I like that. I’ll look for some.
I feel for ya fans. I remember the frustration I had in Denver early 90s:
1st and 10? Let’s run up the middle. Again. Don’t worry about blocking. 2nd and 9 now? Ooh, let’s try a screen that falls incomplete. Ahhh… Holding. Nice. 2nd and 19. Fool them with a run! 5 yards. Better than 1st. 3rd and 14. Shotgun. Hmmm… Gonna pass?
At least the punter was good.
Good one, though a team doesn’t “march” to 0-16. It stumbles, crawls, limps, etc. 
On the plus side, think of all of the time you will save this year not having to type out Towels after using the word Terrible.
Good of you. Too bad the refs utterly destroyed any momentum the Steelers had with that. That was a game-changing call.
The panic from non-Airman Doors Steeler Nation is pretty amusing. “Oh my god! The sky is falling!” Jesus, people, your team lost two games and was always going to be mediocre at best.
You win the thread.
I should clarify: it should have been called holding instead as Marcus had a handful of Geno Atkins’ jersey anyway.
I have Schteelerfreude
Did he ever. I was very surprised at the tripping call but either way didn’t think it was a big deal. Good teams have to outplay the officiating and the Steelers weren’t very good.
It’s sad that the best offensive lineman in the game was the new guy they just signed but the line really wasn’t that bad. The Bengals D-line played very well and more importantly very disciplined but there were some running lanes here and there. Unfortunately Redman and Dwyer change directions with all the grace and agility of battleships. Jones isn’t known for learning the protection schemes but seems like the best choice right now. The other big problem on offense is the receivers getting jammed at the line. Aside from the poorly conceived reverse with Cotchery I don’t think most of the problems were on Haley. He didn’t miss the catches or misread the cutback lanes or throw the interceptions. He does have to find a way to get the receivers free though. As much as I bashed Arians he did know how to use bunch formations and motion to get guys like Hines Ward some separation.
Loving some if the things I see on defense. Polamalu’s flying around, Jarvis Jones isn’t showing much for pass rush yet but looks good in the rest of the snaps, McClendon is a terror, Ike Taylor has lead hands but can still shut guys down. Woodley, like Jones, not much for a pass rush but looking disruptive. They dropped guys back all night, probably hoping to bait an interception but also I think trying to keep the D fresh. You can’t have an active defense AND a lethargic offence, not for long anyway.
Well, after today the Steelers probably have to win. The Browns won? The Bengals came back on the Pack? The Ratbirds outed the Texans as pretenders? Crazy day in the NFL.
Good news: Heath Miller is coming back tonight. Am I saying that he’s going to be the difference? No. But he’ll certainly be better than the tight ends that have been playing, and he’ll make teams respect the short pass which should open up the deep stuff a bit, which in turn should help the anemic running game. I hope. Felix Jones is the best of the bunch so far, he should be the every-down back tonight unless he proves otherwise. If he can’t get it done, Bell comes back next week.
I’m not ready to give up on the season. I still think Haley has to go, but even if he doesn’t there’s still lots of talent out there. What they need is execution, generate some turnovers, some sacks… they can do it. That they will is another matter.
Rumors about Bell getting snaps, too, which is f’n insane since it could easily aggravate his injury and set him back for the rest of the year. But why wait when you got shiny new toys to play with?!
I see a lot of three receiver sets and short passes in our future. The only way to open up the running game at this point is to spread the field and try force the safeties out of the box. Sanders has the speed and did get deep a few times last week but was overthrown or misplayed the ball. If he and Ben get on the same page all this changes and these first two games are just painful memories. A big ‘if’ but within reach.
Oh, and Bell is inactive tonight. I agree that they are better off holding him out a bit longer. After the bye would be fine with me.
If I had to guess I would say that the Steelers are not going to the Super Bowl. Alas, the title is traditional so even if they pulled an 0-fer that’s what I would call it anyway next year.
