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

[bigdaddyk88]

If Wilson starts, and we lose (I expect Rodgers to carve Tomlin up), do we go right back to Fields or keep throwing the old man into the fire?

I actually like playing the jets this week they are averaging giving up 130 yards per game on the ground and there cb2 safety got hurt against Buffalo and NB missed the Buffalo game.
They can’t keep Rodgers up. Rodgers is going to force the ball to Adams and the running game is averaging less than 4 yards per carry
The Jets don’t have a pass rusher they have a guy with 7 sacks but 5 came against New England and Tennessee

 

[TooManyHumans]

Highsmith being back and fully healthy would be huge for this game.

 

[Coastal Kev]

On a semi related note, it sounds like Trump (and Antonio Brown) are going to be at the game on Sunday. I don't want to venture too far into political commentary so I'll just say It's a shame we don't have MAGA Mason anymore. He'd put up 300+ yards and 3TD's for his hero

BS You are absolutely trying to stoke a political discussion. I also love when you put the snarky laughing emoji... cause you got it figured out.. But do you??

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas.

He needs to do a better job, but Frazier doinking him off the facemask with the ball a few times was hardly Fields fault solely.

It's called regression to the mean. If JF handles the ball enough the remainder of the season, the law of averages presumes he's gonna have a 2-3 turnover type game. This is who JF's is...

 

[Empoleon8771]

It's called regression to the mean. If JF handles the ball enough the remainder of the season, the law of averages presumes he's gonna have a 2-3 turnover type game. This is who JF's is...

Fields has always been a guy that fumbles a lot but doesn't necessarily cause turnovers. He officially has 44 fumbles in his career but his team has recovered 16 of those fumbles. His career average is 10 lost fumbles per season, which is obviously too high but has been better with the Steelers.

 

[Peat]

I think the difference between being harsh and calling Fields mentally weak, and not so harsh and describing it as just human nature, is somewhat moot when the position calls for a guy who functions under constant pressure. Either he's a bit freaky in that regard or he's not the long term guy.

Tbh, I've been kinda speculating privately that maybe the blips we've been seeing the last couple games might be Fields understanding that he's suddenly in franchise QB performance or bench territory. That's a rough place to be for sure, an unfair place... but that's the discipline. It's that or he gets benched.

I also suspect - or maybe hope - that getting benched for the guy who was always officially QB1 and who has such a pedigree isn't all that big a deal for him. That he can regard this as the plan and the six games as a sweet bonus rather than as some vote on his performance. But we'll see next he throws a ball in anger. I'd say there's a good chance that they bring him back as next season's starter as we sit here.

 

[ImporterExporter]

It will be glorious watching Tomlin have to answer questions about pulling Fields if the Jets whip us Sunday night. I promise you this much. Tomlin will get short and snotty quickly. Book it, if we lose.

To be clear, I hope Wilson can generate another level offensively. I think he's still a solid QB. His #'s last year were actually very good, considering the drama and meh nature of Denver's roster. I just don't know if I believe our line capable of protecting him enough to get more points than we are now.

 

[JTG]

I don't think they have given Russ enough weapons. Wilson hasn't been used at all and Austin hasn't progressed as much as we needed him to. To trade away Diontae and have two flops, that just couldn't happen.

 

[WickedWrister]

I obviously don't know the guy personally, but Fields strikes me as a pretty mentally tough/resilient person. Doesn't seem to get too high or too low with his emotions. I'm sure both guys want to start, but from the outside it looks like they're pretty supportive of each other. That Muth quote from the Players Tribune article comes to mind.

This is one of the closest games of the week, Jets are 1.5 pt favorites. The fear is that we get Flacco'd by Aaron Rodgers and his new WR. I really like our depth at CB, but Wilson and Adams on the field at the same time is going to present some mismatches. Beanie Bishop is going to get cooked if he has to cover Wilson from the slot. It's cliche but getting pressure on Rodgers is going to be one of the keys to winning this game. Their offensive tackles probably suck just as much if not more than ours, so I'd love to see us get Highsmith back for this one.

 

[ChaosAgent]

I obviously don't know the guy personally, but Fields strikes me as a pretty mentally tough/resilient person. Doesn't seem to get too high or too low with his emotions. I'm sure both guys want to start, but from the outside it looks like they're pretty supportive of each other. That Muth quote from the Players Tribune article comes to mind.

This is an area where I'm pretty old school with athletes.
If you're great, you should be able to overcome adversity. If the adversity is that you needed to play at an A level to keep the aging borderline HOF-er off the field and you only played at a B level, deal with it. I think Fields can. He is lucky to be starting at all given he is on his 2nd team. And if he can't, I don't want him.

On the soapbox, this is the same sh1t in the Pirates thread about how Henry Davis was mistreated by being asked to play RF. If a player is so fragile that they can't handle things like this, they won't succeed.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

It will be glorious watching Tomlin have to answer questions about pulling Fields if the Jets whip us Sunday night. I promise you this much. Tomlin will get short and snotty quickly. Book it, if we lose.

To be clear, I hope Wilson can generate another level offensively. I think he's still a solid QB. His #'s last year were actually very good, considering the drama and meh nature of Denver's roster. I just don't know if I believe our line capable of protecting him enough to get more points than we are now.

Neither RW or Fields will decide the next 2 games

I don't think they have given Russ enough weapons. Wilson hasn't been used at all and Austin hasn't progressed as much as we needed him to. To trade away Diontae and have two flops, that just couldn't happen.

Austin is open often but Fields doesn’t see the field. Wilson was always going to struggle his rookie year

 

[Double-Shift Lasse]

I don't think they have given Russ enough weapons. Wilson hasn't been used at all and Austin hasn't progressed as much as we needed him to.

