Steelers/NFL
Steelers Fallout from loss to Cowboys
So when do the Mike McCarthy, a Rooney family favorite, to Pittsburgh rumors start heating up?
Kidding aside, the Pittsburgh Steelers season is slipping away after a 35-30 loss to the Dallas Cowboys that has the Steelers record now sitting at 4-5.
However, as was the case following last week’s loss, the good news remains that 9-7, maybe even 8-8 could win the division. Certainly still plausible with Pittsburgh’s schedule and division.
Bad news is that this is a football team at a cross-roads and not a great team in any phase from on the field to being coached.
Remember this was supposed to be a Super Contender that by the way started the season 4-1?
For all of the pub this offense gets, and yes they put up 30 points today, it’s largely an inconsistent group that doesn’t play well enough on the road, including its quarterback. They’ve disappeared far too often this season, the previous three games and the loss to the Eagles in week 3 to be counted on to lead this group on a serious run and have the Steelers remerging as a legitimate contender in the AFC.
Heck, today their star receiver ran out of bounds on the last play of the game at the Cowboys 30 yard line.
The defense is what it is and has been as advertised — A bend but don’t break defense at times where good to great offenses can chew them up on any given Sunday —
Despite five first rounders being on the field today and two second rounders, it’s not a group with any signs of trending up since the small success with the zone defense early in the season has now been countered by getting gashed against the run.
Maybe there should still be a place for Casey Hampton types these days.
James Harrison was the Steelers best defensive player for the second straight week. That shouldn’t be the case but that’s where the Steelers are right now.
The “Steelers Way” proving to be a mistake with Ben’s window getting smaller?
Mike Tomlin cited after today’s loss the Steelers are “not getting enough critical playmaking at [those] critical moments” to win games.
It was the offense last week, the defense this week. That’s how it goes for .500 type teams.
Meanwhile, Ben Roethlisberger is becoming increasingly critical about the Steelers lack of discipline and accountability from players, some young and older vets that is believed to be not just on Sunday’s but also on the practice field.
If it wasn’t for Sean Davis’ facemask penalty, Ezekiel Elliott doesn’t even run the ball in the situation that won Dallas the game.
Can this coaching staff fix the discipline, accountability issues?
Mike Tomlin got off the hook last season with Ryan Fitzpatrick giving Pittsburgh the gift of 4th quarter interceptions vs the Bills that sent the Steelers to the post-season, followed by the boneheads in Cincinnati handing Pittsburgh their first playoff win since the 2010 season.
Now the microscope is back on Tomlin with seven games to go even if his job security is believed to be as secure as Bill Belichick’s in New England.
Maybe the microscope should also be on those above Tomlin.
As this season is showing again, the Steelers are heading down a road where the so called “Steelers way” in constructing a team has failed them in maximizing Ben Roethlisberger’s prime.
Roethlisberger will be 35 in March.
The Denver Broncos did it right. They saw they had a window with Peyton Manning, spent a ton of money on defense, reached two Super Bowls, winning one when Manning was washed up, and obviously having Von Miller doesn’t hurt, but that defense isn’t what it was last season and still is now without throwing some serious money down in free agency that they did in previous seasons.
The Steelers way keeps the Steelers relevant every year and will continue too, but when you have a Ben Roethlisberger entering his mid-30’s, you pay the price to sign an Eric Weddle even if it goes against the organization’s philosophy to pay a 31 year old starting safety the type of money it would have taken and it wasn’t big money by any means.
This has been an organization that’s been too complacent in building a Super Bowl caliber team in all phases around Ben Roethlisberger since 2012.
Too much job security will sometimes do that.
It’s so foreign watching the Giants DEs destroy blockers and crush the pocket. I can’t remember the last time the Steelers had a front 7 Player that was unblockable one-on-one.
Mets gave Walker $17.2 million. He stinks right NPL? He’s no Harrison!
Tomlin gets fired, Fleury wins a Cup … place your bets
And yes, I know, the Mental Midget won a cup in 2009….
I think fleury played his last playoff game as a penguin barring am injury. As far as Tomlin goes, unfortunately I don’t think he goes anywhere anytime soon
Ya, that’s kinda how I feel on both fronts.
Yay you.
I highly recommend everyone read DK today. He nails it and them (Tomlin, Colbert, DC, and the Rooneys).
Let’s go fresh and new for 2017, GM and HC, letting the latter bring in his assistants.
Let Burns and David play, bring up whomever from the PS (Feeney) that needs experience and shuck some of the non-producers.
Thank Timmons and Deebo for their fine careers and move on; sign Bell, say goodbye to J. Jones, Shamarko, and a few others. Chickillo maybe tough but he’s too slow.
All sounds good to me.
I really don’t have an issue with this but are fans truly ok with ending Ben’s career this way because that’s basically what that plan does, truthfully if this is the direction they go then they should move Ben as well and get some value for him as opposed to just wasting whatever is left of his career. That plan signifies a complete rebuild, that as we’ve seen with many other franchise, may never get them back to where they are now. Personally I would prefer going the Denver route by spending big in FA the to try to fix… Read more »
mike tomlin’s cuntry club
as i said since 2010 Tomlin is the Black version of DB
Tomlin needs to go.. The constant obsession with 2 point conversions is very annoying especially with quality teams. I know Bell is a good running back but he needs to abandon the start stop thing at line once and a while also very annoying.
bill cower always said you never go for 2 points in the first half of a game. you need points on the board. you don’t gamble on a sure thing. tomlin is a dope.
Except that with the rule change extra points are no longer a sure thing. With them moving the extra points back it’s been proven statistically that going for 2 every time is the better long term option. I know that’s way over your head but hopefully it helps others.
it sure didn’t help the steelers yesterday did it?
Is your argument that the 2 point conversions let Dally go up the field and score a touchdown in roughly a 30 seconds?
the fact is tomlin sucks and the steelers suck this year. there is no arguing that. you are acting like the steelers are awesome. they suck and it sucks.
I’m not arguing anything of the sort – but honestly, if you were able to read and comprehend something, I’d be floored – so well done – status quo in yoda-land!
He’s so hopeless. Saying something doesn’t work once doesn’t mean it never will. Then, his points get shut down, as they so easily and always do, and he starts arguing points that weren’t made in the first place. Classic yogurt.
And kicking the extra point didn’t help New Orleans. It goes both ways. The Steeler were 77% on 2pt conversions going into yesterdays game, way over the 44% they need to be to make going for 2 the positive play. Bad days happen.
Seriously if an idiot kicker can’t make an extra point, then find one who can. I don’t see other teams going for 2 ever time like the Steelers do. The dumb penalties at the end and the D not being able to secure a victory cost them yesterday.
Who would you find? The success rate for extra points is 93.58% since the rule change to move the extra point back to the 15, there were only 6 kickers in the NFL that didn’t miss an extra point in 2015 and there are only 11 left in 2016 that have kicked more than 10 extra points without missing. So basically if you’re looking for a kicker that is 100% to make the extra point you better make sure you have 1 of the top 5-7 kickers in the world.
Blow it up!
Big Overrated = 408 yards and 3 tds.
I admit, I had zero confidence he would lead them down the field at the end. Give him credit.
Ben’s the least of their problems.
Can’t argue that. But he has lost to two rookie QBs this year.
He sucked against the Eagles, I will give you that. He was great yesterday.