In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

[hawaiiansteel]

Center? Jeff Hartwig is an improvement over Sean Mahan, but that's not saying much. He gets very little push if any in the running game and is in the last year of his contract. We should draft a center this year as I'm not convinced Legursky, Stapleton or Urbik are the answer either.

Cornerback? More specifically, the right cornerback spot that William Gay was so inept starting at...Deshea is a FA (the Patriots are rumored to be interested in him) and hopefully Gay rebounds or Joe Burnett and Keenan Lewis show enough improvement to win this starting position, but I'm not convinced that they will...we need to draft a CB also to add to the mix.

Free Safety? Ryan Clark is a FA, right now we have only Ryan Mundy and I've seen enough of him. If we don't re-sign Clark, we need to sign a veteran FA or find one in the draft.

Strong safety? I know Troy is Da Man, but he is injury-prone and I know all of us Steelers fans have seen enough of Tyrone Carter. We definitely need to acquire a better back-up to Troy at this position.

Kickoff coverage units and Bruce Arians also come to mind, what do you guys think?

[fordfixer]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

The fans.. watching the few games I got to see the stands were getting empty half way through the 4th quarter

[Sugar]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

Corner would be my vote.

[SteelCzar76]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

Weakest link,...i'd say the organization's weakest links are every single player that we have drafted and brought in as F/A's since Mike Tomlin became Head Coach. (with the exceptions of Woodley and Wallace)

Along with the fact that Tomlin is little more than a glorified motivational speaker whom must Kow-Tow to Roethlisberger so as to please a specific demographic of the Steeler fanbase. IMO

But,...for the sake of answering the question from a position standpoint ,....

ILB (Timmons,..as i have said since he was drafted,... is a Clown and Potsie isn't getting any younger )

CB (Again,.. Gay, Burnett, and Lewis are Clowns, Dshea's been running on fumes for years and Ike whom has always been somewhat suspect,..... is getting older)

S (I realy don't think i even need to speak upon how ridiculous Carter and Mundy are,.....and Clark is likely gone)

DT/DE (People ,..you do realize that Hood is not a 3-4 DE whom would only ever be average at best in his true position in 4-3 ?)

RB (Mwelde,.. though decent,... is a journeyman whom has little to offer the O in terms of impact. And we will neeeeever be able to control the clock with "twinkle toes" Mendenhall maybe breaking off one or two long runs and then proceed to average 2 yards per carry on his other rushing attempts, thereby Ben must be allowed to throw the ball for more than 25 "back yard " attempts.)

That about sums it up for me,...in fact i no longer even have the patience to sugar coat any more evaluations when it comes to Tomlin's "Gritz Gang" anymore,.....

[feltdizz]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

Basically Steelerczar wants to move the Steelers to LA...

Jeez.. How can you watch a team you hate so much? LOL...

Anyway I think Gay will improve and Clark is great as long as Troy is on the field. I think we need to get another FS in case Troy goes down. However I don't think a rookie would see the field so I would say defensive line or LB is most important.

[SteelCzar76]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

Basically Steelerczar wants to move the Steelers to LA...

Jeez.. How can you watch a team you hate so much? LOL...

Anyway I think Gay will improve and Clark is great as long as Troy is on the field. I think we need to get another FS in case Troy goes down. However I don't think a rookie would see the field so I would say defensive line or LB is most important.

Hey what can i say Dizz,...i can't possibly stop representing the Organization that i have loved all of my life,...but i'm slowly but surely losing more and more respect and patience with our latest regime in terms of the "Head Coach" whom i feel is no more of a "great Coach" than John Gruden whom essentially won a title with a team he had no part in putting together and then proceeded to ruin with poor personnel decisions and arrogance.

But i digress,..as i want to address the train of thought that "This average DB and or that Bum Db will be fine,..as long as we have Troy".

Not to say that Troy's presence does not go along way towards making this in fact true to a degree,......but at some point dude you've got to give the guy some genuine quality help in the secondary no matter how effectively his presence and Coach lebeau's scheme protects poor CB's.

As we saw this season,....Troy like anyone can be injured,..and the rest of the Db's have regressed to the point where even the pass rush and system (zone) can no longer protect them because of their lack of speed, ball skills, explosiveness and ability to cover.

