Ahh, the wonderful fairweather fanbase has already started to jump off the bandwagon. The Steelers have only won 2 superbowls in 2 years and still have a shot at winning season, but that’s just not enough to inspire fan loyalty I suppose.
Ah, wild card weekend will be just a bit more sweet now, with yinz sitting at home too.
Ah, I hope your locker room tears itself apart…
pittsburgh steelers march to six in a row
It is for me. Same as for you.
I was going to say something magnanimous in defeat, but I won’t give you the pleasure. That’s just straight dick of you.
It’s not like I even said anything that bad - after losing to some bad teams, I’ve already heard rumblings amongst your fanbase complaining about Ben and Tomlin. Not sure if that’s also going on in the locker room, but with Ward’s publically insulting Ben, I thought it might. Nothing wrong with me enjoying the turmoil.
Besides, it’s not like you guys have always treated me with respect. HongKongFooey is the only one of you that isn’t clueless or obnoxious. To be fair, you’re not that bad.
Well, look at it this way – we still have the Penguins.
Ho HO!
Hell, we still have the Steelers. I’ll watch every game even if they lose them all.
You know, it’s not like this hasn’t happened before. This is almost exactly what happened after they won their last Super Bowl. I wish they would actually give themselves an opportunity to defend, but you can’t win them all. Small consolation, I suppose. Now they just have to finish out at 8-8 or better, with a win over the hated Ravens, and all will be good as these things go.
Ah well, I’ll console myself by ordering Superbowl XL and XLIII highlight dvd’s. 
Oh and cheering for a deserving vet to win it all…maybe brees?
It’s disappointing but Airman Doors, USAF is right they have to win what they can. They have to regain that winning mentality that’s taken us so far over the years. There are problems to fix. I don’t want to see panic I want to see moves made to right the ship. I’m surprised Keenan Lewis wasn’t dressed for this game. He probably had to be sacrificed to keep an extra WR in case Ward couldn’t make it through the game but they need to give guys like him some playing time now and get them some game experience.
Not to write this season off now but I can’t help thinking ahead to what they need to do to make a run for it next year:
William Gay has been targeted by a lot of teams but he has looked very solid at times this season and was solid as the nickel last year after they started curtailing Deshea Townsend’s snaps. We can’t give up on guys like him. The Steelers aren’t going to run out and spend big bucks on a free agent corner; we need guys like Gay to learn the system and develop so they can pay big bucks to Polamalu and Roethlisberger and so on.
I think the biggest decision they face now is with Casey Hampton. Dominant 3-4 NTs aren’t easy to come by and Casey had a monster season in the middle. Maybe they’ll franchise him and try to buy some more time to find another guy for the future. Chris Hoke is getting up there too. That position is too key to this defense to leave it for too long.
We have good depth and skill everywhere on offense. A new right guard and better play-calling is all it will take to get that unit on track. High passing ratio= high risk and that is what killed us this season, even more than sloppy special teams play. The offense didn’t control the clock and the defense can’t turn the ball the other way when Troy’s out. I think that’s why we saw such an impact with and without Polamalu. He’s certainly a special player but not special enough to account for that discrepancy in the record. it’s the effect he has on out turnover ratio. We need another ball hawk back there.
Another thought on the offense. Take Limas Sweed out to the barn and put him down. He has never done anything for us; it’s time to get him out of there. They kept Stefan Logan just to return kicks and punts but he showed some flashes on gadget plays. If they insist on passing so much they should be running some plays like that to draw the safeties and backers up.
Please. Calling me a fairweather fan shows that you don’t know me. I’m pissed right now, that’s all. And no, I don’t feel like going to watch a team that is underperforming so horribly right now. But I’ll go…I’ll always go. I’ve been a Steelers fan since I was in the womb, and nothing will change that. While this season is officially over, I’ll still follow the remaining games, I’ll still root them on, because it’s part of me.
However, since I’m as big a hockey fan as I am a football fan, I’m going to focus on the Penguins season primarily now, since this football season is officially in ‘at least there’s next year’ mode.
I feel like puking this morning. I woke up and immediately remembered what happened last night. It was like waking up with a punch to the gut. As I look at the remaining schedules for the teams in contention, there aren’t many scenarios that put the Steelers in the playoffs.
