concerns heading into the season

I don't see it happening either, but in order to offset a shaky defense they can't waste possessions to try some low percentage plays, the kind Ben likes to throw in there once in a while. the focus has got to be keep the chain moving, take the big strike if it's there but if not get the first down and keep the drives alive.

 

Just trying to stay positive.. I would have thought we'd put some points on the board. 3 points would have at least showed we were at Heinz last night
I seen some good things along with usual bad. Not sure the run D could stop a blowing candy wrapper right now, I will hold off till after a few games to elaborate on the progression if any.

 

Very valid concerns Mac, No pass rush plus
suspect corners?I am with Del
very favorable schedule 10-6 the call here.Hell even coach T can't screw this up.
And as Del said more of smoke and mirrors as far as talent goes.We will manage to lose to teams we should beat. This is not a high caliber playoff team. This team lacks passion and are not mentally prepared to play each and every game.

 

This is exactly how I see it too. not buying into 10-6 yet. The lack of passion will bring the win-loss record down

 

I am showing my homerism, wait a minute
I have to get my Kool-Aid and of course my B&G
glasses on.

 

Should have game planned a bit more at least. Last week was a mock game for the real game and we stunk. Now we play a Team that we have to play again shortly for real and we stunk again.

I wouldn't care how much info we put out there we need to play with confidence and swagger , you don't get those by getting your butt handed to you.

The only true positive I could see in that game is DHB can get off the LOS and he is catching the ball nicely . He is also our best blocking WR ,he should be the #2 .
Probably going to take 30 plus points to beat the Browns better get A. Brown and DHB rolling early and often.

 

That is some really good Kool-Aid!!!!! I really need to have that now as this pre-season looked as bad as last years and the same issues are coming up.

 

Which is even more reason why you want to keep it vanilla and not game plan for a team you face in the regular season

 

I see it exactly opposite. You can change the X'S and O'S from week to week ,but you can't change your mentality like you do your drawers.lol

They looked like a Team that was confident they beat our roster from the top down. This will give them great confidence against us in the future. I think we needed to show we are capable of a good game plan and capable of executing it. As it stands now ,no one knows including the Coaches and the Players ,this is how doubt creeps in and you l
ose Football games you should win...

Sounds familiar to me.

 

Well I guess I kinda see your reasoning.. the part about confidence against us in the future, but one thing they don't take away from the game is familiarity. Fans get nervous because of the exception of 1 game difference in preseason this looks very much like how we started out last year. Not throwing in the towel yet but I have seen nothing which has made me overly optimistic to be more then an 8-8 team. Could be wrong and I am hopeful I am but it seems like we have not improved our secondary in the least. Ike is done.

 

I was just being facetious..I too have concerns but give credit where credit is due we went 1-3 this yr. not 0-4. In all seriousness i do believe this young team will jel together and become a force to reckon with just hoping sooner than later.

 

Quite. On record alone, we are at least 25% better than last year.

 

I beginning to have the belief that this is a huge steaming pile of BS. Chip Kelly's back-up put up almost 400 yards of total offense and destroyed the Jets 37-7. Meaningless pre-season game or not he approached it like he would a regular season game and went pedal to the metal and didn't care if he tipped his hand. I get the not showing what your capable of reasoning, but I think those days are gone and wasting valuable real game scrimmages being vanilla doesn't help your guys. Play to win and let everything else sort it self out.

 

I knew there would be growing pains this year with a lot of new guys but it's the mistakes the vets are still making that concerns me the most. gilbert with a new contract and standing 6-6 330 lbs. and still getting knocked on his azz. have some pride. geeezz.

 

That's exactly how I see it . Winning is Winning and playing Flat is playing Flat . Better to build momentum than just Idle along. Coaches should put the best game plan together that they can and try to execute it.

If you win then you have a good base for the next game plan ,plus you give the other Team a bunch of stuff to worry about. The NFL is like a Ocean and Teams are like Sharks, they can smell the blood in the water when we perform like we did we are fresh bait.

The Browns will look at our tape and see our guys getting stomped individually and collectively .Coach saying see boys those are not the big bad Steelers of old you guys belong on the field with them and as far as I can see you are a better Team...

Of course all Coaches say that ,but when the Film supports it then players begin to believe it. Why would you ever want to do that ?

 

I agree in a way, because we are not a vet riddled team anymore and putting in at least a partial game plan helps prepare these new guys to do just that.

 

We have a short week divisional game early on and that concerns me because when you look at the philly preseason game it was played on a short week and maybe the younger guys have a tougher time getting prepared. I hope they understand the magnitude of playing the rats.

 

I'm seeing an 0-2 start for sure, and a repeat of last years 0-4........

 

The NFL is such an incredibly competitive league now that the preseason definitely seems to bear more relevance now than it used to. I mean we've seen a 9-7 team win the Super Bowl in the last few years and we've won it as a 6 seed. The level of talent in the NFL is unreal and with so many people shooting for the stars these days it just seems like games carry a little more magnitude and you have to bring it every week in this league to even have a CHANCE at winning. Any given Sunday and all that. But I just think that we are also putting a lot of stock in it as Steelers fans because of how down we've been in the past few years. We are looking for SOMETHING to give us hope and we aren't finding much.

 

Good points. Not disagreeing with you at all but you have to ask yourself if this were the case and you played to win in preseason do you play your starters and risk injury in meaningless games?

 

I don't think you play your starters but you should have an complete overarching strategy from starters to camp fodder. Everyone doing the same thing working towards the same goal. You get games like last night were people go it was just vanilla play calling and third string or backups. How does vanilla play calling help evaluate them or even prepare them in case they are needed? Approach every game as if it were real.

 

Hopefully it will be before December.

 

Personally I feel as though evaluations have already been done before preseason. Of course there is the rare exception. What we need to evaluate is can the coaches take some of our raw talent and coach them up and finally can the players execute . This is IMHO as much about the coaches as the players. So far it has not been a good showing

 

I see 3 things.
1. The team needs to keep Teams to 21 points and under. To be successful.
2. The health of the offensive line and Ben.
3. The ability to run a good no huddle offense.
If they do this. 11-5 or 10-6 for a record.

If they don't do this.
I say another 8-8 or even worse 7-9 or 6-10,