Is the 2012 team officially being blown up?

hey strummer, do you see anywhere in there that i said the sky is falling?

i have listed the facts in black and white, you make your own decision on them. that's what we lost and that's what we kept. we were 8-8 with that production, you show me where we are going to make it up plain and simple.

brown has never caught 8 TD's in a year in the NFL ever. sure he can move to the #1 spot. all these guys can move into other spots, but you have to replace their previous spots too. sanders has never made a full season. can a 36 yo wr increase the production we lost? can cotchery?

sure pope had 1 TD,and thats one more then the guy that may be starting next year had, in fact he's at -2 for us right now. lets not forget the safety off of paulsons arse. sure it's only a single TD, but how many games did we lose by less then that? how many games did we need to win down the stretch to make it to the playoffs? 1 TD would have come in handy.

i'm not even making a statement for keeping pope, just asking where that production is going to come from next year. let's not just dwell on last year because we were only 8-8. we need to think how these new guys are going to make up production from when we were 12-4 to be advancing. can they do that?

sure worilds had 5 sacks last year. can he do it from the left side though? most came from woodleys side. can worilds play up to a healthy jh's seasons and not his 8-8 production year? that's what we are expecting. i'm suprised they haven't signed him to a new contract yet if they are so convienced. they did with brown over wallace. it would be much cheaper now if they are sure he's the new stud at that spot.

how about carter? can he get those 5 sacks in worilds old spot? can he get more then that, because remember we were only 8-8 with that production from worilds last year. can he start and be productive? have 3 of the 4 OLB'ers we kept ever made a full season?

if you don't see there's alot of question marks all through this team right now , you are wearing b&g colored glasses.

sure some of these guys needed to go for various reasons, but it doesn't change the fact that we haven't replaced their production either, and that's in an 8-8 year. i'm not criticizing the team, i'm pointing out we lost alot of production and am wondering where all the better production is going to come from. rookies?

 

this team is not in rebuilding mode. its like they are dabbling their feet in it, but are not fully committed to rebuild. if they were in full rebuild mode than Harrison & Colon wouldnt have been the only casualty. Hampton, Keisel, Starks, Batch, Lefty, Clark and possibly Ike would all be gone. now that would be rebuilding mode.

there are in bandaid mode which is probably worse. they are trying to put bandaids on a bigger issue. this team has a lot of over paid and under performing players on it. they are cash strapped, they have had terrible drafts the last 6 years and pretty much every guy they did draft that was decent is gone.

changes are going to need to happen and they arent happening this year. atleast not yet.

 

Tell me, how many rookies are going to start out of this years draft, losing players because they wont re-sign them means you need to upgrade their vacant position, who is going to replace wallace, harrison, mendenhall, so far no one has been signed,.........

 

All I can say is up to this early point that this offseason has seen the biggest changes so far in at least the last decade and a half. It's apparent that the Rooneys are not at all happy about this last 8-8 season. It still feels to me like they are blowing up this team. Ironically, the only group that really hasn't been touched so far is the O-Line.

 

If we're looking at Brown filling Wallace's shoes then he would need to step down to do that. Brwon was much better than Wallace in 2012. Somebody is going need to step in and fill Wallace's shoes but that player is yet to be known. It won't be Plax or Cotch. It will more than likely come from the draft but will not fill the immediate need at the position.

 

I don't think this offseason is indicative of the Rooneys' disappointment in an 8-8 year as much as it's merely the fruition of what we have all been expecting.

There are ZERO 'surprises' this offseason. Anyone shocked Wallace is gone? No. We all knew Wallace wouldn't be back in '13 the millisecond AB signed his monster deal. Anyone shocked 92 is gone? Nope. We all knew it the second he said he didn't think he'd be back at season's end. Anyone shocked Mendenhall is gone? Nope. I'd say about 80% of the people on here fully expected it and 75% of those people are glad he's gone. Anybody surprised Keenan Lewis is gone? Nope. We all knew the team wasn't going to overspend to meet the ridiculous demands his overblown market value commanded. 100% of the intelligent/big picture people in this fan base don't like that he's gone but embrace the reasons why. And, apparently, we never had a chance. It seems he wanted to go home.

