PDA

View Full Version : Steelers will need young stars to emerge



hawaiiansteeler
01-20-2016, 12:19 AM
Steelers will need young stars to emerge

Bill Barnwell
ESPN Staff Writer

http://a4.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2016%2F0119%2Fr45277_1296x729_16% 2D9.jpg&w=570

The Steelers find themselves in perennially interesting times. This isn't the most successful run of the storied franchise's history, with the controversial wild-card win over the Bengals serving as their first playoff victory since beating a Mark Sanchez-led Jets team in the 2010 AFC Championship Game. But they've consistently been in the swing of things in the AFC. This season marked their second consecutive postseason berth, and even though the start of that streak came after a two-year drought, the Steelers were the last team eliminated from contention in the AFC in both of those seasons. It's hard to remember the last time the Steelers were irrelevant.

The good news is that Pittsburgh should continue to be an above-average football team. You can make a case that the Steelers were held back in 2015 in ways that are unlikely to repeat themselves in 2016, that it was the dawn of a much-improved defense to go along with one of the league's most devastating offensive attacks. And yet, at the same time, the Steelers may also find themselves subject to the same concerns about depth and roster construction, which might have capped their ceiling in both 2014 and 2015. Here's what Steelers fans should both love and fear about Pittsburgh's future.

The good

You can make a realistic case that the 2015 Steelers were actually a more impressive team than the 2014 edition. Their record dropped from 11-5 to 10-6, and they fell from the catbird seat in the AFC North to the No. 6 seed, but on a play-by-play basis, the Steelers actually played better. They outscored their opponents by 104 points in 2015, a rise from their 68-point margin the previous year. The Pythagorean expectation suggests that that's a difference of almost exactly one win over 16 games (10.6 wins vs. 9.6 wins).

A quick survey of advanced metrics also pegs the Steelers as an improved team...

to read rest of article:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14602611/pittsburgh-steelers-need-young-stars-emerge-nfl

Count Steeler
01-20-2016, 08:12 AM
We should wear the bumble bees in the playoffs next year and in the SB.

I feel better about next's year team than I did last year for this year's team. If you know what I mean.

86WARD
01-20-2016, 08:40 AM
We should wear the bumble bees in the playoffs next year and in the SB.

I feel better about next's year team than I did last year for this year's team. If you know what I mean.

Know exactly what you mean...I feel the same. The part that worries my most and I'm sure I'm not alone, the DBs and NT.

tube517
01-20-2016, 08:43 AM
http://www.steelersdepot.com/2016/01/my-response-to-bill-barnwells-annual-slamming-of-the-steelers/

Mojouw
01-20-2016, 10:40 AM
Yeah. Barnwell's article is hot garbage. I would point out why/how, but the linked Steelers Depot article just demolishes it point by point.

It just isn;t possible for these national guys to follow each team with enough detail to get it right all the time.

steelreserve
01-20-2016, 11:08 AM
It just isn;t possible for these national guys to follow each team with enough detail to get it right all the time.


Exactly. This is the same crowd that predicted disaster because Hines Ward, James Farrior and Aaron Smith were retiring, when anyone following the team knew all three were a shell of their former selves and not contributing to the team in any significant way anymore.

Well, I guess the next few seasons were a kind of rough ride, but not for that reason.

tube517
01-20-2016, 11:15 AM
I've ruled out any BSPN or NFLN articles for this type of analysis.

I get better info from Steelers Depot and similar sites, and Twitter. Post Gazette and Tribune - Mainly Twitter. Some of the younger guys are ok but the old farts like Bulchitte and others are lazy asses.