OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: 5 and 2 Justin who? Hand the Fields to Wilson

[Goalie_Bob]

They still need to win to guarantee playing the Texans.

 

[Shockmaster]

Yeah and you can pretty much guarantee that the prime exclusive play off game is us and texans.
I do like playing after the ravens game so you can pull starters at halftime if you want

The Steelers can easily fall to the 6th seed and play Baltimore if they lose Saturday night and the LA Chargers beat Vegas on Sunday.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

The Steelers can easily fall to the 6th seed and play Baltimore if they lose Saturday night and the LA Chargers beat Vegas on Sunday.

True, I don’t think it matters to Tomlin who they play

 

[MrBrightside]

True, I don’t think it matters to Tomlin who they play

It should.

 

[pistolpete11]

They need to treat Saturday as a must win game. Of course, it is technically not, but playing the Texans instead of the Ravens would be big and going into the playoffs on a 4-game losing streak with chaos in the lockeroom is not a recipe for success.

 

[pistolpete11]

I like them flexing and staggering the games the last week. Yes, the NFL is doing it to make more money and yes it could give some teams a slight advantage to rest guys, but its entertaining and I can't watch 5 games at once.

I also think the games they flexed makes sense. Baltimore will have to play their starters to ensure they win the division. The Steelers will have to play their starters to win the division or hold onto the 5 seed. Bungles obviously need to win to have a shot. Broncos and Dolphins play at the same time, so they will have to both try and win. I think the only AFC team catching a break is the Chargers because they will know if they need to win or not based on the Steelers outcome.

 

[Goalie_Bob]

I'm figuring, locally, the Sunday 1PM and 4:25PM broadcasts will be:

1 PM:
FOX: Commanders @ Cowboys
CBS: Panthers @ Falcons (Break in for highlights of Bucs game)

4:25 PM:
FOX: Dolphins @ Jets
CBS: Chiefs @ Broncos

 

[Shockmaster]

They need to treat Saturday as a must win game. Of course, it is technically not, but playing the Texans instead of the Ravens would be big and going into the playoffs on a 4-game losing streak with chaos in the lockeroom is not a recipe for success.

At this point, the only chance the Steelers have to end their playoff win drought is to play another team that is backsliding into the playoffs - Houston.

 

[pistolpete11]

I'm figuring, locally, the Sunday 1PM and 4:25PM broadcasts will be:

1 PM:
FOX: Commanders @ Cowboys
CBS: Panthers @ Falcons (Break in for highlights of Bucs game)

4:25 PM:
FOX: Dolphins @ Jets
CBS: Chiefs @ Broncos

If the Steelers lose, there might be more local interest in the Chargers game than the Broncos/Dolphins.

 

[Factorial]

Najee having a 1000 yard season feels like Tomlin having a non-losing season, and it shouldn't.

The whole "1000 yard" season is meaningless when there are more than 12 games in a season.

 

[Pens1566]

The whole "1000 yard" season is meaningless when there are more than 12 games in a season.

Yeah, ~60yds/g isn't exactly a testament to greatness. It's that you were healthy and had tons of carries.

 

[Peat]

They need to treat Saturday as a must win game. Of course, it is technically not, but playing the Texans instead of the Ravens would be big and going into the playoffs on a 4-game losing streak with chaos in the lockeroom is not a recipe for success.

At this point I care more about this than who they play. The Bengals game is a chance to puncture some of the anger and griping that's built up around the team and remind themselves what good Steelers football looks like. They don't get another. Maybe I don't understand pro locker rooms and it's fine, but it looks like they really should be going for it hard.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Yeah Chuck Pagino former colts coach said the same about sutton over bishop. He said Sutton is way to flat footed and can’t run. He also said he doesn’t want to see 42 ever again or 26 try to play m2m

Poor execution is either:

A) Players who aren't talented enough to execute

or

B) Players who aren't coached well enough to execute

With that said, let's keep in mind that Tomlin:
+ Either picks or signs off on the players they sign and has the final word on who they do / don't keep.
+ Decides whether to sit or play those who don't execute properly
+ Picks the coaches who are supposed to teach the players to properly execute

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

This team IS strong when it's healthy. I don't think there is anything wrong in saying that. The issue is TJ gets banged up and the defense is toast, Pickens is out and the offense is anemic. It can't be that way.

I have thought to myself that Beanie needed more snaps. He is a starter. Totally makes sense if it's Sutton.

Can't use injury as an excuse when your philosophy contributes to those injuries. Getting into rock fights and playing balls-to-the-wall for 16 or 17 full games takes a toll. Very few games end with relaxing 4th quarters or with a couple games to rest at the end. We make our own destiny with a brand of football that doesn't make any gain easy and has little to no margin for error.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

The whole "1000 yard" season is meaningless when there are more than 12 games in a season.

Well theres 14 rbs at 1000 but its 200 yards from the 3rd leading rusher to where Najee is
What makes you better is being used in the passing game. They need to use him as such more. Still needs to be in an offense with more than 1 playmaker
Only 4 have done 4 years straight

Poor execution is either:

A) Players who aren't talented enough to execute

or

B) Players who aren't coached well enough to execute

With that said, let's keep in mind that Tomlin:
+ Either picks or signs off on the players they sign and has the final word on who they do / don't keep.
+ Decides whether to sit or play those who don't execute properly
+ Picks the coaches who are supposed to teach the players to properly execute

Definitely a talent issue it’s why they will retool the cb room and dl room in the draft

It should.

