Why the personnel department is the real reason for this debacle

[Steelhere10]

Years Ago the Steelers was on top of their game on drafting, so the strategy was to bypass FA. But the last 4-5 YEARS have been mediocre at best in the draft dpt, So you can't have the same strategy with FA, you have to go and restock your roster in other ways. Now here is a real question? Why did it take an injury to Pouncey before they go out and find Velasco who imo is playing just as good of not better than Pouncey. But their answer to FA is to go out and bring in aging retreads such as Burress, Foote, Gay Spaeth etc.

[papillon]

Years Ago the Steelers was on top of their game on drafting, so the strategy was to bypass FA. But the last 4-5 YEARS have been mediocre at best in the draft dpt, So you can't have the same strategy with FA, you have to go and restock your roster in other ways. Now here is a real question? Why did it take an injury to Pouncey before they go out and find Velasco who imo is playing just as good of not better than Pouncey. But their answer to FA is to go out and bring in aging retreads such as Burress, Foote, Gay Spaeth etc.

The problem is that by the time the Steelers find out that a player isn't quite what they drafted another draft has come and gone and now they have that many more young players to evaluate. The Steelers don't seem willing to accept the fact that they may have missed and missed badly on their premium picks and keep them around hoping they will develop into something other than serviceable backups. Hood, Adams, Worilds, Mendenhall, Sweed, Heyward (maybe, he might still turn into something), etc. There was really no plan at ILB that I can see, Sylvester, Williams, et al, I don't think so. I'm not even sure that Timmons is panning in the fashion that they had hoped, after all, he was originally drafted to play outside, not inside if I remember correctly.

Pappy

[Oviedo]

I think it is a several factors.

1. Ignored the OL for awhile and then did a big blast in draft for two years and hoped everyone would rapidly develop...it isn't working. Need to add to the OL every year for a solid foundation to protect our most important player.
2. Use to have a monopoly on "tweener" DEs who we would convert to OLB. Now over half the teams in the NFL play the 3-4 so the talent pool is being over-fished and we don't have luxury of 2 year development periods.
3. Destroyed the cap by keeping pieces of the defense too long when performance was decreasing plus IMO a bad contract to Woodley who has done nothing since signing it. Offense is more important in today's NFL...it ain't the seventies.

[RussBII]

The problem is that by the time the Steelers find out that a player isn't quite what they drafted another draft has come and gone and now they have that many more young players to evaluate. The Steelers don't seem willing to accept the fact that they may have missed and missed badly on their premium picks and keep them around hoping they will develop into something other than serviceable backups. Hood, Adams, Worilds, Mendenhall, Sweed, Heyward (maybe, he might still turn into something), etc. There was really no plan at ILB that I can see, Sylvester, Williams, et al, I don't think so. I'm not even sure that Timmons is panning in the fashion that they had hoped, after all, he was originally drafted to play outside, not inside if I remember correctly.

Pappy

They might just suck at evaluating OL talent. Sweed was a miss but for weird weird reasons. They've really nailed some WR gems in the past. I think they draft better than most teams except with an eye towards the OL.

[flippy]

Why blame just one thing when we can easily blame everything. Remember how Tomlin put Casey on the PUP one training camp because he was fat and out of shape? I'd like to see him put Adams on the PUP now because he is truly physically unable to perform as a LT.

[Eich]

Why blame just one thing when we can easily blame everything. Remember how Tomlin put Casey on the PUP one training camp because he was fat and out of shape? I'd like to see him put Adams on the PUP now because he is truly physically unable to perform as a LT.

I agree. Probem is... who goes in in Adams' place? But surely they could bring in nearly anyone that would play better. I've never seen anyone stand out in such a bad way on the line.

[steelz09]

I agree. Probem is... who goes in in Adams' place? But surely they could bring in nearly anyone that would play better. I've never seen anyone stand out in such a bad way on the line.

