Where are we?

by RickVa on Feb 22, 2008 8:25 PM EST

Datruth mentioned in another thread that we are much closer to getting back on top than, perhaps, many of us realize. Reminds me of one of Chuck Noll's sayings that said, in essence, when things are going well they may not be as good as they seem, and when things go badly it's not that bad. As I thought about it I found I was in violent agreement with Datruth. Whether it's for the same reasons remains to be seen. All I know is that few changes have occurred with personnel in the off season so far (players or coaches), nobody's heard a peep from Tomlin for weeks (he's not vacationing folks), Colbert's blowing smoke from headquarters. Under the radar.

So, the question is; is the glass more than half full and the level rising? Are we treading water? Are we sinking? Here's what I think.

Our quarterback finished with the second highest rating in the League and was picked for the Pro Bowl. He has a better upside (room for improvement. He's younger than other top qb's for one)than any of the other top qbs out there. Who will be surprised if he isn't significantly better next year?

Our top running back was leading the League in rushing, and was selected for the Pro Bowl before he broke his leg. I should pause to mention that Ben and FWP accomplished this behind an O-line that -according to the sages that inhabit this site- SUCKS!! Under the direction of an offensive coordinator who SUCKS!! On a cesspool of a home field that SUCKS!! Go figure.

Our receiving corps is quite good, probably underrated. Hines is the best receiver, statistically speaking, in the history of the franchise. Better than Swann, Stallworth, Lipps, Thigpen, etc. He's a Super Bowl MVP. He knocked at least two defensive backs out of games (concussions) with his blocking. Santonio I believe led the League in yards per catch. Does anyone doubt if he can stay healthy he'll be Pro Bowl caliber? With a little patience Nate and even Andre could be very, very good. Room for improvement? Absolutely. But if Cedric is the worse we got (remember that catch on Champ Bailey) than we're in pretty good shape. Some teams don't have receivers as good as Cedric. And some height wouldn't hurt either. (Come home Plax. All is forgiven.)

The situation at tight end may be better than that at wide out. We will probably have to part with a perfectly good blocking tight end because of numbers. These guys are young and should get better.

And (don't let those league rankings fool you) the defense SUCKS!! The coordinator SUCKS (his players love him. Again, Go figure.) Might it be that the loss of three starters, two of Pro Bowl/All Pro caliber (Troy and Aaron) might have contributed? Lost a Pro Bowl linebacker and replaced him with...a Pro Bowl linebacker. Overall the linebackers are getting old. We picked linebackers in the first and second round of last year's draft. The linebackers will be bigger, faster and younger this year if we don't add a thing. Ike returned to form, Deshea played well, though I like him better in a back up role. McFadden and Gay show promise. When healthy we have three excellent safeties (particularly if Smith understands his mistakes and matures). Yes, we need depth at D-line. We miss Kimo more than we let on in run defense.

Our kickers are solid.

Areas of improvement. Just where Tomlin expressed his concern all those months ago; special teams play. We gave up too many big plays and made too few ourselves. We need second tier players who can shore this area up. Or make the first line players do the dirty work. Depth at inside linebacker, running back, defensive line, offensive line. But if that's all we need... I mean, we won our division in spite of the fact that our offensive and defensive lines suck, our offensive and defensive coordinators suck, and our roster is infested with deadbeats, has beens and never weres.

Wonder how we won that Super Bowl. Must have been Chidi.

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Well, at least I was right about Tuman

Thanks for the memories Jerame.

by RickVa on Feb 23, 2008 4:13 PM EST 0 recs

RE Tuman

I have a feeling we'll bring him back as camp approaches for the vet min. IMO, we don't have enough draft picks to draft a rookie TE to be #3 on the depth chart given the other needs of the roster. That leave free agents. Our cap situation leads me to think we are only going to spend the min to sign someone, so it might as well be Tuman since he knows the system and area, plus he is good insurance if one of the top 2 go down.

