Hi everyone, haven't been on here in a while had some personal stuff to attend to, both good and bad, but all kept me very busy and focused on life. This season was a tough one to swallow but the fact we even made it to .500 and still was in the playoff hunt until the last week was amazing. I know some of you aren't Tomlin fans but he held this team together and got them to play. Does he still make some bad calls, yes but there's a reason he's never had a losing season. Next year is very promissing, I'm hoping Ben will be back to his old self and no lingering effects from the surgery, I like what I saw from Mason this year but wish they would have brought in a Vetern presence behind him when Ben went down instead of bringing Duck in. Love the aquasition of Minkah although it left us without a first rounder this year, he is worth the chemistry and the upgrade in the backfield. The impact from week 3 on was priceless. Must find a way to retain Bud, I think we finally have our bookends and its harder to replace a OLB than a Dlineman. Bush was worth the tradeup in the draft, next year he will be even better and more instinctual. Tuitt was on a tear before he was torn, looking for him to bounce back huge next year and we might not even miss hargrave. Nelson and Haden are the corners we've been searching for. this defense is stacked. Just imagine what they can do with a lead!!! Washington and Johnson I thought took huge steps this year as WR's, next year I see both of them taking a bigger step with Ben throwing more accurate passes and knowing when to check down and hit the hot routes. JUJU had a disappointing season and he will look to prove to the haters that he can be the #1 the Steelers need him to be. I also believe Cain will be on the 53 man roster next year. The O-line looked pedestrian this year but that could be due to the QB's not knowing how to call coverages or is it the absence of Munchack, or is it the fact that time has caught up with some of them and this year it really showed? The RB's had a rough year, When conner was healthy I thought he ran like his probowl self but that was a rarity this year, I thought we would get the Samuals of the patriots game in 2018 this year when Conner went down and we didn't, he was dinged for a bit as well. Liked Benny Snell football, thought he Ran well when he was featured it takes him a few carries to get warmed up and sometimes you can't afford that luxury. Whyte was a good pickup like his motor and think he will be on the PS next year, also like his kickoff return ability......Finally right! We will also have a healthy Nix back next year and will help the running game also. I liked the addition of Vannett I see the potential but he's a FA and might not be retained, Vance was injured again some of this year after having a healthy campaign last year, I was hoping he turned the corner, lots of people say he will be a cap casualty but I don't think it will happen because then we're left with an unproven Gentry at TE and I'm not sold on him. Now to special teams We have a new punt returner, and johnson is his name!! Boswell I thought rebounded to his probowl form and even Berry was punting well up until the last 3 weeks of the season and the wheels came flying off. Thought the coverage was good. With all that said, The draft will be here before you know it. no first round and a comp pick in the third. What positions do you see us drafting with what we have? I'm thinking not necessarily in this order: TE DL OL OLB CB Your thoughts? and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Not completely sold on Haden moving forward, he played good this year but Father Time is undefeated. Already showed he couldn't keep up with the faster WRs, and with Edmunds crappy angles it got exposed at times. Thats about the only weak spot on the defense, if Dupree somehow gets re-signed. Layne was raw as a rookie, but I'm looking forward to seeing him come into his second TC. On offense, everybody is clamoring for a veteran backup. Rudolph is now a 3rd year player, isn't that veteran status yet? especially in the same system for 3 years? He showed enough potential to warrant the vote of confidence Tomlin gave in his year end conference. Question is will Hodges be the #3 next season? At RB, Conner will be in his final year, he needs to show he can be available over the course of a season if he wants a second contract. Samuels was a bit of a disappointment, but he did catch the ball out of the backfield. Snell came on pretty strong at the end of the year, liked what I saw. White, we'll see. Doubt Trey Edmunds returns, so he'll get a long look in the offseason. WR, Juju will bounce back, Washington and Johnson had pretty good seasons, and Cain is intriguing. Been a fan of Fosters for a while, but I think this is the year they move on. Could use some depth here, need to start retooling the OL. I have no confidence in Chuks at the moment, not sure what Banner can do at T. Vance is another who needs to be available to warrant sticking around. Add Fichtner to the list of people needing to improve. Gameplans were predictable and if we are being honest, pretty crappy. Cannot count on Ben returning to mask all the deficiencies.
Thanks for your reply. Rudolph should be the #2 backup going forward, but if god forbid something happens like this again next year, I would feel more comfortable to have a capable veteran sitting behind him just in case, don’t want to have to play another duck type QB. Fichtner was really exposed as to how good of a OC he really is, and it appears Ben masks a lot of his inadequacies. I think Haden has a couple more good years in him. I thought Minkah was over the top of Haden and that’s why he could gamble on a couple of those INT’s
Top Draft and/or FA needs IMO: RB - Not sold on Snell, Connor can have an injury free year next season but still don’t trust him to not go back into being injury prone the following year with his past history. LG - Foster looked old and slow at times LT - Villanueva looked like a pylon too many times. TE - they don’t have anything on the current roster worth keeping On defense they are good to go providing they keep Dupree and Hargreaves and Tuitt is back 100%. Would like to see Baron & Chickalo replaced with better depth players.
Except for the fact that the Dolphins will be using Pittsburgh's top 15 draft pick. The Steeler's first pick isn't until midway through the 2nd round. Dobbins won't be available by then.
The Dolphins actually receive the 18th pick in the 2020 NFL draft from the Steelers. https://www.dkpittsburghsports.com/2020/01/01/steelers-2020-draft-picks-fdl/
15 , 18 . . . I knew it was somewhere in the middle of the round. Bottom line is your first pick isn't until #49 - midway in the 2nd round and Dobbins will be gone by then (as will Taylor from Wisconsin).
Jason Garrett since 2011: Record: 80-64 Playoff appearances: 3 Playoff record : 2-3 Championship Games: 0 Super Bowl appearances: 0 Beloved Mike Tomlin since 2011: Record: 90-53-1 Playoff appearances: 5 Playoff record: 3-5 Championship games: 1 Super Bowl appearances: 0
I’m willing to give Benny some more time, I saw some promise, but he’s got to get going faster/earlier in games. Foster appeared slow this year. Villanueva just looked like a different person this year, he was a turnstile, couldn’t stop a cold this year. It’s like he reverted back to a rookie without Muncheck there, ridiculous! Might need to find a replacement here.
I don’t understand the purpose of this post, not a Tomlin hater, how many other head coaches and FO would have had a 3rd string QB and deal with all the issues the Steelers dealt with this year and still ended up at .500??
unfortunately, I agree with you. Both those RB’s will be gone be mid second round not a deep RB class. we have a 2nd, comp 3rd, 2 4th rounders, 1 5th, 6th, and 7th. We’ll have to nail some diamonds this year.
Purpose of post was to compare credentials of each coach over last 9 seasons where one has been fired and other retained. Yes Tomlin did a fantastic job this season but his body of work over last 9 seasons is very close to Garrets. 10 more wins (1 per season) and 2 more playoff appearances and Tomlin had much better teams over that span. Not saying Tomlin should be fired but why Garrett?
Maybe never having a losing season gives him some clout. I can't think of any coaches that have never had a losing season. Belichik has more seasons without a losing one in a row than Tomlin, but he does have losing seasons in his career.
Ben has never had a losing season either and he’s been there 3 years longer than Tomlin. Ben has made some very bad throws and decisions over the years that we get on him for but how important has he been in sustaining our beloved Super Steelers from not having a losing season so many seasons in a row. We got a glimpse of the offense without him.
So the question is would we really like to see what the Steelers would be without Tomlin and without Ben? What would our record be then?
