Steelers want Bell for life

I think his production is a pretty good reason to keep him, I am pretty sure Ben, and AB like having him around. I think to say the only reason is a little off. Do you really think our D is gonna be this bad next year? I don't and if we keep this offense together we are a very dangerous team.....

 

Don't take it personal. I turned 73 yesterday and I do feel as old as dirt and water combined. I just don't see the Steelers winning a super bowl for a while. Hope I'm wrong but don't think so. JMO

 

I really believe the next 2 years with a few moves this team is solid. Right now if we sign Bell all our top skill spots are set and our oline is set as well. On defense we had Heyward, Tuitt, Watt, Hargrave, Davis, Haden and Burns tied up for that span just add a few guys to round out and improve this D. We are very close to being a darn good team.....

 

I do. The talent isn't there and the defensive coaching staff is inept. And trying to roll the dice on all low drafted rookies and getting the bottom of the barrel free agents won't help.

 

You have your opinion and that is fine however I totally disagree. The 2 spots that hurt this team was S and ILB, by getting rid of Mitchell we are better period. The Shazier injury was unexpected so really how can you fault that position, especially when RS was playing at DPOY level. So your telling me Heyward, Tuitt, Watt, VW(played well with RS there), Haden, Burns and Davis have no talent? I say your wrong Heyward, Watt, Haden and before RS's injury VW was playing darn good. Tuitt came out like a house on fire for 2 halfs then got hurt, I am pretty sure he wasn't the same the rest of the year but he has talent. Burns and Davis took a step back but I am confident when we get a Mitchell replacement both these guys will look better. 0 out of out 11 spots are set on D and fixing the other 2 will make everyone better a ton, this side of the ball is not as bad as many think. How did they have all them sacks with no talent ???

Now rolling the dice with "low drafted rookies" or "bottom of the barrel FA" has worked for year. The Steelers have never been a big FA team, some of our best FA pick up have been bottom barrel guys...Farrior, Clark, Greene, Hartings, Kimo, Dwill, Moore, Batch, Maddox, Foote and Randle El were pretty good for us. It is the Steeler way we don't sign top tier guys but we get guys who will fit. So bottom of the barrel FA's are not always a bad thing. Now as for the draft part, first of all drafting low like we do is a sign the season before was pretty good. Second the guys we draft are panning out. Take just last 2 years, Watt and Juju were studs in their first year and Burns, Davis and Hargrave have all played a ton and like I pointed out above Davis and Burns might have taken a step back but go back and look how much Mitchell added to their downfall. Oh did I mention out ALL PRO 7th rounder from 2 years ago.......

People think the draft is 100% but I have asked this before and nobody answered show me a team that his 100%, heck show me a team that hits 80%. It just don't happen, if it did then guys like Russell Wilson, AB and Kareem Hunt would be 3rd and 6th round picks. I think your way to negative about this team and are looking glass half empty instead of glass half full and I get it that is the way the world has become. I get it cause it is easier to complain than to offer ways to fix things. If you really feel this way about this team than no matter what the Steelers do outside of cutting the whole D and starting over won't be enough for you and next year is going to be a very long year in your opinion.

 

Only guys worth mentioning were haden and

We don' have the same coaching staff that we had when we drafted those guys. Hayward is solid but he was non existent against the elite teams. His sacks and us leading the league in sacks was overrated. We played teams like the browns 2x, Texans, colts, packers without Rodgers, bears etc... do you all not remember how even against horrible teams the offense had to pull the rabbit out the hat literally every game? It' been years with tomlin and butler. Mortgage proven how inept they are far as player development and coaching. Ben leads the offense pretty much so that' why they produce. Burns was getting toasted he's not the guy. Can good safety play masks his deficiencies? Of curse but you'r talking about a Earl Thomas type of guy needed to do that. And also during those years the steeles in the FIRST ROUND drafted a once in a life time generational player in polamalu who was the guy that changed the entire defense. It wasn't some late rounder out of no where who did that. Ok I'll break this down to you. If you look at let's say every great defense in history, of them all their best player was a FIRST ROUND PICK. 70s Steelers mean Joe green was a 1st round pick, 80s giants LT was a FIRST ROUND PICK, 2000 ravens ray Lewis first round pick, 2015 Broncos von Miller 1st round pick, 2008 Steelers polamalu first round pick, 2014 Seahawks earl Thomas 1st round pick, etc... I can go on. Not saying you can' find hall of famers late in the round but they are anamoly's. Not the norm. How many people found a tom Brady and Joe Montana in late rounds in comparison to drafting Peyton or John elway first? It's not the same. This team does not have s transcendent defensive player where we can look at as that's the guy to make a play when needed or that' the guy who can impact the entire team. In every one of those great Superbowl years we had THAT GUY. Trying just have a patchwork defense can only get you so far unless you are an elite coach scheme and game planning wise which tomlin is not so therefore he needs better talent in order for it to work him.

 

I didn't even mention the 02 bucks with both Sapp and Brooks being 1st round picks...

 

Hell let's just like at Philly from the sb. They pretty much shut ne down most of the first half but eventually they couldn' stop gronk andrhey got gassed but the key elite players on their defense made plays when needed. Malcolm jenkins stopping cooks on 4th on that jet sweep was huge in the 1st half cause that allowed Philly to go up two scores and then that crucial fumble at the end by Graham. They may didn't make every last stop because they are just a good defense not great but THEY MADE JUST ENOUGH PLAYS then said here offense take us there. Our defense couldn't make ONE play the entire game vs Jax. The offense had to be impeccable every game for us to even have a chance.

