Matthew thomas

[Steelwolf]

Signed to the ravens off our practice squad to a future contract...well ****

[pittpete]

I guess he didnt have a rocket making degree to get playing time on this shltty D

[Eddie Spaghetti]

no big deal

we are set at that position with bostic, fort, bince, and dirty red

[Ernie]

This offseason just keeps getting worse.

[Steelwolf]

Truthfully this season has sucked ass and have this gut feeling it is going to get worse

[papillon]

Maybe its time to clean the house completely, let Ben play his last year and don't extend him, let him decide if he wants to play elsewhere and congratulate him when he goes into the Hall, that will probably push Pouncey into retirement, cut ties with AB, let Gilbert and Foster walk and, finally, remove Mike Tomlin, the new head coach will clean out the coordinators and special teams coach, the Steelers suffer drastically next year and 2020, but they'll be starting with a clean slate and a few young guys who genuinely want to play football, JJSS, Conner, Dobbs or Rudolph, Feiler, McDonald, Chuks, Washington, etc. Then you can begin rebuilding the Steeler culture the way you want it, create the laws and punishments so that they are plain as day and move on. I can't believe I'm saying this but, it has become obvious that there is more than meets the eye with this team.

Why did the Steelers pass the ball 67% of the time this year?
Why did Blount want out and got his wish?
Why did Harrison want out and got his wish?
Why did Bell walk away from 14.5 million dollars?
Why is AB trying to work his way out of town?
Why was Arians retired, but not really?
Why did Troy seem disgruntled about the way his career ended?

Unfortunately, the two common factors in all of this are Ben and Mike Tomlin, both, great at their jobs except the leading part and that may be why the Steelers are at the crossroads they find themselves right now.

OR,

Maybe, if ARII let Mike Tomlin go and hired a new HC it could all work out and the complete cleaning doesn't have to happen, the new coach would clean house (coaching wise) and bring his people in to be coordinators and the special teams coach. Ben gets someone that will insist on being more ball secure and less wild, wild west (maybe), the defense gets a shot in the arm from a new voice and, well, special teams might actually be special. Maybe, ABs problem was with Tomlin, if it was, good for the Steelers, if it wasn't then jettison him for whatever you can get and move forward.

At this point, I think you either clean house or you let Mike Tomlin go, but I just can't see a positive outcome keeping status quo, maybe I'm completely misreading the tea leaves but it isn't a good look for the organization right now. And, I am not someone to make changes just to make changes but the organization is in disarray. Maybe Jon Gruden isn't as dumb as many are making him out to be, he may have seen a cultural problem and decided to fix it.

Pappy

[Oviedo]

Maybe its time to clean the house completely, let Ben play his last year and don't extend him, let him decide if he wants to play elsewhere and congratulate him when he goes into the Hall, that will probably push Pouncey into retirement, cut ties with AB, let Gilbert and Foster walk and, finally, remove Mike Tomlin, the new head coach will clean out the coordinators and special teams coach, the Steelers suffer drastically next year and 2020, but they'll be starting with a clean slate and a few young guys who genuinely want to play football, JJSS, Conner, Dobbs or Rudolph, Feiler, McDonald, Chuks, Washington, etc. Then you can begin rebuilding the Steeler culture the way you want it, create the laws and punishments so that they are plain as day and move on. I can't believe I'm saying this but, it has become obvious that there is more than meets the eye with this team.

Why did the Steelers pass the ball 67% of the time this year?
Why did Blount want out and got his wish?
Why did Harrison want out and got his wish?
Why did Bell walk away from 14.5 million dollars?
Why is AB trying to work his way out of town?
Why was Arians retired, but not really?
Why did Troy seem disgruntled about the way his career ended?

Unfortunately, the two common factors in all of this are Ben and Mike Tomlin, both, great at their jobs except the leading part and that may be why the Steelers are at the crossroads they find themselves right now.

OR,

Maybe, if ARII let Mike Tomlin go and hired a new HC it could all work out and the complete cleaning doesn't have to happen, the new coach would clean house (coaching wise) and bring his people in to be coordinators and the special teams coach. Ben gets someone that will insist on being more ball secure and less wild, wild west (maybe), the defense gets a shot in the arm from a new voice and, well, special teams might actually be special. Maybe, ABs problem was with Tomlin, if it was, good for the Steelers, if it wasn't then jettison him for whatever you can get and move forward.

At this point, I think you either clean house or you let Mike Tomlin go, but I just can't see a positive outcome keeping status quo, maybe I'm completely misreading the tea leaves but it isn't a good look for the organization right now. And, I am not someone to make changes just to make changes but the organization is in disarray. Maybe Jon Gruden isn't as dumb as many are making him out to be, he may have seen a cultural problem and decided to fix it.

