OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: Super Bowl 50

[plaidchuck]

Saying we should have tanked is embarrassing. We not only made the playoffs, but we even won a game. We were probably a Round 1 injury away from the AFC championship. Going into week 17, we were good enough to beat anybody in the league on any given night.

Come on, everyone knew this team wasn't going anywhere since week eight. In cap leagues if you can't win it all you better be amassing as much talent as possible.

Not even counting the idiot coach the team has, whole other can of worms there.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Come on, everyone knew this team wasn't going anywhere since week eight. In cap leagues if you can't win it all you better be amassing as much talent as possible.

Not even counting the idiot coach the team has, whole other can of worms there.

bull ****. With Brown and Williams, we could have won against anyone in the league. Not favorites, but we had a punchers chance against anybody. With those two we're on our way to the AFC Championship right now.

 

[plaidchuck]

bull ****. With Brown and Williams, we could have won against anyone in the league. Not favorites, but we had a punchers chance against anybody. With those two we're on our way to the AFC Championship right now.

Yet here we are. Forgive me if I'm tired of the injury excuse every year for Pittsburgh teams.

Same thing every year, ****ing boring. Anyways, another easy SB for the patriots. Let us bow to our NE overlords.

 

[Snooki Stackhouse]

Yeah... Year after year it's "what could have been" with our favorite teams. It's getting old.

I really think Cinci would've had this game against Denver. They (or a small number of them) let a personal hatred of the Steelers get in the way of a potential super bowl run. I think it could've been their year too. The AFC was there for the taking.

 

[Mordax]

IIRC, there are a lot of Red Sox fans in Montreal, and Quebec in general.

I've always been surprised by the number of Pats fans even over here in Vancouver.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Yet here we are. Forgive me if I'm tired of the injury excuse every year for Pittsburgh teams.

Same thing every year, ****ing boring.

And we were still 1 score from the AFC Championship. I stand by the point that wishing we tanked is embarrassing. If you make the playoffs you have a chance to win.

I'm just saying, if you look at this roster after week 8 as you said, there's no reason to think about tanking. That's a team that can play with anybody.

 

[plaidchuck]

I've always been surprised by the number of Pats fans even over here in Vancouver.

Everyone likes a winner.

 

[UnrealMachine]

At least on paper things are looking very good for next season:

- Bryant stepped up huge this game and Coates may force the team to make some tough decisions either this summer or the next;
- Offensive line will only get better with Pouncey and Beachum back. The line played admirably all season, but it was really catching up with them towards the end and especially in the last two games.
- Pass defensive will improve with Boykin playing full-time and hopefully the emergence of one or both of Golson and Grant. Cockrell played respectably and he was essentially a rookie so hopefully he gets better as well.
- Jarvis Jones played better as the season went on. He may not ever be a top-10 OL, but he has far outplayed the "bust" label.

I still think that the missing piece is a stud NT who can eat gaps and collapse the interior pocket. I want to see what the team has in Golson & Grant before drafting yet another CB. If Shamarko Thomas ever makes it onto the field it will be as a Mike Mitchel replacement, so a ball-hawking S wouldn't be a bad pick either.

 

[DanielPlainview]

This team is a couple solid corners away from being almost unbeatable.

 

[Shockmaster]

This team is a couple solid corners away from being almost unbeatable.

Yeah, they need CBs way more than they need a NT.

 

[UnrealMachine]

Yeah, they need CBs way more than they need a NT.

The best cb in the league won't do much good if the opposing qb consistently has 4+ seconds to read the D coverage with no penetration coming from the middle of the pocket.

 

[Shockmaster]

The best cb in the league won't do much good if the opposing qb consistently has 4+ seconds to read the D coverage with no penetration coming from the middle of the pocket.

Yet a better CB might be able to cover receivers longer, which would give the guys up front a chance to get coverage sacks. The defensive line just isn't anywhere close to being as big of a concern as the secondary is right now. They badly need an infusion of talent at that position.

