2018 Steelers Thread

Postby **Lemon Berry Lobster** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 7:58 am

After the game Tomlin said Ben could have gone in the series before. Great management there Mike. So glad I'll be on a beach next Sunday instead of watching Brady dummy our defense. Fort on Gronk is going to be a gong show.

Postby **meow** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:04 am

Even that is BS. If he was good enough to go in the series before, he was good enough to go in as soon as he came out of the locker room.

Postby **Lemon Berry Lobster** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:26 am

https://twitter.com/rayfitt1/status/107 ... 1047616513

Wow. Tomlin just admitted Ben Roethlisberger could have come in a series earlier... said they were in the flow of the game. WhT does that even mean?

Postby **Nittany Ned** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:32 am

The ball skills of the secondary are atrocious. I love Scrap, but not even he can fix these clowns. I blame the drafting. Edmonds was a stupid pick, and Burns, Davis too. Too many misses.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:39 am

https://twitter.com/rayfitt1/status/107 ... 1047616513
Wow. Tomlin just admitted Ben Roethlisberger could have come in a series earlier... said they were in the flow of the game. WhT does that even mean?

He has to be fired after the season. Has to be.

Postby **the wicked child** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:01 am

Stillers aren't making the playoffs. I'm not sure they're even going to win another game.

And I've been over Tomlin for quite awhile... But Stillerz way!

Postby **Morkle** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:02 am

I wasn't going to hop on the "Fire Tomlin" train seriously this year, but after the Oakland game - the entirety of his problems happened in all three phases; game prep, in-game execution, and post-game comments. All three he failed miserably, and I believe it's time to start having the discussion about him retiring at year's end or finally going in a different direction.

I have no faith that he can guide this team to another Super Bowl, let alone win one.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:12 am

Whether Tomlin gets fired or not, Big Ben won't be guiding this team to another SB. His skill set is diminished, but his ego is too big to think otherwise. He'll want control of the offense, and nobody from the Rooney's down will take it away from him.

And don't get me started on the defense.

Postby **Lemon Berry Lobster** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:17 am

Odd take considering Roethlisberger is on pace to throw for the most yards of his career. Sure his int number is up, but he's still one of the best in the league.

Postby **Nittany Ned** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:34 am

Odd take considering Roethlisberger is on pace to throw for the most yards of his career. Sure his int number is up, but he's still one of the best in the league.

Yeah... 25/29 for nearly 300 yds, 2 TD's and 0 INT's (mostly because Reggie Nelson didn't play)... he's good enough to win.

But the coaching, defense, special teams make this a borderline playoff team.

Funny... some bad clutch moments from yesterday aside, those are 3 things the team that might suddenly now win the AFC North does a hell of a lot better than the Steelers.

Postby **tifosi77** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:40 am

If Ben had played the full game yesterday, he'd likely still be leading the League in yardage and probably yds/gm. As it is, he's still tops in attempts and completions.

No Superb Owl champion has ever been quarterbacked by that year's passing leader.

Postby **Troy Loney** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:42 am

BRoeth is carrying the team this year. Brown has dropped off a ton this year, I mean he's still good, but he's not the difference maker he's been.

So basically, Shazier was covering up for a crap ton of garbage on defense till he broke his back, and they're still mired with that issue. Brown used to be all-world, and now he's just good, thank god Juju took a step forward, or they would be dreadful.

Asides from Tomlin being a not good coach. The front office deciding to ignore all visual and statistical evidence to commit to Dupree as a starter and the bold move of tagging Bell and assuming that would work out.

Postby **tifosi77** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:44 am

After having slept in it for a night, I remembered one key metric: The biggest predictor of success in the NFL is stability at head coach and quarterback. Ben, for all his questionable plays this year, is still elite, and there is no viable alternative on the roster or horizon.

Keep Tomlin until Ben goes away.

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:48 am

Is Boswell gone? Is his contract guaranteed? I saw something about salary dead space of $4.8million if they cut him after the season.

Postby **Morkle** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:52 am

For all the flak Ben gets about playing or not playing. It seemingly feels like the defense was so bad they get a pass. Ben came in and drove down the field to score. He didn't give the lead up when it mattered most.

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:56 am

Ben is the only reason we're even in some of these games. Our continued use of LBs covering WRs is a major issue. As for Boswell, I've been patient with him, but yesterday was the last straw. They should be entertaining kickers today.

