Time to move on.

[Oviedo]

I'd rather play with ten on defense than have Mundy out there. (I'm only partially kidding)

What is really troublesome is how bad is Will Allen that he can't push or provide an option to Mundy????????

Of course we know none of the young guys would ever get a chance to even play a few series. Therein lies part of the problem of why we are so unprepared for the end of Troy's career and therefore must rely on Mundy.

[NorthCoast]

I couldn't believe Clark admitted that when Troy gets hurt, the entire mental state of the defense is in shambles. If this is the case, then it's time to move on. Plus, what is Troy scheduled to make next year? If
he can't stay healthy, then don't drag the entire future of the team down. I am so sick of it. Look at McClendon as an example: Not high profile at all. He was an undrafted free agent out of Troy, for cripes sake. And yet, as we see, when you allow players to develop - and don't just hold on to vets playing time for too long - you will replenish the players. But you don't do that when holding on too long to over 30 vets who can't stay healthy; you have to move on. McClendon is obvious much more of a force than Hampton; but we would never know that if they endlessly held onto just playing CH. Time to move on from TP. Time to move to replace Foote. Time to shake the trees and find better CBs than we have. I am not saying so much this season, but certainly after it. Also, Worild showed he might be worth getting on the field more. I am just so sick of the "Steeler way" of not letting young players on the field and seeing what they can do. DL is so over the top with his "vets play only" BS. It's holding the team's development back, big time. Look at all the $ and time wasted on Aaron Smith, for cripe's sake. That is an example of futility. Get disciplined or get lost. Or should we see if we can add Kirkland, Chad Scott, Steed, Gildon, etc. to the roster while we are at it?

Fact is, Clark admitted when Troy gets hurt, the mindset of the D gets depressed. That's great. Let's get more of that going.

Fact is the Steelers have done remarkably well at retaining or letting talent go when they thought their time was done. Another team might get a year out of a player, but that's about it. Faneca, Porter, Brown, the only one they missed on was Rod Woodson, who could have been a great safety for the Steelers.
And character-wise Troy seems the type that would retire if he thought he couldn't contribute at a high level anymore.

[lloydroid]

Well the future SS is not on the current roster, so all this hand-wringing right now doesn't do much good. If Troy is able to play he is obviously our best option. When the season is over and we start talking 2013 draft, we can start talking about a future SS. That said, calling Troy a retread is not very accurate.

I never advocated to make any moves now. This season is this season, we have little wiggle room. But after this season? Unless there is evidence that TP is some how magically healthy for the long haul, we got to make a move. Say good bye to TP, Big Snack, Colon, Foote.....they better not F up like that did with Kirkland, Steed, Gildon, Scott, Stewart...that was a major crapping of the pants then and repeating the same kind of "hold on to old guys and paying them way too much" will kill us for the next few years too.

[lloydroid]

Fact is the Steelers have done remarkably well at retaining or letting talent go when they thought their time was done. Another team might get a year out of a player, but that's about it. Faneca, Porter, Brown, the only one they missed on was Rod Woodson, who could have been a great safety for the Steelers.
And character-wise Troy seems the type that would retire if he thought he couldn't contribute at a high level anymore.

Pgh has done amazing on knowing when to let players go - not perfect - but very well. But you did forget at least one other: Kevin Greene. He had 3 good years left, but they had Gildon in the wings, who did have some good years, considering he is the all-time sack leader of the team.

[birtikidis]

I would think the offense would go into the same mentallity if Ben went down

[lloydroid]

What is really troublesome is how bad is Will Allen that he can't push or provide an option to Mundy????????

Of course we know none of the young guys would ever get a chance to even play a few series. Therein lies part of the problem of why we are so unprepared for the end of Troy's career and therefore must rely on Mundy.

One may argue that you can't prepare for every hole in the dike, but, regardless, it seems the team fell too in love with every old guy they got and didn't do enough to prepare for their absence. You know damn well there is a love affair between Troy, DL and Tomlin, and they weren't about to insult him my bringing in a high draft pick for his position. In hindsight, our top 4 picks are likely to do little or nothing (Maybe DeCastro will end up helping) and Rainey is looking like he didn't deserve to be taken any higher than when he was (I know many of us thought he was a steal in the 5th, but so far, not so much.)

