb. So obviously, those numbers aren't representative of top tier offenses with ballers calling the signals. What do you think will happen when we actually play a GOOD offense? That's right, the numbers you tuck under your pillow at night to make yourself feel all warm and fuzzy will turn out to be gremlins you fed after midnight and they'll bite your ear off.

So, dane, the next time you want to come after my opinions with half stats and weak arguments, remember, I don't crumble like our secondary when the pass rush doesn't get home.

Our secondary has been a liability to a stout front 7 since before 2019 saw Ben go down. I've been saying the same thing for over a year. I've watched them get exposed/embarassed all last season and through 2 games this season, and no numbers you throw at me can change that.

 

Your 70% vacuum needs cleaning, just a dirty stat that depends on the score. Teams playing catch-up usually score on a secondary, not stick with the run. How long you been watching?

 

See, I don't really think we sold out to stop the run like Tomlin tried to say we did. Did we focus on Barkley? Sure we did. Did the gameplan have film on him and the Giants and dictate how the defense would respond to down and distance and player personnell? Absolutely. And did that contribute to our front 7 bowing up and stopping an elite back? Most definitely.

But...

Our secondary looked eerily similar both games this season. There were receivers running free when we were supposedly selling out to stop the run against the Giants, but what was our excuse against the Broncos? There is none. So I hope you are more right than I am about us being a complete defense because that would mean our secondary won't continue to let us down all season.

 

That’s a whole pile of typing based on speculation and bull****. The old adage if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with bull**** seems fitting.