 

Ok a lot to work with here and I get where your coming from but first off I agree the coaching staff is pretty bad and a big reason why I feel our D is as bad as it is. They play calls are horrendous and I do not believe it is talent related. For example the playoff game vs Jax we played our DB's 5-8 yrds off giving a weak QB easy dumps, that is coaching not talent. Now that brings me to another point, yes a good safety will improve. Go back and watch Mitchell play the middle. #1 he never reads and reacts to offer any help over the top making our DB's look like toast when they are expecting help. #2 they guy is slow he can move to save his life, you don't need a Earl Thomas you just need a guy who can read, react and move.....problem solved on the back end.

Now as far as first round talents I give you the names you mentioned are studs however do you really think the 70 Steelers would have won without Bradsaw and company or how about the Gmen with the power running game, oh wait The Broncos with Peyton Manning having a record breaking year........and this year are you forgetting the great philly D that never forced a punt also with a QB who was leading the NFL as the MVP before he got hurt and the #1 offense. Yeah you need D I admit that but todays NFL has changed so much we are playing more 7 on 7 style then actual football.

This D has Talent if you don't agree that is fine I get it but you facts are a little off. The Eagles had a good D but won with offense. We can do that and fixing the S spot is a big part of it, we can't fix coaching.

 

I agree but darn good might be a li

Thanks.

 

Happy belated bday too.......

 

Thanks

 

Mitchell was terrible.. But I think outside of haden the corners were toast and it's not all on Mitchell because haden had his side completely locked down. Yeah safety help matters but burns isn't that guy you can put on an island. He's decent but I would consider him more of a slot guy. He wasn' just getting beat over the top he was getting all over and isn' capable of checking top recievers week to week. And you misread what I said. I never said the 70s Steelers would have won without Bradshaw all though imo Bradshaw wasn't of the same elk as a Montana, Brady, manning, Rodgers, elway, etc... But I'm just saying to have those game changers they aren't just low round picks he'l you can just look at all the top defenders in the nfl rn. And I never said philly's defense was great. I said they made ENOUGH PLAYS. And yeah they didn't force but 5 out of the 11 patriots possessions ended in no points... They stopped them twice on 4th down and forced that key fumble. Would you rather have those or apunt?. Ne just didn't punt because they saw their defense couldn't stop Philly at all. It was patchwork defense and it worked for bill and them and it took a phenomenal coaching job by Pederson to expose it. You still need some type of defense and what? The year the Broncos won it all manning played TERRIBLY. And the egales have talent on defense. Jenkins, Cox, Graham, and Darby are better than anyone that will be on the roster for pitt next yr on defense.

 

Outside of haden and watt majority of the players on our defense wouldn't even start on most teams.

 

Heyward was All-Pro last season

 

Maybe we should give a coach like Tom Bradley a chance, he might be able to get more out of the players in the secondary than Carnell Lake did. The safety position should be much improved next season with new players via free agency and the draft.

 

I get what your saying about Mitchell and understand what you are saying about guys being on an island and locking down. However my point about Mitchell is that we rarely done that from what I saw on the blown plays it was help over the top that let us down. One play I keep referring to was the last game vs the clowns Gordon caught a long pass and went out on the 1 yard line. That was lack of over the top help at it's prime example, you can see the DB allowing the WR to go and bam no help. Mitchell has done that all year leading to big plays and what looks like blown coverage's. At least that is what I saw most of the year. I am not sticking up for Burns or Haden they have their faults but it is not as bad as people think.

I will not dispute defenses need game changers I agree with you and I feel we had that in Shazier, unfortunately that is gone. I am hoping a better S can step in and be that game changer and I also feel that we are good enough with Heyward, Tuitt and Watt to be strong if not studly up front. I really really really believe the loss of Shazier and Mitchell brought the play of this defense down and getting guys in their spot now will be a major step to it's improvement next year.

 

A non-existent vs the elite teams. A real all pro is Graham. He made a play when his team needed. Whw e was Hayward va jax?

 

I do have to take that into account because shazier was a MONSTER and sadly his career is over. I do think with shazier this season's outcome is different he was rafubalt the defensive player of the year up tot hat point the secondary was still susect but teams weren't running over us like they started to. I'm just not a fan of Hayward I feel like his disappears against elite teams. And I have nothing bad to say about haden he looked like a top 5 corner again I think he just was disinterested playing in the dirthole that is cle. He was locking his side of the field down. I saw alot of blown coverages too and I don' just put that all on play but the coaching staff as well because the defense as a whole at times looked completely out of sync and confused and that's a reflection on the coaching. Butler should have BEEN FIRED.

 

I think we look at things close to the same you are just a little more critical. I think you have to look at what Heyward was asked to do and put that into account. I put a lot of blame on the coaching staff but not Butler as much as Tomlin. We are hearing more about his hands in the D as the play declined. jmo

 

I think Heyward had a sack vs New England

 

But that sack had how much impact on the game? When we needed a play in that gasme where was he in crunch time?

 

The offense lost the game vs New England not the defense .

 

Nope coaching lost that game........let's single Gronk on the last drive......