Concerns about the Steelers

I have been a Steeler fan since '03 and the Steelers have been really good and sometimes bad with their Special Teams.  As I was reflecting on this past season (thoughts re-stirred from the draft), I realized (as bad as they played sometimes) that if the Steelers had just average special teams, they would have by far been a playoff team.  We lost to the Bengals by 6, the precise number of a touch down in which BERNARD SCOTT scored when initially starting 99 yards away from the end zone.  One week later, a man by the name of Jamaal Charles returns a football 97 yards to our endzone  (Needless to say, we lost that game in OT).  Those are just two of the numerous examples in which the ST just downright sucked.  It is good to see that Mike Tomlin realized this, by firing our ST coach, and got a bunch of guys for ST.  Arnaz Battle and Jason Worilds are also going to strenghten this unit.

It's interesting to see who will return kicks and/or punts this year as there seems to be many players who have the ability to do it.  Curious to see if Mike Wallace gets the job, as it seems to fit him.  Now, I am not aware if Sanders returned kicks or punts in college but it seems like if he has skill in that facet of his game then we should dump Stefan Logan.  Logan, however towards the end of the year started to look like he knew what he was doing (ex. huge return against Raiders), and it will be interesting to see how productive he can be after a year in the NFL.

I know a lot of Steelers Faithful are questioning the fact that the Steelers haven't taken anybody in the secondary, which is an obvious need, but  the good guys know what they are doing (Remember, the Steelers, although maybe have questionable picks, almost always have a good draft).  I have a very strong feeling that either Keenan Lewis or Joe Burnett, (or perhaps even Will Gay!?!?!)  has improved much since last season.  This would explain why one hasn't been drafted thus far.  

One more thing I would like to say is that it is a must that Tomlin becomes a better coach. plain and simple.  There were numerous games where we did nothing to change our game plan after the first half (ex. Brown 2, Bengals 2).  This has to change!  How can you expect to win big games?  When something isn't working, you have to try something different!  Also, something I never understood was Tomlins huge lack of trust toward RushHard Mendy. (I know he fumbled a few times that almost cost us some games) but he should have had more trust than that.  Think about the Lions game.  Mendy was doing work, 58 yards in the first half, then got like 3 carries in the second half.  That is simply not right.  Lets look at games where Mendy got the full share he deserved.  Chargers - 110+ yards.  Broncos - 162 yards.  Is my point clear.  Just because BA wants to pass it, doesn't mean we should.  Tomlin has to put his foot down in situations like that.  Look at our SB year.  You must have a strong run game to rely on when you have a lead late in the game. This lets you close it out, the way the Steelers have been doing for years.  But, when all we do is PASS, PASS, PASS, no team will respect the run late in the game, and thus, it will be ineffective.



If these things happen, regardless of the BB situation, the Steelers should be a successful team this year, and years to come.