Some positivity in a sea of gloom

I was in depression for about a month after the AFC Championship loss to Chargers in '95. About 2 weeks after losing to Cowboys in SBXXX and about a week after losing to Packers in SBXLV.

Sadly, I don't get angry anymore when we lose... or happy when we win. Because of the consistent mediocrity of the last 10 years.... I've become a numb Steelers fan on the verge of total apathy. The cure? A new head coach and 1st round QB in 2026.

 

Did people not actually watch this game???
Someone show me one fumble that wasn't knocked out, or arms ripped away, or a int that wasn't tipped.
I don't remember one time the offense turning to the defense, and handing them the ball.
Also how is it if it's the other way around it's because they are better coached???
Funny, we are usually tops in take aways, must be more of the Steelers magic dust. Strange it's was always something that was work on back in the day.

 

see? That’s exactly how I feel about the Steelers: they have no potential and sucky is the best they can be with what god gave them. Same logic u used.

and… you’re advice on raising kids is based on have outlived a pile of dogs… stick with your single emote responses. Don’t add words.

 

You are like my buddy who has been married 6 times, he keeps thinking the next one, the next one, the next one, and although he's a great guy, when it comes down to it, it's him. LoL

 

I've only been married twice. Got it right the second time.

 

I'm glad for you, truly.
Hey You watched Star Trek:Enterprise. It's a great show that I'm finally watching, but that opening theme song has got to be the worst I've ever heard. LoL
JMO

 

We have more takeaways over the years because we have had a high amount of All-Pro play on the defensive side of the ball. TJ in his prime was a turnover MENACE. It's not just the sacks that made him great, it was his ability to take the ball away. We've had Heyward and Minkah playing great for 2 years.... we've had some really quality players that are good at taking the ball away. They are more individual efforts than anything else. Though, its been a consistent part of our defense (and likely the main reason why this team still hasn't had a losing season under Tomlin).

The first fumble was barely touched. That should not have been a fumble at all, and really only was because Stevenson has poor handles (known fumbler). The second one was a great play by Heyward. Definitely a takeaway there. Gibson wasn't even stripped. Peppers just hit him low and despite having 2 hands on the ball, Gibson dropped it. The one by Maye was just dumb. He tried to throw the ball as he was being hit and it got knocked out bc there were 3 steelers there. If he just tucks that instead of trying to do too much that isn't a fumble. It was just a young player making a poor decision in a big moment. It was a good play to sack him, but it was on Maye that the ball hit the turf.

I'm happy we made the plays (and we were especially lucky that all 4 fumbles bounced our way). But 4 fumbles is why we didn't lose that game. Our defense got out played and the ball methodically moved on it. We just so happened to get a bit lucky on the bounces and a few guys fumbling in spots where they really shouldn't have.

 

Ouch

 

So when a guy puts his shoulder into the ball, and it comes out we should just hand it back. One had his arm pulled off the ball, two were punched out, another was separated from the ball. Not one time did a player fumble without him being touched.
Some people will break their necks not to give credit, but I guarantee you if that game went exactly the other way, people would talk about that's what it's like to be out coached.

 

Sorry , but until social media, including message boards, I have never heard of people/fans making excuses for beating another team.
I could do the ,but , but what if to almost every game, every week.

 

No.... we shouldn't hand it back. Of course they had to get touched to fumble lmao. If simply being touched was enough to fumble then we'd see 4 or more fumbles every game by every team. Would you excuse Warren or Gainwell for a fumble because their arm was hit when they were being tackled? Their arm is hit on like half their carries.... Do we collectively excuse Mendenhall for his fumble in the SB because the GB player hit him high and touched his arm? No. Hold on to the fkn ball. Its not hard. Very few fumbles in the NFL are unavoidable and not the ball carrier's fault. We got one. The other 3 were on the ball carrier.

The point is that NFL players (backs in particular) are paid to be able to hold onto the ball and run forward. I would be VERY pissed if the first Stevenson fumble, the Gibson fumble, or the Maye fumble happened to a Steeler. There were no excuses to not hold onto the ball in those instances. The one by the goal line was just a good play. I could excuse that of one of our backs based on just a good play at the right time. Fumbles DO happen. Just they cant be as soft as some of the fumbles were yesterday. I'm glad we made the plays, because we needed to in order to win that game..... but the Pats were more careless with the ball than we were just ferociously taking it away. It's just the truth.

 

And after all was said, If the shoe was on the other foot, many would say it was lack of coaching.

 

Maybe when JP jr and Elliot return some of the pass defense problems can be fixed. I know jp jr likes to play more press coverage, which is what we need more of

but i think its good to keep things in perspective, even with the win. If the steelers want to get to where we want, they have to improve blocking, and getting stops on defense. We know they got lucky a few times yesterday.

 

No. Fumbles aren't a lack of coaching. Its a lack of idiot RB's and QB's from being able to hold onto the ball lol

I'm sure someone would call it coaching but its not. The fact that we've scored 2 opening drive TD's in our past 20 games might be coaching. The fact that unti the Pats game we had given up the longest streak of points allowed on first drives of the game defensively might have something to do with coaching. But not fumbles. That's on the players.

 

Great, highly underrated Star Trek show... like DS9! Wish there more references to Star Trek Enterprise's crew (Archer, etc) in Star Trek's latest show, Strange New Worlds which is 10 years before Kirk becomes Captain of the Enterprise in the original TV series. The Enterprise NX01, Archer's ship was only a few decades older than the first NCC-1701 Enterprise (Pike, Kirk).

And yes... the theme song is beyond sappy and cheezy. Reminds me of Chicago (the band) top 40 songs in the 80's. I hate sentimental ballads with a passion.

 

Was refreshing to see the D "CAUSE" fumbles and then have the tenacity to actually recover them, time and again yesterday. That also led to the Week 1 W. A lucky W sure beats an unlucky L. Sustainable - hell no. But fun when it happens. Could easily be 0-3 right now, but for lucky bounces.

 

The tape on their offense is out there from WK1. It hasn't changed since.

 

That is true about having the fumbles bounce our way. It's usually around a 50% chance that once a ball is fumbled that it's recovered for a turnover. The fact that we came away with the ball all 4 times is pretty rare.

 

Age certainly has changed me towards sports. After that Charger game I vowed never to get so invested in sports. 1990 to 1995 damn near killed me. Pirates then Steelers. I was doing pretty good but imploded during that Jacksonville game. That bothered me for awhile. I couldn't watch anymore of the Playoffs after that game.

 

Don’t think the women who married him, thinks he is great!
6 times? No longer can blame it on the woman.
He us what you call a common denominator
Lol

 

I have no idea that I never had a heart attack watching sports!
But as I aged, just like everthing else in life, not important

 

Imploded

 

The Oline needs improvement. I think we can all agree on that but I must say if we are to be optimistic. Having a game with zero sacks was a sight for sore eyes.

 

Ugly win >>> pretty loss

 

I know no one wants to hear it, but the Patriots that averaged 4.5 sacks over the first two weeks had no sacks against our o-line, and only 4 qb hits. We had 5 sacks and 8 qb hits.