I’m not concerned with the playoffs. This team doesn’t deserve to be in them this year, and I doubt they’d go far anyway. I’m concerned with this team getting the desire to win back, and getting Willie Colon to actually, you know, block the correct defender, and the secondary to, well, cover people, and the entire team to get the fire back, and stop making ridiculous mistakes. As far as I’m concerned this season is over. Everything the Steelers do for the remainder of the year needs to be done well so that NEXT year can be good again. They need to win, and they need to play hard, so that they remember what it’s like to be a winner, and don’t slide into a multi-year funk. Right now, they’re not playing like Champions, they’re playing like losers, and THAT is what I want to see change…the playoffs aren’t happening this year, but we can at least set the tone for next year.
If the Steelers win out and Indy beats Denver this week , Jax loses to Miami and Indy, and NE and Baltimore loses to either the Lions, Bears or Raiders and the Bengals beat the NY Jets and Miami loses to Tenn, then…
THE STEELERS ARE IN!!!
HongKongFooey, I’m always impressed with your analyses. Do you get game film? Are you Merril Hoge?
In any event, you’re probably right about William Gay, but I’ve just gotten so tired of seeing him toasted that I’d make a rash decision with him were I in charge. I was glad that Burnett had the chance to get some reps in last night.
Watching this run defense is reminding me of the last time that Aaron Smith went down. I know that you’ve seen good things from Ziggy Hood, but I haven’t, and I’m worried about the future of our run D.
RE: Hampton - the Steelers usually make the right decisions about players, but I would hope that they keep him. What I’m a tiny bit fearful of is that LeBeau will retire and Tomlin will go to a 4-3 defense. Then Hampton’s future becomes less of a question mark.
It was ironic that James Harrison, prior to the game, came out with a statement that the players need to just do their jobs instead of worrying about helping out others, because he seemed to be reaching and getting himself in bad positions all night long last night.
Bruce Arians needs to be gone immediately. He should have been let go last year. Why couldn’t he have been “raided” by another team after coming off of a Superbowl championship?
We need to draft/pick up the offensive linemen we should have last year. We need to find a big back and make a renewed commitment to the running game. Even if we kick Sweed to the curb, and if Ward were to retire, I still think our receiving corps is pretty solid.
I agree with jman. Of course I’m a fan and will remain so, but I’m not particularly excited about rooting for this team to limp into a playoff spot. If they suddenly somehow become the Steelers again, it would be exciting, but this football team is the worst team in football over the last month and a half, and they do not deserve to go anywhere but back to the drawing room.
Finally, even as bad as we are, I’m thrilled not to be a fan of the Browns organization. Sure, they may wake up pumped this morning, but they are still the Browns.
Thanks.
From what I can see I guess I’m glad I didn’t see it. Although maybe they needed me there to be yell Throw it, throw it. Run! Run!
Oh yeah, I forgot to say that I thought the announcers on the NFL Network were terrible. Absolutely ridiculous. And I’m a Penn State fan - but Matt Millen, for all his experience, added nothing insightful all night long.
And who the hell is Bob Papa? Come on, idiot. If nothing else, you could at least get the current score and current down and distance correct.
From my perspective, the thing that really bothered me more than anything last night was that the Steelers just quit. That’s something they never do. But this team is different, and not in a good way.
Even on the last drive, there was no sense of urgency, no push down the field. They had no life. Six points against the Browns is just embarrasing. They only gave up 13, and the offense couldn’t find the endzone? Against the Browns?
The special teams coach (whoever that is) should be gone this morning. Ariens can hang to the end of the season. But Tomlin will clean house. I don’t think Dick Lebeau will want to leave on a sour note.
Aaron Smith is the forgotten man. Yes, Troy is missed dearly, but Smith makes such a big difference in the run game and opening up gaps for the linebackers on the blitz package. I hope he’s able to come back next year.
The Steelers quit last night. That was horrific to watch.
They’re still ranked fifth in total defense (they were fourth with Smith in the lineup), and eighth in scoring defense… so apparently they don’t miss him that much.
I disagree. Look who they’ve played. KC, Oakland, Cleveland, etc. Not exactly powerhouse offenses, and they still lose. Add to that the short field the defense gets on almost every punt or kickoff, and it adds up to fewer yards needed to score points.
The stats might not be bad, but their defense has been down from last year.
From last year, yes - but that doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with Smith. James Harrison was unblockable last year with Smith in the lineup; this year he’s been blockable when Smith was in and now that he isn’t.