The Steelers could have been contenders in 2025

They should have told him to get his ass to work or be gone rather than give him anything, even face-saving incentives. The inmates have run the asylum for far too long, and that is why this team is so full of selfish, undisciplined players.

 

Smith has previously run an offense with successful receivers. Look at what he got from A.J. Brown and Corey Davis with Ryan Tannehill throwing to them in 2020. Maybe Tomlin would have screwed it up by being too conservative, but this idea that Smith couldn't run a successful passing game doesn't hold up.

Mack was an example of me trying to avoid hindsight.

Elliott's injury forced the trade for Dugger. Thornhill's disastrous play forced the move of Ramsey to safety.

 

Tennessee under Smith was was basically the Cowher offense in the 90s…

Power Run and play action to his deep WR (Brown) or TE… the 2nd wr didn’t get much action.

Smith probably told Khan and Tomlin…nah, we good, on the #2 WR. It was mostly the Derrick Henry show.

I thought it could work if our run game was decent…but turns out the offensive line isn’t good enough and they don’t commit to the run like you need to in order to make it work.

 

What has Sanders shown that he's worth a third round pick?

 

O'Connell isn't doing that good of a job of developing JJ McCarthy.

 

I agree with most of this; not sure about Najee, though, and not Sanders. I think Ramsey has been a serious upgrade over Minkah--once he moved to safety. He couldn't keep up at corner anymore, but he is a fiery leader that we really lacked. Jonnu appears to be worthless and I'm sure Miami was glad to throw him in as a freebie--for all the talk of him being like having a legitimate #2. And I know it's an unpopular thought, but I would have been happy to start Mason (with Thompson and Howard in the wings) instead of breaking the bank. Mason was great with Mike Sullivan & Eddie Faulkner in charge of the offense (after Canada firing)--WITH decent WRs. Even had to deal with a suspect OL, which we still have. It was the end of the world before he came in in 2023, Pickens was pouting, OL was criticized. After he started, everything settled down, we won in Seattle for the first time in forever, and the score was 24-17 in Buffalo in the 4th QTR--back when Buffalo was hitting on all cylinders. I think the snow delay messed us up--we got there by throwing to Pickens and came out with a run-heavy plan that Buffalo was ready for. I think we thought we'd be playing in the snow and, of course, our coaches didn't adjust. Defense was decimated and horrible, however, so that was that. Even if I'm wrong about Mason, Howard or Thompson could have come in at least and we could have gotten a look at them as we continued the rebuild. As it is, there's no one to throw to for anyone and we have a ****ty system, so it's really hard to evaluate anyone's play.

 

I didn't see the quote, but from the context of what you posted, he was blaming his limited production as a Steeler on the team, not himself.

 

Corey Davis had 984 yards receiving as the No. 2 receiver behind Brown for the Titans in 2020. That was the year Tannehill threw 33 touchdown passes. That was with Smith as the offensive coordinator. Given that the Steelers don't have a back anything in the realm of Derrick Henry in his prime, I think they might have been able to find a few more targets for Pickens and Metcalf in that system than what they gave Brown and Davis in 2020.

 

Which is why it is time to start a new regime in Steeler land. Even if the experts give us an A+ in the 2026 draft it won't matter under current leadership.

 

Rodgers folds under pressure. Was pressured five times in the game against BUF and went 1-4. Playing scared is not the way a QB wins in the NFL.

 

The Ramsey move to safety full time also simplified things for the rest of the defense.

 

correct - the '76 Steelers would FAIL with this COACHING!

 

So the guy you all think needed to be gone because of his immaturity is suddenly an expert whose word must be trusted. You're funny.

Look at what Smith's Titans did in 2020. That is the real evidence, which you want to ignore because it doesn't fit your inaccurate narrative.

 

yeah - so simple , even a Caveman can play in it. it has been PURE suck for almost every game.

sure - the offense blows and can't stay on the field, but this 3rd down defense is ALL ON TOMLIN. "tackle the catch".....3rd and 12 - no worries, here it comes.......pure suck.

 

Blah blah blah

 

The passing offense by Smith is built on playaction and without a dominant running back like Henry,the play action become much less efficient

 

Don't forget about Ramsey's own disastrous play at CB requiring him moving to safety as well. Let's not pretend that obtaining Ramsey was a good move either.

 

Have you seen the yards per target and yards per reception for the Titans two WRs that year? Then find Tannehill's time to throw if you can.

The Steelers lack a QB with the arm and fortitude to stand back there and wait for 15+ yard throws to develop. Rodgers hasn't been that guy for 5 years. Rudolph has never been that guy.

The Steelers QB room is physically incapable of running the Titans offense.

 

That's true, but he was also talking about if the Steelers had Darnold as their QB in the open post.

I would also have doubts in this scenario(with Darnold as QB) regarding our passing game and our offense in general, but that's just to be clear for what he was saying

 

I quoted the post that addressed Davis and Brown with the Titans.

This is the thing that drives me up a wall about Steelers fans and assuming that Smith was gonna replicate the Titans offense. They do NOT have the QB to run it. Period. They have old and washed up QBs or ineffective marginal back-ups. That's it. You can not run Smith's Titans era offense with those guys. Smith tried in Atlanta with similar flawed QBs and it didn't work.

Look I have a ton of problems with the entire concept of Arthur Smith and offense. But to create this scenario where Metcalf and Pickens would have been just been running wild in the deep part of the field with Rodgers at QB is just silly. He can't make those throws any longer.

And I have zero faith that Darnold playing mad-bomber was going to be a good idea either.

 

You are right about Rodgers,this is for sure



2021 Ben was better that this and in my opinion he was also washed at that point!