Why Can't the Steelers............

[Chadman]

Success comes from good decisions.
Good decisions come from experience.
Experience comes from bad decisions.

Exactly! Couldn't have said it better.

[tiproast]

I have enjoyed reading this thread - the comments, whether praise or criticism, have been fair-minded.

With respect to Belichick and his early career - I think he was doing a decent job in Cleveland, but got torpedoed by Modell and the moving of the franchise to Baltimore. That basically wiped out any chance of doing well in his final season as the coach of the Browns. That's not to say he didn't make some mistakes - he certainly didn't work well with the media, and he probably could have handled the Kosar/Testaverde QB transition better.

But as has been said here, experience, especially the experience of failure, is something that goes into learning how to succeed.

And it's not as if there aren't other great coaches and well-run franchises out there. If a team doesn't win it all, or misses the playoffs, that doesn't mean it's time to blow things up. Likewise, losing a couple of competitive Super Bowls in the last minute, or a conference championship game in a similar fashion, is not an indication of incompetence. It actually means you're competing at the highest levels of the sport - on that one day, the other team made one more play than you did.

[lloydroid]

you tend to forget the misses because they hit so many of them out of the park.

I looked at their entire drafts of the last decade or so; they simply did draft well and have very few 1-2 round misses to speak of.

[lloydroid]

I have enjoyed reading this thread - the comments, whether praise or criticism, have been fair-minded.

With respect to Belichick and his early career - I think he was doing a decent job in Cleveland, but got torpedoed by Modell and the moving of the franchise to Baltimore. That basically wiped out any chance of doing well in his final season as the coach of the Browns. That's not to say he didn't make some mistakes - he certainly didn't work well with the media, and he probably could have handled the Kosar/Testaverde QB transition better.

But as has been said here, experience, especially the experience of failure, is something that goes into learning how to succeed.

And it's not as if there aren't other great coaches and well-run franchises out there. If a team doesn't win it all, or misses the playoffs, that doesn't mean it's time to blow things up. Likewise, losing a couple of competitive Super Bowls in the last minute, or a conference championship game in a similar fashion, is not an indication of incompetence. It actually means you're competing at the highest levels of the sport - on that one day, the other team made one more play than you did.

Belichick had the Browns in the play offs....the _BROWNS_. That is an accomplishment in itself, so he wasn't doing so poorly. But one of his admitted mistakes while in Cleveland was he thought having a personal relationship with the players was not necessary to make a champion. He found out human beings just don't work that way. If a coach never speaks to them, other than to instruct them, players will tend to not give full effort. They want to feel like they have somewhat of a connection to the head coach and don't want to be treated as robots. Ever since the Browns gig, BB does invest some time in his relationship with the players, even though you won't see examples of it during a televised game. For instance, at their first Super Bowl, a veteran player was complaining that a rookie had a better hotel room. The old BB would have told him to shut the freak up and deal with it. The new, wiser BB threw him his own room keys and said, "I don't need a room with a kitchen in it; what the hell do I care" and switched rooms with the vet (I think it was Ty Law or Lawyer Malloy - one of those law guys.)

[lloydroid]

Success comes from good decisions.
Good decisions come from experience.
Experience comes from bad decisions.

But foolish people will not learn from their mistakes. Cowher had trouble learning from his; we will see if Tomlin can.

[SidSmythe]

Belichick had the Browns in the play offs....the _BROWNS_. That is an accomplishment in itself, so he wasn't doing so poorly. But one of his admitted mistakes while in Cleveland was he thought having a personal relationship with the players was not necessary to make a champion. He found out human beings just don't work that way. If a coach never speaks to them, other than to instruct them, players will tend to not give full effort. They want to feel like they have somewhat of a connection to the head coach and don't want to be treated as robots. Ever since the Browns gig, BB does invest some time in his relationship with the players, even though you won't see examples of it during a televised game. For instance, at their first Super Bowl, a veteran player was complaining that a rookie had a better hotel room. The old BB would have told him to shut the freak up and deal with it. The new, wiser BB threw him his own room keys and said, "I don't need a room with a kitchen in it; what the hell do I care" and switched rooms with the vet (I think it was Ty Law or Lawyer Malloy - one of those law guys.)

