Give Yourself Props

[fordfixer]

=eniparadoxgma;I was also cool with Spaeth and thought that Sep was going to be a great pick for us.

On the other side, since I was right about something recently does that mean I get to start my own thread and buy a huge foam hand so I can pat myself on the back with it?

Only if you had put "remember you heard it here first" in the thread you guessed right in

[SidSmythe]

Was he really that good, or were we just fooled? The only thing outstanding he did was blitz. He didn't get a lot of tackles or make plays in the passing game.

For all the grief he gets, Timmons is a much better MLB than Bell. Why all of the love for Bell?

Pass coverage is usually the last thing a LB learns to develop. He wasn't a huge liability in pass coverage but as a run stuffer and a pass rusher he was a machine.

I remember a game against Jacksonville I believe....he pancaked their OG on a pass rusher and got the sack. He was probably the first guy on DEFENSE that I ever watched instead of watching the person with the ball.

[papillon]

Kendrell Bell started 44 games for us from 2001-2003. Then he got hurt and was never the same player again.

In those 3 seasons in Pittsburgh as a starter, though, he had 232 total tackles, 187 solo tackles, 45 assists, 18 sacks, 6 passes defensed, 1 interception, and 2 forced fumbles.

Lawrence Timmons did not have the immediate impact as a rookie like Bell. But once he was named a full time starter at the beginning of the 2009 season, he also started 44 games in his first 3 seasons as a starter from 2009-2011.

In those 3 seasons in Pittsburgh as a starter, though, he had 306 total tackles, 220 solo tackles, 86 assists, 12 sacks, 18 passes defensed, 3 interceptions, and 3 forced fumbles.

Bell is remembered as a seek-and-destroy missile based on his 3 seasons as a starter in Pittsburgh before he got hurt, while Timmons is thought of as somewhat of a disappointment by many Steeler fans. And yet, Timmons leads in every one of those statistical categories except for having 6 fewer sacks (which is certainaly offset by having 74 more total tackles, 12 more PD's, 2 more INT's, and 1 more FF in this 3 season sample).

If fans didn't like the pick (Timmons) there's nothing he will ever do that will change their mind. He could be All-pro every year for the next 10 and they'd think he's an average linebacker, because there was one game he couldn't get off of a block and missed a tackle that led to a touchdown.

Timmons will always have Steeler fans that think he's horrible and there isn't any amount of production that will change that.

Pappy

[Steelerphile]

If fans didn't like the pick (Timmons) there's nothing he will ever do that will change their mind. He could be All-pro every year for the next 10 and they'd think he's an average linebacker, because there was one game he couldn't get off of a block and missed a tackle that led to a touchdown.

Timmons will always have Steeler fans that think he's horrible and there isn't any amount of production that will change that.

Pappy

I think this is pretty true. You still see people posting "show me" Timmons posts. He's made quite a few plays this year. I think this is a lot better than 2011, but probably still not quite a pro bowl season. I would still call 2010 a very good year but the same posters will gripe and say "Nuh-uh" that was nothing. Some people become very entrenched in a denial of a specific player or coach. The people I most respect are those who will shift a negative point of view, when it is clear the player is more than they originally thought.

The thing I always keep in mind is that none of these guys make it to the NFL because someone pulled their name out of hat. You have to make it through several layers of competition to even get into an NFL camp, much less make an NFL team. So this is the top of the athletic crop, even the ones who routinely are blasted by someone calling them out and saying "they suck."

[Captain Lemming]

I remember the meltdown on the board when the Steelers drafted Spaeth. I didn't know much about him, but the concept of having him and Heath (2 big TE targets) was enough for me to defend the pick and try to see the good in it. He wasn't terrible, and still scores TDs for the Bears, but I expected us to employ the Patriots 2 TE mega scheme even before I knew what it was.

TOUCHDOWNS? Dude has ONE in eleven games!!! Well I guess three total during two years is plural, so I guess that is kinda true.

[Captain Lemming]

Pass coverage is usually the last thing a LB learns to develop. He wasn't a huge liability in pass coverage but as a run stuffer and a pass rusher he was a machine.

I remember a game against Jacksonville I believe....he pancaked their OG on a pass rusher and got the sack. He was probably the first guy on DEFENSE that I ever watched instead of watching the person with the ball.

Bell was VASTLY overrated among Steeler fans. He made memorable splash plays (goal line plays and sacks) but was never the tackle machine some imagined. Dude had one season as a rookie as a rare inside pass rusher. Earl Holmes was STILL the better player. Timmons is a much better player and more productive than Bell ever was.