The Price of Loyalty in Pittsburgh

Not sure if anyone shared this piece yet but I believe it's a very accurate and scary description of our current state of affairs. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-price-of-loyalty-in-pittsburgh/

It does not even mention DL and his scheme, Cortez Allen or Marcus Gilbert who demonstrated last night that we are continuing this trend.

Especially since we have failed to create 20 turnovers for each of the past 3 seasons. Don't see that changing this year based on what we've seen so far AT ALL.

 

Wow. That article just made me even more mad. The contract extension grid was downright embarrassing. Who the hell is making these decisions (Colbert? Rooney?)? The contract extensions for Allen and Gilbert are laughable. Our team is in shambles and obviously not getting any better anytime soon.

 

WOW, gloomy but inciteful. Doesn't talk on the new league contract that seriously limits organized mandatory team practice. Now it makes sense what Manny Sanders said about Peyton. For many of our players this is a seven figure part time job. Then there are those dedicated to winning, understanding the cap situation and cutting a break to the team to help them win(hometown discount), organizing team practice on their own and honing their craft. The Steelers have been without passion for some time, just paying the bills.

 

Been saying it for a while, but teh Steelers are better off withtheir old model of letting guys go when they've made their contributions and looking for a new deal..Woodson, Lake, Brown, etc. come to mind. We need to do the same with Ben, had him for a decade, time to move on. Still hasn't been a $20M QB to win a Super Bowl yet...

 

I don't know why we suddenly changed our philosophy when Tomlin came to town, unless he has a lot more power than we all think and he's pushing to keep all these guys. We used to let guys walk before they slowed down, now they slow down and we still give them a big contract. I just don't understand what we're doing these days. There's so many bad decisions from the top down. 10 years ago, we would have cut Troy, heath and Ike and been just fine. Now, it doesn't seem to matter whether we cut guys or keep them, we suck with them and we suck when we replace them.

I agree that we need to let Ben walk. We're not talking Peyton Manning here. Ben doesn't automatically make us a SB contender. We've seen and are continuing to see that Ben isn't good enough to win with a mediocre team. In fact, Ben costs us games too often for what he gets paid. With his age, his health, his playing style, the current state of our team and our cap issues, we need to move on, even if that means some real lean years with no QB. Ben will kill us financially and it's not like we're a SB contender with him. Blow this whole thing up and lets get back to the Steeler philosophy I've known since I started watching football, draft well, develop well, and move on before players are washed up, not afterwards.

 

i see your point but without ben and with tomlin/colbert combo at the helm we became the ne w browns or jaguars .. unless you find another franchise qb that's the scenario . of course if the keep trhowing money into the garbage like gilbert allen thomas ... man this team has a lot of problems we need someone in charge for real and clean the f.o house

 

Yet ticket sales are not hampered by the under achievement of this team and organization.

I live very near Toronto and for years they have had a suck a@@ hockey team.. Since 1967 .. the last time they won the stanley cup. Thing is though from an owners perspective and players there has never EVER been
a drop off in their collective incomes..

just food for thought.

 

I would fire Tomlin and bring in someone else and let them decide on their own assistants. I would reevaluate Colbert too. He did great things under Cowher, what changed? I may fire him too, but without knowing who is calling the shots, I couldn't say for sure. Either way, Tomlin would be gone for sure.

Of course we would be a better team with Ben than without him, at least for the next 3-4 years, but if we give him a huge contract, combined with our other terrible contracts and mediocre players, I don't see any chance in hell we can contend. We're just not a good team with Ben, so why go through this same song and dance for the next 5 years or until Ben retires, then start the rebuild. Ben is not going to get better at this point, he's only going to go downhill. I'd rather start the rebuild now.

 

The plan hasn't changed.

The smarts going into the decisions has changed. Use to be Dan Rooney, Colbert and Cowher. Now it's Art Rooney, Colbert and Tomlin.

Colbert is just a career yes-man, so it's obvious he never has/had much say and panders to either owner or coach or both depending on which way the wind is blowing that day.

We've never had strong general manager work. The Rooney's are more GM's than many here realize. They control the money and they are very involved with the draft. They set the draft-and-develop vs. free agency philosophy. They like Colbert because he presents the information well and is just a good scout/organizer of the data.

