Reloading and Rebuilding

[Mojouw]

It has been thrown around in multiple threads, but I wanted to try and put the discussion in one place. Is it ever acceptable to miss the playoffs for the Steelers? Is a SB run every year or so really a realistic expectation? Many feel that it is. And the Steelers, Ravens, Pats, Giants, Colts, etc have proven that multi year stretches either in or at the fringes of championship contention are possible.

However, I have been wondering a lot since yesterday afternoon, if eventually you have to pay the piper for that run. If you need a few seasons to retool and rebuild. Considering that even though the core was starting to fade, it was only this past offseason that a full tear-down and rebuild was started - at least on defense. How long is a reasonable expectation for a return to dominance?

Also, attempting to look at things unemotionally, it is amazing what the Steelers almost pulled off. They did reload the offense almost totally on the fly (I know the points are missing, but AB, Bell, and some intriguing youngsters as well as an almost totally new o-line) and it is not far worse than before. I think it is pretty bad, but many others are starting to sway me. It is worse, but can only get better - -right?

And on defense, they were one Woodley injury away from almost pulling that off. If Woodley stays as a double digit sack guy for the length of his contract (not trying to start that again -- just stay with the hypothetical) he provides a bridge to Worilds +Jones or Jones + someone. Well that didn't work. But it almost did. Spence doesn't get hurt, may have the LB corps locked and loaded prior to this draft and we get that DB we were all hoping for.

I guess what I am getting at are two things:

1. What is a reasonable set of expectations to judge a franchise by?
2. Is this franchise really as rudderless and adrift as our emotions tell us it is?

Depending on when I try to answer those questions -- I find my answers changing!

[tube517]

I think having Ben at QB sets the bar high. I'm with the "We can't expect a Super Bowl run every year" crowd. After we won SB XLIII, I thought to myself, this may be it. We may never get back and win another one with Ben. I had low expectations for the XLV team....they didn't dominate as much as before.

Dan Marino went to one Super Bowl and lost. I'm sure he would have taken some losing seasons to get back and win just one.

[slippy]

ben went in for an injured tommy maddox against baltimore in 2oo4. if you had told me then that we would get three super bowls with two wins in ben's career, i would have signed up for that without even thinking.

that said, it's sad to waste the final third of his career like this.

[tube517]

ben went in for an injured tommy maddox against baltimore in 2oo4. if you had told me then that we would get three super bowls with two wins in ben's career, i would have signed up for that without even thinking.

that said, it's sad to waste the final third of his career like this.

The sad part of that is it took an injury to get Ben in there. What would have happened had Tommy turnover stayed healthy???? That was a 15-1 team.

[fansince'76]

The sad part of that is it took an injury to get Ben in there. What would have happened had Tommy turnover stayed healthy???? That was a 15-1 team.

I have a strong feeling that Ben would have rotted on the bench until either Cowher left or he demanded a trade, especially since Dan pulled rank on Cowher to draft him in the first place.

[Dwinsgames]

The sad part of that is it took an injury to get Ben in there. What would have happened had Tommy turnover stayed healthy???? That was a 15-1 team.

it is anyone guess ... remember it was Ben who change the mindset of teams taking rookie QBs and expecting them to start year 1 ... the old adage was they must sit at the very min of 1 year and preferably 2 or 3 to " learn" behind a vet even if that vet was a journeyman at best then take over the team ...

would Cowher of let Ben play early with a healthy TommyGun ? probably not but then again neither would have 31 other GMs at that time frame / era

[fansince'76]

it is anyone guess ... remember it was Ben who change the mindset of teams taking rookie QBs and expecting them to start year 1 ... the old adage was they must sit at the very min of 1 year and preferably 2 or 3 to " learn" behind a vet even if that vet was a journeyman at best then take over the team ...

would Cowher of let Ben play early with a healthy TommyGun ? probably not but then again neither would have 31 other GMs at that time frame / era

Agreed. But the problem is that I think Cowher would have continued to stick with Maddox even after repeated instances of the following (see about 1:40 into video):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ9TtEPbW8U

[Dwinsgames]

Agreed. But the problem is that I think Cowher would have continued to stick with Maddox even after repeated instances of the following (see about 1:40 into video):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ9TtEPbW8U

something we will never really know the answer to I am afraid ... its my best guess vs yours vs everyone elses because I am not sure even Cowher could be trusted to answer honestly in hindsight

[Count Steeler]

SuperBowl contender every year is doable for maybe 10 years, given you have a franchise QB.

A competitive, hungry and well coached team should be a minimum expectation. Notice I didn't say winning.

There have been way too many plays on offense where Ben and the receiver are not on the same page. That tells me there is something wrong with communication and practice. The O Line seems to be improving, so I give Munchak the credit, considering he is still working with a mixed bag of different skill levels. WRs seem lost. Too many dropped passes. Too many missed routes. Mann needs to be held accountable.

Offensive production is woeful in the Red Zone. Offensive point production the last 2 weeks, woeful. Play calling at the best of times is puzzling. Haley/Tomlin/Ben have some explaining to do. It looks like the offense runs best when Ben has the reins. Haley, Tomlin well, not so much.

What pissed me most about yesterday was the time out called at the start of the 2nd quarter. Completely inexcusable. Just too many mistakes on this team. Offense, Defense and Special Teams. If we have sub par talent, we can still represent ourselves by being tough, competitive and disciplined. No excuse for some of the penalties we saw and no reason to be the team leading the NFL in penalties.

[ALLD]

There is SB contender, division winning contender, wild card contender and the garbage that took the field yesterday. Yes, they will not win the SB every year, but what I saw in the first half looked like nobody knew how to play football. Like they were on vacation and taking it easy at the gym so as not to break a sweat. Then nobody knew what the other guy was doing.

Complete nonsense.

Tomlin may have been the coach to take over Cowher's team, but he is not the coach that is needed now to lead a directionless group of individuals.

[Dwinsgames]

Tomlin may have been the coach to take over Cowher's team, but he is not the coach that is needed now to lead a directionless group of individuals.

who let them become " a directionaless group " ?

if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem