Same Steelers?

[flippy]

Will we continue to struggle on offense?

Dominate on defense?

And need Ben to pull tight games out at the end?

Last year's Steelers had me as nervous as the final minutes of any close Pens playoff game.

And it looks like we'll be the same team again.

Special teams may be the one upgrade that could make a big difference.

But our line looks like our line.

And I have a feeling another SuperBowl might be coming down to the wire.

[stlrz d]

Re: Same Steelers?

There are a few things that lead me to believe it will be different this season, but one thing that really jumps out at me is the return of a healthy Sepulveda and having what looks to be a legitimate punt returner.

Pin a team deep, our D makes them go 3 and out...and then we have the potential (based on a decent return) of having a shorter field for the offense.

Even if a drive doesn't end in a TD for us, with a shorter field it has the potential to end in a FG instead of a punt. Points > Punts.

[rpmpit]

Re: Same Steelers?

Special teams is gonna be huge for us. And specifically Sepuvelda being healthy. For example, the only reason the Ravens were close to being in the AFCCG was on that chitty Berger punt and big return (by Leonard I think).

I also think (hope) we'll be better at running the ball, which will take some pressure off Ben.

I think if Tomlin can keep us grounded (and I'm confident he can) we're as good as anyone in the league and have a legit shot at repeating.

[papillon]

Re: Same Steelers?

I'm expecting the offense to sustain drives much better this year than last year, regardless of the distance that has to be traveled. The offense hasn't put a legitimate game plan together yet for an opponent and as of right now it appears that the Steelers are going to start with their two top running backs ready to go. Mewelde Moore will be relegated to his third down contributions and the receivers have looked very good this pre-season.

Sweed, while still dropping some balls has a lot tough catches in traffic this pre-season. It seems that after every game the following words were written: "Limas Sweed made two catches in traffic and had a drop on a catchable, but not easy to catch pass. For now, until he gets more comfortable in the offense I like having a guy that go up and fight for a football and win.

The offensive line now has a year under their belt and will be better this year than last; still not dominant, but, they will open holes and protect Ben better than they did last year. Ben will still be sacked 30 or more times this year, it's his style, he likes it and it works.

The Steeler offense may or may not see a shorter field, I'm not sold on Logan full time as the return man. I hope he's successful, but, I'd rather he not make the 53 man squad and be replaced with an RB that can actually take snaps in a game if necessary.

Ben will be Ben, he'll be better this year than last and that will be hard to do. The Bills game was a glimpse of what we can expect, IMHO; efficient, accurate and sandlot all wrapped into one very, very good quarterback.

The Steeler offense will be in the top 10 this year overall and provide an already outstanding defense a lot of leads to protect.

Pappy

[Oviedo]

Re: Same Steelers?

"Same Steelers" equals Super Bowl Champions. Cool with me

[sd steel]

Re: Same Steelers?

Pappy if your not sold on logan as a return man I would hate to have to sell you anything. As far as Logan being able to contribute elsewhere, I bet he will get his touches when he makes the roster. They will use him the the Chargers first used Sproles, in open space.

[ANPSTEEL]

Re: Same Steelers?

Pappy if your not sold on logan as a return man I would hate to have to sell you anything. As far as Logan being able to contribute elsewhere, I bet he will get his touches when he makes the roster. They will use him the the Chargers first used Sproles, in open space.

ditto-

throw bubble screens to logan, either split wide off the LOS or motioning.

[papillon]

Re: Same Steelers?

Pappy if your not sold on logan as a return man I would hate to have to sell you anything. As far as Logan being able to contribute elsewhere, I bet he will get his touches when he makes the roster. They will use him the the Chargers first used Sproles, in open space.

Let me rephrase, I'm convinced he's a good return man, I'm not convinced he's worth keeping. At 5'6" and 180 pounds he's not getting snaps and, in particular, plays run specifically for him. Merndenhall weighs 225 pounds and can catch and Moore has proven he can run the screen and catch passes out of the backfield. Logan will be a one dimensional player and I'd simply rather use one or two of the "athletes" as the return men and keep an extra running back.

Parker has been dinged and Mendenhall is returning from a season on the IR; running backs get hurt often in today's NFL.

Logan is a luxury IMHO that I'd rather the Steelers not purchase.

Pappy

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Re: Same Steelers?

The big unknown for me this year will be Bruce Arians and if he can adjust and adapt and get a little creative. If our offense struggles like last year, and it is mainly due to a suspect line and no run game due to poor blocking like last year, and we run the same type of offense as last year, then I think we will have the same results like last year. Tight games that our D has to keep us in and Ben has to pull out in the end.

