Lets hear your concerns

My buddy called me the other day and says he doesn't like this team on paper. He said 8-8 at best and I told him he's nuts. 19-0. He told me Willie Colon stinks and I told him Ben is going to have his best season yet. He said Trai Essex bites and I told him Redman was going to run wild. We both agreed that Hines Ward in our opinion got the shaft. They should have honored the last year of his contract. He said the Rats would win the Division and I told Terrel Thuggs is gonna watch from the sidelines. Not happening!

While I don't honestly believe they will go 19-0, I'm certain this team is talented enough to go 13-3 with a solid playoff performance.

Outside of the obvious (injuries) what are your biggest concerns of this team?

 

Redman im not sold on him as most atr i say he gets around 900 yards if we are lucky and Wallace holding out

 

I'm not too hyped about this year's team either. Losing leaders, Smith, Farrior and Ward hurts and he defense has a lot to prove after the Denver fiasco. They could surprise though if the offense takes off under Haley and when and if Wallace ever shows up.

 

Not sold on Colon either, 2 straight seasons after getting a big contract and he goes down extremely early. No one there on the team so they have to go to Starks, who amazingly held up despite not being in football shape during camp? IMHO, I feel Starks is a little better than some give him credit for.

This team is most likely depending on 2 rookies on the Offensive line, a center who hasn't been healthy all year yet, no vet like Legs to plug an play, a #1 reciever who's not at mini-camp and a new offensive system for a QB who's never really been forced to do the tings he's going to asked to do on a consistent basis.

From what we've gotten from soundbites over the last few years, the offensive units really have no clue as to what the other ones are doing during meetings. If you go back and look at what this team has accomplished, I think you'll see that they perform better after extra padded practices and I think that's a result of actually figuring out what the other guy is going to do.

 

????????




no worries on O. wallace or not. defense wise, my concern is troy's health and lack of really good depth at safety. ike's health and lack of knowing how the young guns will play together. we have no choice with them. kicker consistancy. that's all. the rest will develop as we go.

 

I was playing devils advocate. Didn't address any defensive concerns.
The part about practice should be getting addressed by the new coordinator. Last year Ben made some comments about not knowing about the running game that much. That coupled with what we now know about asking the lead blocker to actually block things he was never in the meetings. I think everyone could see how choppy the offense was.

 

I'm concerned that Antonio Brown will play himself into a mega-contract that we can't afford!

I'm not comfortable about our kicker, I'm fearful of our OL falling apart due to injuries again, and I think about how vanilla our defense would be if Troy goes down for a significant amount of time again. So I'm mainly concerned about injuries, which is a good thing because if we stay healthy we will contend.

 

Offense
1. Our OL. How long will our rookies take to acclimate? Can Colon stay healthy?
Defense
1. ILB-Larry Foote for a whole season? That worries me the most. Hopefully Sylvester wakes up
2. Will our CBs continue to improve, or was last year a fluke?
Special teams
1. Why does a franchise that makes the playoffs almost every year settle for mediocre kickers?

and of course, the ever present injuries [knock knock]. We deserve a year where the bug stays away.

 

??? why no vet like legs?

 

There are three positions that have me more concerned this for the beginning of this year than I was at the end of last year: CB (not much confidence in Lewis and not enough known about Allen/Brown), ILB (Foote), LT (either the rookie or a first timer in Gilbert).

But I'm more excited about seven positions for the beginning of this year than I was at the end of last year: RG (DeCastro is an upgrade), LG (Colon a major upgrade, I don't care how long it's been since he played), RT (Gilbert's 2nd year should show improvement), DE (Ziggy's new commitment, more time for Heyward), OLB (Harrison healthier and stronger, Woodley healthy, Worilds healthy and another year older), WR (more playing time for Sanders, more experience for Brown and Wallace), TE (Haley).

 

Yeah, more excited than worried. I do have some concerns, but I get the feeling there's a buzz around the team at the moment, with all the position competition and new roles to fill. So I'll get properly worried if we start 0-4. Otherwise, I'll stay excited.

