So Ben is making noises that Monday will be his last game at Heinz Field. I know this has been a perennial topic the last few years, but it really does seem like past time for him to hang 'em up. You Steelers fans may be in for a rough couple of years of rebuilding, but I would think that’s better than the uncertainty you constantly deal with now, as it would come with at least the hope of a return to dominance.
Wonder what ticket prices at StubHub are doing with this “news”… I would assume they’ve gone up dramatically.
Or worse, getting our receivers hurt with his wobblers. I sure hope that we have found our secret QB “diamond in the rough” in this draft, which looks to be the lightest in terms of QB’s in recent memory. I’ve been watching most bowl games, and no one has impressed, at least in terms of those eligible.
Well, it was evident before this weekend that many things had to go right for a playoff entry. Now, the obvious must is beating Cleveland tomorrow and Baltimore next week. Then we need 2 of 3 teams (Indy, Chargers, Raiders) to lose next week. And since 2 of them play each other, we just need Indy to lose. Not bad, right? Except they play Houston. It would’ve been better if Indy had beaten the Raiders today. Then we would have needed the Raiders to beat the Chargers next week, which would’ve been more probable. Oh well, first thing’s first: beat the Browns tomorrow.
Also, congrats to the Bengals for winning the division. Of course your coach almost killed off your star QB’s season again with his hard-headed 4th down attempts at the end, but it looks like Burrow will be okay.
Ah, yes. Well, weird things happen in Florida. NE always had a hard time winning in Miami, even during their lengthy period of dominance. And Indy hasn’t won in J’ville since 2014. But yeah, still pretty darn close to a miracle is needed.
Why do you think that? One, Taylor has a respectable, if not very good, percentage of success on 4th downs. Two, the QB sneak is a must-have in the playbook and not to be afraid to use it more than once. Burrow’s a tough guy, and if he can’t be called upon to make those kinds of plays at his age, then he shouldn’t be playing, and I think he would agree, Hell, with as much freedom as he’s already been given in year 2 to change/audible plays I wouldn’t be surprised if Burrow didn’t call his own number two times in a row…I’m honestly not sure if Burrow even WANTED to score on the 1st sneak, and maybe not even the second due to the clock.
The first mistake was Andy Reid’s, as he should have just let Cincy score the TD and give Mahomes 2 minutes and a time-out to tie the game. But once the Bengals didn’t score on the first 3 downs, they should have kicked the FG. They got bailed out twice by fortunate penalties on the defense, the 2nd which resulted in a first down. My friends and I all texted that the coach should immediately be fired after the game, especially if Burrow had been seriously injured on that last 4th down play (and it sure looked like he was).
By the way, the Raiders-Chargers game is Sunday night. So if the Jags do beat the Colts, and the Steelers win, the Raiders and Chargers could both guarantee playoff entry by agreeing to tie. I don’t think they would do that, as it would be cowardly. But, I could see a situation where the game happens to be tied near the end of OT, and the teams stop calling time outs and let the clock run out.
I know pretty-well squat about gridiron football, so I’ll understand getting slapped around a bit if I try to make the claim that Mike Tomlin is the most underrated coach in the entire history of the National Football League.
So only three Steelers coaches since '69? Huh. That sounds like the definition of a consistently solid organization.
(not that I’m trying to strongly link the two, though I’m sure they factored together somewhat)
I think Tomlin is generally regarded as a good to very good head coach. If he got fired he could have another job before he left the building. So I don’t think he’s underrated at all.
But if you look at what he’s done with the talent he’s had, you simply can’t argue that he’s overperformed. His first 7 years were super and Pittsburgh expected great things. They haven’t won a playoff game since then. Ok, Ben was wearing a boot during the Denver/Tebow loss, another year Le’veon Bell was out.
I think Tomlin is a good coach. But this year is probably the first time in his career where he’s been working with below average talent.
I think Tomlin is an above-average coach, but is actually over-rated. He’s a good motivator, but not enough X’s and O’s enough to be considered a great coach. There have been several seasons under him that the Steelers have under-performed relative to their talent. And while he’s a good motivator, I don’t think his players respect him enough, as the recent Claypool iand the famous Antonio Brown locker room incidents showed. Plus, he just couldn’t beat Belichick when it counted. I think even with the greatness of Brady and Belichick dominating this era, Tomlin and Ben should have been expected to have at least 1 more ring and at least 1 big playoff win against NE.
Fair enough, but there have been many other examples of undisciplined play as well.
Also, I agree that AB is a psychological disaster, but I still believe that he really snapped after that Burfict hit about 5 years ago. He wasn’t nearly as much of a loose cannon before that one.