Postby **tifosi77** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:57 am

I wonder if this year we're seeing the accrued effect of moving the PAT line back a few seasons ago. Established kickers are missing more and more kicks that are usually considered gimmes; Gostkowski had two yips yesterday.

Postby **Nittany Ned** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:59 am

Most kickers have been crap this year. Tucker might go down as the GOAT and even he missed an XP that cost his team against New Orleans. But it's forgivable given that was literally his only bad slip-up in years.

Postby **CBear3** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:10 am

If not Tomlin, who?
Look over at Green Bay for advice, I'd say. On one hand, holding on to an okay coach and a star QB who is on the backside of his career for too long can give you years of mediocrity, with no chance for a big win. But the only alternative I see is scuttling everything and being ok sucking for a couple seasons.

Postby **Morkle** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:13 am

If not Tomlin, who?
Look over at Green Bay for advice, I'd say. On one hand, holding on to an okay coach and a star QB who is on the backside of his career for too long can give you years of mediocrity, with no chance for a big win. But the only alternative I see is scuttling everything and being ok sucking for a couple seasons.

I feel like this is a pretty tired argument. The majority of Pittsburgh was saying "who?" after Tomlin was hired. Sure, different situation, but let's not act like a coach can't come in and change the complete feel of the team. See Rams, after Fisher was fired.

Postby **dodint** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:16 am

But, but...50 years!

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:23 am

Is Boswell gone? Is his contract guaranteed? I saw something about salary dead space of $4.8million if they cut him after the season.

I don't know how the hell NFL contracts work half the time, but his signing bonus was $6MM with $7.295MM guaranteed at signing. Based on how they break it down on Spotrac if he is released this season he counts $3.79MM against the cap for the remainder of 2018, $3.505MM in 2019, and is ultimately a cap loss of $590K. Releasing him after this season but before June 1, 2019 would cause $4.8MM in dead cap and a cap loss of $600K. Waiting until after 6/1/19 would be a $1.2MM cap hit in 2019, $3.6MM in 2020, but a 2019 cap savings of $3MM.

The thing that kills me about Boswell is that this team of rampant underachievers went 13-3 last year because Boswell kicked 4 game winning field goals in the final minute of the 4th quarter, 3 of which were as time expired. Without those kicks, they're basically this year's team. I would have dumped Boswell when these issues started showing up week after week early in the season, but at this point the season is toast and even if they make the playoffs they're not winning a damn thing. I let him hang around until next year, see if he can win the job in camp and if he still sucks, cut him then.

The thing that kills me about Tomlin and the Steelers philosophy on coaches is that I believe a lot of it is predicated on the belief that coaches grow into the role. They gain experience, they learn, they improve, they become better coaches as time goes on until ultimately the game passes them by. Tomlin has seemingly become a worse coach. The team is as undisciplined as ever, the players run the show, he still can't manage the clock, he gets every challenge wrong, underperform against bad teams, can never win on the west coast, his defensive scheme is moronic, go pass heavy after the team has their most success of the season with a balanced offense, etc. At this point I'm convinced that he's just not a very good coach.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:24 am

If not Tomlin, who?
Look over at Green Bay for advice, I'd say. On one hand, holding on to an okay coach and a star QB who is on the backside of his career for too long can give you years of mediocrity, with no chance for a big win. But the only alternative I see is scuttling everything and being ok sucking for a couple seasons.

I'll take sucking for a couple seasons over being just mediocre enough to stay out of a meaningful draft position while never winning another championship.

Postby **CBear3** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:29 am

Fisher was known turd, versus practically no fan base outside the Steelers think Tomlin is an underachiever.

I'm just saying would you be happy with the playoffs every year and hoping to get on a run, which is what Tomlin gives you.
Because the wrong coaching hire eliminates one of Ben's three seasons he probably has left, and there's nobody in the wings for year four.

I think there's two options:
1) Do what tif says and maintain QB and HC continuity and hope they play their best football when they need to, let them retire together.
2) Blow the thing up, tank a year and hope to grab a good QB and match him with an offensive HC coach that schemes to the kids talents.

Postby **dodint** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:39 am

Funny/Sad that "sign a FA talent" or "draft an effective player for the secondary" isn't even a realistic hope.