Perspective......

September 11, 2010 the Steelers got embarrassed on the road at Baltimore 35-7. They got completely DOMINATED in that game.

September 11, 2014 the Steelers again get embarrassed on the road by Baltimore.

The Steelers ended the 2010 season at 12-4 and lost in the Super Bowl.

While I don't believe that this is a potential Super Bowl year for this team, it is only 1 game. Bad games happen. They do not END your season, they simply are a game. The team last night looked like a team with 3 rookies at skill positions on offense trying to adjust to the intensity of that type of game. The defense showed all the mistakes we have to anticipate from such a young defense.

My largest concern last night was NOT the mental mistakes it was the times they were physically overmatched. Times they got run over. Last night was not entirely about scheme, it was about our mistakes and continually giving away momentum. It was sad.

 

Good luck with this thread, chap!

But I agree completely with your assessment of the game.

 

Small correction - that was the year they actually got bounced by the Broncos and Tebow. The year prior they went to the SB with Ben missing the first 4 games due to his suspension and they won 3 of those 4 games.

I think the thing to be concerned about where we may be mediocre, i.e. 8-8 or worse like 6-10, is that the team you referenced still had enough vets like Farrior, Hampton, Harrison, etc. who though not as dominant on defense, still knew what they were doing. The concern right now is this defense looks absolutely lost, deer in headlights. The Ravens are not an offensive juggernaut, either is Cleveland. That means you need to have an offense that can carry a team and a defense that maybe contributes through turnovers, splash plays here and there. The problem is the Steelers offense just never seems very prepared to carry a team...there are flashes, but just way too much inconsistency.

But I hope you are right and to throw the season out after one bad game would be foolish. That team that did get blown out by the Ravens did go 12-4 and until Ben's and few other late injuries was beginning to look like they may challenge for a SB again.

 

True enough - though I seem to remember at the time there were still "Farrior's too slow", "Hampton's too fat", "Lebeau should retire", etc. etc. Very similar to what we're seeing now.

Which is not to say that now is the same situation. But we do need to wait a few more games before condemning the season as lost.

 

It was 2011 when we got throttled by the ravens on opening day. We went 12-4 in 11 and got Tebowed in the wild card game. It's been a struggle ever since. I seem to recall that during the 2011 season we had a pretty easy schedule and managed to merely squeak by some pretty bad teams. The year we lost the Super Bowl vs GB we split the season with Baltimore. The rats beat us early in the season when Ben was suspended but we beat them on the road later in the season and also beat them in the playoffs.

 

I'll admit, I was saying Farrior was too slow, Hampton too fat. One of my biggest problems with the way the Steelers have managed their defense is they tried to hold onto to too many players too long all in the need of keeping that vaunted D together. But w/FA, the salary cap, etc. you can't take that approach. It is just too expensive. It wasn't that I thought that Hampton sucked, it was that I thought paying him a pretty penny wasn't really worth it. And I am one of those who actually think McLendon is pretty good, not awesome, but a competent pro - I think he actually graded out pretty well last night on some pro football sites and SteelerDepot. The thing with the defense now is so many guys are only 1-2 years in along with guys like Timmons taking on a new role that they look really really lost.

My biggest hope is that this defense is going to be a lot better games 9-16 as opposed to games 1-8, but that means the offense really needs to show up and the defense needs to make some plays on defense to contribute. The schedule through the middle of the season isn't that bad, Tampa Bay, Jax, Cleveland, Houston should all be winnable games if they play well. After tonight though that is a pretty big IF.

 

Completely different teams between 2010 and 2014.

Stats are fun, for instance the Steelers have been outscored in the last 6 quarters 50 something to 9. My eyeballs tell me this a bad football team that has slowly decayed under the watch of the Tomlin/Colbert regime.

 

Cowher went through the same thing in 1998-2000 as did Noll in the 80's.

 

Thanks for the history lesson glenn, well aware, different eras. Eyeball test.

 

No problem, glad I was able to help !

 

It WAS just "one game" but I think the reason for all the doom and gloom was that it seemed to be a microcosm of things that have been nagging this team for literally years. This team was having trouble with the run BEFORE we got the younger guys out there and before they were even in the league actually. Ask Terrelle Pryor. Also we used to almost always take away the "big play" but now it just seems to always be there for the taking. As a matter of fact, last year after the embarrassment of losing to the vikes one journalist wrote of watching Tomlin lean against the wall outside the locker room and say to Mr. Rooney in a deflated fashion "all those big plays". That also can't be blamed on the youth movement. It was like last night was almost a collective "moment of clarity" or something. There were some really level headed folks seeming to feel that all was lost. I think the reason for that is because people are just sick of seeing the same thing over and over again with no hope in sight. Just my two cents anyway.

 

Seems some people need to be careful what they wish for because they just may get it. Steelers have purged the older defensive guys for the most part and put in the young guys. Well, they are making mistakes, both mentally and fundamentally. We need to accept this on defense and allow them to mature under the gun. Of fence is another story. We have a veteran web leader, a great TE, a RB showing signs of being really good. A playmaker at WR and a young #2 who is looking like he is developing well. We have a couple 1st rounders anchoring the line. This unit needs to produce. Gilbert was an embarrassment yesterday, getting destroyed by a LB.

 

Cowher's 2000 team was pretty good, after an 0-3 start. That team finished 9-7 and should have made the playoffs. I think we all remember the Eagles' "multiple onside kicks" game.

 

Cowher also is only 1 of 2 coaches to go to the playoffs his first 6 years in a row as head coach, and he averaged 10 wins a season for 15 years, he at least had a better eye for talent on defense than we have been getting from tomlin, once cowhers players were gone this defense was gone....

 

It's funny what people think of as why we didn't get in the playoffs last year. It just shows that there are multiple reasons. I still think back to the day when AB stepped out of bounds. If we win that game we are in regardless of what happens in the KC game. However, if the refs hadn't screwed up we would have been in that way too. It's just weird how we sorta "put our finger" on different things. We had multiple opportunities to get in and didn't.

 

The thing about the whole "young vs old" debate for me is not a totally secure argument. I mean there are OLD guys missing tackles too. There are old guys getting penalties too.(Ike anyone?) I'm just saying our veterans aren't setting a very good example for the young guys when it comes to disciplined and smart play. It would be hard for Ike to "coach someone up" when he is as much of a liability as some of the younger guys with the way he is playing lately. There is just as much poor play from the vets as there are from the noobs I think.

 

Yeah it was basically the "last straw" in that KC game. It's just interesting the way we all have different perspectives that all lead to the same conclusion. It's like when you see different "eyewitnesses" being interviewed on the news they basically say the same thing but some just reach their conclusions a bit differently. I bet there are others on here that would have other moments that they would point to as the "moment" that is responsible for us not reaching the tourney last year.

 

Yeah OR not winning in the preseason!!! LOL!!!! AM I EVIL??? YES I AM!!!

 

An evil preacher?

 

So what, in 15 years he only won one Super Bowl.

 

The game against the Ravens went bad, obviously. The Steelers had:

Zero TDs
Zero Sacks
Zero Forced TOs

That never happened under Cowher, even his last year or Noll, even in his last years. All years, coaches, and players combined and this has never happened in my lifetime until that Thursday night.