mike wallace needs to go to the FO

take a third for him right now

HINES

 

drop #4... why are we still throwing to him on 3rd down?

 

Wallace can't catch a cold.

 

Wallace is an equivalent of Willie Gault. He can take the top off the defense just by running deep every play but he has redi-mix hands and lax route running. Valuable but not Fitzgerald valuable.

 

I'd put him on the trade block tomorrow.

 

he can ask heiward bey money

 

He had a bad night.

He'll turn it, as he should.

 

I will no longer defend Mike Wallace

Dude is costing himself money with all those drops, before I thought the Steelers should just pay the man, now having second thoughts. Maybe he should've accepted what the team offered him this offseason. If the Steelers don't re-sign him I could see a team like Miami overpaying for him though or maybe the Rams.

 

During the game?? Do I need to defend him in real time or else I'll look like I'm conceding defeat? Is that it? Some of us can hold in our message board bitching until at least the 4th quarter, or maybe (gasp!) after the game ends.

Mike had 3 drops, 1 of which was bad, and 2 of which were really, really, bad. One of them might have cost us 4 points. He did wind up with 8 catches, and not that many yards, but had a positive effect on the game aside from the drops. Still, missed opportunities are part of what's crippling this team, right up there with 50 yard penalties on punt returns and pass interference. So yeah, it was a bad game for him, and those drops are indefensible. It looked like his hands weren't connected to his body.

But how eerily similar is this to the Mendenhall bashers from a year ago? They whine about him every single day, he goes out and has a great game, they shut up for a few minutes (but dare not admit they were wrong in even one thing they said) and simply lie in wait. Then, he could have one bad game, or even one bad play, and this board lights up with all the reasons he's a soft, terrible player. On some occasions people would even point to good games he had as evidence of a bad game, hoping that no one would remember what really happened (that works usually, in case you want to complain about Mike's performance against the Raiders around December). And indeed, just like Mendenhall's hate club, which would lay dormant for as many good plays and games as he could string together, and then pounce on his next run for negative yardage or low yardage game, this thread popped up after Wallace's first drop. Wow.

So you know whose silence I find curious? Your crowd, since the season began. Because since then (even including tonight's awful performance!), Wallace has completed a higher percentage of targets than Antonio Brown, has more yards than Antonio for a much higher average, and 4 times as many touchdowns. He also didn't fumble away the Oakland game like Antonio (my God, you guys wouldn't be satisfied until he was burned at the stake had Mike done that), and although I can't find any stats on it, I'm almost positive that until tonight he had fewer drops than Antonio.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/gamelog/_/id/12601/mike-wallace
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/gamelog/_/id/13934/antonio-brown

I don't say those things to hate on Brown, because I love the guy, and he is constantly stepping up to make big plays when we need them. I'm pretty sure I've never even said I like Wallace more than Brown. Were Wallace's ugly drops the result of his mind being distracted by contract issues? Were they a 7 week delayed reaction from missing camp? I don't know. Maybe. But Antonio Brown had some super ugly drops over the first few games, some of them crucial. And yeah, the Oakland loss could be pinned on a lot of stuff, but I'm pretty sure that if he doesn't fumble that ball, we win the game. And his other fumble on the 1 yard line only worked out due to pure luck and Oakland ineptitude. What's my point? That nobody here said SQUAT. And Mr. Brown was in all of camp and has a nice, tidy contract. So what's his excuse?

...He (Brown) just had a bad game. He has had some bad plays. I don't know if you noticed, but we were 2-3 a few hours ago, and Mike Wallace wasn't exactly a big part of that problem, if he was part at all. The problem was a bunch of guys having bad games and making bad plays. Now Mike has a bad game, we get to 3-3 anyway, and he's the one we hate? It almost... makes... no... sense... ohhh, but then I remember how much you guys hated him before the season even started. Logic restored. Well, not logic obviously, but you know what I mean. What passes for logic around here.

If you're upset that he's getting paid too much, don't be, because he's getting paid relatively little. If you're upset that he's going to get paid too much, rest assured that the Steelers FO (and everyone else's) saw this game too. It will be a factor, just like his good games will be a factor. So hey, his price is going down -- why aren't you thrilled? He'll probably be gone, or he might stay. But he's not about to get a contract anytime in the next few months, so why all the hate? Is it really so hard for you to cheer for all the Steelers, at least when they're on the field? I've hated plenty of Steelers in my time, but as long as they were around I never wanted anything but success from them. You want this guy gone, and you don't care how bad it hurts the team. Message board logic.

 

Should have still caught it, poor concentration, wasn't deflected that badly.[/quote:2qjn9c0x]
That's what I thought too. The tip looked like it actually made it an EASIER catch. Even IF he'd caught that too I still would be dogging on him for his overall effort.

 

Yes all players make mistakes,but the Brown fumble a few games back he was fighting to continue the play,,,tonight Wallace needs a yard and he ducks to avoid contact...Brown gets to camp and works on is craft and Wallace is busy fighting for Elite WR money and he is not at that level and never will be unless he accepts the fact that he is a Average WR overall....

Yes he is off the chart in speed probably a 10 nom on a scale from 1 to 10..But in all other aspects he is a 5 or less ,and he better start working on that for his sake....Not because people on message boards don't like him ,but because I want him to become the WR that he could be,I fear his Ego will never allow him to dig deep and get better,,,,I think all will agree if he does not focus on his game and work to get better we have seen the best thaat Wallace has to offer..

