Kevin Colbert; Second Isn't Good Enough
by 5020 on Feb 17, 2011 3:30 PM EST
Email
PrintI am a big fan of Kevin Colbert the GM of the Steelers. Tom Donahoe, the high school teacher that he replaced was badly over matched against other NFL executives. He fought with Bill Cowher leading to the Rooney's making a choice. Cowher or Donahoe. The Rooney's chose Cowher. Another is a long line of good decisions by the owners of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kevin Colbert has found good coaches, players and assistants. Most of all he has kept the franchise focused on the main goal.
In an article published in Steelers Digest by Bob Labriola (one of my favorite Steeler rags outside BTSC) Colbert is quoted as saying regarding the 2010 season; 'second place is not good enough."
WOW! This guy is a gem. He is absolutely correct. In the NFL, you either win the Championship and get the new hat, t shirt and DVD (along with a shiny new Lombardi) or you don't. At season's end the Steelers are equal to the Bills, Bronco's and Browns.On the bright side, come September (of whatever year football returns) we are even with the Packers too.
While some don't like these thoughts and argue that the Steelers had a great season we should all be proud of, I am with Colbert. Yes I love my team. Yes I am proud they fought adversity all year and excelled down the stretch. But they laid an egg in the Super Bowl and peed their diapers and that I am not happy or proud about. I am proud we have a GM with focus and who tells it like it is. I feel confident he will team with Tomlin and take us back to the mountain top...soon. Because he is not satisfied with second. First is the only place to be.
On other notes, Colbert talks about how much Flozell Adams meant to the Steelers this year and how much they would like to have him back. I can't wait to see how Colbert tunes and torques the Steelers roster to get them back to the big game. When they get there, show up and play 60 minutes Steelers! Then I will be a very proud owner of new Steelers work out gear and a new DVD. See the entire article at;
39 comments
|
Add comment
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Dang! I'm second!
Not good enough…
"If you're not getting better, I don't care what business you're in, you're a dead man. I try to look critically at the mistakes that I make and try to learn from them, like our team does." - Mike Tomlin
by Rebecca Rollett on Feb 17, 2011 4:23 PM EST reply actions 3 recs
+first loser
Players who should be in the Hall of Fame: Pat TIllman, Dwight White, Donnie Shell, L.C. Greenwood, Ray Guy, Steve Tasker, Jack Butler, Greg Llyod, Andy Russel, Cris Carter, Kevin Greene, Curtis Martin, Willie Roaf, Andre Reed and Jerry Kramer
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." Martin Luther King Jr.
Canal Street Chronicles resident Steelers Fan
by WVPiratesfan on Feb 17, 2011 7:09 PM EST up reply actions
Ask the Browns or Panthers or Bills if 2nd isn’t any better. I appreciate Colbert’s sentiments, but as fans we have to enjoy them as they come (i.e. 1979 to 1995)
by Littlefield's Legacy on Feb 18, 2011 1:47 AM EST reply actions
But Littlefield...
I enjoyed this season. I enjoy every season. I love football. But, at the end of the day, we’re not the Browns, Panthers or Bills to whom second may be good enough. We are the Pittsburgh Steelers and our franchise plays for first place, not second place…
When You Run The Ball Good Things Happen
Well, sadly
This time the Steelers will have to settle for second. There can be only one champion, and that’s Green Bay. I hope they enjoy it, because next football season (whenever it is), it’s back to square one for everyone. And the Steelers will be hungrier than ever.
by SteelerHokie90 on Feb 18, 2011 11:03 AM EST up reply actions
2nd isnt good enough
but its better than 3rd. shutting the jets and ravens up is a pretty good consolation prize in my book.
by steelerintexas on Feb 18, 2011 12:43 PM EST reply actions
On 30 Teams Being Satisfied With 2nd
I don’t think there are 30 teams that would have loved to lose the Super Bowl. Many on BTSC have stated this and I strongly disagree with these sentiments. Is there evidence that 30 teams would be happy or is this conjecture?