Of course this is all bunk if he signs on to another team who will pay him more and is in need of his services such as Ari.

by _ET_ on Feb 23, 2008 4:21 PM EST 0 recs

I think

We're screwed. Honestly. An OL that needs major re-building, no real future at WR besides Holmes, and he might get Plaxico'd and leave, a Defense that is getting older by the second, and no real young playmakers on the D besides (arguably) LaMarr Woodley.

And no, this isn't Wiggins using my account lol.

I think we're one career ending injury to Willie Parker away from being hardcore on the downslide.

Of course, I've always been a realist/pessimist.

by Romain El 82 on Feb 23, 2008 5:04 PM EST 0 recs

no problem

I didn't ask for consensus, just sensible discourse.

Despite the impression that you might be channeling someone else, I share your concerns about Willie P. We're thin, too thin in a lot places. But I'm an optimist. Maybe Russell is for real, and we pick up some additional help down the road. We'll see.

by RickVa on Feb 23, 2008 5:32 PM EST 0 recs

I think Russell is good

I mean, as a Michigan fan I've seen him rip us apart (same with Barber actually). And comparing him and Barber, in college Russell was the better back. Hopefully he can keep that up in the Pros.

My thing is they won't give him a chance (or so it seems). And obviously we all know how we got Fast Willie (Undrafted Free-Agent Rookie).

by Romain El 82 on Feb 23, 2008 7:26 PM EST 0 recs

this is a good entry

Not sure who you're referring to about all the pessimism on the site. Theres a few non-believers, and many of them argue their points rationally. Most of us though, I think, are fairly content with the state of affairs. I, for one, still find this team extremely gratifying to be a fan of. I think they've made plenty of good decisions in recent years, most notably, the hiring of Tomlin, who I'm certain will win a SB for us before his time is done. However, when I look around the league at the upper, upper echelon teams, I simply think we've still got a ways to go before we're able to legitimately claim ourselves as 'true' contenders in the AFC. But, finally, I don't think theres a person on this site that believes in the power of momentum and even a bit of 'luck' to win a SB. I do think we're playoff caliber for the foreseeable future, which in my mind, we'll at least have a chance to get on a roll ala the Giants this year and win a SB as early as next year or in '09. On paper though, we still have some glaring issues. Hard to say how impacting those might be, if at all, and also hard to say whether guys like Woodley, Timmons, Colon, Simmons Holmes, Miller, Roeth, and Troy P (healthy) can all take their games to a new level, which may just dissipate the problems we seem to have at this point.

Ramble over.

by Blitzburgh on Feb 24, 2008 8:11 PM EST 0 recs

i tell ya

man, I feel exactly the same way. I will admit that I am a bit too optimistic about our team on a regular basis, but hey, you're talking about a guy whose line every april is, "I really think this is the year that the Pirates finish over .500" No joke, every april.

But seriously, we had the best running back until week 16, the second best rated qb all year, and the number 1 defense. I agree with you 100% Rick, we just need to shore up the lines and SP teams, and we will compete solidly once again. I really hope they get someone decent in free agency this year. I know that is a statement akin to my pirates reference above, since it hasn't happened in so long, but hey, one can hope. Let us just pray that all the key parts stay healthy this year.

by steelerark on Feb 25, 2008 12:29 AM EST 0 recs

Tomlin Transition

The glass certainly looks more than half-full from my perspective. There's room for improvement but plenty of reason to be optimistic about where we're going. Our skill positions on offense are in great shape. There are age and depth issues in the defensive front seven but also plenty of quality. The secondary is in decent shape especially if Clark recovers. The offensive line is, in my opinion, beginning a transition that will lead to a totally reconfigured group with at least three new starters by the beginning of the 2009 season.

