I'll say it.

I am not a fan of the "diva" and "boomin" personalities on the team. I know they train and work hard (I assume), but there seems to be a lot of focus on other things other than winning.

I watched Brown's lockerroom video and post game interviews and I just don't see the same fire towards winning as I did when I watched players like Hines Ward, Bettis, Faneca, Farrior, Foote, Smith, Porter, etc...

I know they are still pretty young, but the best players on the team have to be leaders, even if they aren't vocal leaders, they need to lead by example for the younger guys to look up to and try to emulate. It was kind of what some people feared with Wallace rubbing off on Brown and Sanders. In a way, he has. And now it might be rubbing off on people like Coats/Hamilton/Rodgers/Ayres (who knows why he was inactive).

As for Bell, he has already been suspended twice. There is no doubt that is he the best back in the league, but I felt like Williams displayed more desire to win by the way he ran than Bell did this whole playoffs. It might be the styles of running, but Williams seemed like a guy who wanted to win and his efforts should have rubbed off on others to do the same.

I am also kind of noticing that Burns is a little yappy out there on the field as well, although at the end of the game he did clearly seems upset that they lost.

I just think with all the talk about the "Killer Bs", I would see more leading by example than has been displayed so far, but it seems like they are young and inmature or not at that point where they are ready to do that yet (not Ben, but Bell and Brown).

I do think Ben leads by example and really wants to win, but his apparent playmakers who are touted as the best in the business need to be that way too.

 

Well I think that bell led by example in the playoffs by taking the offense on his back, but I'm not excusing the of the field nonsense that has to end. Brown on the other hand had been MIA since the Miami game other than the catch on 3rd down to close out the Chiefs. If you're going to bury your head up your *** on Facebook live and cause a storm before the championship game you better be doing more than putting up the same numbers as Eli Rogers and Jesse James. I think what bothers me more is that my whole life growing up the steelers represent blue collar, tough, physical guys who came out and played hard and left it on the field. I just only see that in a few of these new guys, mainly Harrison who is in the twilight of his career.

 

Boomin

CUEUPU

no ring lol

 

The problem is the coach, and I'm sorry to say that. A good coach leads by keeping his players grounded and keeping them disciplined and focused but not Tomlin. He lets the egos run rampant, he allows them to be "themselves" and it shows in the inconsistency, as I've said before, sometimes they come out and look as if they didn't practice. Haley's offense looks good on paper and when the team does practice because they practice against one of the worst secondary's is the league, so guys are probably open all the time. Remember the Dallas fiasco with the 2pt try? I'll bet them made 80% of those in practice and while Burns and Davis are still Rookies and will improve, they won't do so by leaps and bounds. Burns has range but he isn't quick, he can't open his hips and change direction so he'll never be a lock down corner but he will be a serviceable "zone coverage" guy. Davis will be an enforcer like Mitchell, just hanging out and making tackles, he is good against the run but just like Mitchell, horrible in coverage and that is why we have to play zones because we get beat deep trying to man up when we bring a safety or corner blitz. The offense needs a number 2 receiver and they need to be disciplined and if I was in charge I'd put Tomlin on notice and tell him if the guys get so full of themselves that they have no focus and can't perform, well they can go out the door with him, AB included. Seriously, AB can't contribute if nobody steps up, and we watched all season as Wheaton dropped passes and TDs, we watched Coates look good only to have almost as many drops as he does catches, and a practice squad guy, Cobi Hamilton makes a great catch for a TD in a game that means nothing only to drop a sure TD that may have not been easy to catch but it hit him in the chest, and that is the difference between a good coach and a great coach. The pats had a sloppy game against the Texans, they dropped passes and kept them in it until the middle of the 3rd Quarter, but against us you didn't see the same mistakes, guys caught the balls that hit their hands and that is because they are disciplined, and with the offensive talent on the Steelers, well it just goes to waste. We are the Green Bay of AFC, we have offensive fire power but it is very inconsistent, we have no secondary at all and no depth at D-line, this team can put up points but dropped passes and bad play calls in critical times always show up, week in and week out, the last complete game I saw the Steelers play was week 1 with the Redskins, after that there have been bad quarters and halves, as well as entire games with multitudes of mistakes and it is never just one guy, it is usually an entire unit and that falls squarely on the coaches.

 

I didn't like that AB was nowhere to be found after the game and did no post game interviews. He pretty much sat on the bench by himself and pouted when the game was out of reach.

 

I feel that Davis can cover BK. Mitchell is the weak link in coverage. Also Timmons. But you really need to question the same game plan on D against the cheats. This is on Butler and Tomlin. NO pressure and always an open look for brady. Ran the hurry up with precision. Then the Steeler O clunks. No hurry up, speeding up the game, going no huddle, sense of urgency. Letting Ben take control. And where was Diva Brown? I have said before he is one of the top receivers in the game but came up small yesterday. His payday should be smaller as well. Take a look at what Julio Jones did yesterday. Bell's injury hurt yes, but then you need to adjust. They failed. And lets not give a pass to Ben. Pedestrian. No fire. You would think he would have been in Tomlin's ear and telling Haley it's my show. No. Then throws blame at the young receivers. Yes they should have played better. I said yesterday and got torched for it but Ben's best days are behind him. Maybe the nagging injuries have taken their toll. His throws ALL season have been off, a lot of them high. Ben is the QB for a few more years but it's time to seriously look at the heir apparent. And I have been a supporter of Ben when others haven't.