[feltdizz]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

Next year is critical for Tomlin... But after 2006 I can't get too worked up about a SB slump like last year... I believe we take a year off to recoup after SB's. If we go 6-10 or 8- then I will worry.

[papillon]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

Clearly, it's running back ---> [url=http://www.planetsteelers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10542]Steelers need another 1st round running back[/url]

Hey Chadman: How do you like me now?

Pappy

[NW Steeler]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

Damn Czar, you hate Tomlin almost as much as HHH and Crash hated Cowher over at the old board. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think you are way off base. I hope for all of our sakes that you eat your words after Tomlin wins another Super Bowl. Tomlin has drafted some good players and I think he is a good coach. Do you think that the Steelers didn't draft any duds under Cowher? There were a lot of them. A lot. Hindsight is 20/20, especially when you are talking draft picks.

[Discipline of Steel]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

I have to go with safety. Unfortunately, Troy gets injured often. TC is gone. Mundy has shown nothing. Theres been a lot of talk about converting our crappy CBs to play safety. That makes Ryan Clark almost a must-sign and safety a must draft. Hopefully we get a free agent AND a draft pick to compete at this position.

[SteelAbility]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

Clearly, it's running back ---> [url=http://www.planetsteelers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10542]Steelers need another 1st round running back[/url]

Hey Chadman: How do you like me now?

Pappy

I'm pretty sure Chadman feels that our weakest link is LB and that Joey Porter is the answer. :P

[SteelAbility]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

Damn Czar, you hate Tomlin almost as much as HHH and Crash hated Cowher over at the old board. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think you are way off base. I hope for all of our sakes that you eat your words after Tomlin wins another Super Bowl. Tomlin has drafted some good players and I think he is a good coach. Do you think that the Steelers didn't draft any duds under Cowher? There were a lot of them. A lot. Hindsight is 20/20, especially when you are talking draft picks.

Yeah, Czar is sounding very HHH-esque there. The logical end of such statements is that we will soon become a perennial cellar dweller. Although, I will concede I was pretty disappointed with the "fiery hell" we unleashed on the Chiefs, Raiders, and Browns.

[Oviedo]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

Weakest link is the 3-4 defense. We have the wrong players and it is too difficult to replace players as current players get older because you have to take a degree of risk and hope you can convert college DT to 3-4 DEs, convert college DEs to 3-4 OLBs, convert college OLBs to 3-4 ILBs. All of this takes time and therefore you give up a minimum of one or two productive seasons for young players.

Most importantly find 6'1" 330lb+ NTs who are athletic and don't eat themselves out of the position and can avoid injuries that naturally come with carrying more weight than you should. Currently there are 13 teams looking for the same type of player which makes it impossible to keep depth at the position and it drives the price of resigning a good player if you find them through the roof.

Of course none of you expected me to say any of that

[SteelAbility]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

Weakest link is the 3-4 defense. We have the wrong players and it is too difficult to replace players as current players get older because you have to take a degree of risk and hope you can convert college DT to 3-4 DEs, convert college DEs to 3-4 OLBs, convert college OLBs to 3-4 ILBs. All of this takes time and therefore you give up a minimum of one or two productive seasons for young players.

Most importantly find 6'1" 330lb+ NTs who are athletic and don't eat themselves out of the position and can avoid injuries that naturally come with carrying more weight than you should. Currently there are 13 teams looking for the same type of player which makes it impossible to keep depth at the position and it drives the price of resigning a good player if you find them through the roof.

Of course none of you expected me to say any of that

I that is an oxymoron.

[Oviedo]

Re: In your opinion, what is Steelers' weakest link?

Weakest link is the 3-4 defense. We have the wrong players and it is too difficult to replace players as current players get older because you have to take a degree of risk and hope you can convert college DT to 3-4 DEs, convert college DEs to 3-4 OLBs, convert college OLBs to 3-4 ILBs. All of this takes time and therefore you give up a minimum of one or two productive seasons for young players.

Most importantly find 6'1" 330lb+ NTs who are athletic and don't eat themselves out of the position and can avoid injuries that naturally come with carrying more weight than you should. Currently there are 13 teams looking for the same type of player which makes it impossible to keep depth at the position and it drives the price of resigning a good player if you find them through the roof.

Of course none of you expected me to say any of that

I that is an oxymoron.

Therein lies part of the problem.