I am convinced when it comes down to MAKING the CALL, it's Art Rooney and Tomlin that do it most often. Colbert just helps set the draft board to start.

I have stated numerous times I would have fired Colbert this off-season. Maybe that prevents the stupid deals to Pouncey and Gilbert (both had no good reasons to be done now). Those offensive line deals are heading right toward the other terrible O-line deals this regime has done. Maybe a new GM would have had a different analysis of how to handle Woodley/Worilds. Maybe a different GM could see that Cam Thomas SUCKS.

Who knows.

This was the year to fire Colbert and have a new set of real GM eyes evaluate Tomlin. Now we have the same-old-guard kissing each others asses with no one standing up and taking accountability or the fall.

 

The article being discussed was written after a win, and is about a long term trend- not knee jerk reactions.

 

I've been saying these same things for about 3 years now. I hated Tomlin not long after we went to the SB in 2010. It has nothing to do with them losing.

 

You changed your name for a reason. I get your the glass half full guy, but come on, it's been this way for 3 years now, and we're not exactly heading in the right direction. Ben, Ike, Troy and Heath aren't going to be any better next year or the year after. These guys are going to get worse, some quicker than others.

 

3 years since what ?

 

yes , i started to enjoy more talking here then watching our games

 

this is what somebody else is saying that can explain the situation
he steelers used to have Donahoe as GM and he had control of the draft until he drafted Troy Edwards instead of Jevon Kearse. At that point, Cowher essentially told the steelers, it's him or me, one has to go. Steelers chose Cowher, and Donahoe was gone.

Colbert was then hired and did not even get the title of GM. That's because Cowher was de facto GM and Colbert was hired to be in charge of putting Cowher's plan in to place. They scouted players according to what Cowher wanted in players. They signed free agents Cowher wanted.

This arrangement clearly continued under Tomlin as evidenced by the fact that the type of players the steelers drafted immediately changed when Tomlin took over.

It is my opinion that over the last few years, the steelers have given Colbert more power in this area because Tomlin was struggling. The results haven't improved much.

What is clear is that the steelers lack a good talent evaluator at the top. Under Cowher, i would guess it was about 80-20 Cowher in personnel decisions. My guess is it's now more like 50-50 with Tomlin. The problem is, Colbert seems to be a great administrator but nkt a good talent evaluator.

That is why he Colbert was never hired away as a GM. Since Colbert did not hold the title of GM, he could have been hired away at any time by another team offering him a GM position. Funny that a guy who allegedly drafted so well would not be in demand. That's because the league knew it was Cowher calling the shots, not Colbert.

now that Colbert appears to have more input, the results suck.

Only the steelers know the exact power structure with the draft and personnel decisions. I am saying whoever has most control of that needs to go.

I believe Tomlin has a large input so he deserves much of the blame.

 

Be strong folks, the rotten years are upon us. I sadly hafto agree about the situation with Ben. Giving him an expensive new deal will totally paralyze an already crippled financial situation for the steelers

 

Try the cowboys of the AFC

 

Lol.

This said, I haven't quite got round to looking at the Game thread. I presume it was gory.

 

Then trade Ben now. Why the hell would we hang onto him through these next 2 years just to let him walk for nothing later?

 

Do you really want to start a rookie QB next year? Or some Fitzpatrick-type QB? I don't. I would rather see them trade Pouncey, Gilbert, and Allen to free up cap space, then draft and sign replacements for less, who would actually probably be upgrades (except for Pouncey)...

 

Once again right on the money.Who is watching the watchers?

 

I agree also about Ben. He CAN"T carry a team. Time to face reality. Thanks for what you did for us Ben in the past but that is in the past. You are not cutting it now. If we sign him to another multi-million dollar contract it will be a huge mistake (aka woodley
abortion). Troy is old, missing tackles running around not doing anything. Heath has had it. Alot of these guys got rings and at this point in their careers they are just trying not to get hurt bad while still pulling in the big bucks. Maybe I would do the same if I were in their shoes. Time to bite the bullet and start over. It would be better for us fans than watching these embarrassments every week pretending we are going to make the playoffs and Big Bad Ben will lead us to the promise land. Dream on.