Rookie play

I've been watching both championship games and am impressed with some of the rookie play. My question is why can't the steelers bring their young/rookie players along faster. To me it seems like we are behind in this area. I can't believe our system is that much more complex than any of the 31 teams that a rookie couldn't be productive. JMO

 

Like Roethlisberger, Mendehall, Pouncey, Wallace, Sanders and Brown?

 

Roethlisberger's a perfect example of what mongoose is talking about. Theys started Tommy Maddox over him. Tommy. Maddox. Woulda been 16-0 with Ben.

Sanders is another example. He should have been playing over Randel El from week 1, but he didn't start to get more playing time until the second half of the season. And why was ARE returning punts for 2 yards a pop with Antonio Brown either on the bench or inactive? He was a returner in college, he knew what he was doing and I didn't see any signs he couldn't be trusted back there.

Why didn't Mendenhall start week 1 in 2009 over a useless FWP? Why didn't our rookies log any plays during garbage time this year, like against Seattle or Cincy?

They don't trust young blood. They make them earn it more than other teams do. That might be good motivation, but it clearly bites you in the butt a lot. I'm not saying go full steam ahead with rookies, but they need to be more open to it than they have been in the past. They are better than they were when Tomlin first got here, but there's room for improvement I think.

 

I have been saying this for years. Yes there are going to be mistakes
made, but you have to put the talent on the field. If Chuck Brown
can cover a wr better than Ike taylor you better find him some playing
time, don't ya think? Or if Cam Heyward can rush the passer better than Ziggy Hood
maybe we can find him some playing time? YOy and double YOY!

 

Agree in the main. Of course, FWP is an example of a rookie starting - literally from nowhere - and lighting it up.

There's a bit of a tension between the "low-risk" strategy of the team when it comes to playing vets first, and the rather more high-risk strategy of the way the offense in particular plays when it's out on the field. Although, at the start of the season, my main reason for wanting to see more of the youngsters on the field was simply because they were playing with far more fire than the vets. That changed during the course of the year, but I hope the coaches learn from this for next year.

 

I'm not saying Ziggy or Keisel should be benched, but it is a travesty that Cam Heyward will probably not be starter next year. 1st rounders should play.

 

he will play and he played a good bit last year. ziggy will go to NT.

 

Well I'm not sure, but I thought FWP was a 2nd year, and started because he was the only healthy guy left on the roster. It wasn't as much a coach's decision, because the coaches didn't have a choice.

 

he will play and he played a good bit last year. ziggy will go to NT. [/quote:2s501yb5]

He wasn't played enough this year in my opinion...he made the most out of as few of snaps as he had.

 

Hood moving to NT actually creates some holes for us IMO. We have 3 DEs with him and 1 NT. The 3 DEs with someone like Corbin Bryant or Al Woods would be okay and McLendon at NT. If you move Hood to NT, you get 2 young guys backing up Keisel and Heyward.

 

I'd rather have a hole at backup defensive end than starting nose tackle.

 

It turns out you're right. Bizarre - I could have sworn he was new that year.

 

Does it have to do with the fact that our picks are so late in the rounds that all the good players are gone?