I'm happy that you liked the level of play of Mike Mitchell as a Steeler. I see that he was less impactful than former Steelers Chris Hope or Brent Alexander. IMO, whoever accepted that level of mediocrity should be on a hot seat.
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It's like you didn't even read my post. Top third. Almost top quarter. Fell off to just below top half this year and then was released. Several other positions more important to fill at the time.
Nope, let's ignore all of that. Mitchell was the entire problem! We should be expecting SB level performance this year, right? If not FIRE SOMEONE!
The Steelers went to a SuperBowl in the 2010 season... so, that’s 8 years.
Since then, Tomlin has rebuilt a defense, while never having a losing record (which means picking in the second half of R1). He was an AB step-out against the Dolphins and a crappy/controversial FG (Chiefs-Chargers) from going to the playoffs two more times during that rebuild.
The Steelers have had Ben, AB, & Bell play in a playoff game just ONCE in their careers. Despite that, here’s who the Ateelers have lost to in the playoffs:
2010: lost to the SuperBowl champions
2011: puke fest
2014: lost to division rivals
2015: lost to the SuperBowl champions
2016: lost to the SuperBowl champions
2017: lost to the Jags (who have our number)
On a scale from 1 to Gisele, I would give him a 7.
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No one fears our defense. To me as a Steeler fan that is a problem.
2-3 in the past five meetings against the Steelers.Quote:
2017: lost to the Jags (who have our number)
Before last year, The Jaguars have not beaten the Steelers since 2007. That's not exactly "having a teams number". Jags have definitely grown into a formidable opponent however.
Yep, but there's been years where the Raven's have beaten us both games and by considerably larger margins. Then, the next year, it's a different situation. IMO, our first loss to them was due to Ben's poor play and a RB and Line still getting used to each other. The second loss was due to having to patch up a major hole in the defense with the loss of Shazier and having a safety that had lost enough of his step that he limited how the defense could respond to the loss. Remember, once is a mistake, twice a coincidence. Three times a pattern. I won't put much stock into the losses last year as an overall pattern, yet.
The first loss was Ben having one of the absolute worst games of his career, then came back and carved up their secondary.
The second loss was untimely turnovers putting Pittsburgh in a hole early and having to play from behind all game on top of a holey Defense (that weeks prior was ripped apart by the Ravens, Packers, and Browns) that had its bottom fall out. Those early turnovers made all the difference in that game. "Sacksonville" could not stop the B's.
Jacksonville did nothing otherworldly or special to beat the Steelers last year, they just won.
Jackassville won because Pittsburgh was looking ahead to new England. The first game I think they were looking ahead to then unbeaten Kansas city
Again, nothing otherworldly or special. The dynamic duo of Joe Flacco and Alex Collins hung 38 on the Steelers Defense and Brett Hundley and the Packers torched them. Deshone Kizer shredded them as well in the last game. Even the Titans game hid some glaring problems. The issues where there the whole time, we just didn't want to see it. Some savvy posters on here saw the Jacksonville Playoff nightmare coming a mile away, but nobody listened.
They will tell you watching the Steelers Defense last year could see some problems, even before and especially after they lost Shazier. The 2017 Defense hides behind some pretty statistics, but it was probably one of the worst Steelers D's in over a decade. Jacksonville simply capitalized on something that was already exposed and there all along, but many of us didn't want to see: The 2017 Steelers had a paper Defense that won 13 games in spite of it. They could barely stop anyone, the pass rush was near nonexistent despite the record sacks, hardly made any meaningful impact plays, and barely turned the ball over.
Lo and behold, that's exactly what happened in the playoff game. The Steelers D could do none of those things. The 2015/16 Defense makes a play in that game that changes the tide, or at the very least, makes a stop when they need one.
All the more reason why Butler should be on the hot seat.