If you look at all the skill players we have on the offensive side of the ball, it makes me want to puke that we struggle so mightily.

[steeler_fan_in_t.o.]

Re: Same Steelers?

As was metioned on the Tomlin interview on SNF last night:

All 22 starters played in the SB last season.

20 starters are returning starters.

Now to some differences. We will be better because.........

1) Much better punter - Not only does Sepulveda kick it longer, but his punts boom high giving the coverage team time to get downfield.

2) OL consistency - Yeah, yeah, our OL sucks right? But it should be at least slightly improved. Last year we had two players forced into starters roles due to injury, a new center, a first year starter at LG and a second year starter at OT. Not one starter had any experience lining up with a guy who was beside him. This year the only change is bringing a vet RG in to replace a starter. Cohesiveness should begin to form as the season goes on.

3) We are starting off healthier - Last season we had players marching off to the PUP list like they were Casey Hampton in a chow line. As well, we had guys like Hampton, Smith, Parker, etc missing chunks of time. We begin the year relatively healthy this year.

4) Consistency/Experience - Third year now under Tomlin, Arians, and the rest of the staff. Players know what to expect, coaches know what the players can bring.

5) Logan - Assuming he makes the team (and I think that most here believe he will) he brings a dimension to our return game that hasn't been seen around here in quite some time. If Sepulveda can add 5 yards net to each punt, and Logan can add 5 yards net to each return, that is a ton of field position added thoughout the game.


Reasons for not improving........

1) Lost depth - this is really the only thing I can think of. I don't think that we lose much replacing BMac with Gay or Foote with Timmons, but we do lose some depth in that we don't have the same quality player to spell our starters.

[AngryAsian]

Re: Same Steelers?

Pappy if your not sold on logan as a return man I would hate to have to sell you anything. As far as Logan being able to contribute elsewhere, I bet he will get his touches when he makes the roster. They will use him the the Chargers first used Sproles, in open space.

Let me rephrase, I'm convinced he's a good return man, I'm not convinced he's worth keeping. At 5'6" and 180 pounds he's not getting snaps and, in particular, plays run specifically for him. Merndenhall weighs 225 pounds and can catch and Moore has proven he can run the screen and catch passes out of the backfield. Logan will be a one dimensional player and I'd simply rather use one or two of the "athletes" as the return men and keep an extra running back.

Parker has been dinged and Mendenhall is returning from a season on the IR; running backs get hurt often in today's NFL.

Logan is a luxury IMHO that I'd rather the Steelers not purchase.

Pappy

Pappy, I understand what you're saying, but there's this guy who was a "luxury" for the San Diego Chargers one year, whose dimensions are 5'6" 185 and they found him a roster spot strictly for special teams and now he encompasses so many of their ST and offensive plays. His name:

Darren Sproles

[feltdizz]

Re: Same Steelers?

Pappy if your not sold on logan as a return man I would hate to have to sell you anything. As far as Logan being able to contribute elsewhere, I bet he will get his touches when he makes the roster. They will use him the the Chargers first used Sproles, in open space.

Let me rephrase, I'm convinced he's a good return man, I'm not convinced he's worth keeping. At 5'6" and 180 pounds he's not getting snaps and, in particular, plays run specifically for him. Merndenhall weighs 225 pounds and can catch and Moore has proven he can run the screen and catch passes out of the backfield. Logan will be a one dimensional player and I'd simply rather use one or two of the "athletes" as the return men and keep an extra running back.

Parker has been dinged and Mendenhall is returning from a season on the IR; running backs get hurt often in today's NFL.

Logan is a luxury IMHO that I'd rather the Steelers not purchase.

Pappy

that luxury shortens the field which means less touches for our RB's and less sacks for our QB...

that luxury takes Holmes off punt duty..

that luxury takes 1 RB off KR where injuries are frequent....

if you don't see the luxury of a KR talent after what you witnessed last year then I don't know pappy...

lets get rid of Sep and use Ben as our punter...what is the point of a good punter if that is all he does? Sounds crazy right? But if Sep is so important why wouldn't a guy who returns what Sep does be just as important?

I just don't see how you say no to a PR like Logan when you have the #1 D who forces 3 and outs 6 to 7 times a game..

this is a no brainer Pappy, you are thinking too hard IMO

[RussBII]

Re: Same Steelers?

Pappy if your not sold on logan as a return man I would hate to have to sell you anything. As far as Logan being able to contribute elsewhere, I bet he will get his touches when he makes the roster. They will use him the the Chargers first used Sproles, in open space.