Pappy

...and you would probably be wrong

Let's get over the overwrought emotionalism and put this all in perspective. The reason we missed the play offs was because we had a Pro Bowl kicker who turned into Steve Blass. We were one Boswell away from 12 wins and the #2 seed in the AFC since we beat the Pats.

To all you Chicken Littles, the sky really isn't falling. Improvements need to be made but "blowing it up" is a little much

[SteelerOfDeVille]

...and you would probably be wrong

Let's get over the overwrought emotionalism and put this all in perspective. The reason we missed the play offs was because we had a Pro Bowl kicker who turned into Steve Blass. We were one Boswell away from 12 wins and the #2 seed in the AFC since we beat the Pats.

To all you Chicken Littles, the sky really isn't falling. Improvements need to be made but "blowing it up" is a little much

Ovi... i'm a tomlin supporter, but...

The reason we aren't in the playoffs is that this team spent waay to much time with a 3 or 4 point lead and 8 or 10 minutes left and zero sense of urgency to put the game away.. They come out and they seem intent on snapping late in the play clock and either running or throwing uber conservative passes. More focused on burning the clock than moving the ball past the sticks.

Almost did it against Bengals. Certainly did against the Saints.... and Pats (Brady just didn't score)... and Chargers... and probably 2-3 other games, if i'd think hard enough

[Northern_Blitz]

Ovi... i'm a tomlin supporter, but...

The reason we aren't in the playoffs is that this team spent waay to much time with a 3 or 4 point lead and 8 or 10 minutes left and zero sense of urgency to put the game away.. They come out and they seem intent on snapping late in the play clock and either running or throwing uber conservative passes. More focused on burning the clock than moving the ball past the sticks.

Almost did it against Bengals. Certainly did against the Saints.... and Pats (Brady just didn't score)... and Chargers... and probably 2-3 other games, if i'd think hard enough

I think it's #1 turnovers (on both sides of the ball) and #2 kicking.

I think it's hard to argue that they should be super aggressive with a lead when the O turns over the ball so much...although it's a bit of a damned if you do and damned if you don't with this D.

[papillon]

...and you would probably be wrong

Let's get over the overwrought emotionalism and put this all in perspective. The reason we missed the play offs was because we had a Pro Bowl kicker who turned into Steve Blass. We were one Boswell away from 12 wins and the #2 seed in the AFC since we beat the Pats.

To all you Chicken Littles, the sky really isn't falling. Improvements need to be made but "blowing it up" is a little much

I hope you're right and that some time to cool off, reflect and make the necessary changes happens and they win 12 or more games next year, but...

Something is wrong with this core group of players, I'm not quite sure what it is, but something isn't right, Bell, and now Brown want out, Bell is out and Brown may be out. Why?

There were more reasons than Boswell's transformation from All-pro to the worst kicker in the league for the Steeler failures this season.

Aren't these legitimate questions?

Why did the Steelers pass the ball 67% of the time this year?
Why did Blount want out and got his wish?
Why did Harrison want out and got his wish?
Why did Bell walk away from 14.5 million dollars?
Why is AB trying to work his way out of town?
Why was Arians retired, but not really?
Why did Troy seem disgruntled about the way his career ended?

Pappy

[Sugar]

...and you would probably be wrong

Let's get over the overwrought emotionalism and put this all in perspective. The reason we missed the play offs was because we had a Pro Bowl kicker who turned into Steve Blass. We were one Boswell away from 12 wins and the #2 seed in the AFC since we beat the Pats.

To all you Chicken Littles, the sky really isn't falling. Improvements need to be made but "blowing it up" is a little much

Let's also add to the mix unusually bad officiating that directly hurt this team disproportionately in games against two of the top teams in the league.

[Sugar]

Aren't these legitimate questions?

Why did the Steelers pass the ball 67% of the time this year?
Why did Blount want out and got his wish?
Why did Harrison want out and got his wish?
Why did Bell walk away from 14.5 million dollars?
Why is AB trying to work his way out of town?
Why was Arians retired, but not really?
Why did Troy seem disgruntled about the way his career ended?

Pappy

You can ask those questions, but to me they seem as simple as:
The team had a glut of receiving threats, but an untested RB corps.
Blount wasn't getting the carries he wanted and thought he deserved and knew he could catch on in NE where they could really use him.
Harrison wasn't getting the playing time he thought he was promised and decided to move on.
Bell wanted the guaranteed money that the team would have been stupid to pay based on his history. He's betting on himself.
We still don't know what's going on with AB.
Arians long developing pass plays were getting our QB hit. A lot.
Most major athletes don't know when it's time to hang it up, but he had obviously lost a couple steps.

I thought these things were common knowledge to those that follow the team, but I hope it helps.