No Watson, no Luck. Our defense will not be forged in steel as we hit the playoffs ..

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

How crazy am I for wishing that we had a chance to face some tough QBs on the way to the playoffs?

Facing Brady** at 14-2 but not having gone through the growth that comes with surviving against good QBs like D. Watson and Andrew Luck ... vs. facing him** at 11-5 but us being battle-scarred, stronger, and wiser ....

Am I just nuts to wonder about things like that?

[feltdizz]

Kind of... my hope is we don’t have to face the Pats because we are the #1 or #2 and someone else takes them out.

I know some people want to slay the dragon to get to the SB but I prefer watching someone else do it who doesn’t have the mental block we have when it comes to the Pats* in the playoffs.

Maybe guys like JuJu, Bryant, Alullauh and Haden are so clueless they have no reason to fear the Pats and this is the year we beat the snot out of them.

[Starlifter]

mixed feelings here. There is something poetic about beating the best on your way to a championship - but if the steelers hoist #7 in feb I won't think for a second 'if only we had faced tougher teams this would mean something'. a lombardi on the bones of brady and watson would feel special - but I think it will be special no matter how we get there - so in a real world scenario, you can't complain about how things are stacking up for the steelers this year. It all started with the moves in camp, joe haden falling into our laps, the schedule in the beginning of the season allowing us to work out (and keep working) our offensive issues. it just seems like the steelers are totally in the drivers seat right now. so nope, not unhappy at all about how things are working out.

[Oviedo]

I want easiest surest path to the Super Bowl. If that means we play scrubs and back ups who cares. That type of thought is sunshine, lollipops and rainbow nonsense. When the 7th Lombardi is in the trophy case there is no engraving on about who you played and who their QB is

[Slapstick]

No Aaron Rodgers either...

[MCHammer]

How crazy am I for wishing that we had a chance to face some tough QBs on the way to the playoffs?

This team has historically struggled against back-up quality QBs and no-names.

The trick to beating Brady is no secret. We must bring pressure and disrupt his receivers. Otherwise he will pick us apart. It really doesn't matter what QBs we face before that. Our defense simply needs to stay healthy and continue to grow as a unit.

[williar]

Won't matter for me either. I will be smiling and doing cartwheels all the same on that magical day! Unfortunately, there just ain't that many good QB's in the league right now!

[feltdizz]

This team has historically struggled against back-up quality QBs and no-names.

The trick to beating Brady is no secret. We must bring pressure and disrupt his receivers. Otherwise he will pick us apart. It really doesn't matter what QBs we face before that. Our defense simply needs to stay healthy and continue to grow as a unit.

This is extremely false. We rarely struggle against back up quality QB's but when we do it gets amplified. When we beat the breaks off back up QB's folks just shrug and say "but it was the back up"

[MCHammer]

This is extremely false. We rarely struggle against back up quality QB's but when we do it gets amplified. When we beat the breaks off back up QB's folks just shrug and say "but it was the back up"

Whatever you say. In 2009 alone, the Steelers lost to Jay Cutler, Matt Cassel, Bruce Gradkowski and Brady Quinn. That's 4 out of 7 losses that year to guys that are either back-ups or NFL starters that deserve to be backups.

My main point, however, is that we don't need to practice against good QBs in order to beat Tom Brady. How to beat Brady is well known. The Steelers are just never able to pull it off.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Whatever you say. In 2009 alone, the Steelers lost to Jay Cutler, Matt Cassel, Bruce Gradkowski and Brady Quinn. That's 4 out of 7 losses that year to guys that are either back-ups or NFL starters that deserve to be backups.

And it was only 8 years ago! This year, we defeated teams quarterbacked by Kizer, Keenam, Flacco, Smith, Dalton, and Stafford. Our two losses were two teams quarterbacked by Glennon and Bortles, but in reality, it was Howard, Cohen, and Fournette that beat us, plus numerous turnovers by our offense and special teams. I wouldn't call 15-22 for 101 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT for Glennon and 8-14 for 95 yards with 0 TD and 1 INT for Bortles struggling against backup quality QB's.

[Captain Lemming]

And it was only 8 years ago! This year, we defeated teams quarterbacked by Kizer, Keenam, Flacco, Smith, Dalton, and Stafford. Our two losses were two teams quarterbacked by Glennon and Bortles, but in reality, it was Howard, Cohen, and Fournette that beat us, plus numerous turnovers by our offense and special teams. I wouldn't call 15-22 for 101 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT for Glennon and 8-14 for 95 yards with 0 TD and 1 INT for Bortles struggling against backup quality QB's.

In other words, this team (2017) has yet to lose a single game because a quarterback excelled.
NOT- TOO- SHABBY for a team that supposedly struggles versus bad QBs.

[Captain Lemming]

Whatever you say. In 2009 alone, the Steelers lost to Jay Cutler, Matt Cassel, Bruce Gradkowski and Brady Quinn. That's 4 out of 7 losses that year to guys that are either back-ups or NFL starters that deserve to be backups.

Not a single current starter on defense was on that team.
Just as much meaning as comparing last seasons Falcons to the 2009 version.

[MCHammer]

Not a single current starter on defense was on that team.
Just as much meaning as comparing last seasons Falcons to the 2009 version.

You and the other posters might have noticed that my claim is that the Steelers have historically struggled against back-ups and no-names. 2009 was chosen as an example. You can check out other years, if you like. 2013 comes to mind: Jake Locker, Jay Cutler (again), Matt Cassel (again), Terrelle Pryor and Ryan Tannehill (again) bested our team.

Again, the overall point is that our team doesn't need to face top shelf QBs in order to prepare for Tom Brady. We already know how to beat Brady. The Steelers just struggle with doing so.

But here is something the Steelers can still do --> win home field advantage by not losing games to teams led by mediocre and/or bad QBs. I like the Steelers chances against Brady at Heinz Field a lot more than I do playing a Sauron-led team in the heart of Moordor.

[Captain Lemming]

You and the other posters might have noticed that my claim is that the Steelers have historically struggled against back-ups and no-names. 2009 was chosen as an example. You can check out other years, if you like. 2013 comes to mind: Jake Locker, Jay Cutler (again), Matt Cassel (again), Terrelle Pryor and Ryan Tannehill (again) bested our team.
.

My friend just because we lost....don’t mean we struggle against those QBs.

Of all those QBs ONLY ONE surpassed 200 yards passing on us. Multiple turnovers on offense were key in some of those loses. No different than saying Bortles and his 92 yards 0 TDs and a pick are why we lost to the Jaguars this season.

If we had an entire season with the average stats we had against those QBs we lost to on your list, it would be a historically great pass defense.

[MCHammer]

My friend just because we lost....don’t mean we struggle against those QBs.

Of all those QBs ONLY ONE surpassed 200 yards passing on us. Multiple turnovers on offense were key in some of those loses. No different than saying Bortles and his 92 yards 0 TDs and a pick are why we lost to the Jaguars this season.

If we had an entire season with the average stats we had against those QBs we lost to on your list, it would be a historically great pass defense.

Fair point, although our star QB typically performed worse than his opponent in these losses. This is a variation of the Steelers playing down to their competition argument. My concern is not that we won't face enough good competition between now and the playoffs. My concern is the Steelers will manage to lose a bunch of games to teams we should easily handle and this will make the playoffs a much tougher road that it should be. The focus should not be on Brady until we play him and we get a chance to prepare for playoff Brady on December 17