It's alright people- nothing to fear...

[Chadman]

Despite what looks like an unbalance gains vs losses ledger, the Steelers will be ok.

Actually, they'll be better than ok.

They will, in fact, be better than 2012.

Forget that Harrison is gone.

Never mind that Sanders could be a Patriot.

It's not a problem that Willie Colon has left.

Or Keenan Lewis.

Or Ryan Mundy.

You see... the thing is, we'll be better because we'll have 'chemistry'.

Remember, people, that the big evil baddies, Mike Wallace & Rashad Mendenhall are GONE. It's happy days, rainbows & unicorns in the land of Pittsburgh.

the 'bad seeds' have been removed, and there are posters on here that guarenteed, GUARENTEED, that the Steelers will be better next season without them.

Personally, Chadman is looking forward to 2013 with unbridaled enthusiasm now that we 'got rid' of those heathens.


Wait... hang on... those same posters are now the ones complaining that the Steelers are not doing well in Free Agency... like the Steelers were expected to remove the evil doers & replace them with high priced FA's... maybe that guarentee isn't worth all that much after all.

In hindsight, it'd sure be nice knowing Wallace & Mendenhall were on the roster in 2013...

[steelnavy]

Despite what looks like an unbalance gains vs losses ledger, the Steelers will be ok.

Actually, they'll be better than ok.

They will, in fact, be better than 2012.

Forget that Harrison is gone.

Never mind that Sanders could be a Patriot.

It's not a problem that Willie Colon has left.

Or Keenan Lewis.

Or Ryan Mundy.

You see... the thing is, we'll be better because we'll have 'chemistry'.

Remember, people, that the big evil baddies, Mike Wallace & Rashad Mendenhall are GONE. It's happy days, rainbows & unicorns in the land of Pittsburgh.

the 'bad seeds' have been removed, and there are posters on here that guarenteed, GUARENTEED, that the Steelers will be better next season without them.

Personally, Chadman is looking forward to 2013 with unbridaled enthusiasm now that we 'got rid' of those heathens.


Wait... hang on... those same posters are now the ones complaining that the Steelers are not doing well in Free Agency... like the Steelers were expected to remove the evil doers & replace them with high priced FA's... maybe that guarentee isn't worth all that much after all.

In hindsight, it'd sure be nice knowing Wallace & Mendenhall were on the roster in 2013...

I am GLAD that they are gone. Their talent did not over ride the problems that they caused. Good riddance. And team work/chemistry IS more important.

[Slapstick]

Having Wallace and Mendenhall wouldn't make me feel better at all about this upcoming season...

Having both of those guys didn't keep Ben healthy over the last two years...having both those guys didn't help us win a SB...

If Ben can stay healthy, the Steelers can be contenders...

[supersteeler]

I wonder if team chemistry can replace these numbers by Wallace:


2012 YRDS. AVE. TD'S

836 / 13.1 / 8


2011 1193 / 16.6 / 8




2010 1257 / 21.0 / 10



2009 * 756 / 19.4 / 6 Rookie


TOTALS:

4042 / 17.2 / 32

[Mister Pittsburgh]

I am glad they are gone.
I am not mad at all they are gone. I am mad at the way we have drafted and that we have pushed cap money into the future on certain veterans where if we wouldn't have dead money and were capable of drafting better they would be cut for cheaper players, allowing us the money to address other needs on a key free agent or two. Not all free agents are expensive.

[calmkiller]

I'm glad they are gone as well.

[supersteeler]

We drafted Wallace, Sanders and Brown all up and coming receivers, I'm not glad we lost Wallace and possibly Sanders but I understand the Steelers situation with the cap.
We simply couldn't afford to sign Wallace and now even Sanders. It wasn't because of production on the field only the money.

Looking forward maybe we can replace what was lossed with a combination of players like TE,RB and receivers through the draft as well as our remaining ones.
What I was looking forward to is if we can improve our offense, not so much concerned with how they do it but if we see improvement then we can't complain.
In this league if you struggle to score points your behind the eight ball, if you have the ability to put points on the board you have a better shot of playing in the post season and possibly advancing.
Take the Rats for example, they got hot at the right time but in order to win that Lombardi they needed to score a lot of points defeating the Colts, Denver, New England and the 49ers.

Yeah, we can possibly improve without Wallace and even Sanders but if you don't replace the production the offense could go backwards instead of improving.
We'll see, but there is no magic wand to score points.

[Keyplay1]

I am GLAD that they are gone. Their talent did not over ride the problems that they caused. Good riddance. And team work/chemistry IS more important.

Yes!

