Sure would be nice if our special teams could get us 2-3 TD's this year.Originally Posted by Ghost
Sure would be nice if our special teams could get us 2-3 TD's this year.
I predict a big year for Switzer. He came in last minute for us last year and finally has an offseason and I think it's going to make a huge difference.
He started playing WR at UNC and had a similar first season with about 20-30 catches which he ratcheted up to about 90-100 catches in his senior season. He started out as just a return guy in college. Although there he had 5 punt return TDs in his first season, but he really developed into a reliable receiver over time.
There's a reason Ben spends time with him. He runs good routes. He has good hands. And he's quick and good at breaking off to get separation underneath. He really has a lot of similarities to Johnson who we just drafted. They compare similarly in their combine numbers, but where Switzer separates himself is quickness. I think his 3 code and 20 and 60 yard shuttle numbers were the top WR in his draft at the combine and probably would have been #1 or very close again this year.
Switzer's really underrated. And the more time he has in the O and the more chances he gets, the more we will all see his quickness. It's real and he's got some natural ability others can only dream of. But he's tiny, has relatively short arms, and isn't a speedster. But with his quickness and work ethic, I think those are things he can overcome, but just needs time in a system and playing in the NFL.
I have a feeling this is going to be a breakout year for him.
My only concern is Switz, Rogers and Johnson all seem to offer relatively similar qualities. Do we keep 3 WR that kind of fit this mold, in addition to JuJu and Washington? Or is there an odd man out? Rogers perhaps?
Washington has to prove it to me; I just don't see it in him. I want him to pan out but he looks slow (which is why so many contested balls) and not a great route runner. But a second year can bring growth so let's see if that is what happens.
It seems like the Pats have an entire team of these types of receivers and they seem to do okay with it.
I know we don't have a burner on the team but I don't think we need one. I don't believe that you have to have blazing speed to get open deep. Jerry Rice being the ultimate example. Let the defense move up on our receivers and then watch Ben buy a second or two and hit the big play.
If we drafted a stud TE like T.J. Hockenson to start alongside Vance McDonald in a base 12 personnel set (1 RB, 2 TE, 2 WR), then we might not have needed to keep 6 WR on our final 53 man roster.
But we did not do this, so our base offense will likely remain as an 11 personnel set (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR). When we are using 3 WR on the field at the same time more often than not, it makes sense to keep 6 of them on our final roster.
Juju, Moncrief, Washington, Johnson, Rogers, and Switzer will all be wearing the black and gold in 2019.
It makes sense to me to have Rogers and Switzer battle it out to be our starting slot WR. One guy wins, and the other guy is his primary backup.
It also makes sense to me to have Moncrief and Washington battle it out to be a starting outside WR opposite Juju. One guy wins, and the other guy is his primary backup.
Juju would be the other outside starter, obviously, and we could have Diontae Johnson learning and adjusting to the pro game as Juju's primary backup as a rookie.
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.
Ryan Switzer nearly quit football last year
Posted by Mike Florio on May 31, 2019, 6:32 AM EDT
After a pair of hot-potato trades following only one season in the NFL, Steelers receiver Ryan Switzer came very close to walking away from the game. A brief encounter with Steelers coach Mike Tomlin not long before the season opener changed that.
“We are playing Cleveland in three days, and he says to me, ‘Make sure you get your sh-t together because you are going to be in there a lot,’” Switzer told Mark Kaboly of TheAthletic.com regarding remarks made in the aftermath of the trade that sent Switzer from Oakland to Pittsburgh less than two weeks before Week One.
“Now, I am thinking I am just going to come here and catch some punts and some kicks and be kind of an afterthought,” Switzer said. “It was like ‘Wow!’ He didn’t care where I came from and what they thought of me, and he puts me out there Week One against Cleveland [for seven offensive snaps] because he has trust in me. . . .
“I have always been a guy who if you show trust in me, I will run through a brick wall or die trying,” Switzer said. “For him to do that, I felt really good.”
Few knew that Switzer, a West Virginia speedster who had a standout career at North Carolina but who then was traded from the Cowboys to the Raiders after only one year and then to the Steelers before ever playing for Oakland, was thinking about packing it in.
“It was more than I didn’t think I belonged anymore,” Switzer told Kaboly. “I have never had somebody not want me before. I have never been through a trade, I have never been through a team basically telling me that they didn’t have a need for me. I took a hit in confidence and my mindset.”
Switzer explained that he believed he was “letting [his] wife down” after moving from Dallas to Oakland and then to Pittsburgh.
“I felt really bad,” Switzer told Kaboly. “I told her that this isn’t worth me feeling like this anymore.”
Helping Switzer make the transition is the fact that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (to whom Switzer refers as “7” not as “Mr.”) took a liking to him.
“I don’t know why he chose me to try to pick me up and get me involved, but he did and I am grateful for that and I don’t take that for granted,” Switzer said.
He now has an opportunity to help fill the void created by the trade to Oakland of a guy who took a strong disliking to Roethlisberger in recent months. And if Switzer can continue to develop as a slot receiver, he could have a long and fruitful career roughly 220 miles up I-79 from where he grew up.
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/05/31/ryan-switzer-nearly-quit-football-last-year/
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.
Sounds like good examples of leadership from both Tomlin and Ben
he's a hard worker, I believe Washington will have a very good season.
Can’t be. Neither are good leaders haven’t you been paying attention .
Molon labe
People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. George Orwell
?We're not going to apologize for winning.?
Mike Tomlin
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