2015 Steelers on the decline?

[Shawn]

Barring injury... like everyone else, I see our offense being on-point this year.

Defensively as you said, we have some comers. I expect (not hope) Tuitt and Shazier to really make impacts in their 2nd years. All signs seem to be positive for both so far. (I'm not saying they will be Pro Bowl players, but I think they both should emerge as bona-fide starting NFL players, and flash star potential. In general, I think our tremendous competition at LB (probably a dozen talented guys clawing for a spot) will spark a lively and up-beat camp. I even think guys like Cortez Allen, Cam Thomas, and Mike Mitchell are bound to build on last season... I really do. And if a guy like Mt. McCullers emerges as something more than anyone expected, forget about it. (If McCullers can live up to his physical ability--WHOA. Look out for our defense.)

I think our O will be among the best in the league, and we'll have a feisty and competitive defense (something that couldn't be said in the last 3-4 seasons).

I don't disagree with any of that. I think the O will continue to be great. The question in my mind is can they better their RZ production? The D has a chance to be good to great if Butler injects new blood and new ideas coupled with several key youngsters stepping up. But, those are all big ifs. I think we will have a much better feel for where this team is at by week 4. I want to be an optimist but many things will have to play out for the Steelers to make any splash in the post season.

[Cinnjerm3000]

I guess the other reason to me it seems silly to assume a drop off (at least on offense) is because most of the key players are proven commodities and working into their prime years. Last year there was an argument to be made that you could reasonably expect Brown's production to falter since it was his second year as our #1 and every team had a year's worth of tape on him from 2013 (after he finished second in yardage). We all know how that story turned out, and Leveon (from his first start in week three of that year till now) has either led the league or trailed Matt Forte in total scrimmage yards. And Ben is Ben...without even getting into the rest of the roster, there's no team with that much talent on offense in the league. Put another way, the OPTY co-recipients and what many now believe to be the leagues second best quarterback play on the same team, but somehow I'm to believe they'll do worse because of a tougher schedule, even though among the winning teams they've played going back many years now they seem to fair better against? Just my $.02

[7upnext]

I think the article is spot on. Why this is confusing to some is scary. The offense will be good but maybe not as good. The defense will improve because it'd be hard to be worse. But I have zero faith in Tomlin to develop these young defensive players so I don't expect a major jump in D. Nor do I have faith in him based on extensive history, to get the team up for the few gimme games that there are on the schedule. So 9-7 seems about what I'd predict. There is a chance for 10-6 and playoffs though. But just as good a chance for 8-8. It will still be fun to watch as we have so much young talent on D and our offense will put up points. I really hope I'm wrong and they surprise me by getting all the talented speedy youngsters on defense developed. But again there's zero history or evidence of this these past few seasons

[Slapstick]

You are averaging three years to make the prediction. Already, that seems odd.

I'm just happy that Tomlin is such a good coach. He got 8-8 seasons out of teams that may not have been even that good. They won the division last year. I like their chances.

[Discipline of Steel]

Who did they lose on defense that wasn't past their prime and under performing? Maybe Worlds but to most he was a bum so how can that be a loss (not my opinion).

I think a strong case can be made of addition by subtraction on the defense. I am confident Butler will be effective and do well

Agreed...not to mention the defensive personnel have little to do with how the offense will perform. Errant logic at its best (worst).

[DBR96A]

I don't get it either. But it is troubling to me how so many people think the Steelers regress this year. Vegas has us at 8 wins... I took the over obviously, but it seems like one of those sucker bets to me, and I don't get why at all. I think that Steeler Nation obviously skews that number even higher than it is supposed to be (since there are so many Steeler fans who think their team will do well) stands to reason that the number should go HIGHER than you'd like.

There must be a lot of non-Steeler fans betting on the under. Here's hoping the bastards get a haircut.