I don't think Tomlin knows what the hell he wants or what he wants to do.... and if he doesn't have that narrowed down, he surely dooesn't have a plan. How many times has he tried to replace Starks and flat out FAILED just to bring Starks back.... Are we going to blame that move on Colbert and not Tomlin? I don't think so.... why? Starks was a Colbert draft pick dating back prior to the Tomlin days. Instead, Starks was replaced by GUY WHIMPER. Huh?

Tomlin's plan was to replace Starks with Jonathan Scott as our future LT. How did that pan out? That's stellar evaluation of your LT. Instead, Starks was brought back to save his @$$ once again.

Up until the early portion of training camp, Gilbert was anticipated to start at LT. How did that pan out? He was replaced by Adams.

Adams has been clearly overmatched at the LT position and most people saw this coming except our coaching staff. How is that possible? Blame the o-line coach, right? That's what the pro-Tomlin people want you to believe but that's not the reality. He hired this o-line coach just like he hired and fired the last one.

The zone blocking scheme was talked up for the majority of the offseason... one player (Pouncey) gets hurt and they abandon it. I'm not saying that was a bad move but my point is..... WHAT IN THE HELL IS THE LONG TERM PLAN? The pro-Tomlin people said they got rid of Starks because of the need for more athletic o-lineman. Really? Clearly that's not the case but that was just more excuses. 1 player gets hurt and they abandon it anyway.

[Notleadpoisoned]

The standard is the standard.

[feltdizz]

I don't think Tomlin knows what the hell he wants or what he wants to do.... and if he doesn't have that narrowed down, he surely dooesn't have a plan. How many times has he tried to replace Starks and flat out FAILED just to bring Starks back.... Are we going to blame that move on Colbert and not Tomlin? I don't think so.... why? Starks was a Colbert draft pick dating back prior to the Tomlin days. Instead, Starks was replaced by GUY WHIMPER. Huh?

Tomlin's plan was to replace Starks with Jonathan Scott as our future LT. How did that pan out? That's stellar evaluation of your LT. Instead, Starks was brought back to save his @$$ once again.

Up until the early portion of training camp, Gilbert was anticipated to start at LT. How did that pan out? He was replaced by Adams.

Adams has been clearly overmatched at the LT position and most people saw this coming except our coaching staff. How is that possible? Blame the o-line coach, right? That's what the pro-Tomlin people want you to believe but that's not the reality. He hired this o-line coach just like he hired and fired the last one.

The zone blocking scheme was talked up for the majority of the offseason... one player (Pouncey) gets hurt and they abandon it. I'm not saying that was a bad move but my point is..... WHAT IN THE HELL IS THE LONG TERM PLAN? The pro-Tomlin people said they got rid of Starks because of the need for more athletic o-lineman. Really? Clearly that's not the case but that was just more excuses. 1 player gets hurt and they abandon it anyway.

As crazy as it sounds I'm not ready to give up on Adams... especially after seeing him get abused by J. Allen in England after arriving on Friday.

The real issue is the lack of help when it was obvious he couldn't handle him 1 on 1. We should have ran at Allen ALL DAY... chipped him the whole second half. Kept a RB in just to help.. we did none of those things and that is the real issue.

As far as Starks is concerned.. he sucks but even if he is better than Adams we weren't bringing him back because we can't afford him. It's obvious this team has money problems and we are signing the cheapest of the cheap.

[Steelhere10]

Tomlin should get plenty of blame also, his game time deactivation is beyond puzzling. Moye gives you the red zone target that you need, scores from it and then is rewarded with game time deactivation.

[Steelhere10]

But at the same time if anyone think the answer to LT is on the bench or on this team period is fooling themselves.

[Shawn]

They have hit on some recent picks, and missed on some. I'm not sure they have missed at any greater numbers recently than any other years. I think a few things have happened.