This is an interesting thought and one I hadn't considered. Taking Fields out takes away a weapon from the offense. So Russ not only has to be better but that much more better.

 

[Peat]

This is an interesting thought and one I hadn't considered. Taking Fields out takes away a weapon from the offense. So Russ not only has to be better but that much more better.

I genuinely would not be surprised if they started Wilson but stuck Fields back out there in the red zone.

And yeah, the weapons aren't all that. I'll stick up for Austin who I think is progressing nicely and making good plays. He should be WR 3/4 rather than WR 2/3, but he looks legit. The problem, as ever, is that Van Jefferson continues his push for all time puzzling FA signings and that the team wasn't really ready for Wilson to get an injury, because having a position room so thin that one depth injury causes issues is actually fine.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Somehow miraculously adams hamstring is healed for this sunday

 

[WickedWrister]

I genuinely would not be surprised if they started Wilson but stuck Fields back out there in the red zone.

And yeah, the weapons aren't all that. I'll stick up for Austin who I think is progressing nicely and making good plays. He should be WR 3/4 rather than WR 2/3, but he looks legit. The problem, as ever, is that Van Jefferson continues his push for all time puzzling FA signings and that the team wasn't really ready for Wilson to get an injury, because having a position room so thin that one depth injury causes issues is actually fine.

I'm still not convinced Austin is even a replacement level WR3/4 but he's been better in the return game this year so I'll give him that. He's still undersized, doesn't create a ton of separation, and is being pigeon holed as this deep threat. I guess that's his skill set because Smith hasn't been spamming him screens and jet sweeps.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Austin is open often but Fields doesn’t see the field. Wilson was always going to struggle his rookie year

5 snaps in 6 games

"See! Roman Wilson is struggling!!!"

 

[bigdaddyk88]

5 snaps in 6 games

"See! Roman Wilson is struggling!!!"

He struggled getting open in college. He needs a year in the weight room or they will have to manufacture getting him open like Michigan did. He will struggle beating press and physical cbs.

 

[Peat]

I'm still not convinced Austin is even a replacement level WR3/4 but he's been better in the return game this year so I'll give him that. He's still undersized, doesn't create a ton of separation, and is being pigeon holed as this deep threat. I guess that's his skill set because Smith hasn't been spamming him screens and jet sweeps.

What are your expectations for a WR 3/4 then? Because I feel like most guys in that range are guys who are pigeon holed as only doing one thing - deep threat, gadget plays, possession slot, whatever - and most have physical flaws. If they didn't, they'd be someone's WR2.

As far as I'm concerned, the guy produces and that's enough. I don't expect more than 27.8 yards per game from a guy getting 2.8 targets per game. If anything, that seems to be quite a nice return as best I can make out. More 1st downs and consistency would be nice, but that's deep threats for you. I doubt that there's many teams in the NFL where the third receiver is producing notably more than Austin.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

I'm still not convinced Austin is even a replacement level WR3/4 but he's been better in the return game this year so I'll give him that. He's still undersized, doesn't create a ton of separation, and is being pigeon holed as this deep threat. I guess that's his skill set because Smith hasn't been spamming him screens and jet sweeps.

He is the guy in the slot that runs away from the zone defense but isn’t targeted

 

[Pens x]

It’s time for lazy ass Khan right his (many) wrongs.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

It’s time for lazy ass Khan right his (many) wrongs.

What wr do you want?
Kirk seems to be the best one left but is cap hit isn’t great for next season?
DHop as a mcl injury

 

[xlm34]

Could be total BS but this decision is apparently not a unanimous one. I just hope he either balls out or falls flat on his face and makes the future decision an easy one.

 

[WickedWrister]

What are your expectations for a WR 3/4 then? Because I feel like most guys in that range are guys who are pigeon holed as only doing one thing - deep threat, gadget plays, possession slot, whatever - and most have physical flaws. If they didn't, they'd be someone's WR2.

As far as I'm concerned, the guy produces and that's enough. I don't expect more than 27.8 yards per game from a guy getting 2.8 targets per game. If anything, that seems to be quite a nice return as best I can make out. More 1st downs and consistency would be nice, but that's deep threats for you. I doubt that there's many teams in the NFL where the third receiver is producing notably more than Austin.

I don't know, I don't have any specific yardage threshold that I'm expecting out of him but I'm not going to say he's a proven producer or someone that should even merit contract extension conversations at this point. He has 2 games with over 50 receiving yards in his career. That 27.8 average is being propped up by one long play, but I get it, that's how averages work. Same with the high yards per target. I'm just chalking up these modest improvements to more opportunity-73rd most routes run among WR and 71st in receiving yards. I just see him as having a very limited skill set, basically your average day 3 pick in the draft.

 

[Peat]

I don't know, I don't have any specific yardage threshold that I'm expecting out of him but I'm not going to say he's a proven producer or someone that should even merit contract extension conversations at this point. He has 2 games with over 50 receiving yards in his career. That 27.8 average is being propped up by one long play, but I get it, that's how averages work. Same with the high yards per target. I'm just chalking up these modest improvements to more opportunity-73rd most routes run among WR and 71st in receiving yards. I just see him as having a very limited skill set, basically your average day 3 pick in the draft.

None of that sounds unusual for a 3/4 receiver though. We're talking a position that's been held by the likes of Switzer, Holton, Washington, McCloud and Sims. All average third day picks or disappointing second day picks, all limited guys who didn't stick around long.

The bar for being a replacement level 3/4 receiver feels pretty low. Not being there while producing in line with opportunity feels like it's expecting too much.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Could be total BS but this decision is apparently not a unanimous one. I just hope he either balls out or falls flat on his face and makes the future decision an easy one.

i think Smith prefers Fields