OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: Sneaking up onto training camp

[WickedWrister]

 

[Ulf5]

Herbig already has excellent pass rushing skills - which shows up in the stats as well. Question is whether or not he can set the edge against the run? If he can’t, he tops out as a rotational piece - but potentially a very good one.

I caught that point.
Only 22, only 2" shorter and about same weight as Highsmith. Even with shorter arms, his football IQ is high enough that he should figure it out. Time will probably prove me wrong. Yet again lol.

 

[WickedWrister]

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Hahaha- did you see the playoff stats I posted above? That ain't happening with Tomlin. He may never well win another playoff game.

Buuuuuut....This is the weird thing about the Steelers the past year or so:

They seem to struggle against all teams OUTSIDE the North. But they seem built to beat every other team in the division. I could easily see them repeating that this year. They appear to have their divisional opponents' number lately.

Lets say they play the Dolphins at home in the snow who are you tanking?
Jets haven’t won a playoff game since matt Sanchez
Its very difficult to win without a franchise Qb in the playoffs

 

[Peat]

I think this team is in a weird no-man's land where they're not really a "contender" nor are they a "rebuilder". They're simply looking to maintain the same level of mediocrity that they've been at for the past few years.

The roster isn't good enough to contend but they're also not making any efforts to build a roster that can contend. It's just stay the course and keep trying to win 9-10 games a year and make a wildcard game.

I look at as rebuilding on the sly as they're trying to fill a lot of important positions with kids. If they can get the majority of Porter/Benton/Pickens/Jones/Fautanu/Frazier to hit then they're back to being a team that is legitimately just a few pieces away (albeit with one of them being the QB). If that group can't take the next step or sustain what they've done, then they are indeed in the same place.

 

[UnrealMachine]

I caught that point.
Only 22, only 2" shorter and about same weight as Highsmith. Even with shorter arms, his football IQ is high enough that he should figure it out. Time will probably prove me wrong. Yet again lol.

Yeah I’m not even coming down on one side or the other, even though I am - in general - a little underwhelmed by Highsmith outside of his contract year performance.

And I really don’t know what Herbig’s ceiling & floor are against the run. Just pointing out that it *could* be an issue where arm length becomes a bigger factor.

 

[Empoleon8771]

I look at as rebuilding on the sly as they're trying to fill a lot of important positions with kids. If they can get the majority of Porter/Benton/Pickens/Jones/Fautanu/Frazier to hit then they're back to being a team that is legitimately just a few pieces away (albeit with one of them being the QB). If that group can't take the next step or sustain what they've done, then they are indeed in the same place.

The issue with that though is as soon as Watt retires, this team's defense is going to utterly implode. I personally think the defense is so propped up by Watt that losing him is going to downright tank the defense.

 

[Goalie_Bob]

The issue with that though is as soon as Watt retires, this team's defense is going to utterly implode. I personally think the defense is so propped up by Watt that losing him is going to downright tank the defense.

IMO, Watt can continue to be an impact player for the next 3-5 years. Add that to NFL teams having so much turnover from year to year that I hesitate to theorize where the team will be in 4-5 years.

In 2001 we had no idea who Ben was, or Troy, or etc. Shit, in 2016 we had no idea who TJ Watt was....

 

[Night Shift]

Lets say they play the Dolphins at home in the snow who are you tanking?
Jets haven’t won a playoff game since matt Sanchez
Its very difficult to win without a franchise Qb in the playoffs

Miami. Better team, better coaching staff. Elements do not matter unless the teams are even.

Hey hey hey they've managed to align themselves with the Jets. I guess striving for mediocrity and nothing more is what leads one down that path.

 

[pistolpete11]

I look at as rebuilding on the sly as they're trying to fill a lot of important positions with kids. If they can get the majority of Porter/Benton/Pickens/Jones/Fautanu/Frazier to hit then they're back to being a team that is legitimately just a few pieces away (albeit with one of them being the QB). If that group can't take the next step or sustain what they've done, then they are indeed in the same place.

Agreed. I'd say they've.....FINALLY....started to actually rebuild by prioritizing the lines. I'm still a believer in building from the inside-out. This team was trying to patch things with S (Fitzpatrick), RB (Harris), TE (Muth), etc. Good players, maybe, but it's not a smart way to build a team IMO.

A team without a QB will always kind of be in no-man's land, but they're heading in the right direction as long as Khan doesn't deviate too far from what he's doing.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Miami. Better team, better coaching staff. Elements do not matter unless the teams are even.

Hey hey hey they've managed to align themselves with the Jets. I guess striving for mediocrity and nothing more is what leads one down that path.