I saw a post the other day that made me feel good. Someone pointed out that TS [the steelers] as of then had only 34 players. 19 positions open. Most will be filled by rookie drafted players. The rest should be younger type up and coming players. He pointed out very possibly TS will be the youngest overall average team in the NFL.

Only one thing bothers me. I just can't understand why TS do not have many more draft picks. It seems other teams are unloading unwanted garbage and getting a bonanza of draft picks in return and TS zippo. This is not computing. Maybe TS are being boycotted.

I mean Minnesota unloaded Harvin for a bonanza. He had 1 yr left. Wallace had one year left too TS got zippo. I don't want to hear anything about that RFA crap. Those things are easily circumvented. From what I hear it is done all the time. Dammit. Even any measly 3rd pick would have been better than zippo or even any comp pick if one is ever even awarded. Mendy same thing Zippo.

Nonetheless what has to be done is obvious. Do it!

But it really would have been nice to have some more draft picks. Anyone got any ideas how TS could still add some?

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Wallace was an UFA, so he had no years left. Now they could have traded him before LAST season and gotten a draft pick...but once the 2012 season was over, he had no more trade value. I believe Mendenhall was an UFA as well. No trade value at this point, and probably couldn't have gotten anything for him last offseason, as he was still recovering from the knee injury. Maybe we could have traded a player like Willie Colon, who was still under contract...but I think teams would've been reluctant to pay what we were paying to a player who has been knocked out by injury 3 years in a row. And the way the rules are, we might have been on the hook for a pretty big cap hit for Colon for 2013 anyway. You'll be happy to know that next season, we'll have at least two or three comp picks coming.

[supersteeler]

Just a little update here according to Dale Lolly:

Sanders left New England Friday without an offer, and of the 40 restricted free agents who were available in 2012, none changed teams.

So many conflicting reports by the Media out there

Btw, for some of you that was hoping this to be true so we could get a third round pick, I hear the Cardinals are interested in Sanders too. If they would sign him wouldn't our third round pick be higher?

[Rara]

Nope, it would just be a third...higher in the round, yes..but not higher than a third.

[deljzc]

I am glad they are gone.
I am not mad at all they are gone. I am mad at the way we have drafted and that we have pushed cap money into the future on certain veterans where if we wouldn't have dead money and were capable of drafting better they would be cut for cheaper players, allowing us the money to address other needs on a key free agent or two. Not all free agents are expensive.

This.

Three players on the roster total from the 2006-2009 (FOUR) draft classes. Those are 26-29 year-olds. The "prime" production years for NFL players.

Wait.... it's five now because we brought back William Gay and Matt Spaeth.

[Keyplay1]

Wallace was an UFA, so he had no years left. Now they could have traded him before LAST season and gotten a draft pick...but once the 2012 season was over, he had no more trade value. I believe Mendenhall was an UFA as well. No trade value at this point, and probably couldn't have gotten anything for him last offseason, as he was still recovering from the knee injury. Maybe we could have traded a player like Willie Colon, who was still under contract...but I think teams would've been reluctant to pay what we were paying to a player who has been knocked out by injury 3 years in a row. And the way the rules are, we might have been on the hook for a pretty big cap hit for Colon for 2013 anyway. You'll be happy to know that next season, we'll have at least two or three comp picks coming.

I did not think it would be easy. But, how many fans thought that Wallace was going to be a Steeler in 2013 before the season started. Maybe 2. And apparently Colbert was one of them. They slapped a 1st rd RFA thing on him and waited. 99% of the fans were hoping someone took him. That did not happen of course [it never does, does it?] so that was when somehow he should have been unloaded.

Mendenhall returned Oct 7 against the Eagles. He did very well 13 68 5.2 avg.
Prior to this for a month they were showing him working out. He looked like the best conditioned player on the team. The trade deadline is late in October.

It is easy for me to talk and say that was a chance to unload him because I did not like him and was hoping he would be gone anyhow. But, apparently he was also not in TS plans either cause now he's gone anyhow.

Of course, I am probably wrong about all this but nonetheless the end results the way it did work out was zippo. My way could also have been a zippo. But the worst case scenario there was a draw.

Incidentally, someone pointed out that those comp picks can be tricky. They do deduct your FA losses from your FA gains.

What might be more relevant here is how should TS handle contract impass situations and/or malcontents in the future. Zippo does not get it.

btw: I am thrilled with the prospect of all those comp picks next year. But, right now I am willing to trade all of them and maybe throw in a certain undisclosed FO to boot for a 2nd rd pick this year.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Bottom line is we could of traded Wallace last offseason and got a first round pick for him. Think about having two first round picks in a month and a half when the draft clock starts.

[Siggy00]

Fear? If the email I got last night is anything close to being accurate you guys haven't seen nothing yet.

And don't waste your time, I'm not going to post it.