quick start

we better gel quickly in preseason and training camp. we have a tough schedule to start this season, and it doesn't get easier in the middle or down the stretch. we have to start out with W's against these teams in the first 6 weeks. even oakland will be no slouch that early in the year at home. denver on the road. the jets. oakland on the left coast. tenn. always plays us tough. then the dream team after the bye. we never play well after the bye. then we get into our division games. it's like murderers row. the young one's better learn very quickly this year or we could be facing an uphill battle the rest of the way. we have never been known as a quick starting team. they better change that this year.

 

I hope the teams on our schedule will be thinking like you.Within a matter of months, the stellers have transformed.They better hope they are ready for us.We're younger ,quicker,healthier,and better coached. Talent and improvement of the oline,dline,and yes,the secondary.Just pray that we are able to execute like a well oiled machine on offense with all the talent we possess.

 

talent yes, we don't know about improvement yet. alot of leadership is gone. on paper we should win it all, transfering that to wins on the field, is still an unknown. like i said they have 4 weeks to put it together.

i also wonder how the coaches will play this. will we see these young guys playing longer in preseason compared to most years? will they risk injuries, to get them expierience? i think it will be a fine line. there are alot of camp battles to take place. i just hope we sort them out the first week and let these guys get used to playing with each other the rest of the way.

 

I keep switching between expectations:

First, the team takes a while to get used to new personell, the o-line make some rookie mistakes, learn, and we improve steadily throughout the season.

Second, the team shoots out of the blocks like Usain Bolt, but as the season goes on the players start to wane a little, injuries and fatigue set in, and we finish a little more disappointingly.

My third expectation is that we simply destroy everything in our path, and murder Green Bay in the superbowl.

 

Make the playoffs.

Peak and be strong with momentum at the end of the season.

 

Right there with ya...

We all want the third scenario, but # 2 and 3 seem the most realistic. I would also add that our former Captains on either side of the ball and work ethic examples are gone. Sure, there is still plenty of vet leadership here, I just don't know to what degree them being gone may or may not have. I hope they both show up in camp for some morale boosting and motivating.

I think #1 is most likely providing we stay healthy. If injuries happen it's all up in the air.

:swordsman:

 

that part is going to be extremely critical in the secondary. we may survive with an injury at most positions, but back there we are young and thin.

 

I don't think it's going to take that long for the Steelers get into "full swing." Denver is facing a bigger change for week one than the Steelers are. It's going to take Manning and that offense more weeks to gel. What made Manning and the Colts so effective was that the offense was usually "on the same page." They could read each others' minds. Manning won't have that in Denver.

That said, the Broncos and Raiders games won't be easy, if for no other reason than the fact that the Steelers are DREADFUL in the mountain and pacific time zones. I can't express enough how bad, since the 1970 merger, the Steelers are in Denver, San Diego, L.A., San Francisco, Oakland, and Seattle. Even Noll, with a team that we all consider one of the greatest of all time, went 3-7-1, from 1974 to 1979, against those teams on the road.

 

Lets hope they are hungry and have a poor taste in their mouth on how last
year season ended. I hate it when the Steelers go west, their record as 12 to 88 stated is
horrendous.

 

not to mention we start with alot of afc teams. we could quickly get some tiebreakers taken care of early. denver,jets,raiders,titans. this could actually work out well for us eliminating teams early as far as setting ourselves up for the playoffs.

 

Indeed, here are the numbers. Look away, folks, if you're squeamish!!!!!

Since 1970:

at Denver: 6-10-1
at Oakland/LA Raiders: 5-8
at San Diego: 7-6 (but 4-6 since 1977!)
at LA Rams: 1-4 (I've included SB XIV)
at Phoenix/Arizona: 2-4 (2-5 if you include SB XXX)
at Seattle: 1-6

Record: 22-37-1

Of course, the Steelers have some big wins in some of these places: 1974 AFCCG, 1984 and 2005 playoff wins in Denver. But in general, all six places have been a house of horrors.

 

we are 2-3 under tomlin out west during the regular season.