That said:

My main concern is probably how quickly the offense can gel, how well the rookies step up, and how well our situational football is run. Admittedly, it couldn't be run that much worse... but I'm only going to crown Haley the king of OCs when I see us win some games.

Also: pretty much what Somathus said.

 

I agree the pass rush dropped off, but I think we need to give Worilds a little more time. He's young, and he's basically being asked to step into the role of either of two of the best OLBs of the last decade.

I know Harrison was one of a kind in terms of how his career developed, but I think it's fair to say that he probably didn't look as good as Worilds does now back at that age. I'm not saying that means Worilds will automatically develop into a Harrison-calibre player... more that we don't have to throw him under the bus just yet.

 

The offense will be fine. The line will be solid. Concern is all on D for me.

With Farrior gone will their be any drop off with pre-snap reads and calls? can Foote fill the spot.

Casey Hampton is washed up IMO. What answer do we have if he can't really make a go of it all year long? Can the rookie NT step in and make an impact?

Can our OLB's stay healthy?

We will have a new starter at the #2 CB and Nickel back positions, Allen and Brown are untested we don't know what they have yet? Will we struggle?

 

DEFENSE for sure! I think if everything works out with our draft picks from this year that maybe we will reach our TRUE potential NEXT year. If we could have a great defensive draft like we did an offensive draft this year then we would be absolutely stacked! To be specific I would LOVE to see us get a shutdown corner.

 

While I have concerns about our defense taking a step back, I think our offense will more than make up for it. We have not had this type of speed at every position that I can ever remember. We have playmakers all over the field. We very easily could have been the 1 seed last year had even a few of those FG possessions ended with TD's instead. I think the new philosophy with Haley etc. will lead to more drives ending with TD's. I also think with a re-newed emphasis on the running game our D will perform better since they should be able to get some rest in between series.

I just hope we can find a FG kicker that is better than Suisham...

 

Does it really matter about the reads, even when he was getting them right he couldn't get there.

 

Until I see this team actually perform, I am worried about everything:

1. Offense....can they handle the new system?
2. Ben...health
3. RB....I wish we had a vet to fall back on. Love our youth, but it makes me nervous.
4. WR/TE....no real worries here unless Wallace doesn't ever show up.
5. OLine...A LOT of change on the line. Can Gilbert be the guy we saw last year? Can DeCastro really start day 1? Can Pouncey stay healthy? Can Colon effectively move to LG AND stay healthy? Can Adams be a day 1 starter? If not, then who...Essex? Do we bring back in Starks?
6. NT....We have 3 guys here, but 1 has played about 50 snaps and another ZERO snaps. The last guy is old and coming off a major surgery.
7. DE....time to step up young guys.
8. OLB....Harrison's back.
9. ILB....Timmons I trust. Spence, I'm not sure what his role is yet. Foote....solid guy, but to me he is depth only. Sylvester...please step up kid we need you.
10. CB....the youth of this position.
11. S...the lack of youth at this position.

Okay, so you can see I have my worries about this team. Most of it I think comes down to age. We have SOOOOO many young guys who need to step up this year. You hear people talk about our age and how old we are getting, but I just don't see it. Our oldest projected starter on offense is 29. These are the guys we have on this team over the age of 30.

Troy 31
Clark 32
Foote 32
Lefty 32
Taylor 32
Keisel 33
Hampton 34
Harrison 34
Batch 37

That is 9 guys over the age of 30, 2 of which should NEVER see the field if Ben plays. Some we have guys on our roster to replace them already.

The other large issue for me is health. If Harrison, Troy and Ben all stay healthy....I like our chances to be really really good.

 

Here's some of my hopefully non-homer opinions of the team for this season and beyond...

I think over the next couple years you will see a much more balanced team as far as offense/defense. I think the offense will greatly improve, and the defense will drop off from the ridiculously elite level they've been at for the past 8-10 years...

OFFENSE
I think Haley is a great play caller, and great at using guys' strengths and hiding their weaknesses... which is why a guy like Chris Rainey REALLY excites me. Once the young OL starts to come into it's own, Ben is going to pick defenses apart... because he CAN be a pocket passer if he has time.