Anybody shocked we haven't made a big splash in free agency? Nope. We know it's not the way we conduct business.

They're not "blowing up this team". They're 'conducting business as usual.' It is a model that has WORKED. Our model has produced better results than ANY of the 31 other business models in our industry over the past half-century. EMBRACE IT!

The off-season isn't over yet. We may well add a Steve Breaston type to the receiving corps (he worked with Haley in AZ). We may well add another linebacker or two for depth. Again, they aren't going to be glamorous additions, but they will be Hartings/Farrior/Kemo/Flozell/Ryan Clark types of guys who we had barely heard of who will probably become productive fixtures in our organization.

And, we'll do what we do in April too. We'll add some guys whose jersey you will be buying in four or five years.

Life is bueno, mi amigo.

 

When thinking of this team I really don't see many really premiere players left except Ben, Troy and maybe Woodley. Ben is in his prime and Troy is on the down side, Wallace is gone and others who were close to prime time aged or left. So what does it mean for the future, a franchice QB with very little support and I find it hard to believe the front office could let that happen but as of now they did. A QB of Bens caliber doesn't come along very often but as of right now they squandered that because of poor planning and bad drafts. I am upset with the front office right now, not the players who left for more money.

 

I'd rather a guy come here and become a household name-no matter if it's FA or the draft. Come to Pittsburgh, play your heart out, and become a steeler fixture.

 

LOL, upset at the FO.

Why?

Because they've produced 2 Super Bowl winners and a runner up in the last 7 years? Those BASTARDS!

They're coming off of a 12-4 season followed by an injury riddled 8-8 one. They've yet to take a snap in 2013 and you're already pissed off? Why not wait until at least midseason? Maybe, just maybe the FO knows exactly what they are doing.

 

I really don't see anything funny about this team right now with so many leaving, the aging defense, Ben with very little help at running back and receivers. Sure I loved the two SB wins and the winning seasons but as of RIGHT now there is very little in the way of premiere players on the roster. THe only way now to have an outstanding season is to have an outstanding draft which could happen but the track record of the last few years doesn't show that. Cheers

 

Eat Love Pray
beans and cornbread

 

+1000

It's OK to care. Remember, these guys are in the entertainment industry.

/diving under an asbestos blanket

 

Agree with this, but Hartings and Farrior were both big, splash FA signings. Not HUGE names, but huge players with huge salaries. Kemo was a draft pick. The other guys are good examples, though.

 

i think you missed my point,the steelers have to live within there budget, what i was hoping they would accomplish
(and the jury is still out) that they would sign some players that may have an upside and can win games for them.
The money they have spent on Foote,Gay, Foster has me puzzled, are there other players out there, that could make a bigger impact
at the same cost as these players. Only time will tell, Lets hope for all Steeler fans that we hit a home run in the draft.WE NEED PLAYMAKERS!

 

Well said.

This off-season was always going to happen - it's what inevitably comes from having a championship calibre team in place who are getting on in age.

 

some thoughts

 

Kemo was a draft pick? Yeah, of the Cincinnati Bengals. He played in Cincy for several years prior to us signing him as an UFA.

Farrior actually left the Jets as being perceived as a bust by their fan base.

I remember not being wowed by any of those signings and, in the end, they all turned out to be great Steelers. Especially Farrior!

 

I think he meant Chris Kemoeatu and you mean Kimo Von Oelhoffen. Kemo was our draft pick. Kimo was a free agent. Maybe that's what he was talking about.

 

Ah! Nice call. Yep. My bad on the spelling too. It surprised me he called me out on that 'cause I know he definitely knows this team's history. That clears that up.

 

LOL. I think I've become the sorta "interpreter" of the board. I'm just a peacemaker I guess.

 

Haha, it also explains why you said he was a productive fixture. Yeah, Kimo turned out to be an awesome pickup once we moved him to DE. I hated him at the time though because he was no good as a nose tackle.