Would New England or their fan base be happy losing the Super Bowl? Not that organization or their fan base. I guarantee that. Was Indy happy to lose in 2009? I know some Colt fans and they were not happy to lose to NO. Colt fan thinks that they should have won 3 Lombardi’s already under God Peyton. Speaking of NO…I was there for the Steelers game this year. Their fans are rabid and disgusting. Don’t think they or Sean Payton/Drew Brees would be happy to lose the Super Bowl.
By losing the Super Bowl, your franchise is guaranteed the absolute worst picking spot in the draft. #31 is way worse than #32 because #32 means you won the Championship.
The point of my point (LOL) is that only downtrodden losers (Bills, Browns, Bronco’s etc) would be happy coming in second. Perennial championship franchises in the 2000s (i.e. Pittsburgh, NE, Indy, NO etc) would not be happy finishing second. Maybe 20-25 teams would love to finish second, but not 30.
And to repeat myself again as to avoid scathing replies about how proud I should be of the Steelers…I am proud of the Steelers, their franchise, their owners and players and their fan base. I am extremely proud of their GM making sure all in Steeler Nation know there is only one goal every year and that is to add Lombardi’s to the Rooney’s trophy cases.
But, I am not proud of the way the Steelers performed for about 30 minutes of XLV. This is a 60 minute game. It is a decree handed down from Stautner, Greene, Lambert, Lloyd & Woodson. The Steelers did not play 60 minutes in any of their 2010 playoff games and were lucky to come away with 2 wins.
Resilient, yes. Champions, no. Fun watching the Steelers in 2010…yes. Happy with the results of XLV and the game that the players handed in during the largest of large games? NO. 30 teams happy with second? No way BTSC.
When You Run The Ball Good Things Happen
nobody remembers a SB loser.
in every season there is one winner and 31 losers in the NFL. it is nice to be competitive but winning is the only way to really judge yourself. and since the steelers have been pretty good in the last 7 years the bar is set pretty high. we expect to win and that is a very hard position to be in when you lose.
Gotta take the belt back from A. Rogers
And to do that, Colbert better bring in plenty of talented CB’s.
by datruth4life2.0 on Feb 18, 2011 3:10 PM EST reply actions
nobody will be happy with second, especially the worst teams
the chance of getting to a SB is very small, even for the steelers. everything has to fall into place at the right time. for a loser team to get to the SB and lose it hurts even more b/c they know they may never get another chance.
it has been 40 years since a SB loser went back the next year and won. it has been 17 years since the bills pulled off their losing SB debacle. that is how i would look at it, we just blew our one chance in 40 years, nothing could suck worse.
No one's happy about losing in the SB!
Still, gotta think most fans were happy with the season overall. Every year, the goal is to win the SB, but honestly, how many of us really thought we’d even get there this year. Oh, and we’re not the Bills!
it has been 40 years since a SB loser went back the next year and won. it has been 17 years since the bills pulled off their losing SB debacle. that is how i would look at it, we just blew our one chance in 40 years, nothing could suck worse. bq.
Steelers lost in 1995. Won the bowl against the Seahawks in 2005. Less than 40 years. There’s hope.
you missed my point
steelers might go back and win next year, it is possible b/c we are consistently good.
but if you are on a team that is consistently bad and lucky enough to get to the SB it might be your only chance for 50 years or maybe more? so relatively speaking a SB loss hurts a perennial loser much more than a team that has done it before a number of times.
so true, but that is not the point
for a bad team that is a one-hit-wonder you have to close when you get the chance b/c another chance may not come in your lifetime. in relative terms getting to the SB is much better than winning 2 games the whole season. no one is dumb enough to argue that point.
but i think we are commenting on whether it hurts us or other teams more. my point is that it hurts other teams much more b/c they haven’t had the chance and they may never get the chance again.
I GOT IT
Didn’t realize we just blew our one chance in 40 years was a statement by a team other than the Steelers.
I remember the 0-4 Bills. 4 trips in a row to the Superbowl, and no victories.
Two issues are getting old to me.
31 other teams would like to have lost in the SB. Whether it is 31, 25, or 20 others, does the actual number really matter? The point being made when 31 is the number is that the Steelers had a very good year. Is that really to be debated? I think not. Yeah, winning the SB is the goal, but c’mon, is getting to the SB and losing a better year than going out in the 1st round or missing the playoffs?