More importantly, the team is going to move fully into the Tomlin era by bringing in more players that reflect his perception of how to build and maintain a winning team. I think we'll see 10-12 new players on the 45-man active roster for Week 1 of the 2008 season: 2 OL, 1 TE, 1-2 RBs, 2 DL, 2-3 LB, 1 DB and 1 KR. There might also be a new or additional WR depending on the draft, the performance of Reid or a longshot like Matt Trannon, or the need to create cap space by deleting Wilson. I think we'll add 2-3 low profile FAs, promote 3-5 guys from last year's usual inactive list (RB Russell, DE McBean, WR Reid, and perhaps OT Capizzi and TE Dekker), 4-6 draft picks, and 2-3 cuts and undrafted free agents.

Special teams will look significantly different, at least in personnel. That's an unfinished job from Tomlin's rookie season and he will want to put his stamp on that area. I remember someone (perhaps datruth) submitting a post that quoted Tomlin as saying (paraphrasing here and trusting to a faulty memory): ''special teams define who you are''. How he fixes special teams will give us all a much better sense of where the Tomlin Steelers are going.

by steeler lifer on Feb 25, 2008 4:42 AM EST 0 recs

this team hasn't peaked yet

2007 was a good but not great year but I expect to see great years in the near future. It's amazing what this offense, escpecially Ben, was able to do in thier first year under Arians. The defense had it moments but if you take three starters (Troy, Clark, Smith) out of most defenses they'll drop off as well. Bottom line is this is a team that will compete for a champoinship for the next several years.

"You know who I want? William Wallace. That's who I'm looking for" - Bengals defensive line coach when asked who he was looking for in the draft

by cgolden on Feb 25, 2008 7:52 AM EST 0 recs

I constantly remind myself

How incredibly difficult it is to win in the NFL. Every team has the same $116 million, every team has world-class training facilities, trained scouts and really smart coaches. In order for the Steelers to go 10-6 someone else must go 6-10. Who is that going to be? Do you think the folks in Cincinnati, Baltimore or Cleveland will settle for 6-10? Do you think Phil Savage or Ozzie Newsome aren't working feverishly to also be 10-6?

I hope I don't sound complacent or accepting of anything less than a Super Bowl. My drive is as strong as anyone's. It's just really hard for Tomlin et al to succeed because of the resistance. If you're a nurse or a school teacher or a welder or an accountant you can resolve to be better tomorrow than you are today, and you can go out and actually make that happen with little or no resistance. If you're a saleswoman or a businessman you have some resistance because there are only so many cars to be sold and others are trying to sell them also.

But the NFL is the ultimate resistance industry. There are 31 enemies plotting against you, and they are are smart, rich and talented.

Specifically, the glass half empty portrays a very bad offensive line that might have used players out of position last season; a horrible special teams that couldn't tackle anyone, and a thin defense that couldn't stop in crunch time.

The glass is half full in that we can pinpoint those areas perhaps better than most other teams can pinpoint their weaknesses, and maybe if we set out sites on improving those areas, combined with all of our strengths, we can reach the promised land. But it will not be without the ultimate resistance.

by maryrose on Feb 25, 2008 12:04 PM EST 0 recs

+1

Good stuff, well said and reasoned.

It's insanely tough to get an edge in this league. All the rules are stacked in favor of an entirely balanced league. Even the bottom feeders can be potential divisional winners in just a few years with the right blend of moves, luck, patience, a star player and astute resource allocation financially.

by Blitzburgh on Feb 25, 2008 12:08 PM EST up 0 recs

yep look no further than Cleveland

"You know who I want? William Wallace. That's who I'm looking for" - Bengals defensive line coach when asked who he was looking for in the draft

by cgolden on Feb 25, 2008 12:28 PM EST up 0 recs

That's the rub

And it's what makes the consistent success of this franchise all the more remarkable. To a certain extent you could say that the current rules are designed to make certain that we aren't chanting 'One for the Big Toe'. In spite of the excellent points Maryrose makes, its rare when we aren't in the mix. Getting to the top is tough, but it's amazing how often we're among the last one's standing. Nonetheless, I think that with the current leadership, we may have another dynasty in us. Wouldn't that be something.

by RickVa on Feb 26, 2008 7:05 PM EST 0 recs