And yet the dolphins can’t beat a team with a winning record and are 8-20 when the kickoff weather is 40 degrees and have not won a playoff game in 25 years

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[Double-Shift Lasse]

I think this team is in a weird no-man's land where they're not really a "contender" nor are they a "rebuilder". They're simply looking to maintain the same level of mediocrity that they've been at for the past few years.

The roster isn't good enough to contend but they're also not making any efforts to build a roster that can contend. It's just stay the course and keep trying to win 9-10 games a year and make a wildcard game.

Almost no team is really tanking in the NFL. Most teams are in that weird area, just some of them it doesn't go well in a particular season for different reasons. I don't think there's a big difference between a team wining 4 and winning 8 games, for example. Nor 6 and 11.

Bottoming out is no guarantee. Maybe it improves your chances, but you still have to draft the right guy and develop him, and he has to have the proper mentality.

The last top 3 OA QB to win a SB for the team that drafted him was Peyton Manning in SB 41.

This is not me saying it doesn't matter who or when you draft, or that having great players instead of good ones isn't important. Just that accomplishing it isn't straightforward as being good for a while and then bottoming out.

Anyway, so most teams are trying to solve their QB situation and building out their roster as best they can to complement or compensate.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

Lets say they play the Dolphins at home in the snow who are you tanking?
Jets haven’t won a playoff game since matt Sanchez
Its very difficult to win without a franchise Qb in the playoffs

Is Mike Tomlin coaching? If he is, I'll take whatever coach he's opposing if it's the playoffs 100% of the time.

The only exception to this is if they are playing actual dolphins instead of human beings.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

And yet the dolphins can’t beat a team with a winning record and are 8-20 when the kickoff weather is 40 degrees and have not won a playoff game in 25 years

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Didn't the TB Bucs have a similar statline in the early 2000's? I mean those quirky stats are cute and all, but the arrow is pointing up for the Dolphins compared to the Steelers.

 

[WickedWrister]

Yeah I still maintain that this team is improved in more key areas than last year, but our schedule and likely regression to the mean in one score games puts a ceiling on how successful this team is going to be.

By the way, JT's latest thumbnail about our QB's has me cracking up

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Didn't the TB Bucs have a similar statline in the early 2000's? I mean those quirky stats are cute and all, but the arrow is pointing up for the Dolphins compared to the Steelers.

Will see if the dolphins can field a defense and o line worth anything this season

 

[Peat]

The issue with that though is as soon as Watt retires, this team's defense is going to utterly implode. I personally think the defense is so propped up by Watt that losing him is going to downright tank the defense.

I struggle to say you're wrong when their W-L record is so bad without him (although I did check the scores on some of those games recently and, iirc, the defence wasn't awful without him there).

But they can't really control Watt's timeline. It could be that TJ is like his brother and we've already had his last super-elite season and the bad times are coming soon. It could be that TJ is like Reggie White and is going to be an All Pro at 35. If it's the latter, the defence is probably going to look entirely different when that happens.

All they can do is recruit as smartly as they can and develop as well as they can to fill the many gaps they have. If Porter becomes a regular top 5 lockdown CB, that's huge.

And the many gaps thing to me is key, because they've got so many gaps and places at which they can improve, it feels like a rebuild. Maybe it's a rebuild occurring on top of a foundation with a limited shelf-life in Watt, but it's still a foundation.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1829193811215753584

 

[xlm34]

I don’t even think the 49ers fans care if Aiyuk is on their team at this point. The fact that the whole situation is still going on is bizarre.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

I don’t even think the 49ers fans care if Aiyuk is on their team at this point. The fact that the whole situation is still going on is bizarre.

They can’t win a championship without him but really can’t pay him long term. Persall is still in a non contact jersey as their 1st round pick

 

[Peat]

At this point I could see Aiyuk being a season hold out.

 

[Ryder71]

Aiyuk has the most leverage he'll ever have in his life, I get that. But this situation is beyond toxic and unprofessional! He has a valid contract! There should be a mechanism in place by the NFL that if you're a malcontent to THIS degree, you lose your job NEVER EVER to come back!

 

[Ryder71]

Meanwhile the hapless Steelers are picking their backside and eating it INSTEAD of finding a viable alternative! Khan being patient to THIS degree is cowardly, lazy and beneath the PITTSBURGH STEELERS LEGACY!!!!! Do your job you fat bald pig!!!! And get us a capable WR you sorry assclown or leave!

 

[bigdaddyk88]

Aiyuk has the most leverage he'll ever have in his life, I get that. But this situation is beyond toxic and unprofessional! He has a valid contract! There should be a mechanism in place by the NFL that if you're a malcontent to THIS degree, you lose your job NEVER EVER to come back!

This isn’t even the worst. Do you remember ramsey in Jacksonville

 

[Coastal Kev]

Still hopeful this team could surprise, starting to lean towards an epic disaster. This might be the year the chickens come home to roost for Rooney.