About the future history of SB losers, it is just historical artifact. Those kind of numbers can be twisted any which way. What if the metric were how soon a SB loser gets to the playoffs the next year? or two years? or gets to the conference championship? Surely those are also meaningful metrics. Historical artifact is just that, artifact. The game is played on the field, and if the Steelers history the past few years teaches anything, it is that this team is very, very good.
When
the Ravens and the Jets take the DB we badly need in the draft you will probably be stinging again for a couple days NC. When we have to scheme for these future Pro Bowlers you will be stinging some more. The season was fun if fruitless. 31st in the draft absolutely sucks.
Do you want to be good or do you want to be the best? I strive to be the best at what I do. There is no commission for not getting a sale. “But, I had fun at lunch with the customer!”
I am proud of the Steelers, their franchise, their owners and players and their fan base. I am extremely proud of their GM making sure all in Steeler Nation know there is only one goal every year and that is to add Lombardi’s to the Rooney’s trophy cases.
When You Run The Ball Good Things Happen
To use one of your analogies
Let’s say you were in a 40-person sales division, and the top earner made $300,000, 2nd made $250,000, and the bottom 10 made <$60,000 … if you were the 2nd top earner, would you consider it a very good year as I put it, or as you put it, a fruitless year?
Why did you quote the statement of another Lombardi being the goal? Of course it is. My point about what I think others mean when they say that 31 or 25 other teams would have like to have lost in the SB was pretty clearly stated … the Steelers had a very good year. Do you equate, in terms of how “good” a season was, one of losing in the SB to one of finishing 8-8 or 4-12?
I Think The AFC Trophy Is Ugly
You can keep it NC. Appreciate your differing opinion though and your comments. You definitely have a point with your analogy.
When You Run The Ball Good Things Happen
it may be coincidence but SB losers underperform the year following.
there is no twisting of the facts, they are what they are.
7 out of 10 SB losers have missed the playoffs the following year.
17 years since a SB loser, got back to the SB just to lose it again (only 3 teams did it)
40 yeas since a SB loser got back to the SB and won it, 2 teams did miami and cowboy (VI & VII)
8 teams have won back-to-back SB, so this is much more common.
these stats do not mean your team is neccessarily bad for a long time following a loss, you might come back the 2nd year and win a SB. it is only the immediate year following a SB loss that you seem to have so many problems.
Those stats are, as you say, what they are
but aren’t other stats also relevant? Like the age of the teams’ key players when they were in the SB, how solid the team (W-L record) had been over the prior few years as opposed to a season of getting on a roll for whatever reason, whether the team has been to the playoffs in the recent prior years, veteran leadership, mix of youth and experience, player contract situations and needing to offload some key players, coaching consistency esp HC, OC, and DC, etc.
I’m not sure how to do the analysis and don’t have time to these days, but I just took a quick look at the past 10 SBs, and it seems a bunch of these teams almost could have been predicted to not get back to it anytime soon, whether they W or L the SB. Of the last 10 SB teams, NE (4), Pgh (3), and Indy (2) are the only 3 teams that have been there twice or more. So 11 teams have been in the SB just once in the last 10. These inlcude the Saints, Cardinals, Bears, Seachickens, Panthers, Bucs, Raiders, and Rams. Who knows, maybe the Steelers will struggle for a few years now. But it seems there is less likelihood that will happen compared to some of the above more flash in the pan teams.
it's only the year following
i agree with you, all of that stuff matters, but then why hasn’t someone done it in 40 years and it only happened twice in 45 years? for whatever reason it is much harder to win a SB the next year after losing a SB. it can be argued any which way you want, but it must be very hard or it would have happened more often. it is certainly harder than repeating as SB winner.
you can lose a SB, and come back and win 2 years later. that is not an issue. it is just the year following that teams have such a big problem. and yes it can be overcome, it is not impossible, 40 years ago it happened 2 years in a row.
losing a SB, gives teams problems in winning a SB the next year, nothing more, nothing less. 2 years from losing you might be back and win, not a problem.
my statement is incorrect
7 of 10 SB losers failed to make the playoffs the next year, it is only the last 10 SB losers that failed to make the playoffs the next year.
