What the Steelers might are lacking

[Joel Buchsbaum]

Leaving the coaches out of this conversation, what the Steelers might be lacking is kick butt vocal leaders on the field. Mean Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, and Greg Lloyd. If you want Offense Alan Faneca and Hines Hard. Try getting in their way or dozing off. Can you smell what I'm cookin'?

Not only outstanding football players but team leaders. The type who say I'm going to rip you a new one in any game any quarter do you hear me opposition, just try me. The type that say if you don't pull you weight Mr. Teammate you're in harms way too. TJ Watt is great on the field and dedicated off it. The same can be said Minkah Fitzpatrick. Where's the locker room guy who when needed gets in a teammates grill and says don't even think about trading stickers and jerseys. Where's the guy who get upset if he gives up 10 yards? Is that guy gone for good? We need one.

I remember way back when we I meet Greg Lloyd in the local mall. A stone cold dude. When I asked Greg if Jason Gildon who was projected as a first time starter will be ready he looked at me with a face he doesn't greet fans with and said, " He' better ****** be or he'll have to deal with me in a very non PG-13 type of reply. He meant it. We need " That. " on the team.

[hawaiiansteel]

I remember way back when we I meet Greg Lloyd in the local mall. A stone cold dude. When I asked Greg if Jason Gildon who was projected as a first time starter will be ready he looked at me with a face he doesn't greet fans with and said, " He' better ****** be or he'll have to deal with me in a very non PG-13 type of reply. He meant it. We need " That. " on the team.

one of my favorite pics:

[Iron City Inc.]

J B makes some good points about on the field "ass kickers" and leaders. We have some .........Heyward on D n Ben on O.
We sure could use some more and some dudes are emerging.
What we are lacking imho is that we simply lack a high enough level of talent and talent in some key positions.
If we were starting a new team arguably QB, LT and shut down corner would be top 3 priorities. We have major questions at all those positions. We are likely at least one draft away from filling those holes perhaps two. We will have a good chunk of f/a money a year from now so it could be a short turn around.
We're in for some stormy weather but every team goes through it. Lets hope it's only this year.

[BURGH86STEEL]

I guess fans would need to be around the team to know. I doubt players are not thinking about this kind of ish when they are in the heat of battle.

All this kind of stuff is nice to talk about with the hype but the reality is something different.

At the end of the day players just need to execute. The games boil down to execution.

[Northern_Blitz]

My guess is that our problems last year were more along the lines of having guys that weren't good at run blocking, a QB that wasn't accurate medium to deep, and a bunch of injuries to key players on the D. And an OC that wasn't good at game planning (probably because he was hired based on his relationship with the threatening-to-retire QB vs. credentials as an OC).

While he's not the best player on the D, Vince is known to be a very vocal leader. Heyward also sounds like he's not afraid to speak his mind in public, which suggests he wouldn't be afraid to do the same in private. And I'd imagine that Ben is a very vocal leader on O.

[Joel Buchsbaum]

I guess fans would need to be around the team to know. I doubt players are not thinking about this kind of ish when they are in the heat of battle.

All this kind of stuff is nice to talk about with the hype but the reality is something different.

At the end of the day players just need to execute. The games boil down to execution.

Going on what I see, Ju-ju practices dancing on logo's. IMO he re-signed here because he'll do the best here, he knows he'll get away stuff here, and the money was close. Bell was a me first, team 15th type of player who lied to teammates and focused on his music.. And who knows what Brown was thinking off, besides trading stickers and such.

I agree Heyward is a team leader, just not no one vocal about this stuff. What would Greg Lloyd say if these guys were his teammates? Forget what would he say, what would he do? The Steelers in the 1970's had a cast of characters. Noll took no crap from anyone and made his punishments public news, even if Bradshaw. Could you imagine what he'd do these days? One game Joe Greene was doing something on the sideline and Jack Lambert screamed at Joe Greene to knock if off he he's going to knock him out and he meant it. Joe Green quickly shut up and put his mind back on the game because Lambert meant it. A team historian can give you better detail.

Oh how I'd love such a guy to put fear in our divas's now on other teams when they were in their prime with us. Ya want to change the team culture back to the days when we won playoff games and championships? I say diva's get out. I don't think vance Williams can do much, he's barely on the team. The enforcer type I'm talking about has to be a key player on the team.

Those Championship team Steelers were 50-1 vs teams .500 or below. They didn't lose focus.
Us? Now? Well our LB is bitching on social media about the worst team in the NFL signing Tim Tebow.

I forgot to mention James Harrison, he qualifies. The NFL change rules because of him.

[BURGH86STEEL]

Going on what I see, Ju-ju practices dancing on logo's. IMO he re-signed here because he'll do the best here, he knows he'll get away stuff here, and the money was close. Bell was a me first, team 15th type of player who lied to teammates and focused on his music.. And who knows what Brown was thinking off, besides trading stickers and such.