Between youth on the OL and Haley's new system it could take some time, but it will happen. By playoff time this season our offense should be a well oiled machine, with or without Wallace.

My concern with the offense is a lack of leadership. I would like to see Ben mature and start to say the right things I've been bashed some here for criticizing Ben for giving the media headlines. He needs to lead by example. Over time I see Antonio Brown becoming a leader on the offense as well.


DEFENSE
With the loss of Farrior, and Hampton soon... I worry about our run defense. Early on last season it showed signs of age. I don't see a solution right away other than being patient. I'm hoping that Timmons can return to his form from 2 seasons ago.

There's reason to optimistic with some young guys like Ta'Amu, our young CB's, etc. but it' a lot of wait and see.

 

I'm not worried about the older guys over 30 not playing as well as they used to as much as I worry about their ability to recover from injuries and hard physical effort as they grow older.

 

we did add johnson at LB. so we have another vet to work into the rotation and he's pretty decent at pass coverage, maybe moreso then foote. he can play outside or inside. with adrian robinson still here and some good things said about him in shorts anyway, and carter, we should be ok at LB. ota's and mini camps have had to help these guys alot more this year then not having them last year. haley is a question mark too. we just don't know yet. pre season ought to be well worth watching this year. i'll bet haley is overuled about playing starters deep into the preseason like he did in KC though.

 

Well, I'm not saying that the long-term future will be better, because it will probably never be better than Harrison/Woodley. But last year Harrison was either sub-100% or out, and Woodley missed the whole second half of the season. Worlids missed his entire 2nd offseason and got hurt himself. This year (at least in the beginning), all three will be in better physical condition than they were last year.

 

my biggest concern is the ilb spot next to timmons.......... foote is far too inconsistent (as a spot starter, i have no problem)........ i've been holding out hope for sylvester, and believe that he has the skill set, but is his head in it........... i have high hopes for spence also, and love what i've been hearing about him so far, but he is still a rookie............. would've breathed alot easier if keyaron fox were still around, but that just isn't the case these days..........
i'm also concerned about the future of the safety position........ we're ok for now, but what will be available to us at the bottom of the 1st or 2nd rd. of the draft next yr. ????????

 

As with most posters here, I do have my concerns. But they all seem like workable
situations.Lets start with the biggest concern. Generating a pass rush, now
with the way Dick Lebeau wants his defense to be run the OLB generally make the sacks
thats if they are healthy(Woodley) or are not getting held (Harrison).Here is hoping that ol
Dick willl change and start attacking with our DL and occasionally blitz a corner or safety.
Lets return to Blitzburgh, ATTACK. Pressure causes turn overs.

Next concern and these are not in any order, they are all concerns I have and that most posters have.

ILB- Larry Foote, is OK, here is hoping SLY plays up to his ability and replaces Foote around game 4
This is a big one, what happens if Sly isn't the answer?
NT- Lets see what shakes out here, Rotation of MClendon and rookie looks to be the way to go.Both are untested.
CB- Do you feel that Keenan Lewis is the answer? Very scary if we do not get pressure.Ike can't cover
man to man. It was quite obvious in Denver, This is why we play off receivers 10 yds.
DE- Ziggy Hood= no production, again Dick Lebeau holds all the cards. We must generate
more pressure from our DL if the Steelers are going to beat the top teams. Just say yes to Cam.
LT- With the addition of David Decastro, this should help our whole OL,
I am not sold on Adams or Gilbert. Get rid of it quick Ben.

Injuries at the safety position, lets keep our fingers crossed. Lets get on a ROLLE.

And maybe the biggest concern, close to getting pressure on the opposing teams QB,
WILL BEN BUY IN TO WHAT HALEY IS SELLING? Lets hope he does because #7 could be so much MORE.

Leadership, who replaces Farrior/Hines.

These are the concerns I have going
into the 2012 season. I believe the Steelers are a playoff caliber team and with
the right breaks could go to the Super bowl.