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Thread: LeBeau thought we could of won the Super Bowl

  1. #1
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    LeBeau thought we could of won the Super Bowl

    By Alan Robinson

    Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2013, 12:01 a.m.
    Updated 7 hours ago

    What still bothers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau about the Steelers' season of unfulfilled expectations is that he is convinced they — rather than the rival Baltimore Ravens — could have won the Super Bowl.

    The Steelers went 8-8 and missed the playoffs, yet LeBeau believes there was little to no difference between them and the team that displays the Lombardi Trophy.

    “Do I feel we could have done the same thing they did? I do. I do,” LeBeau told the Tribune-Review on Tuesday. “It didn't break that way.”

    Watching the Super Bowl two weeks ago was a bit difficult for the 75-year-old LeBeau because, he said, “It hurts to see the Ravens win anything.”

    Still, LeBeau was effusive in his praise for the Ravens, citing their back-to-back road wins at AFC No. 1-seeded Denver and No. 2-seeded New England ahead of their Super Bowl upset of the 49ers.

    However, LeBeau wonders if the injury situations had been reversed — for example, Ray Lewis doesn't come back to the Ravens but Ben Roethlisberger makes a quick and effective return from his injury — if the Steelers might not have won a third Super Bowl since the 2005 season.

    “They got the right people back at the right time, and we continued to have more injuries, it seemed like,” LeBeau said. “Many times that decides it.”

    The Ravens (10-6) and Steelers played a pair of three-point games during the season, each winning on the other's home field. The Steelers were without Roethlisberger for both games, with Byron Leftwich playing during the 13-10 loss to Baltimore on Nov. 18 and Charlie Batch leading the Steelers to a 23-20 win in Baltimore on Dec. 2.

    “Can I say with a certain amount of credence we can compete with Baltimore day-in and day-out? I know it and I can say it,” LeBeau said. “We didn't have Ben in either one of those games. I know we're a better team with Ben because he's a great player, and that's not a knock on Charlie or Byron. Ben's our No. 1 quarterback, and we didn't have him.”

    The Steelers' defense finished No. 1 statistically for the second straight season and the third time since 2008 despite being without star safety Troy Polamalu for a majority of the season or a healthy linebacker James Harrison for most of it.

    But while Polamalu sat out nine consecutive games and an injured knee all but wiped out his 2009 season, LeBeau is convinced that Polamalu's career isn't close to being over. Polamalu turns 32 in April.

    Polamalu played as effectively as ever once he returned late in the season, LeBeau said. As a result, LeBeau is hopeful Polamalu can play at such a level — and for full seasons — for “several more years.”

    “He has a lot of tremendous football talent still in him,” LeBeau said. “Once he got back on the field, I couldn't see any difference in his play than when he was winning the Defensive Player of the Year award. ... I know Troy will do everything he can to get himself physically ready to compete for a 16-game season. And we'll have to wait and see (if he can).”

    LeBeau will be honored Wednesday when a plaque recognizing his Pro Football Hall of Fame selection in 2010 is unveiled at his alma mater London (Ohio) High School. LeBeau will speak to the school's students during the ceremony.

    “It's not a disadvantage to come from a small town. In many ways it can be an advantage, and I'm glad to share that message with them,” LeBeau said.

    Alan Robinson is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at [email]arobinson@tribweb.com[/email] or via Twitter @arobinson_Trib.


    Read more: [url]http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/3490092-74/lebeau-season-steelers#ixzz2LRa8HmJz[/url]
    Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook
    Last edited by supersteeler; 02-20-2013 at 09:01 AM.

  2. #2
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    I agree with Dicky. Charlie Batch > Joe Flacco

  3. #3
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    I tend to agree with Coach LeBeau on this one. Sometimes things just have to go right at the right times. That just didn't happen for the Steelers this past year. Even with the disappointing record, I still thought that this would have been a contender if healthy.

  4. #4
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    Just two simple examples of things going right for one team and not the other.

    The Ravens convert a 4th and 29 on a 5 yard dump off in which the Charger defenders looked like dominoes as Ray Rice ran past them. There were 3 or 4 players in position to make a tackle and end the game, but Rice made a cut and they all fell down like dominoes or ran into each other like the Keystone Cops, rather amazing actually.

    Then somehow inexplicably with the Broncos defending the goal line they allow a Raven wide receiver behind them and Joe throws it about 70 yards in the air and Smith catches it as if its the first quarter and its just a big play.

