It's still lack of leadership in the locker room!

Think about it. The only thing they could come up with in a vets meeting was no games for non-vets?

Come on now!

How about player called extra film study? Practices? Earlier/later times for practices (player driven, with no coaches involved of course) Voodoo hex curse lifting sessions?

 

The vets on this team are a major reason this team is tanking. What leadership? I see no leaders.

 

... Now we are finally starting to get somewhere, that's at least 50% of it; of course the other 50% resides in the coaches laps. :thumbsup:

 

No team chemistry. It shows itself each and every Sunday.

 

I was just getting ready to start a thread about the lack of veteran leadership on the team and you beat me to it, Lizard. But the fact is, we have no vetaran leadership on this team. I know I put the bulk of the blame on Tomlin because he's the head coach, but he's getting absolutely ZERO help from the veterans who are suppoed to be leaders on and off the field.

Think about it, Tomlin was fine as long as he had a stable of veteran leaders. When you have guys like Hines Ward, Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton, James Farrior, Chris Hoke, Larry Foote and others who are proven leaders, that takes a lot of pressure off of the head coach. When you lose guys like this and then the other perceived leaders on the team fail to step up, all of the deficiencies of an ordinary head coach are suddenly revealed. That's what's happening in Pittsburgh right now. No veteran leadership + average head coach = disastrous season.

Think about some of the leaders on the team. It starts with Ben. Ben has really NEVER been perceived as a leader on this football team by most of the players. Ben's a tough guy and that's great. He's gritty and he plays hurt and that's great. But he's never been perceived as a leader. I'm not so sure that some of that doesn't have to do with the way he conducted himself off the field earlier in his career. I could be off base there but that's a theory I have. I think his lack of leadership was revealed last year when Haley was brought in as the OC. Ben made a lot of comments that undermined the credibility of Haley. I would describe him as passive-aggressive with some of the comments he made which really showed me that he was still immature in a lot of ways. Ben knew what he was doing there, no doubt in my mind. That type of behavior doesn't demonstrate leadership. Getting on board with the program and challenging the other players on the team to follow him in that would have gone a long way toward establishing Ben as the leader of this offense.

Think about the other veterans on the team. Ryan Clark is more interested in his post-football career as an ESPN analyst than he is mentoring Shamarko Thomas right now. Troy is not the kind of fiery leader a defense needs and has his Head & Shoulders empire to worry about. Kiesel is enjoying his "Da Beard" personna and has not been able to step into the leadership gap vacated by Aaron Smith, Casey Hampton and Chris Hoke. Heath is a blue collar, hard-working guy that I wouldn't trade for anybody but again, he's a quiet and laid back personality that's not going to get in somebody's face and tell them they've got to step it up (can you say David Paulson?). Emmanuel Sanders is still talking about how good it made him feel that the Pats made him an offer in the off-season and nobody is going to mistake Brown for Hines Ward.

I've been very critical of Mike Tomlin and I think he deserves it, but there is a MAJOR leadership void on this team right now and that is a scary thought. If the current group of veterans can't provide leadership to these young guys and they are "obviously" not being coached up, this could be a 5-7 year rebuilding mode. It may be the 80s all over again.

 

Great post Jack. As much of the blame that falls on the coaches equally falls on the players. You have to have leaders on your team and leaders is what this team lacks. Sure it doesn't look like the coaches have this team prepared at all week to week. But why can' these guys get themselves ready? How much are these guys making to play football? If you can't motivate yourself week in and week out you shouldn't be in the league.

 

i found this comment that sum it up what i think :


Coach Cliche got credit for things that had nothing to do with him. He went to the Super Bowl with a team that The Jaw drafted, coached and built. It had LEADERS. The Jaw did not have a franchise QB until his final three seasons and he went 15-1, won a Super Bowl and then went 8-8 with a Super Bowl hangover and a dying wife.

Coach Cliche has proven himself to be lacking in talent evaluation, coaching, game planning, TEACHING, disciplining, plugging holes, overcoming injuries, finding leaders, managing the clock and making in game adjustments.

How many of his assistants have been poached by other teams? How many of the Jaw's assistants were poached? At least one every year.

Coach Cliche has lost this team. They don't fear and respect him like Noll and Cowher w...ere feared and respected. He is their "pal" and they walk all over him. Sure, the marginal players say the right things but the prima donnas know that Coach Cliche is all bark and no bite.

I would evaluate how he manages the rest of this season. If he does not turn it around in the motivation and discipline department, pink slip him

 

Not drected at you Freak, since you were quoting someone else.

But I wish just one damn time that someone brings up Cowher's 2006 8-8 record, they'd also mention that was the year Big Ben was coming of off his off-season near-death motorcycle accident and also had his related emergency appendectomy surgery the season.

 

I think it is several items. Lack of veteran leadership, lack of team chemistry, huge amount of turnover and growing pains with unproven young players. Also I think it is lack of development in terms of coaching, and a lack of direction in terms of philosophy. I am thinking we could have a very potent 4-3 defense. Move Heyward and Woodley to DE with Keisel, Hood, and McClendon at DT. Then you have Jones, Worilds, Timmons and Williams as your linebackers. Our secondary would be Ike, Allen and Gay at CB and then Troy, Clark and Thomas at S. I wonder how we would fare in a different scheme.

It is almost a perfect storm. The problem is I am fearful this storm could last several years.