the season in a nutshell

[Starlifter]

you know, after today i was mostly frustrated because I think in general - we can probably agree 6-7 of those 8 losses were self-induced. The last 3 minutes of todays game was an accurate synopsis of our entire season. I can't ever remember watching a steeler team literally hand victory to the opposition. several times. yet, I have to admit as much as this season was about missed opportunities - I would probably feel worse if we had simply been outplayed in all those games. Make no mistake, we handed victory to oakland, tennessee, cleveland and of course cincy today. Yet are we a complete rebuild or is it still perhaps another tweaking? i think it's probably the latter.

still, let's take a look at the problems that will need resolved.

we have a #1 defense except for the last 5 minutes of a game
we have (arguably) the best corp of young receivers in the game - yet they can't hold onto/catch the ball
we have been drafting O-linemen like crazy - but we can't keep enough healthy to have them gel into a unit.
we have a rookie punter who routinely bombs 60 yarders when he's trying to pin the opposition, and 30 yarders when kicking out of our end zone.
the team MVP this year will likely be suisam. how would that have sounded back in sept? and while that's not a problem - it's a total indictment for the rest of the team.
our young DLmen haven't stepped up and taken the jobs we drafted them for.
we rarely get pressure, rarely get sacks and for the last few years have been at the bottom of the league in turnover ratio.

here's the good.

we have a sound organization that will not overreact like we are and will in all likelihood rebound next year.
we have a HOF quarterback
the running backs are solid if not spectacular.
the injuries in the O-line resulted in mucho quality playing time for many rookies.

there are not many bright spots on the defense. a longer off season should help troy continue to heal - but does anyone really think we get 16 games out of him anymore? ryan clark had a very strong year. Timmons as well in my opinion. Larry foote played solid but let's be honest - he's not the long-term solution. harrison was just starting to get back to form. I think he still has 1 or 2 good years left. Is dick lebeau still a genius? still a master of the zone blitz? it sure seems like the league has figured him out. it's simple, spread us out - run 10 yard out patterns for high percentage gains and wait for the LB on the TE mismatch for the big play. serious work to be done for sure. does it start with a new DC? I kinda feel like the offense can get it's act together. Can we afford to wait a year or two while we shuffle personnel and scheme on defense?

ultimately, this season has been no fun at all. each week was frustrating, even the games we won. football is over, we got no hockey and we're staring into the fiscal abyss.

where are the mayans when we need them......

[SDSteel1]

We have a HOF QB?? He singlehandedly lost the last 2 games. We lost today because the only guy who didn't seem to realize it was a playoff game was your HOF QB. The season in a nutshell came down to Ben sucking.

[lloydroid]

We have a HOF QB?? He singlehandedly lost the last 2 games. We lost today because the only guy who didn't seem to realize it was a playoff game was your HOF QB. The season in a nutshell came down to Ben sucking.

I agree with this. Ben is living on a reputation that no longer matches reality. He is supposed to be clutch and instead he is garbage when we need him most. Take away his sloppy, bone head plays, and we win this game. I am sick of his sloppy BS. And then add in Tomlin's sloppy decision making (who makes a 56-yarder at Heinz, but the head coach isn't aware of it?) and you have the recipe for many losses. It's really broken at this point. Art better roll up his sleeves and get to work.

[Chadman]

I agree with this. Ben is living on a reputation that no longer matches reality. He is supposed to be clutch and instead he is garbage when we need him most. Take away his sloppy, bone head plays, and we win this game. I am sick of his sloppy BS. And then add in Tomlin's sloppy decision making (who makes a 56-yarder at Heinz, but the head coach isn't aware of it?) and you have the recipe for many losses. It's really broken at this point. Art better roll up his sleeves and get to work.

With all due respect- this is rubbish. Ben was going great before he got seriously hurt. When neither Batch or Leftwich instilled a great degree of confidence, Ben was rushed back in to start (as is what always seems to happen) & has looked out of sorts since then. Do we totally disregard the beginning of the year to emphasis your argument?

Of course, as Ben was doing great, the Defense was struggling. Now that the defense is playing well, Ben is struggling. It's been one of those sorts of years.

For all the 'blame' Ben deserves for his subpar games since his return- it's still the 8 fumble game & Brown's double-fumble brain meltdown that cost the Steelers 2 wins since Ben's return. You take away Brown's return-fumble & the Steelers beat the Cowboys. You take away the 8 fumbles vs the Browns, and you don't lose by 6 points.

