Serious issues with our talent scouts and draft decisions.

To me the jury is still out on Rudolph. With the addition of a QB coach and keeping dumb dumb Fitchner away from him only can help. Maybe he will blossom in his 5th year with extra funds

 

Those are his grades from the scouting report on him prior to the 2018 draft.

 

In 2017 Tribisky,

 

I completely get what you're saying about coaching fixing things but if the guy has thrown thousands of passes with a severe fundamental error, I'm not sure it "can be" fixed and there certainly was zero evidence that it is "being" fixed.

I'm curious where you found these gems but they are certainly entertaining I simply posted the scouting report on him prior to the 2018 draft, most of which has proven to be accurate.

 

Yup. I've wondered for a while if a qb coach was not brought in BECAUSE OF Ben. Ben wouldn't want a position coach for two reasons. He doesn't need someone telling him what to do and he doesn't want to be looking over his shoulder as some young buck with better legs and arm learns the system and threatens his job.

 

Honestly I believe it was laziness and the lack of foresight. I guess they never imagined a 37 yr old QB could get hurt?They figured Ben would run the O and Fichtner would have time to work with the young QBs. Cheap? Maybe as well...
The jury is out on Fichtner the OC and I’m starting to question his QB coaching ability as well. Canada has his work cut out for sure. It may not exactly result in either team lighting up the scoreboard but watch how today’s offenses are run in the SB. We are behind the times....

 

Agree, or disagree?

https://steelersdepot.com/2019/05/stability-with-steelers-scouting-staff-continues/

 

First of all, thanks for not taking my response as a dig.

I totally get where you're coming from and question how "fixable" MR's mechanics are at this point. But good coaches find ways.

You see pros in baseball have their swings/stance tinkered with from time to time. Something as simple as opening up the stance will help the batter see the pitch better and keep him from stepping away from the plate. Pitchers' mechanics are constantly monitored and although infrequently, tweaked as well.

I never worked with correcting a qb from throwing off his back foot, so I don't know how that is addressed. But I'm certain there are drills and guru teachings to adjust it.

 

There was actually a article I read that was highlighting I think it was both MR and Hodges and how they were opening up their left side to throw the ball instead of stepping straight and into the throw. It was affecting both accuracy and velocity. I will try to find it. It is much like baseball when a pitcher starts to step to the side rather than towards the plate. It’s correctable but has to be constantly monitored and corrected if needed. That’s part of what a QB coach does keeps up on the mechanics, like a PC in baseball. Footwork and arm angles like baseball. There are very few QBs who can get away with bad mechanics. One of the first things that goes when in tough situations is fundamentals and mechanics. Young players need that constant reminder.

 

Maybe someone who goes to practice can tell us if they see Rudolph being worked with?

Maybe this is exactly why they hired Canada?

Maybe I'll win the lottery?

Maybe we'll win the Super Bowl?

As someone who has played golf at a competitive level, I know that the longer you do something wrong, the harder it is to fix it. And I see zero change in MR's worst flaws after two fulls seasons in the NFL.

 

I wish I could disagree and say, "Dude, it's totally fixable with good coaching!"

But like someone (can't remember who to credit for this) has very poetically said already...

If this doesn't work...Blame Canada!

 

No one thought they were swinging for the fences with TB. they were hoping for a possibly serviceable backup.

no one saw TB and screamed “high risk but wow what high upside!”

 

I have a novel concept! Let's talk about the main content of the OP...our poor decisions at QB drafting, rather than zeroing in on MR.

I understand that with this being a fanatic forum we all like to pick the word or the sentence we want to argue with and ignore the rest but my original concern still stands.......and basically unaddressed....... we screwed the pooch with both of those draft picks for the reasons listed way back in the original post.

The 135th pick overall in 2017 on a running QB when our entire offense is built around a slow pure pocket passer?

The 76th overall pick in 2018 on a shot gun QB with questionable fundamentals at a time when we had gaping holes on defense and a closing window of opportunity to win #7.

 

And?!

 

I’m sorry but isn’t “zeroing “ in on MR part of the discussion? You are writing him off as a bad pick after 8 games and at the same time assuming the selection of any defensive player in his spot was some kind of golden ticket to a SB.
And again whether you want to acknowledge it or not Ben opening his big mouth about retirement I assume was a factor as to why they moved up to draft MR in the first place. So there....

 

WOW! Mis-understand much?

So there

 

I'm sure you have a point. Care to make it?

 

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports...aining-camp-2017-latrobe/stories/201707280132

Wouldn’t commit to playing past 2017. Contract was to expire 2019. Said decision not made out of any frustration.
Wouldn’t commit past 2017. Contract up 2019. When would they select a QB then? Yup probably 2018. Again his big mouth lead to their decision to draft a QB.

