Cheer up, there is hope

by shleeve on Nov 11, 2008 9:40 PM EST

Obviously, our Team is in a slump. There is no debating that. But c'mon, we are 6-3 not 3-6. We are techinically leading our division (we have the tiebreaker over the Ravens). This slump we are in reminds me of our Super Bowl year. Ben came back perhaps too soon from an injury and played like crap. We got destoryed by the Colts and lost to the Bengals, in large part due to an unhealthy QB. Well, we eventually turned it around and won the Super Bowl. Hold the "doom and gloom" until we are truly in danger of missing the playoffs.

We have the Chargers up next. They are certainly dangerous but they are a mess. They have Norv Turner as their coach, thats reason enough to be excited about this match-up. I like our chances against them. Some of our missing pieces should be returning.

According to NFL.com here's how our injuries look:

Parker should be back, and as amazing as Moore has been for us it will be nice to have that speed back.

Marvel Smith should be back. I was critical of him early in the season but the O-line did look better with him in there I think.

Roethlisberger is going to play so long as he practices more than he did last week according to Tomlin. That means if he isn't close to 100% than Byron will play, and if he is close to 100% than well, he's close to 100%, so yay. It appears Tomlin is starting to crackdown on Ben's injury some. So, this may be good for all you "doom and gloomers" or us positive people.

Woodley should be back as well.

Its not disaster mode yet people. Cheer up, we're not dead. We are tied for the second best record in the AFC. This is a good team who's worst enemy is themselves (themself?). Fix that, which we can and will, and this is a Super Bowl caliber team.

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+1

Finally some semblance to BTSC today! I was having a hard time reading this week thus far; and was just hoping clearer heads would finally prevail! I waited all day to check out my favorite site because I was already pissed off by the loss, but I jus tcouldnt stomach the b.s. being spewed on here by a few fare weathered, ban wagoneers! Your post echoes my sentiments concisley; good job! Ive always maintained that theres a fine line between being a fan and homerism, but on the flip side theres also a fine line between a little rain and the sky is falling!

by Steeler Ric on Nov 11, 2008 10:01 PM EST reply actions

yea

And in this league, the line is so thin between success and gloom and doom. It’s crazy really. Regardless of all the flaws..EVERYTHING is still in play for this team this year. SB included. Long way to go to even have a shot at a run, but honestly I think the internals were much more troubling last year. They’re troubling this year, and will be hard to overcome without continued amazing play on defense + a hot streak on offense. But the Ds shown every week theyre up for the task, and the offense has had plenty of great stretches, just not whole games yet outside of Week 1.

Sure are plenty of early 8-10 play drives for TDs though, which tells me we can do it with some better health, better coaching and in game adjustments, a few breaks, and the eliminatino of some easily correctable turnovers

by Michael Bean on Nov 11, 2008 10:09 PM EST reply actions

agreed

We’re in first place!!!!! We’re not the lions, or the chiefs, or the browns. :) Yeah, we haven’t been that great, but we’re still in first place. This isn’t like 2006, where we were 2-6 and out of the race by midseason. We have a chance to get healthy and make a run at the end of the year. As bad as we’ve been, if the season ended today, we’d finish in second in the AFC with a first-round bye. So, just relax everybody. Ben is arguably the best active QB in the league with Brady out. This team is gonna make the playoffs, and then we’ll see how it goes. This is football. Anything can happen. That being said, if we can’t take care of the Chargers on Sunday, this team has some serious issues.

WE DEY!!!!!

by jr3131 on Nov 11, 2008 10:30 PM EST reply actions

uh oh

First I agree with everything you said, particularly the ’we’re not the Lions Chiefs Browns…"

but I’m making an executive order that this is officially our first test as a group at playing nice. The comment about Ben being better than Peyton wont sit well with some. Me included actually. Ben’s going to be fine and he’s got most of his career to carve out for himself. Up to him at this point if he will go down as a very good QB for most of his career or a legend like Peyton, Elway, Montana who stayed at the very top of their game and competition for essentially their entire careers after the initial growing pains were overcome.

But Peyton’s a freaking God at QB. Best ever to play the game, hands down, imo. Sick saying it because he’s one of my least favorite athletes in sports, for some reason I cant quite explain. Bit off this year after surgery and being a bit slower to recover, but he’s still the smartest and most experienced QB in the league.

Some might also vote for Brees, Warner, Eli, Romo, or even McNabb, but every last one of those guys has had bigtime ups and downs and all also play a different style or are at different points in their careers. Apples and oranges with so many yet to have their careers truly defined by a complete body of work.

If we want to rationally discuss Ben’s placement amongst the NFL QB crop, fine..Emphasis on rationally though guys moving forward!

by Michael Bean on Nov 11, 2008 10:45 PM EST up reply actions

ps jr3131..wasnt implying u were not rational or an idiot

Talking about additional disagreements that may be coming.

Sorry if there was a mixup.

by Michael Bean on Nov 11, 2008 10:48 PM EST up reply actions

jr3131

that comment you made, “as bad as we’ve been, if the season ended today, we’d finish in second in the AFC with a first round bye” is what helps me stay positive. We haven’t played amazingly except opening weekend and yet we are 6-3. Imagine what we will look like when we play like we should. It’ll be a beautiful sight.

by shleeve on Nov 11, 2008 11:19 PM EST up reply actions

yea + all the injurys too

Not clear things will break in our favor with injurys and things could get worse through no fault of our own. But a healthy BMac would be nice to have against Dallas and down the stretch. Same for Woodley. Might be good time to let him juice back up. Can we play all backups and PS guys against the Bengals?

by Michael Bean on Nov 11, 2008 11:24 PM EST up reply actions

I dont see why not, isn't that what the Bengals always play with or are they just that bad?

by shleeve on Nov 12, 2008 12:19 AM EST up reply actions

Bungholes

I hate em and they stank! Its honestly a shame they have a franchise in that nasty town. That team is garbage.

They actually bring most of their players from the State penn. There are more parol officers than ref’s there.

by Mechem on Nov 12, 2008 3:02 PM EST up reply actions

when the bengals shut up and realize they have playmakers they might steal a game..the worst thing any team could do now is give the bengals/browns bulletin board material…let them pass away peacefully.

by raven on Nov 12, 2008 12:36 AM EST reply actions

Also remember....

the way we’ve lost 2 of the games in the L column. Philly handed it to us, no question. But the other 2 games were somewhere between winnable and downright fluky. The Harrison snapping incident? Taylor tipping two balls to Reggie Wayne? Roethlisberger throwing a combined 7 picks? A football game can be lost on a bad bounce, and we’ve had our fair share. Certainly the team has a lot of work to do (Roethlisberger in particular as I see it), but it’s been competitive in all but one of its games….and even that one wasn’t out of reach.

by SteelerInVirginia on Nov 12, 2008 2:35 PM EST reply actions