That moment of hope, where they’re within 4 points, only to promptly revert to Black and Jello - that’s just cruel.
Yeah, I thought they were about to make a game of it. I couldn’t quite tell if Big Ben was throwing sloppy because of o-line collapse, or if the receivers had forgotten how to reach out and catch.
Turnover in the coaching staff is a sign that you are doing things well. It’s not like his assistants are getting fired. Go ahead and demand Tomlin’s firing if you want. The league will be laughing at you.
This is true, and something I worry about with Keith Butler, the linebacker coach. And something else I noticed from this game and other games this season: Labeau’s has had a couple of “senior moments” in playcalls during critical points in the games. Now, I love him as much as anyone, and think he gets to retire whenever he feels like it, but if we’re rebuilding I wouldn’t entirely be upset if Butler took over, rather than lose him to another team. He’s been pretty damn patient so far.
ETA: The senior moment in the Bears game was the cover 1 and blitzing our best safety on the 3rd and long, with Ike Taylor man-on-man Brandon Marshall, which lead to the touchdown a few plays later (which stomped all over our comeback). Ummmmm what?
So far it’s looking like a wonderful Sunday for the afc north.
I think Brian Hoyer may be the best QB in the AFC North so far this year…
I would like to say the 0-4 start for the Steelers has a hidden upside - it clears all of the bandwagon steelers fans out of the sports bar I go to - but the reality is that they disappear after 0-2, so that already happened. In fact, they disappeared after the 0-2 start after the superbowl season a few years back.
I’m not saying all Steelers fans are fair weather. I think there’s a core group of toothless sister fuckers that’s there through thick and thin. But it’s good to see them scurry away in my neck of the woods.
The AFC north is delightfully amusing so far, at least they have that over the cloying grey pall that is the NFC east.
So the Steelers lost again. 0-4 has not happened in my lifetime. And yet, this isn’t the worst Steelers team in that era. This team just has no luck. Even the luck they make for themselves isn’t working out for them. Two dropped gimme picks by Goddamn Ike Taylor, a forced fumble recovered by the Vikings for a first down(!)… As I said before, it is inevitable that things would shake out this way, but I never imagined it would go quite so wrong all at once.
Not that anybody in the AFC North has anything to worry about right now, but it’s worth noting: the Steelers are only 2 games back with 5 more division games to play. If they right the ship, which could happen any time now, they were two tackles away from winning this game (the splash plays), they’re still not out of it. That’s quite the reflection on the anemic nature of the division, but bearing in mind that all the teams hate each other with a passion anything can happen. I hope it does.
The Rat Birds are playing pretty sucky, so you guys should end up in the top half of your division.
Ike Taylor! That’s who it was. The Roberto Duran of the NFL secondary. Hands of stone.
Airman, if you think this sorry bunch is in contention in the AFC north, You are dreaming. They have looked terrible for a long time now. Last year, the pre-season. 4 games in to this year. What do you see that is positive?
Here’s what I see. The real Mike Tomlin is coming into focus. Here’s a guy that has taken two teams to the super Bowl, won one, and did it with Cowher’s players. As those players got old, or became eligible for free agency, the Steelers lost them. The difference between now and the Cowher years is that Tomlin/Colbert have drafted so badly in the past 6 years, the cupboard is empty.
Tomlin, I feel, is a much better big game coach than Vowher was, simply because he played to win, not play not to lose, which is what Cowher was famous for (that’s from the Marty Schottenheimer school of coaching). So Tomlin was the right guy for the job. However, he has proven inthe last 6 years that he sucks as a talent evaluator, as well as a coach that develops talent. From the Steelers '09 and '10 drafts, they have exactly 1 players left on the roster from those drafts. That is horrendous. And without quality draft picks to fill out your roster to someday become starters, the Steelers have nothing left. This is going to be a very long road back, I fear.
I hope I am wrong, but nothing I’ve seen so far has given me any hope. You can even go back to the Playoff loss to Denver and Tim Tebow. Are you freaking kidding me? Do you have any idea how bad Tebow is? And he still beat the Steelers…
I’m afraid the talent cupboard is empty with the exception of a few players, but they don’t have a chance in hell of turning this season around,
It’s a bit of a stretch to say Tim Tebow beat the Steelers in that game. I’d give a ton more credit to the Denver defense and even Sickle Cell Anemia before I’d give it to Tim Tebow. Ryan Clark’s absence had a lot to do with Tim Tebow’s few successful long passes that game.
Tebow came through with a spectacular pass to finish that game when it counted; we have to give him credit for that.
