Just sayin...

[Steel Maniac]

I suggest you go look at the defensive rankings under Tomlin they are actually pretty good. If your contention is still we have only had bad secondary players then its even a better coaching job by Tomlin. The draft is a crap shoot especially when you are a winning team which is why uou saw us go out and pick up Hayden, Nelson, Fitzpatrick through free agency. Now we also have some nice secondaty players on the roster, Edmunds, Hilton, Sutton. Also I think even though Burns has been rough I think he gets some redemption this weekend.

Stats dont always tell the whole story. Secondary so good that Blake Bortles scores 17 points in the 4 qtr alone. 17 points....Blake Bortles. See? Stats don’t tell the whole story.

Then go back to the year that manning won with Denver; how did that vaunted secondary perform that year in the playoffs? You see? Seasonal stats dont tell the whole story.

[Mr.wizard]

Stats dont always tell the whole story. Secondary so good that Blake Bortles scores 17 points in the 4 qtr alone. 17 points....Blake Bortles. See? Stats don’t tell the whole story.

Then go back to the year that manning won with Denver; how did that vaunted secondary perform that year in the playoffs? You see? Seasonal stats dont tell the whole story.

Actually looking at an entire season does tell the whole story, looking at one quarter or one game is not telling the whole story. You see?

[Steel Maniac]

Actually looking at an entire season does tell the whole story, looking at one quarter or one game is not telling the whole story. You see?

Nope. You just don’t get it. And that’s okay. You can continue to make excuses and used skewed numbers. But your not getting what you want; your not getting to Suoer bowls with those wonderful secondaries your proclaiming. So we see by results which one of us is right... and it isn’t you. You have no super bowl appearances or victories. So your secondary obviously wasn’t that great.


Boom.

[Northern_Blitz]

Actually looking at an entire season does tell the whole story, looking at one quarter or one game is not telling the whole story. You see?

Something something...Small sample sizes...something something

[NorthCoast]

Something happened around 2013 and it's been downhill since for the D. I know Lebeau left after 2014 after 2 subpar seasons on D. But now Mike Tomlin and Keith Butler have had 4 straight bad seasons by historic standards for this team even during the Tomlin era.

IMHO, I think DL deserved more leeway than MT. DL had a lot more success for a longer time than MT. They had some great success together. I think we should have stuck with DL and tried to iron out the issues with him instead of without him.

On the same token, seeing that we didn't get better post DL, I'm not sure canning MT is the current answer either.

Either way, WTF happened in 2013? And why did it take about 5 years to come back from there? I think we're on the verge of becoming a better D this season.

DL's biggest problem?... could not figure out how to beat NE. That's a death sentence in the playoffs. Tomlin's teams seem to at least hold their own, this season excluded.
One thing I look at as a sign of a good coach is whether the team gets better as the season progresses, stays the same, or gets worse.

Tomlin's 1st half / 2nd half season record for his career:

0.619% W / 0.667% W

Now here's something interesting, since 2010 his 1st/2nd half record:

0.578% W / 0.708% W

There's a marked improvement in the team's success as the season progresses in recent times, one of the reasons why I consider him a great coach.

[Oh wow]

DL's biggest problem?... could not figure out how to beat NE. That's a death sentence in the playoffs. Tomlin's teams seem to at least hold their own, this season excluded.
One thing I look at as a sign of a good coach is whether the team gets better as the season progresses, stays the same, or gets worse.

Tomlin's 1st half / 2nd half season record for his career:

0.619% W / 0.667% W

Now here's something interesting, since 2010 his 1st/2nd half record:

0.578% W / 0.708% W

There's a marked improvement in the team's success as the season progresses in recent times, one of the reasons why I consider him a great coach.

Always thought it was idd the one year DL threw out the game plan and went press man and we shut them down.

Why not do that all the time from that point on?

That 7 yard cushion was so frustrating on 3rd and 4.

[ikestops85]

Nope. You just don’t get it. And that’s okay. You can continue to make excuses and used skewed numbers. But your not getting what you want; your not getting to Suoer bowls with those wonderful secondaries your proclaiming. So we see by results which one of us is right... and it isn’t you. You have no super bowl appearances or victories. So your secondary obviously wasn’t that great.


Boom.

I'm telling you guys ... just read the above post. There are no facts, just a bunch of shouting people down. It doesn't matter the stats provided to prove him wrong and the logic used to blow up his argument. He just says don't look at those things but just believe him. I think we have a celebrity posting on this site who used to fire people on TV. Go figure.

[Steel Maniac]

Read my above post. No shouting needed.

If what you were claiming were true about how great the defense was, we’d have made it to a super bowl or two in the last 8 years. But we didn’t.

So your stats don’t tell the whole story. That’s why you’ve chosen to deflect when I’ve cornered you with the truth. What you say and what has happened don’t match up.

So now you say I’m shouting?? Not needed. Just the facts are needed my friend.

[Steel Maniac]

We had one of the top 3-4 offenses in the league and your saying our defense was great too?? So where were the super bowl appearances in the last 8 years??

Doesn’t add up son. Doesn’t add up.

Please see my signature for what those great defenses did for us the last eight years in the post season. Because we know we’ve had offense. We know that!

[Oh wow]

Yup. Just like Ike just said. A bunch of shouting.

