Records of opponents this season.

I expect a competitive playoff team. At least the illusion that this team could win a championship, I haven't had that in quite a long time.

 

I disagree...when Ben went Down..I thought we would be lucky to win 5 games. 8 was almost a miracle IMO.

They lost to Seattle by 2 with Mason R at the helm for most of the game
They lost to the 49ers by 4 with Mason R
They lost to the Ravens in OT with Mason R getting knocked out and Duck finishing the game



Look at the players on Off that were major contributors/starters down the stretch

QB Duck - 4th string QB from Steelers PS
RB Snell - rookie RB
RB Whyte - PS player from Chicago
WR Johnson - rookie WR
WR D Cain - PS player from Indy
WR J Holton - PS player from Steelers
TE Vannett - TE from Seattle



Which kind of brings me to one thing that kind of confuses me on the Steelers cap. I see they are in cap trouble, but when you look at the normal "money" spots it does not make sense.

On Off...you have Bens big money...But every other skill player is still on a rookie contract with the exception of Vance McDonald.

That leaves AV, Pouncey, and DeCastro
On Defense...Watt, Bush, Fitz, and Edmunds all on rookie deals.. the big money is on Heyward, Tuitt, Haden, and Nelson.

Everyone else is basically on average NFL contracts. No AB money, no Lev Bell money....no top WR or RB cash being spent

Just seems like some of this is typical NFL accounting. A few players cut (Foster, Chick,Barron) A few contract money moved around (Decastro, Tuitt, Heyward) they won't be major players, but they will have a few guys to look at.

HACK

 

I see what you're saying, but giving him credit for getting a patchwork offense to 8-8, you should also detract for him not doing better with a top 5 O-line, with a top 10 QB, RB and WR, for all those years.

 

They are in cap trouble because they gave Ben a monster extension and in recent years they backloaded contracts for other guys like Vince, Heyward, Nelson, AV etc.

The NFL is very much a ‘what can you do for me now’ league and the Steelers will have too many overpaid players going in to 2020. Of course they will cut some deadwood and move money around but nobody is going to convince me that Ben is a 33.5m player now, nor Pouncey at 11m or AV at 9m. That’s nearly 30% of your cap right there in three players who will probably not play up to it in 2020

 

You couldn't be more wrong. So the 79 Steelers, who had 6 games decided by 3 points weren't a good team. Yeah, peddle that nonsense somewhere else.

 

I agree that our injuries changed the trajectory of our season. I do.

But I played football and coached it. I never made an excuse as an athlete or coach. My job as an athlete was to execute the plan to the best of my ability. If I did that and we lost, I still did my job. My job as a coach was to put my guys in the best position to succeed, with no excuses. Injuries, grades, suspensions...it made no difference. The expectation was to win. There is no other expectation. We didn't feel sorry for ourselves and neither did the opposition.

Winning. That's the reason we play the game. No excuses.

 

I understand how difficult it is to win and make the playoffs in the NFL. It's even more difficult to win the Superbowl. As long as the team remained competitive and wons consistently I can watch the same "bad movie". The team was relevant and had a chance to make the post season until the final week of 2018 and 2019.

Things would had been different if Ben played well and took care of the ball. At the very least Ben would had played better than Mason and Duck on a more consistent basis. Hopefully yo understand what good QB play means to a team. A team will always have a chance to win a game if the QB plays well. There are reasons why those guys get paid more than another position in football.

 

The Steelers didn't make excuses. They did what they could to help the team win games regardless of the adversity. There is also a reality that fans can realize and accept.

 

LOL.

The '79 Steelers were second in the entire NFL in point differential that year at +154.

The fact that they only played 6 close games is a testament to how good they were. Good teams, more often than not, beat their opponents handily.

You unwittingly proved my point.




Seriously, are you unaware of the Pythagorean Theorem or expected winnning percentage based on score differential in any sport?


Edit: BTW, just for comparison the '79 Browns ended 8-8. They played 12 one score games. That's what average teams do.

 

In 2020 we play 5 teams who had a winning record in 2019.

 

Agreed but I am keeping this season separate from past seasons. IMO if you didn't can him after last year you can't after this year with all the injuries.....fair is fair. Again I am not a Tomlin fan but call it the way I see it.

 

Sorry I strongly disagree, there is a reason teams with top QB's are more successful than teams with not good QB's......they are better. That is why guys are 2nd-3rd-4th stringer and even FA cause they aren't as good as what is in front of them........sometimes by all teams. Talent wins and when you lose the talent we did you can only hope to hang on and we had a pretty good season considering that. Heck we almost had a great season if we pull some of them wins out.

Yes coaching does put people in position to succeed but there is a difference in the car you buy in a show room and what is on a NASCAR track. Also trust me you are not the only person here who has played sports and/or coached sports. That has no bearing right now in what you are talking about. There are 32 NFL HC jobs, 32 starting NFL QB's they are the best of the best. This isn't pee wee, pop warner, high school, college....it is the NFL not many people ever get the chance to play here and it is the cream of the crop. just sayin.......

 

We're not really talking about the same thing. At best, we're coming at it from different angles. I respect your opinion, and your right to have one. And even though we are at odds in this discussion, we're brothers in the Steeler Nation. Helmets high, brother.

 

Yeah I'm sure Belichick would've won the Super Bowl with Duck/Mason at QB, and no Tuitt, Nix, JuJu, Conner .

 

I thought Colbert was the GM

 

Take away the winning record team's starting
QB
RB
Wr
Dlineman

Win some playoff games.

Troll alert

 

Tomlin couldn't have done it with any Pats roster in any year. Boom! Roasted!

And no one here is, or should be, talking about us in the Superbowl. We wouldn't have won the SB this year if Ben hadn't gone down week 2.

We were a wildcard team this year without a single injury. We weren't beating the Ravens in the playoffs even with our overrated defense and a fresh Connor, JuJu, and Ben.

Facepalm all you want. It doesn't change reality.

We did not have the offensive line to keep pace with elite offensive teams. Our defense wasn't good enough to keep mediocre teams from scoring. It wasn't going to keep the best offensive teams from putting up insurmountable points.

 

We backed into two SBs right?

 

Huh?

 

If this organization can't win with him, why has he been coach in 2 SBs?

 

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

 

Cream of the crop Hairball only made it once. Maybe he catches ol Popcorn this year.

 

Ya...Don't you know that gets you a lifetime jelly of the month club pass...

* Sucked for 10 years but ride the coattails of your 2 Super Bowl appearances over 10 years ago

 

You just took the words right out of my keyboard KMM..........losing many close games whether baseball, hoops or football has always been said to be a trait of poor teams that don't know how or don't have the talent to pull ahead at the end of a game. I don't include hockey because it's such a low score game to start with. As compared to a good team that can win close games with the occasional blowouts to bump up the bizarre meaningless differential stat that is now kept in all sport teams standings. Look how that played out for the Dodgers this past year! Record breaking differential but they lose out in the first 5 game elimination series.

 

Ask and you shall receive:

To: Disco 1981... From: The Griswalds