[lloydroid]

Agreed. And even if they draft an heir-apparent, he'll be 2 years away from starting.

He doesn't have to be; only in the tricky Dick system does it take 10 years to know how to play in the system.

[SteelCrazy]

Worilds showed how easy it is to sack an unsuspecting QB when left unblocked. Other than that Worilds didnt show me a thing.

[Shoe]

I am just so sick of the "Steeler way" of not letting young players on the field and seeing what they can do. DL is so over the top with his "vets play only" BS. It's holding the team's development back, big time.

Let's not see the forest for the trees... the "Steeler way" (since LeBeau's been a part of the team, basically since '92) has kept us relevant for basically 20 years straight. Yeah, we had a couple down seasons in there. I doubt any other team, over the last 20 years, can match our winning consistency. So that "way" has merit. You cannot argue with success.

[lloydroid]

Let's not see the forest for the trees... the "Steeler way" (since LeBeau's been a part of the team, basically since '92) has kept us relevant for basically 20 years straight. Yeah, we had a couple down seasons in there. I doubt any other team, over the last 20 years, can match our winning consistency. So that "way" has merit. You cannot argue with success.

Using that logic, one could say Green Bay should stay with the "Green Bay way" from the 1950s through 60s and use it from the 1970s on. At some point the "way" becomes outdated. It used to be, the best "way" to get around was a horse buggy.

[Shoe]

Using that logic, one could say Green Bay should stay with the "Green Bay way" from the 1950s through 60s and use it from the 1970s on. At some point the "way" becomes outdated. It used to be, the best "way" to get around was a horse buggy.

No because what you are talking about is Dick Lebeau and his adherence to veteran players. Lebeau has basically been with this team since Cowher took over. Green Bay has had a number of regimes come and go through the years, so different philosophies. And besides, they were sorry for basically a couple of decades in their (70's and 80's) so why adher at that point.

The Steelers have been amazingly consistent over Lebeau's tenure, in which he gives vets preferential treatment. Unless you can cite some systemic rule change or something (e.g. adhering to a running game when passing rules changed in the late 90's), why should he change his philosophy now?

[stopplayn]

I'm sure if you asked the offensive line how they'd feel if Ben got hurt and was out you'd get a similar response. Well, they may not come out and say it, but I'm sure they'd be thinking it. Troy is to the defense, what Ben is to the offense. I'm sure you'd get a similar response if you asked Rats players on how big of an impact it would be to lose Ray Lewis. Some players are more instrumental to their teams than others.

I highly doubt that. They have won before without Ben. Not so much without Troy. Troy is the BEST SS in the NFL. Might be the best all time. I believe he is better than Lott. Ben is not the best QB in the league nor the best of all time. I think the Steeler players regard Troy Polamalu higher than Ben and this statement proves it. The NFL players (Those who play against us) certainly regard Troy the highest among Steelers, even Deebo and rightfully so.

[hawaiiansteel]

He doesn't have to be; only in the tricky Dick system does it take 10 years to know how to play in the system.

don't exaggerate, it only takes 8 years...

[NW Steeler]

Worilds showed how easy it is to sack an unsuspecting QB when left unblocked. Other than that Worilds didnt show me a thing.

Gildon V2.

[lloydroid]

No because what you are talking about is Dick Lebeau and his adherence to veteran players. Lebeau has basically been with this team since Cowher took over. Green Bay has had a number of regimes come and go through the years, so different philosophies. And besides, they were sorry for basically a couple of decades in their (70's and 80's) so why adher at that point.

The Steelers have been amazingly consistent over Lebeau's tenure, in which he gives vets preferential treatment. Unless you can cite some systemic rule change or something (e.g. adhering to a running game when passing rules changed in the late 90's), why should he change his philosophy now?

The staying with vets things didn't work when they kept Kirkland, Gildon, Scott, Steed etc. in the 90s. They are approaching that same situation now. If you don't learn from history you are doomed to repeat it. They admitted, back in those days, that a bunch of older guys got big contracts and then everyone pretty much got lazy and we had some bad seasons.