Let me rephrase, I'm convinced he's a good return man, I'm not convinced he's worth keeping. At 5'6" and 180 pounds he's not getting snaps and, in particular, plays run specifically for him. Merndenhall weighs 225 pounds and can catch and Moore has proven he can run the screen and catch passes out of the backfield. Logan will be a one dimensional player and I'd simply rather use one or two of the "athletes" as the return men and keep an extra running back.

Parker has been dinged and Mendenhall is returning from a season on the IR; running backs get hurt often in today's NFL.

Logan is a luxury IMHO that I'd rather the Steelers not purchase.

Pappy

that luxury shortens the field which means less touches for our RB's and less sacks for our QB...

that luxury takes Holmes off punt duty..

that luxury takes 1 RB off KR where injuries are frequent....

if you don't see the luxury of a KR talent after what you witnessed last year then I don't know pappy...

lets get rid of Sep and use Ben as our punter...what is the point of a good punter if that is all he does? Sounds crazy right? But if Sep is so important why wouldn't a guy who returns what Sep does be just as important?

I just don't see how you say no to a PR like Logan when you have the #1 D who forces 3 and outs 6 to 7 times a game..

this is a no brainer Pappy, you are thinking too hard IMO

I keep flip flopping on this one. At what price do we keep Logan? Who doesn't make the team because he does. If he's only a KR/PR then we lose depth somewhere. If he can be a WR or RB, that's awesome, but who doesn't make it then?

If the cost isn't too high, OR if we don't have another guy who can adequately be a PR/KR then we keep him. If Wallace and Moore can handle the duties adequately, he is a luxury we don't need.

Still, it'd be awesome to have some excitement in the return game.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Re: Same Steelers?

I think we have to keep Logan. If we don't, he will be signed by someone else rather quickly I would think.

[ANPSTEEL]

Re: Same Steelers?

Pappy if your not sold on logan as a return man I would hate to have to sell you anything. As far as Logan being able to contribute elsewhere, I bet he will get his touches when he makes the roster. They will use him the the Chargers first used Sproles, in open space.

Let me rephrase, I'm convinced he's a good return man, I'm not convinced he's worth keeping. At 5'6" and 180 pounds he's not getting snaps and, in particular, plays run specifically for him. Merndenhall weighs 225 pounds and can catch and Moore has proven he can run the screen and catch passes out of the backfield. Logan will be a one dimensional player and I'd simply rather use one or two of the "athletes" as the return men and keep an extra running back.

Parker has been dinged and Mendenhall is returning from a season on the IR; running backs get hurt often in today's NFL.

Logan is a luxury IMHO that I'd rather the Steelers not purchase.

Pappy

that luxury shortens the field which means less touches for our RB's and less sacks for our QB...

that luxury takes Holmes off punt duty..

that luxury takes 1 RB off KR where injuries are frequent....

if you don't see the luxury of a KR talent after what you witnessed last year then I don't know pappy...

lets get rid of Sep and use Ben as our punter...what is the point of a good punter if that is all he does? Sounds crazy right? But if Sep is so important why wouldn't a guy who returns what Sep does be just as important?

I just don't see how you say no to a PR like Logan when you have the #1 D who forces 3 and outs 6 to 7 times a game..

this is a no brainer Pappy, you are thinking too hard IMO

I keep flip flopping on this one. At what price do we keep Logan? Who doesn't make the team because he does. If he's only a KR/PR then we lose depth somewhere. If he can be a WR or RB, that's awesome, but who doesn't make it then?

If the cost isn't too high, OR if we don't have another guy who can adequately be a PR/KR then we keep him. If Wallace and Moore can handle the duties adequately, he is a luxury we don't need.

Still, it'd be awesome to have some excitement in the return game.

improving just two positions would have such a huge impact on this team vs. last season.

Being able to change field position from either the Punt or Return teams... would bring immeasurable results.

The improved field position would eliminate the almost constant need to put together 80 & 90 yard offensive drives. Try to recall just how many times the Steelers were pinned inside their 20 last season. It was far too often.

Additionally, if the opposing team is consistently pinned inside their 10 or 20- how often do you think they are going to score against the Steelers D?? How many times did shankandburgster kick up a whiffle ball - leaving the other team on the 30 or 40??? Sheeet, I cant even count that high- (without my shoes off, that is.... )

So, I think you see my point(s) here-

with the dramatic improvement provided by Sepulveda and Logan- the ceiling for overall team improvement is tremendous.

Screw Brady, we've got our punter back- and he's bringing his joystick!