 

Yeah AB has had some drops for sure. And he's not the deep threat that Wallace is. But the one thing about AB is he FIGHTS for yards. Remember when he fumbled the SECOND time in the Raiders game it was because he was fighting to get more yards. I think MAYBE that's why people seem to defend him a little bit more. Also AB didn't come out and say "Hey I put up 1,000 receiving AND 1,000 returning! Now give me 100mil!" eventhough some players probably would. I think the problem with Wallace, fairly or unfairly, is PERCEPTION. We get the PERCEPTION that he's holding the team hostage and it naturally makes us go a little harder on him. We've never got that perception from AB because we basically just woke up one day in the middle of the Wallace dispute and saw that they'd paid AB like 48mil or whatever it was. We were happy with him because we felt like he just showed up, shut up, manned up, and therefore Mr. Rooney paid up. I think if Wallace would've just shown up and went about his business the Rooney's would've been more willing to negotiate. Also another thing we need to remember about Wallace is that he has an agent that ALSO wants to get paid so he gets in Wallace's ear and whispers "hold out....hold out..." and ofcourse he does it. But regardless I DON'T think Wallace is worth 100mill. I wanna see them divvy that money out and get us a secondary AND keep Wallace. In an ideal world that would happen. But the reality is this is a business and that's how the players are gonna treat it.

 

That's what I thought too. The tip looked like it actually made it an EASIER catch. Even IF he'd caught that too I still would be dogging on him for his overall effort.[/quote:kyad89i6]
Geez, guys. I thought it was a drop when I saw it live, and then I wasn't sure on the first replay, but on the second replay you can see the ball change direction. He's getting ready to catch it in one place, and the ball went to another. He was prepared to catch it over here, he saw it get tipped and tried to scramble, but it went over there and he couldn't get it in time. It's not like it was tipped 10 yards in front of him. It was right in front of him. That would have been an incredible catch. It definitely won't go down as a drop, nor should it.

 

Since when does fighting for more yards when hopelessly surrounded by defenders on the 40 yard line after you have a first down count as a valid excuse for a fumble? Are you kidding? Heart is great, but not when it's stupid. You need some brains, too. That kind of fumble is the WORST, because it's completely avoidable. How could you defend -- oohhhh yeeeaaaahhhh.....!

 

Geez, guys. I thought it was a drop when I saw it live, and then I wasn't sure on the first replay, but on the second replay you can see the ball change direction. He's getting ready to catch it in one place, and the ball went to another. He was prepared to catch it over here, he saw it get tipped and tried to scramble, but it went over there and he couldn't get it in time. It's not like it was tipped 10 yards in front of him. It was right in front of him. That would have been an incredible catch. It definitely won't go down as a drop, nor should it.[/quote:17lzxc2r]
Does anyone have the replay they can post? I didn't DVR this game tonight and I wanna see it again. I do remember thinking it went right through his hands though.

 

I'm not defending it. I'm saying that MAYBE some people get the perception that he's trying harder and therefore are more forgiving of him. I was furious with him for that. I actually get furious with most players for that because it's a disaster waiting to happen. I'm just saying that I think people have a different PERCEPTION of the two guys. Fairly or unfairly that's just what I think.

 

OH! LOLOLOL! I thought you you were asking me that. My bad.

 

Geez, guys. I thought it was a drop when I saw it live, and then I wasn't sure on the first replay, but on the second replay you can see the ball change direction. He's getting ready to catch it in one place, and the ball went to another. He was prepared to catch it over here, he saw it get tipped and tried to scramble, but it went over there and he couldn't get it in time. It's not like it was tipped 10 yards in front of him. It was right in front of him. That would have been an incredible catch. It definitely won't go down as a drop, nor should it.[/quote:24b5b6ir]

I'm not holding it against him but I felt he could have still caught that. I don't hate Wallace (although I did say I officially hate him during the game day thread, emotions ) but I haven't been happy with him the last couple games and missing camp is going to bring a whole lot of hate on this guy when he plays like crap, he brought this on himself. If he turns it around and plays more like he did the first 3 games then like he has the last 2, I'll obviously forgive him but right now he's losing points with me fast.[/quote:24b5b6ir]
LOL! I also said I hate him as well! Great minds think alike!(when they are VERY angry)! LOL.

 

He could have caught it theoretically, but I don't think anyone could be expected to catch it. He had his hands up by his chest, waiting for the ball to fall in right below his facemask, and after the tip it went down to his side, about elbow-height. Probably moved the target like a foot. And at real speed...

Ben played a good game, but on that one if he'd thrown it on time (or farther) it's an easy TD. Wallace torched Hall and then had to wait around for the ball like he was fielding a punt.

 

With a night like tonight I don't think I'd call it "easy" LOL.

 

Good point. I forgot.

Okay, maybe 60%.

 

I don't hate Mike Wallace....I still expect him to sign long term with Pitt...although with more nights like tonight he is going to wish he signed that last offer.


Mike Wallace dropped more passes tonight than Limas Sweed did in his career.


HACK

 

I will take AB all day long, no comparison. And this fella wants Lsrry Fitzgerald money.
In his dreams.