I don’t think its a bit of a stretch at all. I heard the Ryan Clark excuse since before the game, like he was Revis or someone like that. Tebow is not a QB, I think we can all agree on that, and yet he was able to win that game, make the throws when they counted. Ryan Clarke absence should have been a non-issue. Can you imagine what Manning would do to the Steelers?
Exactly. Its hard to knock the guy when he bounces your team out of the playoffs. This should have been our first indication that we might have some problems with Tomlin that run deeper than a bad loss in Denver.
And maybe someone can help me, but on the Vikings first TD, when Cassell threw a 10 yard swing pass to a WR that was taken 70 yards for a score, who was the DB that was playing 10-12 yards off the receiver? That was terrible. Is that Gay or Lewis or Allen? I can’t believe you give that kind of cushion on every play, and then you blow the tackle? That’s bad defense, and that’s something Dick LeBeau should not be permitting. The opposing QB’s can throw that pass all day, since the DB is clearly not confident he’s not going to get burnt on a deep move.
It’s just sad.
The Steelers DB’s have been awful for years, but with good pressure and some sacks on the QB, it was hidden fairly well. Now, look at the secondary when they get no pressure on the QB. Matt Cassell looks like Peyton Manning.
It’s been a long time but I remember the lean years…just have to weather the storm. One thing I always loved about the Steelers is the stable front office (sometimes to a fault). It will come in handy now. They won’t freak out.
It was Cortez Allen and the Steeler DBs are only awful on message boards. They have been giving that cushion for years and it has paid off by giving up the fewest long plays of any defense. Allen missed his tackle and the play broke down. We have never seen so many missed tackles from our D.
The answers on defense are all up front, McClendon is strong against the pass and Heyward and Hood have been looking a lot better but replacing Casey Hampton and Aaron Smith is a VERY big deal. We have been spoiled as fans, and people often took it as hyperbole that Casey Hampton was always double teamed in his prime but it was quite true. If a team wanted to run anywhere in the centre of the field they absolutely could not rely on one guy to get his shoulders turned away from the line. That has a trickle down effect all through the D.
The D had a bad game but they aren’t the reason for the 0-4 record by a long shot; that’s all on the other side of the ball.
I generally agree that the biggest problems are on offense, but it seems that were into the 3rd season in a row when the Steelers D has been unable to generate turnovers. They’re turnover differential went from +17 in 2010 to -13 in 2011, -10 in 2012, and -11 so far this season. They’re 4 games into this season without getting a single turnover. It’s kinda bizarre, and I have no idea what the explanation might be.
I get really tired of this argument. Chuck Noll’s last 5 teams went 8-7, 5-11, 9-7, 9-7, and 7-9, the very picture of mediocrity. Cowher took “Noll’s players” and made the playoffs for 6 consecutive years. Still think it’s not the coaching, only the players? Tomlin took Cowher’s last squad, a playoff-missing 8-8, and took them to a Super Bowl victory in 2 years.
While you can’t ever dismiss the talent, the coaching is what puts the team over the top. The ultimate proof of that is that the Redskins, for more than a decade the best team money could buy, a collection of mercs that on paper was better than any other team in the league, did absolutely nothing.
Tomlin is an excellent coach. You can’t put up the record he has without being an excellent coach. However, he made a colossal error when he hired Todd Haley. That error needs to be remedied.
Agreed. Turnovers are a problem on both sides of the ball. I don’t know the answer either. I think on D a better pass rush would lead to more turnovers but saying we need a better pass rush (and who doesn’t?) is a far cry from actually having a workable solution.
On offense, is it coaching? Is it Ben’s cavalier attitude? That last fumble at the 6 yard line was all on him.
I’m still optimistic though. Adams struggling to stop Jared Allen one on one in his eighth career start isn’t exactly unforgivable and Adrian Peterson has made more than a few defenses look foolish. Those problems at least can be corrected and I think they will be.
I’m at a loss as to how Todd Haley gets the blame for these misfortunes except that he should have schemed more help for Adams I guess, which he did. Jared Allen didn’t have nearly as much impact in the second half. I can’t think of a single turnover this season that goes back to the scheme. We have had poor RB play from a bunch of journeymen backs and from Ben who will never get benched for making turnovers that would get anyone else benched. The offense has put up big yards through the air in the last six quarters they’ve played. Our franchise QB has to stop turning it over and the defense has to start. If they do that an 8-8 finish still isn’t out of reach with this schedule.
The simple answer is that every time Ben runs the no-huddle the offense moves. When the offense huddles and the plays are sent in they are notably unsuccessful. Haley has also shown an unwillingness to go with what works and refuses to take the wraps off the best improvisational quarterback in the league. Last, he and Ben simply don’t get along. When a relationship “improves” and it remains this bad it’s detrimental to the team. Haley has a bad reputation (ask the Chiefs) and has been a terrible fit.