concerns heading into the season

[video=youtube_share;is49RYdaN6w]http://youtu.be/is49RYdaN6w[/video]

 

Agree with what you are saying. Browns are no pushover anymore

 

I guess I am too old school, I am not
a believer in you can turn a switch on
and off. This team does not have enough
superstars on it to get a way with this thinking.
I believe if we are to be successful our players will need to be constantly motivated and coached
up.

 

I am glad keisel is back to help motivate our defense and I believe he will help in this way more than we know. troy is another, with the way he got fired up at the defense in philly. we still have enough vets to send a message to our young players and it will be important to have these guys. ben, heath, troy, da beard, ike, gay, warren and joey will have some say in what it means to be a steeler and play for championships. these guys need to be the vocal leaders heading into the start of this season. I wish Timmons would become that with AB, foster, cortez and pouncey.

 

O-line, secondary and Ben who seems to have developed a habit of turning the ball over.

 

My greatest concern with this team is simply this; can Tomlin coach the talent on this team up to the next level? Can he work with the coordinators and the assistants to build a cohesive team out of each individual unit? Can he, along with his coordinators, develop strategies catered to each individual opponent and designed to exploit their weaknesses? Will he be able to make in-game adjustments when the designed game plan isn't working? Will he be able to avoid having his team come out seemingly flat, uninspired and unprepared? Will he be able to help motivate the team to step on the throat of weaker opponents thus demoralizing them to the point that they do not feel that they are still in the game come the 4th quarter? And the biggest question of all. Will Coach T be able to finally put his stamp of identity on this team now that the veterans he had to work with in times past are either gone or largely ineffective?

Those are a lot of questions, but all concerns that I have going into the season. Sure, the team has many question marks from a player personnel standpoint, but to me the single biggest question the team has is coaching. Will Tomlin be the Master Chef that brings all of the ingredients together to cook a five star meal, or will he be a short order cook that can whip up a great breakfast of fried eggs and bacon, occasionally satisfying your hunger for the short term but never graduating beyond a Waffle House proficiency.

 

now I'm hungry.

 

Coming out of camp this team isn't prepared for the regular season, Ben might think preseason don't mean nothing but he's going to find out they carried a lot of major problems they didn't fix in camp over into the regular season, there is a high probability they will lose their season opener, and then Ben can say again it don't mean nothing ....

 

It seems like we are always trying to figure out what the "identity" of a Tomlin coached team is when really we might already know and just don't want to come to terms with it. IF we come out this year and play uninspired football and see the same mistakes being made and undisciplined play and poor clock mgmt I think I will finally be ready to say THAT is the "identity" of a Tomlin team. I hope like crazy I'm wrong and I readily acknowledge that Cowher teams often "played down" to the competition as well but it might just be that we haven't been "playing down" to teams but we might just actually be on the actual level of the teams we've thought we were playing down to. If we come out giving the cushion, generating no pass rush, and creating no turnovers you can mark it down that we are gonna be in for ANOTHER loooooong year.

 

Well said JA5958, I am with you on everything.
a different kind of analogy. but understood. Coach T has to lead and motivate.

 

tomlin has had a lot of NFL rule changes to deal with during his time here and I'm not sure we can compare former steeler type play to now. whether what was steeler ball or what has to become steeler ball is even comparable. identities of what was and what it has to become are seeming quite different.

 

My top three concerns are these:
1. Stopping other teams from scoring points
2. Scoring points
3. Kicking game



you're welcome

 

I completely agree, mac. On the one hand, I want to see a return to the dominant blitzburgh approach as much as anyone. But on the other hand, you have to be a realist about expectations.

As I've said for the last 2 seasons, the general lack of spark - which is my biggest concern - can't be put down to one thing. It's lots of little things that need to be fixed one at a time.

 

For Defense:

SS & FS - Troy & MM - no worries

CB - Cortez and Ike - Can Cortez take on the opposing team's #1? Can Ike keep up with #2?

ILB - LT & RS - RS will have some rookie mistakes, but a lot of promise here

OLB - JW & JJ - Can JW stay healthy with that bigger paycheck? Will JJ step it up?

DL - Heyward, Tuitt, McClendon - Heyward no worries, Tuitt is a rookie see RS comment. McClendon needs to continue to show growth.

Individually, of the 11 guys we have on defense, we have two rookies and questions at CB and OLB. The real question is, can they play together as a unit?

 

For offense:

QB - Ben, no worries

RB - will they stay healthy? will they be suspended?

WR - AB, no worries. Can MW produce as a #2?

TE - Heeeeeeeeeeath. Spaeth is so-so

OL - Right side is good (Gilbert - time to earn your pay) Left side is where the concern is. Frankly, I'm not happy the team didn't address either the LT or the LG in the offseason.

 

You worry to much Bro! We are going to kick but this year!

 

Crystal ball?

 

Can we stop the run?
And who will kick the ball, if we don`t pull out miracle 3rd down conversions?
Other than that, I`m confident... LOL...
At least we get a win week one. Yes, I`m serious about that...
The Thurs nite game against Balt, is another deal...
We BETTER be prepared, and ready to kick sum ass, 4 days after we crush the Clowns...
The Cravens ain`t gonna be as easy...
GO STEELERS!!!

 

Past Performance!

 

Lots of new moving parts and no proof we now how to use them .
How will Wheaton do ?Will the Coach give him the hook ?
How will the Doobie brothers run ?
Will Ben be way off like he was his last outing ?
Will our run D look like swiss cheese ?
Will our DB'S get burnt early and often ?

I would hope all these things would go our way ,but the tape we have put together shows it won't.

 

thats just crazy Diamond. CN day and you think they are go to drop the home opener? REALLY?

 

We're up to 6.5 point favorites this week and a -280:+240 money line. That's Vegas telling us we have a 72% win probability this week.

But I agree after looking at past history, Tomlin's week spot is weeks 1-4.

The team since 2007 is 14-13 on all games in the first 4 weeks of the season. That's terrible.