People will still complain if they beat Houston and lose to kc or beat bmore and lode to kc

 

[The Old Master]

They need to treat Saturday as a must win game. Of course, it is technically not, but playing the Texans instead of the Ravens would be big and going into the playoffs on a 4-game losing streak with chaos in the lockeroom is not a recipe for success.

i think it's more important to stay healthy than who they play. imo

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

People will still complain if they beat Houston and lose to kc or beat bmore and lode to kc

And the good part of this is because losing to KC would be a foregone conclusion, we can complain if they win or lose to Houston/Bmore. "Tomlin's just gonna lose to KC" or "Tomlin's just gonna lose to KC" are both in play.

 

[MrBrightside]

People will still complain if they beat Houston and lose to kc or beat bmore and lode to kc

Well and you’ll still say Tomlin is the greatest even if they get smoked. They should try to obtain the best possible matchup and beating Houston and KC to get to the AFCC is way easier than Baltimore and Buffalo.

 

[JTG]

The whole "1000 yard" season is meaningless when there are more than 12 games in a season.

Yeah, I'd say that 1,500 yards now is probably the baseline for greatness. If you put that against the stats right now, Saquon and Henry and surpassed in and a few guys are creeping up to it.

Saquon had the best season I have seen for a RB in a really, really long time. And that's not just racking up yards like Chris Johnson used to. Saquon is a top 5 offensive player in this league and I'm glad he shoved it up the Giants asses. One of the few RBs that you can still build an offense out of.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Well and you’ll still say Tomlin is the greatest even if they get smoked. They should try to obtain the best possible matchup and beating Houston and KC to get to the AFCC is way easier than Baltimore and Buffalo.

There stuff I want tomlin do in the off season like hire best o line coach available.
Khan is the guy who has a ton of off season work upgrading team
Before the season started I expected a playoff win and lost in 2nd round

 

[pistolpete11]

I'd say:

1,000 yards = minimum acceptable standard
1,200 yards = good year
1,500 yards = great year
1,700 yards = elite, only happens once every few seasons (just so happens there are 2 guys that did it this year)
2,000+ yards = all-time great season

Although, I think too much is put on raw stats and efficiency is more important which is where Najee really falls behind (although I don't think the O-line and sometimes the playcalling does him any favors).

 

[Peat]

I'd say:

1,000 yards = minimum acceptable standard
1,200 yards = good year
1,500 yards = great year
1,700 yards = elite, only happens once every few seasons (just so happens there are 2 guys that did it this year)
2,000+ yards = all-time great season

Although, I think too much is put on raw stats and efficiency is more important which is where Najee really falls behind (although I don't think the O-line and sometimes the playcalling does him any favors).

While I favour efficiency to raw numbers, the thing is the main way we do efficiency - YPC - is still pretty raw itself. Not only does it miss out a ton of context as to what's happening on each carry, it doesn't tell us stuff like how is the RB affecting momentum - is he getting lots of big runs (if we call that 10+ or 20+ then yes for Najee)? Is he getting stopped behind the line a lot and wasting two downs to go two yards (never seen stats but suspect this is also a Najee special)? Which I think is quite important.

Fwiw, on December 19th, Najee Harris was running for more yards than expected.

Not that this modest bump over expected shows he's great or anything. There's a decent number of RBs who were expected to do as bad but did even better. But it does suggest that the O-Line and playcalling have buried him, which is obviously correct since I believed that already.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

While I favour efficiency to raw numbers, the thing is the main way we do efficiency - YPC - is still pretty raw itself. Not only does it miss out a ton of context as to what's happening on each carry, it doesn't tell us stuff like how is the RB affecting momentum - is he getting lots of big runs (if we call that 10+ or 20+ then yes for Najee)? Is he getting stopped behind the line a lot and wasting two downs to go two yards (never seen stats but suspect this is also a Najee special)? Which I think is quite important.

Fwiw, on December 19th, Najee Harris was running for more yards than expected.

Not that this modest bump over expected shows he's great or anything. There's a decent number of RBs who were expected to do as bad but did even better. But it does suggest that the O-Line and playcalling have buried him, which is obviously correct since I believed that already.

You're correct that ypc isn't clean. Because a RB gets punished in his YPC for say a 1 to 2 yard TD run.

But it's still a fairly good ballpark measure whether a RB is good or not. And I disagree with those who are using aggregate yards (1k/1.5K/etc) to measure a RB's effectiveness. If you get 500 carries, you should absolutely be getting 1000 yards.

 

[Snooki Stackhouse]

Najee is in that Dowdle or Pollard tier of RB where the stats are there because of volume but they're easily replaceable by some 3rd rounder in the draft. It's simply not worth signing JAGs like najee to a second contract.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Definitely a talent issue it’s why they will retool the cb room and dl room in the draft

Dontae Jackson is fine as a CB2.
Minkah is a solid FS
Elliot was one of the best ever FA pickups I can remember next to Farrior
JPJ had some sophomore bumps.

This CB group is beyond fine and probably one of the stronger groups than I ever remember. Certainly better than last season.

The struggles are scheme driven. Ie the pass rush isn't getting home. Why? Because they insist on lining TJ Watt up in the same spot 99% of the time making the defense woefully predictable (just like the offense).

They don't use Watt/Herbig/Highsmith in packages together
This defense is unimaginative and Austin is gonna be the scapegoat for Tomlin's failings.