Total team fail...

 

whole team **** the bed

 

I think the coach needs to set a stricter locker room (be their "Dad", not their "friend") for sure, but I really think the problem is this generation's "look at me" attitude, fueled by social media nonsense that rewards style over substance. These guys make too much money too fast without any maturity to back it up.

I come from the 70's generation where you played balls-out for your team, your city, your fans and your pride. These guys are millionaires whether they win or lose and being in the news only seems to up their value, and I don't see it get any better any time soon.

With that said, the coach should even "have" to tell players to behave.

My favorite quote from Knoll is something like: "If I have to motivate you, I'll fire you..." (probably not exact, but you get the idea).

 

The positive thing here is we had no major injuries except for Bell's hammy which will heal and bumps and bruises and hurt prides. This team needs to develop an identity "kick ass and take names" would be great it's to finesse with all the social media crap!!! Add a few pieces in the draft and we'll be back at it next season. Quest for 7 continues Go Steelers!!!

 

What concerned me was that during that Facebook Live video, Tomlin didn't appear to be anything more than white noise as he was speaking. AB and SEVERAL other players were not paying any attention to what he was saying. That may have been a tiny glimpse into the lack of respect players have for him. I'm not saying they don't like him, I think they love Coach T as one of the boys but don't fear/respect him as the head coach of the team.

 

Tomlin's greatest attribute seems to be that the players really like him. That's lauded here and it shouldn't be. If you're a father, you know what I mean. Not saying he should be some insufferable tyrant, but we lack discipline and football intelligence. We don't know for sure... but I would feel safe in guessing the players are comfortable tuning him out at times. Not good.

 

AB will want a huge payday soon , he is 1 of the best in the game , but he has done numerous selfish things ..I would look to trade him and not pay the big contract...We seem to draft WR'S really well and have problems finding defensive players overall ...So let's trade him for a stud and a pick and move on...

 

Kick the best WR in the NFL to the curb because he broadcasted FB live from the locker room. That is idiotic.

That is not why the steelers got embarrased by the patsies last night. Coaching and play calling first, then our young secondary getting exposed followed by poor awareness by our QB. Also the loss of Bell was huge and made us one dimensional on O.

 

my memory may be hazy on this but if correct basically the only time recently we beat the pats the D played tight man coverage and met them at the line of scrimmage - it worked - we won that game.
have not tried it since and tomlin can't understand why they keep losing to them. if what you are doing sucks then try something that at least worked 5 years ago.

 

You have just summarized Tomlins head coaching career.

 

after the game Tomlin said something like - they weren't playing Steelers' football. the problem is they WERE playing Steelers football and that is exactly what New England expected and prepared for...said the lacrosse player.

 

Just another Sunday Tomlin was out coached. Yes, Bellicheat out coaches many others but, the Steelers have had enough seasons, losses against this team to make some baby steps towards progress and they haven't. Our 140 million offensive line was average. Our defense was the same soft zone defense that, everyone knows doesn't work. The offensive play calling was suspect. The biggest reason we lost is, the offense once again didn't step up. Bad play calling, dropped passes, allowing Brady on the field too long and our defense on too long. Sammy Coates is a joke and they keep force feeding the prick. Heard today on the radio, Coates has 12 catches and ten drops this season. The coaches lost this game plus the few dropped passes and missed tackles or coverage on the defense. The entire reason for spending money on our offense was to outscore the opponents we can't stop. This all points to the Patriots and our offense is not the high powered offense people claim it to be.

 

love tomlin, but he **** the bed on this one. we were getting killed with zone. if he is afraid of giving up the big play with man, at least try anyways

 

offense is too inconsistent. Falcons and pats are the true offensive juggernauts, along with cowboys

 

Had we played man press, we would have won. Period.

 

I remember the Pirates being referred to as the "Killer B's" Bonds, Bonilla, Bell. They never won anything either.

 

dunno, our offense wasn't so great

 

If you also remember, we had Troy in the secondary along with Ike who was still better than what we have now. We also had a massive 1-2 punch at OLB with Woodley on one side and Deebo on the other and a little depth at D-line. I remember that game and Brady was running for his life for about a full quarter of that game.

 

Dude I know you're holding out hope that DHB gets that huge contract and becomes the number one receiver and goes to the Hall of Fame and all that. But come on man. You know better than this. If we "draft really well" at WR and AB can be so easily replaced then why did Coates have big drops all year long? Why wasn't Ayers even active last night? "Next man up" doesn't really apply when you're following AB. Regardless of his boneheadedness he's still the best option we've got. By far. He's pretty much the best option ANYbody has got. By far. If he played for the Pats there's no telling what he would do. Our offense has been extremely inconsistent at times. If he was on a team that incredibly consistent his numbers would be even more other worldly. The dude is a beast. Period.

 

Not just kick him to the curb , but use him to get a top notch defender and a high draft pick plus save a lot of money...All of these things would make a stronger Team overall ..Ben is all but done and without him Brown has a lot less value to the Team ..Plus now there is a lot of noise of players that don't like him as well ...

We need a young #2 punch to Bell and we can lean more on the running game that and a stronger Defense has a better shot of beating the shootout Teams like New England,Atlanta,Oakland and such so what you call kicking to the curb, I call a move in the right direction ....