I agree Heyward is a team leader, just not no one vocal about this stuff. What would Greg Lloyd say if these guys were his teammates? Forget what would he say, what would he do? The Steelers in the 1970's had a cast of characters. Noll took no crap from anyone and made his punishments public news, even if Bradshaw. Could you imagine what he'd do these days? One game Joe Greene was doing something on the sideline and Jack Lambert screamed at Joe Greene to knock if off he he's going to knock him out and he meant it. Joe Green quickly shut up and put his mind back on the game because Lambert meant it. A team historian can give you better detail.

Oh how I'd love such a guy to put fear in our divas's now on other teams when they were in their prime with us. Ya want to change the team culture back to the days when we won playoff games and championships? I say diva's get out. I don't think vance Williams can do much, he's barely on the team. The enforcer type I'm talking about has to be a key player on the team.

Those Championship team Steelers were 50-1 vs teams .500 or below. They didn't lose focus.
Us? Now? Well our LB is bitching on social media about the worst team in the NFL signing Tim Tebow.

I forgot to mention James Harrison, he qualifies. The NFL change rules because of him.

Did you watch some Juju's offseason work outs on you tube?

Juju is still a young man. Sometimes the birth right of the youth is to make mistakes. I try not to judge to harshly in that regard. I made my share of mistakes as a young man. I make my share of mistakes as a middle aged man. Juju is a good football player and young man that likes to enjoy himself. Take some of what made Juju Juju and he might not have the same edge as a player? I don't know. Everyone is build differently and deals with or handles criticism or situations differently. Juju is still a good football player. Seems to be a quality young man. But let's let dancing influence our decision of the overall picture. Sorry but I see more than the dancing stuff.

Apparently Bell was a good teammate to players that were around him. Just because players were disgruntled over whatever issues(ie contract, use) didn't make them poor or bad teammates. Business is business at the professional level though. Again, I don't know all the circumstances so I try not to judge players like Bell to harshly. I think Bell made a big mistake leaving the Steelers. His life and his risk. That's life. He was ok financially regardless of the decision he made. Maybe his goal wasn't to become an all time great bu to make as much money as possible?

As good as Greg was he never won a championship with the Steelers. Greg was a good player and leader. I believe the Steelers have quality leadership. You don't win 11 games in a row by having poor leadership. I just think this mythical leadership thing is an over played excuse. I generally prefer to focus on what I know, can see, and analyze. Execution. That's where games are generally won or loss.

Comparing eras? Come on man stop.

[BURGH86STEEL]

My guess is that our problems last year were more along the lines of having guys that weren't good at run blocking, a QB that wasn't accurate medium to deep, and a bunch of injuries to key players on the D. And an OC that wasn't good at game planning (probably because he was hired based on his relationship with the threatening-to-retire QB vs. credentials as an OC).

While he's not the best player on the D, Vince is known to be a very vocal leader. Heyward also sounds like he's not afraid to speak his mind in public, which suggests he wouldn't be afraid to do the same in private. And I'd imagine that Ben is a very vocal leader on O.

When a team fails it's usually a combination of factors. I don't think leadership was an issue. Leadership certainly couldn't overcome the injuries that the Steelers had last season.

[flippy]

Would a real team leader have beat up Pouncey on the sideline for 1-2 bad snaps a game? Would he have threatened Ben if he doesn’t stop throwing to the LOS?

While it seems you have issue with social media, Juju did take opponent focus off the rest of his teammates and got defenders to want to focus on taking him out. Seemed to me he was tough enough to take any extra hits/focus and keep going. His teammates unfortunately weren’t good enough to take advantage of the opportunity.

I think we just need better players and execution imho.

[Joel Buchsbaum]

Would a real team leader have beat up Pouncey on the sideline for 1-2 bad snaps a game? Would he have threatened Ben if he doesn’t stop throwing to the LOS?

While it seems you have issue with social media, Juju did take opponent focus off the rest of his teammates and got defenders to want to focus on taking him out. Seemed to me he was tough enough to take any extra hits/focus and keep going. His teammates unfortunately weren’t good enough to take advantage of the opportunity.

I think we just need better players and execution imho.

If you want better focus, have guys focusing on football not boxing A Brown or social media. Ju-Ju put a target on the Steelers by dancing on opponents logo's. I don't think he did himself any favors with the officials either.

Your post is a mess.

[Joel Buchsbaum]

Did you watch some Juju's offseason work outs on you tube?

Juju is still a young man. Sometimes the birth right of the youth is to make mistakes. I try not to judge to harshly in that regard. I made my share of mistakes as a young man. I make my share of mistakes as a middle aged man. Juju is a good football player and young man that likes to enjoy himself. Take some of what made Juju Juju and he might not have the same edge as a player? I don't know. Everyone is build differently and deals with or handles criticism or situations differently. Juju is still a good football player. Seems to be a quality young man. But let's let dancing influence our decision of the overall picture. Sorry but I see more than the dancing stuff.