    And two examples of things just not going right...

    On the other hand, the Steelers go into Baltimore the first time, Leftwich marches them down the field and gets injured celebrating or whatever the hell he was doing and after one drive the Steelers are doen to their third string quarterback. There's no way of knowing if the Steelers can win that game, but Leftwich and the offense looked good and the Ravens only scored 13 points, so I have to think the offense had at least one more touchdown or 3 FGs in them in that game.

    Antonio Brown fumbles a reception in which not one defender touched that led to a defeat.

    Karma, bad luck, whatever you want to call it, the Steelers certainly didn't get it at the right time this past season. And, so, we are left wondering about a season that might have been.

    Pappy


    1.20 -
    2.51 -
    3.84 -
    3.98 -
    4.119 -
    7.178 -
    7.195 -

    "Football is a physical game, well, it used to be anyways" - Mel Blount


  5. #5
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    I don't know; sounds kind of whiney and cry baby. We got breaks, just like they did, in 2005 and 2008. What's the difference? You don't get the breaks every year. Sometimes the other guys do. Get over it. I was rooting for Balt. and Ray Lewis. Haters are lame.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by lloydroid View Post
    I don't know; sounds kind of whiney and cry baby. We got breaks, just like they did, in 2005 and 2008. What's the difference? You don't get the breaks every year. Sometimes the other guys do. Get over it. I was rooting for Balt. and Ray Lewis. Haters are lame.
    The breaks in 2005 were Ben's tackle after Bettis fumbles on the goal line, Polamalu's interception-no interception and all the marginal calls in the Super Bowl that went our way. The calls that went the Steelers way in the Super Bowl could have just as easily been no calls or called the other way. That season the Steelers got the breaks.

    The incredible breaks in 2008 is Harrison's 100 yard INT return, that's akin to converting the 4th and 29. It had never happened before and it happened in that game. A great play to be sure, but all the little things that occurred during the return to allow JH to score especially Fitz running into his own guy on the sideline, otherwise he catches Harrison.

    I think the Steelers like every other Super Bowl team had more breaks or big plays fall in their favor in the years they won the Super Bowl than plays that didn't go their way. This past year the Ravens had the big plays and good fortune fall their way, it happens.

    Pappy


    1.20 -
    2.51 -
    3.84 -
    3.98 -
    4.119 -
    7.178 -
    7.195 -

    "Football is a physical game, well, it used to be anyways" - Mel Blount


  7. #7
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    wow. it looks like im going to have to go on record and criticize DL for the first time. its time to send him into retirmentland. if this guy actually believes we were good enuff to win the superbowl if ben stayed healthy, he cant be right in the head.

  8. #8
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    DL is delusional. The 2012 Steelers were not even close to being a Super Bowl team...they weren't even a playoff team.

    Doesn't inspire a lot of confidence that he will make the needed changes going forward.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by papillon View Post
    The breaks in 2005 were Ben's tackle after Bettis fumbles on the goal line, Polamalu's interception-no interception and all the marginal calls in the Super Bowl that went our way. The calls that went the Steelers way in the Super Bowl could have just as easily been no calls or called the other way. That season the Steelers got the breaks.

    The incredible breaks in 2008 is Harrison's 100 yard INT return, that's akin to converting the 4th and 29. It had never happened before and it happened in that game. A great play to be sure, but all the little things that occurred during the return to allow JH to score especially Fitz running into his own guy on the sideline, otherwise he catches Harrison.

    I think the Steelers like every other Super Bowl team had more breaks or big plays fall in their favor in the years they won the Super Bowl than plays that didn't go their way. This past year the Ravens had the big plays and good fortune fall their way, it happens.

    Pappy
    The above is totally my point. For someone as experienced and wise as DL to whine about the Ravens getting the breaks, seems kind of lame, that's all. Balt. earned every bit of that championship; breaks come with the territory to any SB winner for the most part. It is all about timing, and getting hot at the right time, which Pgh did their last two SB wins.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by BradshawsHairdresser View Post
    DL is delusional. The 2012 Steelers were not even close to being a Super Bowl team...they weren't even a playoff team.

    Doesn't inspire a lot of confidence that he will make the needed changes going forward.
    That's a disturbing point. They were playing good enough D to win it all, if they had an O that could run the ball and put more points up. But it's not as if they were that close to a SB. That team was exactly what their record said they were: average.

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