 

[DanielPlainview]

3-4 defenses do not aim to get QB pressure from the DT. A better secondary would allow more blitzing from the LBs instead of having them drop into coverage a lot.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Toussaint..

Mother****ing Toussaint...

I'm not over it yet.

 

[Mordax]

Toussaint..

Mother****ing Toussaint...

I'm not over it yet.

Can't be THAT mad at him. He was playing WAY above his paygrade both games. He was bound to make a 4th string RB mistake eventually. Sucks it had to be so costly, but still

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Can't be THAT mad at him. He was playing WAY above his paygrade both games. He was bound to make a 4th string RB mistake eventually. Sucks it had to be so costly, but still

My heart sank when it happened. The Steelers were already shorthanded and with a gimped QB and they were close to upsetting the Bronco's and then that happens, I mean when you play RB, you're told, hold that ball like your life depends on it. My football coach basically made us chant it when I was in high school.

Now I hope the Cardinals win.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Toussaint..

Mother****ing Toussaint...

I'm not over it yet.

Burfict..

Mother****ing Burfict...

I think blaming that waste of space is more appropriate than a fifth (or is it tenth) string guy who was forced into action. Burfict not only knocked AB out, hampered Rothlisberger, but do not forget that he ended the season of the best running back in the league who happened to play for us with a cheap out of bounds hit earlier in the year.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I hate how the NFL's discipline for that sort of **** is even more laughable than the NHL's idea of "discipline."

If he got a Torres type of suspension in the NFL...I'd be a little happy, but a fine was all he got, no? Then the accusations of faking it, right, there is no way Antonio Brown, if healthy, would skip a game like that.

I don't think Denver would have had a chance if Ben's arm was 100%, Le'Veon Bell was healthy, and Antonio Brown was healthy, or hell even DeAngelo Williams...I know Toussaint isn't the one to blame, the guy was way in over his head and in a situation he shouldn't have been in, in the first place.

It has to be some messed up injury curse on the Steelers & Penguins. I swear.

 

[Mordax]

I saw a tweet that said that Ben intentionally had his media interview at the same time as Toussaint to try and pull some of them away from Toussaint . Classy move if it's true. I'm sure Toussaint already felt like a pile of garbage without having to face a pack of hungry media.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Now I feel bad being angry about that fumble.

Also, as much of a ****** as Ben can be at times away from the sport (well more so in the past now), the guy is a class act with his team.

 

[Joejosh999]

Yeah DK tweeted how Ben was sitting with Tous and the guy was inconsolable. It sure killed the mo but I don't blame the guy.
Actually I blame Burfict, think it was him that took out Bells knee too, wasn't it?
Hope he does something stupid over the summer and ends up in jail.

 

[PensPlz]

2saint was having a really solid game up until that fumble. He was running much better than anyone expected him to have.

Easy to point the finger at him for the fumble, and I do, but we had a ton of opportunities to put 7's up and we didn't.

 

[Snooki Stackhouse]

You can't blame the young practice squad guy for losing the game. I don't know what the answer was this season. They got Deangelo to avoid what happened last year and it still didn't work out. Should they have worked on a better backup as soon as Bell went on IR? Were there even any options? It's hard to play the blame game this year.

 

[UnrealMachine]

3-4 defenses do not aim to get QB pressure from the DT.

You don't get the pressure directly from the NT. You get it because a good one like Casey Hampton ate up 2 blockers so that when the Steelers *did* blitz, the opposing team would already be short a blocker. If they tried to put a single blocker on Hampton, he would would push the center back and collapse the pocket to some degree.

A better secondary would allow more blitzing from the LBs instead of having them drop into coverage a lot.

There is no denying that the Steelers need a better secondary. My point was that they may already have those players in-house with Golson (2nd round pick) and Grant (4th round pick). Look how much better the secondary was when they simply took Blake off of the field. Meanwhile, there is a HUGE dropoff in talent between the DE's and NT on this team.

 

[OnMyOwn]

The steelers were top 5 in sacks I think. Secondary is where it's at for sure. Go balls deep in FA and the draft.