Will the disappointing Rats game motivate the Steelers?

Ben admittedly played bad and apologized to anyone who would listen.

Heath fumbled after taking a beating.

Mitchell was typical playing too agressive but barely outside the rule book.

Bell wasn't able to contribute.

Others were undiciplined and ultimately lead to the defeat.

It seems that there was a pattern throughout the season that when the Steelers lost they pretty much self imploded.

Nobody can deny though that there flashes of incredible success offensively. Unfortunately, the defense couldn't hold up their side of the ball and too many times times the offense stalled in the red zone settling for FG's.

I spent time rewatching this painful loss and came to the conclusion that this team is very close. A few pieces here and there and the Steelers can be serious SB contenders next season and beyond.

My concern is does this loss leave a bad enough taste in their mouths for a long time and they get more motivated from the beginning of training camp and right thru the season or will it not amount to a hill of beans for motivation next season?

 

While we have our share of areas of concern, especially on defense, if we had a legit backup for Bell last weekend, I don't think we're having this discussion. We had next to no running game, the offense kept stalling, and it put more stress on the defense (and we all know that we just don't currently have the defense to keep us in games if the offense is dead).

Last week proved that it's painfully obvious if Bell goes down, our offense practically shuts down. While I applauded Tomlin for showing that the team had no patience for Blount's antics, I feel that maybe suspending him for a game without pay, then building him back up, would've possibly been a better option.

IMO, one of our main focuses next year needs to be bringing a good RB in to compliment Bell. It kills me to see Blount go back to NE for next to nothing, and pick up right where he had left off there (atleast to some degree). About a month ago, there was a lot of hoopla about comments Ben made, and how he basically hoped they didn't run Bell into the ground. While Bell's injury week 17 was fluke, the fact remains that we had no answer when Bell went down. Bringing in a good RB to compliment him would make a great 1-2 punch, as well as cut down on Bell's miles per year.

 

NO
Tomlin and Cowher BOTH always have let scrub teams beat them. Bucks, Jets, Browns, saints. We win two of the four losses we should not have had and we're #1 seed. Chuck Nole didn't do that. I remember SF was 15 or 31 and 1. Can't remember how many games we were playing but, their 1 was the Steelers beating them. We were a scrub team that year I think. Why do I remember that? That game won me the $200+ Pool that week

 

We lost the Super Bowl to the Packers ... and the first game of the next season we got bent over by the Ravens 35-7.

That same season ended with a "WTF?!?!?!" loss to the Broncos and Tim ****ing Tebow in the wildcard round ... and the very first game of the following season we got hosed by the Broncos again.

We finished that season 8-8 ... so we're coming out to tear someone a new one to start the next season, right? Wrong. We lost to the crappy Titans 16-9.


My point is that this team is rarely if ever motivated. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if we came out and got reamed in game #1 next year.

 

The difference in this Ravens game was missing one guy...Bell. It affected blitz pickup, rushing the ball, and so much more. Everyone played worse, like we lost our mojo. It was to be expected. We will add pieces to the D this offseason and hopefully generate some pass rush. If that happens, we will be a tough team to play against again...finally.

 

If missing one key player on a team can screw up a team's "mojo" then then they aren't a very good team to begin with! "next man up" is no better than the man before him! JMO!

 

This falls on Kevin Colbert. The minute we released Blount we should have been looking for another Running Back.

 

Bell was a huge loss for the game, but I don't honestly think the running game was gonna shred the rats D at all regardless of who we had running it. The Line not playing well would've screwed bell's mojo up period. The line couldn't hold up and the D was shaky as has been their story the majority of the season. The damn refs didn't help matters much either as we all witnessed.

So so to answer your question, no I doubt it motivates them much. They had all the reason in the world to be motivated last Saturday night at home against a hated rival... And they couldn't get motivated much for it. Is what it is.

 

Losing Bell impacted so much more than rushing yards. His being gone affected:

1. Rushing Yardage
2. Passing Yardage
3. Effectiveness in the red zone
4. Blitz Pickup
5. Reliable Receiver out of the backfield
6. It allowed Balt. to pin their ears back and no longer even respect the run.

Add to that the poor officials and it is a loss. That game wasn't nearly as big of a blowout as the scoreboard shows.

 

I don't know if the Steelers losing to the rats will motivate the Steelers but I've always thought the rats losing to the Steelers has motivated the rats. They just seem to draft to beat us. They've basically tried to build their own little Pittsburgh in Baltimore.

 

Youre right... But the line negated any of that to begin with regardless who was in the back field