Bell, Steelers have made significant progress on extension talks

Free Safety, NT and ILB are the glaring weaknesses right now on the defense. All 3 of those positions must be addressed in the offseason if the Steeelrs are going to have any chance at a championship run.

IMHO, the Steelers would be fine without Bell as long as they draft RB in rounds 2 or 3. There should be some good RBs available when Steelers pick in these rounds.

 

I agree with what you are saying about Mitchell and the D. But I disagree strongly about Bell. Steelers offense will be fine without him.

 

I strongly disagree, in the old days D won championship's but that day is gone. In today's game offense wins championships, take last year ATL all offense. This year Philly top ranked offense until Wentz got hurt. You need a little D but today it is all about scoring. The rules have changed to back that up as well.

Also I am not being critical of Cam, he played great I am just pointing out how much money we have tied up in 2 spots and we still stunk there. I am not willing to take away from our strengths to add to our weakness when I feel we already have talent we just need a player or two. Like I said get rid of Mitchell and this D will be vastly improved.

 

Well people have said that before and we are a different team without him. We had our shot last year to get a Bell replacement and we didn't. Connor is not a replacement he can't do what Bell can and that is what make this offense run. I am not crazy about giving Bell that money but knowing the next 2-3 years we could have the best offense, with the best RB and WR and a top 3 QB with our oline we can win games on this side of the ball......can't say that about the D side. jmo

 

Well... until the defense is capable of getting 3 and outs, the window is pretty much shut, even with a top offense. We found that out the hard way vs. Jax.

Steelers won 2 Super Bowls last decade with average offenses in '05 and '08.

 

You can't rely on offense alone, but I understand what your saying.

Well after that Jax game they get a little d. Could have been a big D if they just did something. ANYTHING! How do you go a whole game and play that pathetic? I'm still perturbed. And for that display ALL the coaches will be retained! Epic fail and no heads roll. Amazing...

 

Yeah your right but again I did say a little defense, if we would have played just a little defense we could have beat the Jagoffs. I will tell you this you won't lose many games scoring 42, I know we just did but I like the odds on us winning more than losing.

As for 05 & 08 your right but again the NFL is changing it is an offense based league. They are changing the rules for the offensive players that is where I want my money. jmo

 

If Bell goes on to help the team win #7, I'll stand corrected. My problem with Bell is his attitude. He's one of the best RBs I've ever seen, but his attitude reminds me of Terrell Owens... me-first, me-before-team, etc. I don't think his price tag is worth the drama we're gonna get with him. Also, Bell's best years may be behind him. RBs, on average, don't have near the longevity as other skill positions. Plus, once a RB goes into decline, it's usually drastic. See Arian Foster. Remember him?

Steelers need another RB anyway to go along with Bell, if we keep him. Conner is unproven and needs some competition. The rest of the RBs on the roster are just camp bodies.

 

I did say we need a little D and we have it, just need a little addition by subtraction bye bye Mitchell!!!!!

Our D even missing Shazier should have held Bortles.......Heyward, Tuitt, VW, Dupree, Haden, Davis has enough talent to stop freaking Bortles!!!!!

 

I agree here.

The defense was primed for playoff contention until Shazier went down.

I'm willing to give the Steelers coaching staff - from Tomlin down through the defensive staff - one more season to get it together. They should be able to figure out schemes that work with that talent. They need to get Dupree back into the mode of production we saw at the end of the 2016 season. Additionally, we should see vast improvement in Watt who is a natural talent.

All they need is a solid pickup for strong safety and maybe one good linebacker. They should be able to rock with that.

You do still need a solid defense to win championships in the NFL. It doesn't have to '08 Steelers defense, but you do need something unshakably solid. As HeinzMustard said...

And this is correct.

 

I agree Bell does have a me first attitude and I do worry about the suspension stuff but I am looking at what he brings on the field. The next 2-3 years are key and I am all in with Bell, AB and Ben to take us there. I do see what your saying but how long of a contract are we talking 4 years maybe 5 I am good with that.