You put 2 wins in the Steelers column, and how do the playoffs look?

[papillon]

With all due respect- this is rubbish. Ben was going great before he got seriously hurt. When neither Batch or Leftwich instilled a great degree of confidence, Ben was rushed back in to start (as is what always seems to happen) & has looked out of sorts since then. Do we totally disregard the beginning of the year to emphasis your argument?

Of course, as Ben was doing great, the Defense was struggling. Now that the defense is playing well, Ben is struggling. It's been one of those sorts of years.

For all the 'blame' Ben deserves for his subpar games since his return- it's still the 8 fumble game & Brown's double-fumble brain meltdown that cost the Steelers 2 wins since Ben's return. You take away Brown's return-fumble & the Steelers beat the Cowboys. You take away the 8 fumbles vs the Browns, and you don't lose by 6 points.

You put 2 wins in the Steelers column, and how do the playoffs look?

There's no use trying to convince those that believe Ben is nothing more than an average quarterback playing behind a great defense for the past 9 years as anything different, it's futile. This year alone through week 9 the media, fans and pundits had Ben in the MVP race and then the freak injury on what appeared to be an innocuous type tackle and the season spiraled out of control. If anything, it proves Ben's worth to the team rather than his lack of ability.

The same with the defense, now its not good enough to simply hold the other team to miniscule numbers of points, but they should be putting points on the board as the #1 defense in the NFL. If you're expecting points from the defense then you're admitting the offense has issues. The defense's job is to get the ball back to the offense without allowing points and regardless of where that puts the ball it then becomes the offense's job to score the points. Hoping for a pick 6, strip sack and score, blocked punt and score, etc is folly; stop the opponent from scoring and put your offense on the field, that's the goal. It's nice when that happens at midfield or in positive territory, but it shouldn't be a requirement of a good defense and that's what the Steelers had a good defense.

Some fans lose their marbles when things go south, fire Tomlin, Lebeau is old, Haley is an idiot (same fans that wanted Arians gone, now want Haley run out of town on a rail), Kugler gets the offensive linemen injured, etc, etc its the same old lament. Fortunately, the Steeler front office is smarter than all of us and hold the ship steady during these types of years which are far and few between.

Pappy

[Starlifter]

I don't disagree that ben has played horribly since his return from injury. the question is, does he suck or did he simply have a very very bad stretch of football? I'm going with the latter. He's played too good for too long to suddenly become a bad QB. he's got one year in with haley. they may not like each other, but 8-8 or 7-9 will probably motivate the both of them to figure out how to be productive.

ben IS a HOF QB.

now if you want to know the reason he's been so bad? I blame his baby. he's probably averaging 4 hours of sleep a night.......

[SDSteel1]

I don't disagree that ben has played horribly since his return from injury. the question is, does he suck or did he simply have a very very bad stretch of football? I'm going with the latter. He's played too good for too long to suddenly become a bad QB. he's got one year in with haley. they may not like each other, but 8-8 or 7-9 will probably motivate the both of them to figure out how to be productive.

ben IS a HOF QB.

now if you want to know the reason he's been so bad? I blame his baby. he's probably averaging 4 hours of sleep a night.......

I don't think Ben just turned bad, but he went back to the bad habits instead of playing within the system like he did prior to the games he took off. But if it's an attitude problem and not wanting to play within Haileys system then it's something that ain't gonna get better until someone gets his head right. Today's loss fell 100% on him.

[Oviedo]

you know, after today i was mostly frustrated because I think in general - we can probably agree 6-7 of those 8 losses were self-induced. The last 3 minutes of todays game was an accurate synopsis of our entire season. I can't ever remember watching a steeler team literally hand victory to the opposition. several times. yet, I have to admit as much as this season was about missed opportunities - I would probably feel worse if we had simply been outplayed in all those games. Make no mistake, we handed victory to oakland, tennessee, cleveland and of course cincy today. Yet are we a complete rebuild or is it still perhaps another tweaking? i think it's probably the latter.

still, let's take a look at the problems that will need resolved.