As far as MR he’s not the only point but he is the only QB that is still here. Speaking of Dobbs. When was he drafted again? Oh that’s right 2017. So you can say he was also a friendly fire casualty in Ben’s retirement threats.
Let’s go back to MR though. 2 years of playing and practice? 8 games of playing? Do you know how little practice time a 3 rd string QB gets? That’s what he was in his 1st season. He showed enough progress in this years pre season games to unseat Dobbs and enough to get Dobbs traded. You get better by playing. He hasn’t had much of a opportunity yet to do that is what I’m saying.

As far as the defensive pick being a better pick? That is pure speculation. We don’t know yet how MR will turn out and we will never know who or what John Doe would of become. So sticking to the subject of the thread....I don’t know how you can determine we have “serious” issues with our talent scouts and drafting based on those two examples...jmo

 

Fair enough! But I find one flaw in your analysis. You clearly have an issue with Ben so try looking at "Ben's big mouth" in a different light. Ben is a winner and when the undisciplined play of our defense kept costing us games and nothing was done about it, he said enough is enough "fix it or I will retire". They agreed to fix it and then went and spent two draft picks, which could have had significant potential of fixing it, on players who would have zero potential of fixing it.

 

Somebody else’s report I guess.

 

It’s interesting as well to go further back when they took Dennis Dixon as a mobile QB. Vick, while not his past self, was also still a mobile QB.

So there’s a history of taking running QBs, but when they get in game situations there’s been very limited focus on getting them out of the pocket. I seem to remember one of Dixon’s best plays was a running TD... but he got injured in the process.

It’s odd though. I wonder if it’s a disjunct between FO and OC, the mobile QBs just being the BPA at that point, or something else.

 

Good point! You also have to wonder if it's "Rooney Rule #2" trying to get more black QB's in the league?

 

Honestly we don’t know at all if the potential would of been significant or not. We miss on 1st rounders as do others. So a 3rd can just as easily fail to prosper. We will never know what player B would of turned out to be. Fix it or retire? That’s a big assumption to make that even if we would of taken 2 defensive picks that 1 they would of panned out at all or in time for Ben, before get frustrated again and calls it a career. Now we’re left with no potential significant QBs either. See the problem around here a lot is whenever I say something critical about Ben, I clearly have a issue with him. I say he’s a great QB but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to also point out where he fails. That’s only fair. Ben is a winner but some of his performances have had just as much to do with our losses than the defense or anyone else.

When I say something about Ben not practicing on Wednesdays or Ben not playing enough in the pre season, leading to slow starts , airing grievances in the media, then it’s I have a issue with a Ben or I don’t appreciate Ben.

Ben lost us the Jax game every bit as much as the defense. Yet Haley was fired basically because he didn’t get along with him. Now we have Fichtner. Why? Because of Ben. So I acknowledge his greatness but I also acknowledge that he says dumb **** and the dumb **** he said about retiring whether because of frustration or whatever was a factor in them drafting Dobbs and Mason.

Let’s dig a little deeper. The 2017 draft brought us TJ,JUJU, Cam Sutton and Conner all before they took a flier on Dobbs. You can ask for a better defensive player than TJ. JUJU was amazing with Ben for whatever the reason. Sutton is here and part of a rotation and Conner has been excellent when healthy. Without the power of hindsight you can’t really ask for a better draft. 1 huge upgrade on D. Another contributor in Sutton and 2 excellent pieces in JUJU and JC for Ben. 4 keepers is a good draft.

2018? Defense first again in TE. Not panning out really so far but you can’t predict that. They tried to bolster the D like Ben “wanted”. JW another weapon for Ben that didn’t pay immediate dividends but normally expected for WRs. Then MR who they traded up for. If they stand pat, then most likely that 3rd pick on defense is coming out of the 4th round. Statistically a worse pick. So we will never know what may have happened. Whether Ben was right or wrong you don’t blab about it to the media. Winner yes but that was not something a winner does...


You can’t draft one side of the ball. You have to balance both sides. They used their highest picks available to draft D. What more can you ask for? Ben might not have had the luxury of spending all the picks on defense but many years were spent bolstering his side of the ball while the D suffered. So for him to go pouting about it if that’s what you’re saying he did, that’s not how you go about it. Ben should remember and acknowledge it was the defense that carried him for many years..,

 

It’s been a long time but if I remember correctly Dixon was like a LJ light. I don’t recall him being mostly a running QB in college. He had pocket passer ability with mobility. I think they saw the same thing in Dobbs with the benefit of a rocket scientist brain. I don’t think they ever envisioned making either one a running type QB but thought they could develop them more as pocket passers but with the ability make plays with their legs. I think of someone like Randall Cunningham as a comparison. Superb athletic ability trying to harness into a pocket passer with a very good trick up their sleeves....