Not many players wouldn't want to play for Bellichek...not b/c he's cool. b/c he wins and yes he does interact with the guys. Did you see the football life show where he gave the players time off if a Lineman could field a Punt?? that stuff goes a long way.

But foolish people will not learn from their mistakes. Cowher had trouble learning from his; we will see if Tomlin can.

"Mistakes are a wise man's education"
Do you learn from some of ur rants???

[phillyesq]

It isn't too much to ask if a team has a dominant OL. The pats OL isn't dominant but they are so much better than ours it is silly and that is why they are going to the AFC championship game. BTW same for the Ravens. They have invested in OL and that is why they can both pass and run.

The Texans had an offensive line that was regarded as dominant.

[feltdizz]

Belichick had the Browns in the play offs....the _BROWNS_. That is an accomplishment in itself, so he wasn't doing so poorly. But one of his admitted mistakes while in Cleveland was he thought having a personal relationship with the players was not necessary to make a champion. He found out human beings just don't work that way. If a coach never speaks to them, other than to instruct them, players will tend to not give full effort. They want to feel like they have somewhat of a connection to the head coach and don't want to be treated as robots. Ever since the Browns gig, BB does invest some time in his relationship with the players, even though you won't see examples of it during a televised game. For instance, at their first Super Bowl, a veteran player was complaining that a rookie had a better hotel room. The old BB would have told him to shut the freak up and deal with it. The new, wiser BB threw him his own room keys and said, "I don't need a room with a kitchen in it; what the hell do I care" and switched rooms with the vet (I think it was Ty Law or Lawyer Malloy - one of those law guys.)

If it was Ty Law he rewarded him with a pick 6...

as far as the OL is concerned I don't think we are snake bitten or somehow drafting every bum while everyone else drafts gangster lineman. It's coaching... plain and simple. A guy like Gilbert wouldn't get away with being "hurt" every game and screwing up the chemistry just to return next week and do it all over again. Kemo wouldn't get 3 season's to whiff on every twist and Colon wouldn't get rich holding 2 times every game.

The good teams correct these problems... Billicheat would move Pouncey to guard ALL season and let Legs play center until DeCastro returned because it makes the OL better. We did it once and I applaud them but I think we should have stuck with it because it made the OL better THIS season.

[NorthCoast]

Total number of NE starting OL starts missed this season: 2

Total number of Steeler starting OL starts missed due to injury: 27

Fix the OL.

[feltdizz]

Total number of NE starting OL starts missed this season: 2

Total number of Steeler starting OL starts missed due to injury: 27

Fix the OL.

Thats coaching and conditioning...

[tiproast]

Total number of NE starting OL starts missed this season: 2

This is not correct. Mankins (LG) was out for a while (he missed 6 starts). Connolly (RG) missed two, Vollmer (RT) missed one.

And Marcus Cannon is a quality replacement who can play guard and tackle. He would be starting for a lot of teams in the league.

But your main point is valid; Patriots starting o-line was much healthier than the Steelers o-line.

[feltdizz]

This is not correct. Mankins (LG) was out for a while (he missed 6 starts). Connolly (RG) missed two, Vollmer (RT) missed one.

And Marcus Cannon is a quality replacement who can play guard and tackle. He would be starting for a lot of teams in the league.

But your main point is valid; Patriots starting o-line was much healthier than the Steelers o-line.

I would replace the word healthier with hungrier... and there is nothing better than hearing a true fan of an opposing team give accurate info.

[phillyesq]

This is not correct. Mankins (LG) was out for a while (he missed 6 starts). Connolly (RG) missed two, Vollmer (RT) missed one.

And Marcus Cannon is a quality replacement who can play guard and tackle. He would be starting for a lot of teams in the league.

But your main point is valid; Patriots starting o-line was much healthier than the Steelers o-line.

I'll give the Pats credit on Cannon. From what I remember, he had first or second round talent but fell due to a health concern, and the Pats snagged him late with one of the picks that they stockpiled.

[JUST-PLAIN-NASTY]

BB has his fingers on all aspects of Pats between the lines.
BB runs the "football" part of the Pats his way.
BB gets the most out of his players.
BB puts his players in position to use their strengths.
BB is a system scout.
BB is about discipline.
BB holds his players accountable.
BB has Tom Brady.

Did I mention I hate BB?