OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: Oh no! They are 3 and 1. Panic!

[Buddy Bizarre]

Investing so much money in the defense is again so out of date it's mind-boggling.

What did Minkah's contract contribute in this game? How bout Queen the "big" off-season acquisition? Hell even Watt's? At least he's at a position that actually matters (i.e. anything involved with the passing game, either for or against), but even with his 1.5 sacks tonight, the Cowboys still put up over 400 yards of offense.

Great defense doesn't matter in the modern game if it comes at the cost of a mediocre offense.

And if you can't trade/purchase a better offense and claim you have to accept putting your money into the defense is your only option because of how your team is built, then that's a big red blinking sign you need to rebuild. It sure as hell doesn't mean go half a decade and counting meandering as the ghost of a Jeff Fisher football team going 9-8 every year.

Not going to direct my anger at Minkah bc there is some context to this.
There is a reason he's 2nd on the team in tackles: it's because Queen f***ing sucks.

Minkah had a ton of tackles the past few seasons bc he's playing this quasi-rover role where he's playing safety, but he saves their bacon in the run game so often. Their LB's over the past few years have been below the line with injury and such and it's no different this year. If we had an actual ILB who could tackle runners, Minkah would be free to wreck havoc.

Queen was supposed to solve their problems. He's barely any better than Spillane or Roberts.

 

[Pens1566]

There are about 57 things you have to fix before you get to worrying about how Fields is playing. He is not the problem.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Is fields really that much more talented than Pickett

Is this a serious f***ing question?
By every measure you can think of from a QB skillset standpoint, yes JF is more talented than Pickett

Why do you deflect so much whenever the topic of Fields is brought up?

 

[xlm34]

Not going to direct my anger at Minkah bc there is some context to this.
There is a reason he's 2nd on the team in tackles: it's because Queen f***ing sucks.

Minkah had a ton of tackles the past few seasons bc he's playing this quasi-rover role where he's playing safety, but he saves their bacon in the run game so often. Their LB's over the past few years have been below the line with injury and such and it's no different this year. If we had an actual ILB who could tackle runners, Minkah would be free to wreck havoc.

Queen was supposed to solve their problems. He's barely any better than Spillane or Roberts.

Queen has to be the biggest disappointment of the year so far. He’s looking like what Ravens fans said he was prior to them bringing in Roquan Smith.

 

[Coastal Kev]

They rushed 4 on the game deciding play............ one of those 4 was Moon who was in his first action of the campaign and is a complete unknown.

Tomlin is a fraud. I'll skip over his awful offense, I'll just accept that as a statement of fact. Tomlin is supposed to have his side of the ball on lockdown. But he doesn't. He can't spot and develop talent deep in the draft or through cheap FA's so he overspends on crusty vets and FA's like Queen. Every year, their defense walks the tightrope of one or two injuries destroying his defense. He overspends to provide cover for his deficiencies. They only rush 4 because Tomlin can't coach and develop great secondary... which should be expertise since that's where he earned his stripes.

He's a fraud. Nutting is a Fraud. Sully is a Fraud.

What an awful time in Pittsburgh sports.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Queen has to be the biggest disappointment of the year so far. He’s looking like what Ravens fans said he was prior to them bringing in Roquan Smith.

Yup Queen is about a big of a loafer as Bush was. I see him standing around, jogging and pile jumping. Dude blows and they need to cut him.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

I think the odds on Justin Fields being a good NFL QB are still rather low, but the idea that he's the problem with this offense is confirmation bias for those who don't like him or who were Pickett fanboys or whatever. They have no receivers who can get open. The only decent WR they have is Pickens and he has a few games a year where he acts like a petulant bitch and checks out and last night was one of them. The OL might end up being good down the line, but between being young and injured, it's not very good right now. Harris a JAG at best at RB. The coaching staff is just unimaginative and conservative and limited. At least Fields' mobility allows them to do some things - putting Wilson in this lineup surrounded by these players and coaches is going to look like October 2023 Denver.


And a huge reason for that is that the WR room that you defend day in and day out is utter garbage and no one gets open.

There were guys open. Literally Allen came in and 1 attempt went for 19 yards to muth. 2 straight weeks the commentary points out JF missed guys or isn’t taken the the easy stuff

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

Queen was supposed to solve their problems. He's barely any better than Spillane or Roberts.

I'd rather have Spillane.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Is this a serious f***ing question?
By every measure you can think of from a QB skillset standpoint, yes JF is more talented than Pickett

Why do you deflect so much whenever the topic of Fields is brought up?

He is averaging 200 yards a game and 1 passing td. He fumbled every game this season he has 1 more 300 yard passing game in his career than KP. He had 3 passes that the cowboys dropped

 

[JTG]

Queen and Bush have taught me that I don't like undersized MLBs. if you aren't 6'3 and 240+ you ain't for us...

 

[xlm34]

He is averaging 200 yards a game and 1 passing td. He fumbled every game this season he has 1 more 300 yard passing game in his career than KP. He had 3 passes that the cowboys dropped

He has more total touchdowns in 5 games than Pickett had all of last year.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Tomlin is a fraud. I'll skip over his awful offense, I'll just accept that as a statement of fact. Tomlin is supposed to have his side of the ball on lockdown. But he doesn't. He can't spot and develop talent deep in the draft or through cheap FA's so he overspends on crusty vets and FA's like Queen. Every year, they're defense walks the tightrope of one or two injuries destroying his defense. He overspends to provide cover for his deficiencies. They only rush 4 because Tomlin can't coach and develop great secondary... which should be expertise since that's where he earned his stripes.