So, what went wrong? Ben couldn’t hold onto the ball, and threw three picks. The offense gave up 23 points and scored… 23 points. They finally got moving after they fell way behind and almost made it the whole way back. Brown had some great plays and one spectacular catch to go with some drops and a pointless personal foul at the end that will have the league office sending him a fine. Heath Miller coming back was huge, but the pick-six and fumble-six were really the difference.
The defense, though, was beast. They didn’t play old at all tonight. And the special teams? When the special teams are the best unit on the Steelers, you can be sure that something is wrong. They were dynamite tonight.
But again, it’s the offense. Why does Todd Haley still have a job? I’m serious. He has sown discord, failed completely at getting the offense to move, not preserved Ben even one iota (which was his pitch when he got the job), and is just a general authoritarian asshole. How long will the Rooneys endure this before they give him the boot? They surely won’t fire Tomlin, he took the Steelers to two Super Bowls before Haley got there and is an excellent head coach. Even if we concede that this is a rebuilding year (Cowher had two different 6-10 seasons, so it’s not unheard of), there is no excuse for the offense being so anemic.
Fire Todd Haley. Do it now. Tomorrow. This week. Just don’t let him get on the plane to London.
I find it telling that the offense started to turn around when Ben was being Ben in the no huddle - that’s how they scored those quick touchdowns, especially that beautiful one to AB which was a bread and butter play of the Hines Ward years. And then after the catch, AB was on the sidelines celebrating and Haley started to say something to him and AB completely ignored him.
Hmmm…
Also, is it me or is Valesco playing better than Pouncey did last year? Dude’s been solid. And Decastro had a monster game too - great development from him, loved when he pushed Dwyer over the line for the first down. Biggest issue now is that we simply don’t have anyone with feet quick enough for LT, so maybe that should be the focus with our high draft pick (Mike Adams is fine at RT, but keeps getting mauled over and over, every single game, at LT. And don’t get me started on Gilbert…) Although we could potentially be in a position to draft Ben’s replacement - too soon?
Nelson Muntz: “Ha-Haa!”
Enjoy it while it lasts. The worm will turn. It always does. As long as the last name of the Bengals’ owner is Brown futility is just one bad decision away. The Steelers will be back, and the Bengals will revert to form. Just not this year, apparently.
Oh c’mon with that already. That’s so 1999. Even the most jaundiced Bengals fan is admitting the turn in the way the team has been run since…about 2009 or so, tops. Brown, (Mike, not the God Paul, hallowed be his name) made some hugely bad decisions running the team for about 20 years from around 1993 until 2010 (I know that’s not 20 years). He’s ceded control of the team to Marvin. It’s plainly obvious. Look at the drafts. The Bengals have out-drafted and frankly out-played your team for three years now. And it isn’t stopping.
So, keep convincing yourself of your smug superiority during a down year like the Bengals are a “sure thing” to fall back to Earth anytime now, when as a matter of fact, they haven’t and for at least a few years with the squad they have assembled, they WON’T.
I know, I know, six rings and all that, but it wouldn’t kill you to be a little more objective about the teams you belittle.
ETA: Your belittlement is spot on for the Browns, though.
I AM being objective. The Steelers have had an awesome run of success (with a few lousy seasons) over the last 20 years. They are now in the process of rebuilding, coming down to Earth, whatever. You think the Bengals are immune to that? In a few years, maybe sooner, AJ Green and Andy Dalton, among others, will eat the Bengals’ salary cap with marquee contracts. The ham-and-eggers that support them will be inadequate, picks taken late in the rounds will not pan out as well as earlier picks might, and they will begin a decline. That’s the new NFL model.
That is the best-case scenario, by the way. Anything can go wrong. Your boy Dalton could fold up his knee next week. AJ Green could get blasted across the middle and never be the same. And, even though you choose to discount it, Mike Brown is the owner and all he has to do is stick his nose into the personnel side of the business and it’s clownshoes all over again.
