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Thread: Fans Focused on Wrong Things???

  1. #1
    Legend

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    Fans Focused on Wrong Things???

    Haven't been posting much lately, but still reading all the on goings.

    I get the general sense of panic in Steeler Nation. I totally see why. We're losing guys by the dozens. Old guys, young guys, and many guys in between. Tomlin/Colbert haven't been draft power couple by any means. We're filling gaps with recycled parts. And most seem to feel like we need to hit on every draft pick this year in order to have any chance to be competitive. Because as usual, Matt Spaeth and Willie Gay are as good as FA gets around these parts.

    Nonetheless, the young guys won't get to play until the end of their first contract when we'll likely risk losing them. And we've got an entire team lacking in leadership. The locker room is a mess. The more I read about this team, I feel like I'm reading about the Pirates of the last 22 seasons.

    Is it really that bad? I don't think so. I just think back to what's transpired every time another Lombardi ends up in Pittsburgh. We get inspired QB and Defensive play. So the big question is can Tomlin and company sprinkle a little bit of that pixie dust on this team and get the mojo going in the right direction quickly.

    I think that can be answered by one simple question - Can Ben and Troy stay healthy for the season? Sure, football's a team game, yadda yinzer. But we've still got 2 guys that are bigger than the game.

    On offense we have a QB that cannot be defended if he's healthy. How many times could he hang out behind the worst Oline in football with some of the slowest receivers of all time and just wait for them to get open. Think back to the days of Cedrick Wilson where he'd do his electrifying start stop move that couldn't get him separation from most of our grandmas and Ben would move around waiting and waiting and waiting for him to do it several times before the CB finally decided the play must be over then Ben hits him down the seam for 20 yards.

    Defensively, we have the guy Tomlin was thinking of when he said we need to defend every blade of grass. Dick Lebeau does a nice job with his system, but Troy makes it a better system than the rankings when he can stay healthy and play at the top of his game.

    Do we need a little help for these guys? Sure. But keeping them healthy is 90% of our season's potential. The biggest concern for Ben is an Oline to protect him. Gotta say, I'm a little nervous not having Max. That could kill our season more than anything else.

    On defense, we need the supporting cast to help get pressure on the QB. No Harrison and out of shape Woodley hurt. The declining production of the DLine is problematic. We just need some young guys to step up - Worilds, Timmons, Ziggy, Heyward along with getting Woodley back and with the improved DB play, I think this D can improve by leaps and bounds over last year with healthy Troy.

    So I'm not so worried going into the draft. WRs, RBs, ILBs, Gs, etc. These positions we need are a bunch of dime a dozen positions. What we really need are a LT, NT, and ROLB. None of which we really have. Those are the positions that will best support a healthy Troy and Ben.

    Everything else like a big redzone target WR/TE or a legit RB or CB or S are all nice to haves. But Ben and Troy are talented enough to do just fine without them.

    And when I look at this realistically, I wonder if Casey, James, and Max become the new Charlie Batch who we just bring back to fill a gap if and when we need them? No matter how you slice it, those 3 positions are gonna be hard to fill from the current roster or through the draft in the short term.

    The rest will be fine as long as our 2 remaining superstars stay healthy.

  2. #2
    Hall of Famer

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    I think you are looking at things way too simplistically, and are banking on two players that haven't been able to stay healthy each of the past 2 seasons to stay healthy all year. Your memories of their younger years are clouding your vision of reality.
    @_Hellgrammite

  3. #3
    Legend

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Pittsburgh View Post
    I think you are looking at things way too simplistically, and are banking on two players that haven't been able to stay healthy each of the past 2 seasons to stay healthy all year. Your memories of their younger years are clouding your vision of reality.
    That's exactly how I'm thinking about it. If we don't get a healthy season out of those 2, I think our season is up crap creek.

    So maybe another way to look at it is let's get another Ben/Troy/Harrison for the future so when Ben/Troy implode completely, we've got a new chance.

    To a degree, Steelers football my whole life has been about a small handful of guys. Always a lot of good players, but very few great ones. And by great, I mean the ones we couldn't have won SuperBowls without.

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