And if he'd just remained calm, someone would have complained that he didn't have enough passion for the game....I'd rather focus on what he does, or doesn't do, on the field. He can bounce back from this. The next few games will show us a lot about his character, IMO.
Sanders bounced back later in the game... I thought he had a catch on the TD drive? I was upset with him to and when they showed him on the bench the bar was livid with him but they were cheering a few possessions later.
It's football, he made a huge mistake and was upset... not sure what you want the guy to do. He can't do a superman and reverse time.
Rashard Mendenhall just strikes me as too nonchalant. I see no fire in him. I remember watching the Patriots/Broncos game earlier this season, and after Willis McGahee lost a late fumble when the Broncos were trying to rally, he was sitting on the sideline rocking back and forth, and I saw him say, "I ****ed up." He looked like he wanted to get back in there and redeem himself. Whenever Mendenhall makes a bonehead play, I just see him sitting on the sidelines with his arms folded, staring off into the sky, and often without anybody else around him.
Pittsburgh, PA: City of Champions.
Steeler teams featuring stat-driven, me-first, fantasy-football-darling diva types such as Antonio Brown & Le'Veon Bell won no championships.
Super Bowl winning Steeler teams were built around a dynamic, in-your-face defense plus blue-collar, hard-hitting, no-nonsense football players on offense such as Hines Ward & Jerome Bettis.
We don't want Juju & Conner to replace what we lost in Brown & Bell.
We are counting on Juju & Conner to return us to the glory we once had with Hines & The Bus.
While I certainly wouldn't expect Mendenhall to be jumping for joy on the sidelines (who would after being benched?), you might expect him to at least show some interest in the game.
DO any of you even recall Mendenhall being benched in his rookie season? That one supposedly stemmed from an attitude adjustment. Mendenhall has some doghouse history with Tomlin, so I don't see the Steelers opening their wallet too wide for him next season. I have said it many times before, but at his current level of play he is an average NFL RB that can be replaced very easily by FA or draft.
I didn't remember it was his rookie season, but I do remember that, and I think I also remember he had an almost monster game the week after that and we all said, "He learned his lesson".
I don't much care how he looks on the sideline, it's not drama class. Troy or Batch rarely look hyped up on the sideline either. If he can produce, great, if not, well there's ways for dealing with that as well.
Crazy thing is, I can't quite decide how I feel about RM's skills. It seemed like he always got the short end of the "Our O-line comes from the Swiss cheese factory" situation we have had for, well, forever. Then I thought he was running with much more of a purpose this year after his injury. Sometimes he runs so well. If anything I'm leaning towards the opinion that he's got speed, but not such great RB "vision".
I wonder if he'll play this week? And if he does, will he have two hands on the ball at all times? Or if 1-hand for a few moments, will it be at least the "4-point" grasp of the football?
We got our "6-PACK" - time to work on a CASE!
HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO!
He's definitely not a leader. He just doesn't exude any good vibes from what I've seen. No, he doesn't have to do cartwheels on the sideline, cheer leading, but if you have been on any sports teams, or, hell, even playing backyard football, you know if you are a "normal" teammate, you get pumped up when your team scores or makes a play. That dude always just sits and stares with his Jesus-doll-from-movie "Carrie" eyes instead. I would say it's safe to say he said something showing poor tude after the Browns game. He just doesn't give a crap.
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