we have a #1 defense except for the last 5 minutes of a game
we have (arguably) the best corp of young receivers in the game - yet they can't hold onto/catch the ball
we have been drafting O-linemen like crazy - but we can't keep enough healthy to have them gel into a unit.
we have a rookie punter who routinely bombs 60 yarders when he's trying to pin the opposition, and 30 yarders when kicking out of our end zone.
the team MVP this year will likely be suisam. how would that have sounded back in sept? and while that's not a problem - it's a total indictment for the rest of the team.
our young DLmen haven't stepped up and taken the jobs we drafted them for.
we rarely get pressure, rarely get sacks and for the last few years have been at the bottom of the league in turnover ratio.

here's the good.

we have a sound organization that will not overreact like we are and will in all likelihood rebound next year.
we have a HOF quarterback
the running backs are solid if not spectacular.
the injuries in the O-line resulted in mucho quality playing time for many rookies.

there are not many bright spots on the defense. a longer off season should help troy continue to heal - but does anyone really think we get 16 games out of him anymore? ryan clark had a very strong year. Timmons as well in my opinion. Larry foote played solid but let's be honest - he's not the long-term solution. harrison was just starting to get back to form. I think he still has 1 or 2 good years left. Is dick lebeau still a genius? still a master of the zone blitz? it sure seems like the league has figured him out. it's simple, spread us out - run 10 yard out patterns for high percentage gains and wait for the LB on the TE mismatch for the big play. serious work to be done for sure. does it start with a new DC? I kinda feel like the offense can get it's act together. Can we afford to wait a year or two while we shuffle personnel and scheme on defense?

ultimately, this season has been no fun at all. each week was frustrating, even the games we won. football is over, we got no hockey and we're staring into the fiscal abyss.

where are the mayans when we need them......

We don't have a top defense. Even Phil Simms said before the game we have a ranking but it isn't a defense that makes game changing plays. His words, but exactly what I have been saying.

You are right--it is time to go a different direction on defense. As you correctly stated, the league knows how to beat LeBeau. This league is all about attacking the QB every play, every down. Not freaking rushing three players against 5 or 6. We saw yesterday how a defensive line can play when the four DL are committed to going after the QB and not screwing around scheming and trying to fool people when they just fool themselves. We also saw a large number of rookies and first year players contributing in the Bumgals defense because they didn't have to spend three years learning the system. Just move them into the positions they have always played and let them go.

Put Woodley at DE because he can't play OLB without getting hurt and give him one mission, get the QB. If we don't change this defense we will continue a third year trend with the worst sack totals in decades.

[NorthCoast]

We don't have a top defense. Even Phil Simms said before the game we have a ranking but it isn't a defense that makes game changing plays. His words, but exactly what I have been saying.

You are right--it is time to go a different direction on defense. As you correctly stated, the league knows how to beat LeBeau. This league is all about attacking the QB every play, every down. Not freaking rushing three players against 5 or 6. We saw yesterday how a defensive line can play when the four DL are committed to going after the QB and not screwing around scheming and trying to fool people when they just fool themselves. We also saw a large number of rookies and first year players contributing in the Bumgals defense because they didn't have to spend three years learning the system. Just move them into the positions they have always played and let them go.

Put Woodley at DE because he can't play OLB without getting hurt and give him one mission, get the QB. If we don't change this defense we will continue a third year trend with the worst sack totals in decades.

The defense was good enough to have a winning season. Last I checked this defense held the #12 scoring offense to two field goals. The offense?.... bleh, that's the only place to find true fault.

[lloydroid]

We don't have a top defense. Even Phil Simms said before the game we have a ranking but it isn't a defense that makes game changing plays. His words, but exactly what I have been saying.

You are right--it is time to go a different direction on defense. As you correctly stated, the league knows how to beat LeBeau. This league is all about attacking the QB every play, every down. Not freaking rushing three players against 5 or 6. We saw yesterday how a defensive line can play when the four DL are committed to going after the QB and not screwing around scheming and trying to fool people when they just fool themselves. We also saw a large number of rookies and first year players contributing in the Bumgals defense because they didn't have to spend three years learning the system. Just move them into the positions they have always played and let them go.

Put Woodley at DE because he can't play OLB without getting hurt and give him one mission, get the QB. If we don't change this defense we will continue a third year trend with the worst sack totals in decades.

I agree with these points and it's getting depressing. The "tricky" crap is over. The waiting 3 years before a player can product on the field is moronic at this point. So much wasted talent on this team, because it is being mis-managed. Depressing