[Mr.wizard]

Nope. You just don’t get it. And that’s okay. You can continue to make excuses and used skewed numbers. But your not getting what you want; your not getting to Suoer bowls with those wonderful secondaries your proclaiming. So we see by results which one of us is right... and it isn’t you. You have no super bowl appearances or victories. So your secondary obviously wasn’t that great.


Boom.

I get it just fine, the numbers aren't skewed, and stop using straw man and arguments while also moving the goal posts. I never said we had great secondaries, what the stats show is a comparison with the rest of the league showing we weren't this terrible secondary you describe. Also now you have shifted your argument to having to have super bowl victories in order to be considered a great secondary, which is stupid and also not supported by the results. Look at our defenses under Cowher which were considered dominant, we were built for defense and still were not piling up super bowl victories.

[Oh wow]

I get it just fine, the numbers aren't skewed, and stop using straw man and arguments while also moving the goal posts. I never said we had great secondaries, what the stats show is a comparison with the rest of the league showing we weren't this terrible secondary you describe. Also now you have shifted your argument to having to have super bowl victories in order to be considered a great secondary, which is stupid and also not supported by the results. Look at our defenses under Cowher which were considered dominant, we were built for defense and still were not piling up super bowl victories.

If you aren’t in SB’s you aren’t any good.

ALL FAX

[tiproast]

If you aren’t in SB’s you aren’t any good.

ALL FAX

Sarcasm noted. And here a few non-sarcastic observations.

The regular season is a grind. The things a team does well in the beginning of the season that helps them win games might not work at the end of the year, as other teams make adjustments. And then injuries have to be compensated for, so depth is important, for every team. No team escapes the injury factor, although some teams are affected more than others.

And then there are other variables that affect outcomes - weather, officiating, scheduling and travel (who you play, when and where you play them), luck (oblong footballs are hard to hold onto and take funny bounces). And with the high churn rate of NFL rosters, every team is different every year; many teams do not jell until the second half of the season.

Just getting through the regular season and making the playoffs is difficult. Opposing players are talented, too, and opposing coaches are smart. And this is their profession - no one wants to lose their job. They're all making a lot of money, and they have a lot of incentive to do well each and every week.

But when the playoffs start, it's not just more of the same. Teams that make the post-season have survived the regular season gauntlet - they know what they do well, they know how to hide/minimize their weaknesses, and their coaches have plays, formations and strategies that they've held in reserve so that they can use them when the stakes are higher.

And that is why it's certainly possible for a team to have a good season without making the playoffs. And to have a great season without winning the Super Bowl.

As fans, we all want our team to win the Super Bowl every year. But simple math shows that roughly 97% (31/32) of fans are going to be disappointed every year. But obviously a Super Bowl victory is not the only criterion that should be used to evaluate success/failure; if it were, then NFL football (indeed, all professional sports) would die out due to the high failure rate.

The reason we watch, despite the near certainty every year that our favorite team won't win it all, is for the competition. The well-executed trap play, the gazelle-like WR high-pointing the ball in the end-zone, the defensive tackle blowing through the o-line for a sack. We enjoy the precision of a well-executed hurry up offense, the strategy of a well-designed zone defense, and the randomness that can occur on kicking plays.

Above all, we enjoy the spectacle. That's the reason I follow the sport.

[fordfixer]

Tight

Sarcasm noted. And here a few non-sarcastic observations.

The regular season is a grind. The things a team does well in the beginning of the season that helps them win games might not work at the end of the year, as other teams make adjustments. And then injuries have to be compensated for, so depth is important, for every team. No team escapes the injury factor, although some teams are affected more than others.

And then there are other variables that affect outcomes - weather, officiating, scheduling and travel (who you play, when and where you play them), luck (oblong footballs are hard to hold onto and take funny bounces). And with the high churn rate of NFL rosters, every team is different every year; many teams do not jell until the second half of the season.

Just getting through the regular season and making the playoffs is difficult. Opposing players are talented, too, and opposing coaches are smart. And this is their profession - no one wants to lose their job. They're all making a lot of money, and they have a lot of incentive to do well each and every week.

But when the playoffs start, it's not just more of the same. Teams that make the post-season have survived the regular season gauntlet - they know what they do well, they know how to hide/minimize their weaknesses, and their coaches have plays, formations and strategies that they've held in reserve so that they can use them when the stakes are higher.

And that is why it's certainly possible for a team to have a good season without making the playoffs. And to have a great season without winning the Super Bowl.

As fans, we all want our team to win the Super Bowl every year. But simple math shows that roughly 97% (31/32) of fans are going to be disappointed every year. But obviously a Super Bowl victory is not the only criterion that should be used to evaluate success/failure; if it were, then NFL football (indeed, all professional sports) would die out due to the high failure rate.

The reason we watch, despite the near certainty every year that our favorite team won't win it all, is for the competition. The well-executed trap play, the gazelle-like WR high-pointing the ball in the end-zone, the defensive tackle blowing through the o-line for a sack. We enjoy the precision of a well-executed hurry up offense, the strategy of a well-designed zone defense, and the randomness that can occur on kicking plays.

Above all, we enjoy the spectacle. That's the reason I follow the sport.

Well said or typed

[flippy]

(oblong footballs are hard to hold onto and take funny bounces).

I heard if you let some air out, they’re much easier to hold onto.