2017 South Side Questions: Where Did You Think Steelers Would Be At The Bye?

[polamalubeast]

Question: Hindsight game – where did you feel the Steelers are likely to be by midseason?

The Steelers have for the first time in six years reached the midpoint of the regular season calendar with a .750 winning percentage, racking up wins in each of their last three contests to hit their dead-center bye week with a 6-2 record.


Is that where you expected them to be? Did you expect them to be worse than that? better? And how much stock do you put into the ‘quality’ of their 6-2 record? This is all personal interpretation here.

The Steelers opened the season with the Browns on the road, followed by the Vikings at home, the Bears on the road, the Ravens on the road, the Jaguars at home, the Chiefs on the road, the Bengals at home, and finally, the Lions on the road.

That’s five road games, in Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore, Kansas City, and Detroit, and three games at home hosting the Vikings, Jaguars, and Bengals.

I didn’t actually fill out any kind of preseason prediction of how I felt the Steelers would do in each game, but looking back, I think this is about where I expected they would be, or perhaps 5-3, and that would have gotten here via a slightly different path.


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http://www.steelersdepot.com/2017/10/2017-south-side-questions-think-steelers-bye/

[Born2Steel]

I think 6-2 at the halfway was about what we expected for the most part. I didn't trust the games in Baltimore and Detroit. We won both of those but dropped one in Chicago that I would like a do-over on. Defense has come together nicely, and the offense has played better these last 3-4 games. I'm content with the room for improvement at this point.

[Mojouw]

I think I agree with most - about where I thought (5-3 or 6-2) but got there in a totally different manner. I anticipated more shoot-outs as the young D came online and less TOP and defense oriented wins.

[Moose]

I'm, like you, didn't fill out any predictions. Although I did think with the talent of our offense and a decent defense, and of course a healthy Ben, we should give the division a tough road to travel. So half way through now I feel we are where we should be....ahead of the division. But even with our offensive talent, our past problems still linger. Defense ups and downs, secondary with open holes, play calling at time inadequate. And now a new twist, Ben having eye sight or timing issues at times. The remaining 8 games looks to be in our favor, however I can never bet on this team and it's history of bottom feeder playing....and the team sometimes seems to be unmotivated. IF this team comes out of the BYE firing on all cylinder's, it's a possibility they could and should win out ( N.E. at Heinz is a plus). But, being realistic, I figure they will probably drop 3 or 4 that we'll either get outplayed or that we were winning-then got conservative-let the opponent back in the game- then lost.

[86WARD]

I think I agree with most - about where I thought (5-3 or 6-2) but got there in a totally different manner. I anticipated more shoot-outs as the young D came online and less TOP and defense oriented wins.

Same here. I was thinking 5-3/6-2 with losses coming from KC, Balt and Jax.

[polamalubeast]

928273155248009219

[AtlantaDan]

5-3 with losses @Ravens, @Chiefs and @ Lions

I thought the Bengals would be bad but did not know Flacco & the Ravens offense would be so mediocre

[vasteeler]

928273155248009219

That s kind of surprising

[Psycho Ward 86]

i honestly thought we would be 7-1 (with our lone loss at Arrowhead). and the manner in which i thought we would get to 7-1 leaves me amazed that we are somehow sitting at a still strong 6-2.


i thought this was going to be the year that Ben finally becomes a frontrunner for MVP. With the O-line playing just as it has been, Bell and AB doing business as usual, Bryant coming back even better than ever, and Coates leaving off where he was before he broke his hands. I expected the defense to rise to just inside Top 10 status.

My God, how differently things have played out

[ALLD]

6-2 based on prior expectations, but nobody figured Joe Haden and Hilton into the equation. If Bell played the preseason we might be7-1 or 8-0 with some proper game planning where we would RUN the ball against a POOR run defense instead of trying to pass against their strength.

[teegre]

i honestly thought we would be 7-1 (with our lone loss at Arrowhead). and the manner in which i thought we would get to 7-1 leaves me amazed that we are somehow sitting at a still strong 6-2.


i thought this was going to be the year that Ben finally becomes a frontrunner for MVP. With the O-line playing just as it has been, Bell and AB doing business as usual, Bryant coming back even better than ever, and Coates leaving off where he was before he broke his hands. I expected the defense to rise to just inside Top 10 status.

My God, how differently things have played out

Pretty much this (except that I expected 8-0).

I had expected an offensive juggernaut to outscore opponents (while the fledgling defense grew game by game). To quote that one guy... “That’s why they play the games.”