1) Lost many key vets in a very short period of time. Leadership void.
2) Missed on high picks of similar position...ie OL.
3) I also think Tomlin has been finally exposed. He inherited much leadership and old school Steeler mentality. But, when his leaders left he didn't find a way to continue that tradition and mentality.
4) Lebeau has been a great coach, but I think his schemes are stale. We need a new young D minded guy to shake things up.

[steelz09]

As crazy as it sounds I'm not ready to give up on Adams... especially after seeing him get abused by J. Allen in England after arriving on Friday.

The real issue is the lack of help when it was obvious he couldn't handle him 1 on 1. We should have ran at Allen ALL DAY... chipped him the whole second half. Kept a RB in just to help.. we did none of those things and that is the real issue.

As far as Starks is concerned.. he sucks but even if he is better than Adams we weren't bringing him back because we can't afford him. It's obvious this team has money problems and we are signing the cheapest of the cheap.

That's not accurate at all. #1 - He was cheaper than Guy Whimper. We willingly chose to sign the worst tackle in the league instead of a player that performed decent last year at LT. The standard is the standard.

[feltdizz]

That's not accurate at all. #1 - He was cheaper than Guy Whimper. We willingly chose to sign the worst tackle in the league instead of a player that performed decent last year at LT. The standard is the standard.

if he was cheaper than Whimper then I agree... should have kept him. Maybe this is all part of the Ben 2.0.. get rid of all his friends and weapons so they can rebuild him into their liking.

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

Cheaper than Whimper, but by looking at his 2013 NFL career, still overpriced.

Fired by the Steelers ... Fired by the Bolts ... and did I just hear he was benched by the Rams this weekend?

Adams is our weak link, but I don't think Starks would have been any better, based on 2 other HC evaluations this year.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Maybe Max plays better for Ben plays better for Max.

[skyhawk]

He was certainly solid last season. Gave up only 1-2 sacks all season? He's all of a sudden that bad? Wonder what happened :(

[squidkid]

hmmm, last 4-5 years, what could it be, what could it be?

[steelz09]

Even in preseason, Ben looked extremely uncomfortable in the pocket and he doesn't trust his LT which is obviously a big problem. Ben has always been an advocate of Starks and he trusted Starks protecting his blind side. The bottom line is the guy could have been brought back for CHEAP especially after the Chargers cut him. At a minimum, that would have been a solid insurance policy incase injuries happen. Having 1 guy backup all positions & another guy that is ill-prepared to play doesn't seem like a solid strategy for a game day roster when this team has a history of injuries and poor play on the o-line..

[Steelhere10]

hmmm, last 4-5 years, what could it be, what could it be?
One thing I give Cowher credit for is finding talent to stock his roster , but with that said he still was the biggest choker with talent that ever have coached for the Steelers.

[squidkid]

One thing I give Cowher credit for is finding talent to stock his roster , but with that said he still was the biggest choker with talent that ever have coached for the Steelers.


give it time and tomlin will surely surpass him. cant wait to see tomlins steelers once ben leaves/retires and tomlin has to 'lead' this team with a mediocre qb.

[Shoe]

Cheaper than Whimper, but by looking at his 2013 NFL career, still overpriced.

Fired by the Steelers ... Fired by the Bolts ... and did I just hear he was benched by the Rams this weekend?

Adams is our weak link, but I don't think Starks would have been any better, based on 2 other HC evaluations this year.

THANK YOU SAS! When Max was here last year, the O-line was a sieve. If we still had him today, we'd still be a sieve. Arguing about Adams vs. Starks is arguing about a silent smelly fart, and a loud smelly fart.

Either way, they both stink.

[steelz09]

Enough said... you would rather have Whimper as your backup LT than Starks. That's your opinion and thats fine. If I had to choose, I'll take Starks over Whimper.

[Steelhere10]

give it time and tomlin will surely surpass him. cant wait to see tomlins steelers once ben leaves/retires and tomlin has to 'lead' this team with a mediocre qb.He haven't even had one losing season yet but I'm glad you can point that out after what 8-9 years too funny.