 

Yes your right and I might me one of the few here that thinks this D is not far off. Like I have been saying and you pointed out get rid of Mitchell and get another ILB and we are pretty close to a solid D imo. Of course we still have to have our coaching staff get the right schemes and calls which I feel is another problem...

 

Because Bell maybe getting unfair treatment from the fans and the media.

 

We can discuss needs until the cows come home. Make no mistake the Steelers are aware of their needs;however, they also look at the big picture. They really seem to value long term investment over immediate needs. They won’t reach for a player at a position of need if a player with more long term value is available.

 

Dont listen to the media and dont just someone when u dont know all details.lol

I promise the media isnt gonna report all the details anyway. You can watch 4 different outlets and get 4 different stories

 

This defense is far from being good let alone great. Most of you want to believe we are a player or two away from another SB. Sorry, but IMO we are far away from another SB. Certainly not in the timeframe of Ben being our QB. Hope I'm wrong, but I don't think so. Just the way I see it.

 

I've got this nagging feeling that we missed a tremendous opportunity this year and that we may be in for some disappointment in the years ahead. I see our offense regressing under Fichtner and Tomlin has exhibited weak leadership by standing pat on the defensive coaching staff. Status quo is not going to cut it when our young players continue to stagnate and our veteran leadership is lacking. Hope I'm wrong, but we blew a golden opportunity this year, another prime Ben year gone by the wayside.

 

If this same offense takes the field next season, I don't see any way they regress without Haley.

 

We'll see how it goes with Ben Fichtner as the OC.

 

Yeah it is gonna be interesting to see if the Steelers feel the same way as us when it comes to our biggest need. ILB or S imo are the biggest needs, as far as corner goes I am not sure. I think in this NFL where passing is key you always have to have as many CB's as you can. However I like what we have right now with Haden, Burns, Sutton and hoping Allen steps up. Does that mean I don't want to improve here heck no but IMO when it comes to needs I have to put DT/NT and OLB up there too.

I feel Hargraves took a step back when he was out there cause he wasn't on the field a lot due to scheme. A good NT/DT will help the ILB and that really showed when Ryan went down.

EDIT: I also want to add TE as a big need. I know many here love Vance and I do as well but his contract is way to rich for us for the amount of production he gets us, 18 rec on the year due to injury scares me.

 

I think the real opportunity was 2 years ago when Manning beat us. The defense was better, the offense was better, no drama like this year.

 

I am one of them people who thinks we are one to two players away. The reason I feel that way is go back and look at the big plays. You will notice very rarely does our CB's get beat, again I said rarely not never. The problem is cinder block Mike, he can never get over the top help, you see it play after play. This is why I feel we are only 2 players away because where I feel the problem is on the D is the coaching. We have a guy who can't read and react we all here see it every week yet they keep calling that D. Here is another example, how about the last game vs the Jagoffs, why are we playing 10 yards off the ball? Make Bortles beat ya deep, man up at the LOS and shut the run down...bad defensive plan.

The problem is not so much the players as it is coaching. What gives me hope is the fact that in the Pats game the coaches did change the way we played them in the past. Now they went back and forth during the game but they did show change and that gives me hope.

To say this D is not good enough to get us to the SB I will agree with only cause right now we have Mitchell and SS/Moats on the field. But you go back with Ryan out there I feel this D is good enough. Throw in the fact that this is the best O in football I feel this team will be a favorite next year. jmo

 

As the year went on I am not sure I have ever seen Ben play any better. If that carries over this team is a threat, our time has not passed. Look what we just did to that so called great D the Jagoffs have. Brady can't play great forever and we have seen some problem there as well and that never use to happen. We are just as good as any team in the AFC, we have shown we can run with both the Jags and Cheats. Just need a tweek or two on the D and we are right there with anyone.