This will be Mike Tomlin's last season if the Steelers don't make the playoffs? NFL nation

Ah... beat me to it Blast. I should read the rest of the page before responding to posts haha

 

Okay, Blast, preseason games don't matter. In fact, I hope we go 0-4 in the 2014 preseason.

Preseason games DO matter in that they set the tone for the beginning of the season and our preseason last year sure as heck set the tone for the first half of last season. Don't you think that a team builds confidence, learns how to prepare and execute and do some basic gameplanning in the preseason? The Steelers looked pathetic in the preseason last year and, guess what, they looked pathetic the entire first half of the season. It's more important than some want to believe it is.

And I apologize to the MB for resurrecting an argument that I thought died last summer, lol.

 

I haven't said that Tomlin is problem #1 for this team and I'm not the Tomlin hater that many on this board are. But these "wasting away in Mediocreville" seasons we've had the last couple of seasons won't cut it. Tomlin is the HC and he is primarily responsible for the performance of the team, that's just how it works in the NFL. He's responsible for the team's preparation, gameplanning, in-game adjustments and strategizing to exploit the other teams' weaknesses and I think Tomlin is at best average in most of those categories. He has some good qualities and players apparently like playing for him, but I think there are some deficiencies in his coaching repertoire (time management, in-game decision making, halftime adjustments, challenges, etc.) that have resulted in him simply being out-coached in certain games and situations the last few years. I've said all along that he'll get the opportunity to right the ship, as he should, because the Rooneys are extremely patient owners. I hope he can turn it around and lead the team to #7 and beyond. He's got the luxury that most coaches don't have in a franchise quarterback and I hope the opportunity isn't wasted.

 

Jeeze it's great to be back, don't seem like I missed much at all.

So if we go 8-8 (or worse) again, do ya'll think they are gunna let Tomlin pick an offensive coordinator to replace Haley, with only essentially 1 year left on his (Tomlin's) contract, or do you think the Rooneys will clean house?


scrufy

 

Having your team prepared to play a portion of a season is NOT success, it is failure.

 

We all know the outcome before the first snap. This is going to free up alot of time for me. I can now persue my first love and get back to gardening on Sundays

 

Other teams have injuries too.

 

The debates stay much the same - it's kind of reassuring, in a way...

 

MB arguments never die, Jack, they just eventually go to a better place (page 2)!

I might be way off, but I think you two are arguing about different things here. Preseason matters - I agree. We had issues with injuries that upset the usual role of preseason - I also agree. No contradiction there.

I would question, in hindsight, the overuse of Dwyer in the preseason as a shopping window, given what happened. I think Tomlin probably tried to be a bit too clever with the preseason last year in terms of who to play and what to do, and that did have an effect on the start of the season. It's not something I see as unsaveable, though.

 

Ah ha! I found it! An article that shows that there IS A CORRELATION BETWEEN WINNING IN THE PRESEASON AND HAVING SUCCESS IN THE REGULAR SEASON!
http://www.thebestsportsblog.com/nfl-football-2012-does-the-pre-season-matter.html

Most telling to me is that teams that have 0 or 1 wins in the preseason win 7 or fewer games in the regular season 42% of the time while teams that have at least 2-4 wins in the preseason only have 7 or fewer wins 29% of the time. The teams with 0 or 1 win also rarely have a 10+ win regular season, occurring only 26% of the time since 1997 and the teams that win 2-4 games in the preseason have a 10+ win season 36% of the time. There is a correlation between a sucky performance in the preseason and a sucky regular season and the opposite is also true, if you win in the preseason your liklihood of success in the regular season increases! You may say the differential is relatively small but in the NFL many times it's ONE GAME that determines your playoff destiny as we found out last year.

Read 'em and weep, Blast! You said I was stubborn and you'll get no argument from me on that. My wife would concur as well.

One last point. The great coach, Vince Lombardi, at the beginning of training camp would gather all of his players from wet behind the ears rookies to grizzled veterans and he would stand in front of the room with a pigskin in his hands, point to it and say "gentleman, THIS is a football...". He started EVERY SINGLE YEAR with the basics and the fundamentals as if he were talking to a group that had never even heard of the game of football before. I wonder if HE thought that the preseason mattered?

 

Have to agree here despite how we came out the gate last yr. one has to agree our finish was an Omen for 14'. Tomlin and Co. ( we have an awesome sideline staff this yr.) will keep this team motivated, players were tasting the honey last yr. but came up short. We need to get some optimism stirred and get behind the coaches and players getting back to a winning franchise!! This being said Tomlin is not going anywhere.. he's not going to let it happen! Seriously Tomlin came in green behind the ears and is still going through growing pains someday he get's it.....maybe this yr.

 

I love hoeing on sundays tooo

 

You mean, he hasn't already?

 

I hope you're right. But this team has already lost a lot of talent this offseason. The WR corps is in shambles.

 

That's ALL you've got?! Squirrels taking dumps in China???

And these aren't "my stats". These are stats from a very reputable source that I just happened to stumble upon on the internet!

Numbers don't lie, my friend, numbers don't lie.

 

Winning preseason games doesn't mean crap, I think the year the Lions went 0-16 they were 4-0 in the preseason. Preseason is more about preparation and getting guys ready for the season it doesn't matter if you win or lose.

 

I think the argument is that the preseason doesn't matter, IF the team is ready when the regular season started. The injuries handicapped the team, but the team did not look ready in the early part of last season. With Cowher, the Steelers often looked horrible in the 1st regular season game, but at least they would turn in a dominating performance by the 2nd game.

When people complain that the Steelers are drafting poorly, I wonder if the talent might be there, but not developed properly. If Tomlin is not preparing the team correctly in preseason, this might be a reflection of not helping the college players make the transition to pros. (I have no real evidence for this; this is pure speculation.)

 

Which we obviously failed to do last year!

And it amazes me that everybody likes to use the extreme anecdote of the Lions going undefeated in the pre-season and then not winning a game in the regular season but no one likes to look at the numbers from the link I posted which indicates that there is a correlation between winning 2 or more games in the preseason and having success in the regular season.

 

I have asked the same question myself and believe there could be some validity to that.

 

I agree with a lot of this. The actual outcome of the preseason games, in terms of wins and losses, don't themselves matter, but how the team is prepared and game-planned does. I think it equally shallow to simply chalk last season's slow start to injuries - imho, the only injury that was truly a surprise in terms of game-planning was Pouncey's, and there are some that have made arguments that his abilities may have become overrated a bit. Miller was recovering from a major knee injury, and was expected to be out at least the first four games, and Bell, while solid in training camp, was still a rookie - I can't imagine Haley would have already scripted the offense significantly around him. Adams was awful at LT, but that's where the coaching staff felt he should be.

Personally, I think the game plan the coaches had built coming into the season failed badly in some areas, and it just took them some time to revamp it enough to find some consistent success. They began the year in a zone-blocking running scheme, which was scrapped in the first month (an argument could be made for Pouncey's injury having a play here, though they didn't return to it even after Velasco became familiar with the offense), when Bell made it back they tinkered with some Wildcat for a couple games, the no-huddle became more of a staple to the offense, etc. All were good adjustments, when you consider how they fared over the last twelve games against the first four, but I have trouble excusing the atrocious start entirely to the Miller/Bell/Pouncey/Adams situations. I think there were also some poor plans in place that had to be revised.

I touched above on the issues I feel are present with our current drafting and development teams. I don't know exactly if it's more scouting, development, or both, but there are some problems there.