Remember this offseason in infamy: the Steelers could have had the best coach of this generation on the sidelines. But instead chose to extend Tomlin

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

He is averaging 200 yards a game and 1 passing td. He fumbled every game this season he has 1 more 300 yard passing game in his career than KP. He had 3 passes that the cowboys dropped

You answered neither of my questions, which is quite typical of you.

 

[Ryder71]

Don't even know where to begin.

It was obvious as soon as Friermith scored this was going to be the exact outcome. We all knew Dallas would have a 7 minute drive and score with zero time on the clock.

This is Tomlin ball.

Offense scheme is laughable. Running backs are horrible, we have no wide receivers. Fields is decent.

The secondary is atrocious.

Minkah Fitzpatrick has been useless since 2022. Does nothing, zero.

Our coaches are utter imbeciles. Tomlin is the worst coach in the NFL. Even worse than the worst since with him the Steelers are in purgatory.

The Steelers are the Pirates.

Fitzpatrick is one of the most overrated players in the NFL. We're told just how great he is yet every week he's nearly invisible. NO INT's since the 8th grade picnic.

 

[Ryder71]

There are about 57 things you have to fix before you get to worrying about how Fields is playing. He is not the problem.

Well, he did have a few over throws at important junctures in the game. That was a very hit and miss performance.

He wasn't the primary reason we lost, but he didn't exactly instill us all with confidence either. IF Wilson is healthy next week he should get the start. Before this game I wouldn't have said so. JF had a chance to cement himself as QB1. He did the opposite.

 

[MrBrightside]

There were guys open. Literally Allen came in and 1 attempt went for 19 yards to muth. 2 straight weeks the commentary points out JF missed guys or isn’t taken the the easy stuff

Steelers receivers are literally last in the NFL at getting separation yet you keep this crap up for whatever reason to pimp Tomlin. It's Trump/MAGA stuff with you and Tomlin - you'll ignore every fact and piece of evidence to keep spouting Tomlin talking points.



As Orlovsky says, NO ONE GETS OPEN.

Queen and Bush have taught me that I don't like undersized MLBs. if you aren't 6'3 and 240+ you ain't for us...

Queen's size isn't the issue, though. He doesn't play downhill. He takes poor angles. He gets caught up in the wash. He's not particularly physical, no, but that's the least of his shortcomings.

 

[xlm34]

Fields is giving them league average QB play this year which I think was most people’s hope from Wilson. He’s not perfect clearly but he’s closer to the bottom of the list of things wrong with the offense than the top.

Still blows my mind how they handled the WR room this summer.

 

[Coastal Kev]

They are running Nickel most of the time on D. Blame Queen, Blame Minkah, Blame Fields....................

IT's COACHING

 

[MrBrightside]

Fields is giving them league average QB play this year which I think was most people’s hope from Wilson. He’s not perfect clearly but he’s closer to the bottom of the list of things wrong with the offense than the top.

Still blows my mind how they handled the WR room this summer.

Yep. I'd like to dig up the discussion when most of the board wanted to dump DJ and how easy it would be to replace him. I get there may have been reasons to move on and Jackson has been good at a position of need, but to not have meaningfully addressed the position is undermining anything else good that Khan did.

 

[Snooki Stackhouse]

Even though I don't think Fields is nearly on the level of the top 10 or so QBs in the league, I think he's so far down the list of problems. The biggest issue to me is WR. Jefferson and Austin are replacement level #4-5 type guys and you're asking them to be your 2-3. Look at the cowboys. They lost cooks, the Steelers did a nice job on Lamb, and Dak still had tons of options. They need to fix it. I think the line will come together and I think Fields is fine. Warren will be back. They just have no weapons right now and put their eggs in the Aiyuk basket with no backup plan. This is not a good receiving group.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

He has more total touchdowns in 5 games than Pickett had all of last year.

He is in year 4 of a starter in the nfl. Our best wr has 0 tds after 5 games. There’s a reason Tomlin said there would be a field package

 

[JTG]

I like the addition of Jackson a lot. We finally have two solid corners which I cannot remember happening since the 90's. The baffling thing is that they are good at finding WR's. They have a recent 3rd round pick standing on the sidelines. They continue to roll with this anemic WR corp while Fields is actually not playing poorly. The whole WR saga is baffling in many different ways.

 

[Ryder71]

They are running Nickel most of the time on D. Blame Queen, Blame Minkah, Blame Fields....................

IT's COACHING

Coaching has a lot to do with it no doubt. But Queen and Minkah have been pretty underwhelming on their own. Running a lot of Nickel doesn't excuse poor angles or bad reads.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Even though I don't think Fields is nearly on the level of the top 10 or so QBs in the league, I think he's so far down the list of problems. The biggest issue to me is WR. Jefferson and Austin are replacement level #4-5 type guys and you're asking them to be your 2-3. Look at the cowboys. They lost cooks, the Steelers did a nice job on Lamb, and Dak still had tons of options. They need to fix it. I think the line will come together and I think Fields is fine. Warren will be back. They just have no weapons right now and put their eggs in the Aiyuk basket with no backup plan. This is not a good receiving group.

Ca3 has been targeted 12 times and leads the wr in tds and is 2nd in yards after GP. Jefferson has 13 targets they aren’t the same.

 

[Ryder71]

Also, and unless Roman Wilson is injured he should be inserted into the line up. He's not exactly going against world beaters at WR2 or WR3.