Pont taken.
Still unsure if it is statistical anomaly or cause and effect. Ask the Chinese what they think of the French Revolution, and they say, “it’s too early to tell.” Maybe when we have SB C or CC we can know better. If cause and effect, and purely thinking about the Steelers team, org, and not about the history of SB losers, do you think their loss increased or decreased prospects of their winning SB next year? I dunno. It does seem that the loss didn’t exactly take an wind out of their sails or engender less confidence. Esp. if we have some rookies or FAs at CB and OL playing in the playoffs next year, whats not to be more confident?
getting to a SB is very difficult period
we missed the playoffs after winning the SB both times in recent years. losing a SB may also make the competition more confident they can beat you. they just saw you lose in the biggest game last year so in their subconscious they know you are only human.
i think a SB run takes a lot of emotion out of you, winning gives you great satisfaction and that is why it is hard to repeat (because you are satisfied). you would think that losing a SB would give you so much drive you would be back the next year. but obviously it’s not that simple or somone would have done it in the last 40 years. i don’t think it is that the SB losers change their ways after a loss, it is the competition that smells blood and ups their game.
i don’t know the reason, but it cannot be total coincidence. 45 years is too long, if no one had repeated as SB champ then you could call it coincidence.
i can imagine a number of theories. one is the fact, that to get to the SB you probably have to have a number of big-time players who will be FAs at the end of the season. then other teams may offer to overpay them b/c of their recent SB experience.
Interesting issue to explain
If SB run takes away a lot of emotion, then why do winners repeat? That suggests the emotional cost is different with losers. I agree the losers don’t change their ways, but the idea that the losers get beat the next year because teams find them beatable just doesn’t resonate with me. If true, what about the 10 other playoff teams that didn’t get to the SB? Fans may forget who they were, but not the players. The FA idea also doesn’t resonate, b/c that is equally likely to be true of winners and losers, and other playoff teams too.
I appreciate your theories, and please know my aim here is not to try and shoot them down. Just callin’ ‘em like I see ’em. I guess that’s what happens when there isn’t a generally accepted answer or theory … no one answer or theory is looked to as “ah, maybe that’s it.” It does seem as if it is not statistical anomaly. Hopefully, Steelers win it next year. And if they do, that won’t mean it is statistical anomaly. It could be some cause and effect phenomenon, and them winning would be the anomaly. My head hurts.
i don't care about my theories, they are weak guesses.
but, if you look at it, since FA started in 1978, no team has lost a SB and gone back to win the next year, while 5 teams have won back to back SB.
Steelers losing the SB really sucks.
but they’ve won 6 of the 8 they have played in. It took me a couple of days to get over it. Hopefully BA is more willing to run the ball when we are getting 5 yards a pop in the future. we will see. Hopefully there is a season and we will end up on top in 2011. GO STEELERS!
by SteelersFnRule on Feb 19, 2011 10:11 AM EST reply actions
We'll run the ball more if we can stop digging ourselves holes.
When you think about it, we run the ball more with a lead. When we’re playing from behind, they’re mostly passing plays. I understand that BA is starting to let Ben call his own plays, but if Mendenhall has the room, give it to him.
"They are an awesome group to have on my side. And on Sundays I always feel a little bad for the other quarterback, but not too bad."-Ben Roethlisberger on the Steeler's Defense-
100% Authentic woman. Yes it's true. I looked it up on Google
Procrastination isn't the problem, it's the solution. So procrastinate now, don't put it off
Something to say? Choose one of these options to log in.
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
"Thoughtful discussion with a sense of history."
Art Rooney Jr.
"Level-headed thinking." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
SBNation.com Recent Stories
In Association With
Shutdown Corner - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
- Former high-school star Brian Banks does serious time on trumped-up charge, now hopes for an NFL shot
- Former ‘idiot kicker’ Mike Vanderjagt in trouble after accosting junior-high heckler
- Adrian Peterson blows teammates away in footraces; appears to be on the mend
- UPDATE: Charlie Sheen didn’t buy Lawrence Taylor’s Super Bowl ring
- Alex Smith gets blown up by Jon Beason over Cam Newton comments