Apparently Bell was a good teammate to players that were around him. Just because players were disgruntled over whatever issues(ie contract, use) didn't make them poor or bad teammates. Business is business at the professional level though. Again, I don't know all the circumstances so I try not to judge players like Bell to harshly. I think Bell made a big mistake leaving the Steelers. His life and his risk. That's life. He was ok financially regardless of the decision he made. Maybe his goal wasn't to become an all time great bu to make as much money as possible?

As good as Greg was he never won a championship with the Steelers. Greg was a good player and leader. I believe the Steelers have quality leadership. You don't win 11 games in a row by having poor leadership. I just think this mythical leadership thing is an over played excuse. I generally prefer to focus on what I know, can see, and analyze. Execution. That's where games are generally won or loss.

Comparing eras? Come on man stop.

Championships teams, anyone of them don't have the same diva problems. Show me who they are?

You don't close the season 1-5 and get embarrassed in the playoffs when you are focused, do you?

Greg's team over achieved, and ran in to a dynasty level Cowboys, nearly winning the super bowl, then in my opnion was sucker punched when ownership / GM didn't re-sign O'donnell and went with a very mistake stake prone Kordell Stewart.

Bell was good player but I DO NOT respect him as a man. He screws around with other women when his finance is pregnant, lies to his teammate and coaches when asked about when asked about drug test ( And inserts a 4-20 joke ) , and became mediocre in his final playgoing days here, and oh, didn't take an amazing contract offer by the Steelers, I guess to make his own point. His own OL threw him under the bus. No--His goal was not to make a much money as possible. He would have taken a very generous offer from the Steelers if that were true. I'm glad he and his off the field issues, which I only know a little bit about are gone. Did this guy ever win a playoff game? What do the Jets think of him now? He's a role player at best on KC .

Ju - ju is a fine person, but all the warning signs are there for a diva receiver, and quite frankly he's not great enough to get the attention he wants. This is why he uses social media as if to say look at me. Do it on the field son. IMO he's at the crossroads. Like I said before, he wants to box Antiono Brown a much smaller man for what?

[Northern_Blitz]

If you want better focus, have guys focusing on football not boxing A Brown or social media. Ju-Ju put a target on the Steelers by dancing on opponents logo's. I don't think he did himself any favors with the officials either.

Your post is a mess.

How many hours a day are you awake?

And how many hours a day do you spend on your job?

Do you think you'd be better at your job if these two numbers were the same?

Or do you think that you'd be worse at what you do if all you did was sleep and work?

Players are humans.

[NorthCoast]

The NFL has legislated nasty out of the league. Too much thinking by defenses now instead of making a football play; "should I hold back so I don't hit the QB's knees?"....." can't lower my head when that receiver comes streaking down the sidelines"...."can't touch that guy after 5 yds"...."can't hit that defenseless receiver on the crossing route"...."headslaps?....not allowed"...... etc.

[feltdizz]

How many SB’s did we win while. Greg Lloyd was on the team?

Having intimidating LB’s is cool for locker room stories and rumors but it doesn’t guarantee success.

[feltdizz]

Championships teams, anyone of them don't have the same diva problems. Show me who they are?

You don't close the season 1-5 and get embarrassed in the playoffs when you are focused, do you?

Greg's team over achieved, and ran in to a dynasty level Cowboys, nearly winning the super bowl, then in my opnion was sucker punched when ownership / GM didn't re-sign O'donnell and went with a very mistake stake prone Kordell Stewart.

Bell was good player but I DO NOT respect him as a man. He screws around with other women when his finance is pregnant, lies to his teammate and coaches when asked about when asked about drug test ( And inserts a 4-20 joke ) , and became mediocre in his final playgoing days here, and oh, didn't take an amazing contract offer by the Steelers, I guess to make his own point. His own OL threw him under the bus. No--His goal was not to make a much money as possible. He would have taken a very generous offer from the Steelers if that were true. I'm glad he and his off the field issues, which I only know a little bit about are gone. Did this guy ever win a playoff game? What do the Jets think of him now? He's a role player at best on KC .

Ju - ju is a fine person, but all the warning signs are there for a diva receiver, and quite frankly he's not great enough to get the attention he wants. This is why he uses social media as if to say look at me. Do it on the field son. IMO he's at the crossroads. Like I said before, he wants to box Antiono Brown a much smaller man for what?

cracks me up how you think your list of who deserves respect “as a man” matters in football.

these are football players, not preachers or marriage counselors..

Greg Lloyd has also been accused of putting a gun in his 12 year old son’s mouth, pointing a gun at his wife and has no contact with his son anymore.

What it really comes down to is players who helped us make SB’s get more “respect” and players who didn’t make SB’s are terrible human beings...

if we make a SB with JuJu on the team watch how quickly JuJu becomes a hero and respected player who is great for the city.