They were talking about playing New England in a playoff rematch ever since November, and you could see it in the performance not only in the playoff game but the regular season as well as they struggled mightily against numerous bad and average teams during the regular season and were bailed out by Ben, AB, and Boz. Regular season, Jacksonville was 2-2 and Kansas City, the upcoming game was undefeated. It was likely they didn't respect Jacksonville coming into that game and had more respect for Kansas City. Plus, it's not like the team doesn't have a tendency to gloss over teams that are inferior to them
I don't think they looked past Jacksonville. I think if a team beats you in the regular season and dominates the LOS in that game, then you probably don't look past them in the playoffs.
Defense and running game is a good formula to win in the playoffs, especially in outdoor games in January weather. Jags defense was better than Steelers, Jags run game was better than Steelers (or the Steelers run defense with Sean Spence at ILB was porous)
The Steelers didn't look past Jacksonville, they simply just weren't good enough (Defensively).
Turnovers dude. Turnovers and forcing a few punts. That's all the defense has to do.
All this moaning about the Jags playoff game. We everyone realizes that the Steelers D only needed to force one turnover or one more punt and the offense wins that game. Team was able to carve up one of the best all around defenses in the league like they weren't even there for almost the entire second half.
This is what the Steelers need to be now. A runaway train on offense and a defense that provides the offense with the one or two extra possession s needed to win the game.
For Mitchell and the rest it isn't so much a down to down thing. It is the lack of 3rd down stops and turnovers. Almost all of those came from Shazier and Watt. Until that changes, rest is just arguments about details.
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Yup, and when the Steelers lost to the Colts in the regular season in 2005, they said "we will probably be seeing them again". Which the Steelers did see the Colts in the playoffs, on the way to winning SBXL. Just because some members of the team believed they would have to beat the champs to be the champs, it doesn't mean they looked past everybody else they played from week to week.
Obviously, the defense didn't play well enough, that is not out of the question, but just attributing the loss to Sean Spence playing instead of Shazier is an oversimplification. It's more than that. Blathering about playing New England was also a contributing factor. It not only gets them looking ahead to other games (evident in not just losing to Jacksonville but also barely beating numerous teams that missed the playoffs throughout the year), but it also emboldens the opposition and makes them want to play harder just to shut everyone up and prove doubters wrong.
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And when they lost to Cincinnati which dropped them to 7-5 and put them on the brink of playoff elimination, Cowher told his team to wipe the slate clean and that every game from that point on was a one game season. Cowher delivered the same message in 95 when the Steelers were 3-4 and they went on to make the Super Bowl
NFL teams don't overlook other NFL teams. It's not like CFB, the NFL is a job. You prepare the same each week. Some individual players may have been overly confident but the team prepared the same. The Jags simply played better than we did both games and they beat us.
The defense must continue to improve. Same as every season. The offense must continue to produce. Same as every season. We have the personnel and coaches to win a lot of football games this year. But we will lose some. None of the losses will be due to lack of preparation or overlooking a team.
I think our division will play out differently this season. I still believe we will repeat as champs. I think the Browns and Ravens improved, and the Bengals didn't improve this offseason. I'll actually predict(July) the division finishes, Steelers, Ravens, Browns, Bengals.
Butler's seat is not 'hot' because that's not how the Steelers traditionally do things.(FUN FACT: Butler and Fichtner both ex-Memphis Tigers coaches)
I feel like we circle around the same issue a few times a year on here. Like others are saying, there are no easy wins in the NFL. Years ago there might have been. But the gap between the best team in the league and the worst is vanishingly small. Perhaps narrower than any other pro sport. The league has spent the last two decades tweaking things to ensure that is a reality.
For me, I'm loathe to call for big changes to an organization that has been able to do what only a handful of others can-be playoff competitive year and year out. I've watched this team for the most of the last 30 years and I can't remember the last time the season started and I thought, "yeah. They have no shot." How many other fanbases can say that?
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What is the difference between OVERLOOKING a team and PLAYING DOWN to a team? While I'd agree for the most part that the latter doesn't happen, there's too many occurrences to believe that the latter doesn't happen.