The Steelers will be back. History, stable ownership, and traditionally good decision making virtually guarantees it. The Bengals will fade, for exactly the opposite reasons. And if not that, if Mike Brown finally figured out that he should shut up and let good people make good decisions, parity-based rotation of successful franchises and bottom-feeders is inevitable. Why this is in doubt is beyond me.
Todd Haley must go.
Look at his track record over the past few seasons.
He was in Arizona, the OC with Kurt Warner (in my opinion, a HOF QB), Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston, two great, and one very good receiver. goes to KC as head coach and immediately FAILS. His arrogance and lack of job skills gets him fired almost immediately and the Steelers pick him up. How’s he working out in Pittsburgh?
Maybe its Haley.
I don’t care what anyone says, when Bruce Arians was the OC, this team was flying on offense. I don’t care if it wasn’t “Steeler football”. We have a great QB. Not just a good one, a GREAT one, and we are wasting his prime years behind a line that is permitting sacks like an expansion team. We have NO running game to speak of, and unless Mr. Bell is some sort of god, they won’t have one when he gets healthy either. The guy set a record for most carries in all of college football last year. Some say workhorse, but could he possibly also have gotten used up a bit too soon? I guess time will tell on this one. But I don’t have high expectations behind that O-line. The only RB that could make yardage behind our o-line is Barry Sanders in his prime. That’s it.
Haley’s offense is not only predictable, its predictable in a bad way. Also, this is what, maybe Bens 4th or 5th OC since he’s been in Pittsburgh? For a team that has such stability at the head coaching position, they can’t get an OC to stick around to install his offense and make it work. Except Arians, and people were happy when he left. (Not me). Arians knew how to use what he had to maximum benefit. And what he had was Big Ben, a great natural play maker. Ben is being smothered by Haley, and the offense sucks so bad its hard to watch. Ben is going to keep throwing picks because he is trying to make something happen that isn’t there. They have no running game, so defenses can cheat on the pass.
Haley always looks like a little kid who was told he had to sit out this game while the better kids play. He’s always got a sour look on his face, (no wonder), his players seem to have no respect for him, and they are playing like it.
If they don’t want to flirt with 2-14, they need to fire him NOW. If we go to London and lose to the Vikings (which I predict the Steelers will, since the genius that is Mike Tomlin isn’t taking the Steelers over there until very late in the week… The players will be tired from the trip and not acclimated to the time change), they go into the bye at 0-4. That is ugly. That is Cleveland ugly.
You are not being objective, and this is coming from a Steeler fan.
There are certain things you cannot avoid to admit if you are a Steeler fan:
Bill Cowher, a great regular season coach but a lousy playoff coach was a very good judge of talent and the Steelers had some very productive drafts and free agent signings with him here.
Mike Tomlin has gone to two Super Bowls with basically the team that Cowher built. Now, I believe Cowher wouldn’t have made it to those two Super Bowls, so the coaching change was needed. But Tomlin hasn’t replaced the talent that has been lost.
3). If you look at Tomlin’s track record, his drafts have been awful. I have the stats somewhere, but you can look them up easy enough, there is a two year period in his tenure in which only 1 player is still on the team from the drafts. I believe it is 08 and 09’ but I’d have to check. There is no way to look at the drafts under Tomlin and come to the conclusion that he has picked very poorly, and in doing so, the Steelers have not be able to replace their big names that have left, like they had been doing for the most part under Cowher.
I don’t know if Tomlin or Colbert is ultimately to blame for the draft selections, but in any case its hard to admit that players do not get better under Tomlin. Who has he developed? Mendenhall was a first round “bust” who never developed into a number one back. Instead, the Steelers rely on guys like Dwyer and Redman to go into the season… He then cuts Dwyer and picks up Jones right before the first game, and no one picks up Dwyer, who the Steelers have to sign again because of LSH’s injury. The running game doesn’t exist because the situation at running back is pathetic. Is that Haley’s fault or Tomlin’s?
We may be seeing Tomlin’s weakness coming into focus… He can’t develop players, he has had pretty good turnover in his coaching staff, and the Steelers are not improving under his leadership.