"Bad Teams" the Steelers lost to Pre-Tomlin.

[zulater]

In completed seasons, if you define a bad team as one that loses ten or more games, by this standard Tomlin is 29-10 all time against "bad teams". But if you want a foreboding stat to give possibly a more defining grasp on Tomlin's Steeler teams against bad teams over the years. In Tomlin's three best seasons, the years his Steelers teams won 12 games, (08, 10, and 11) those teams beat up on bad teams to the tune of 16-0. In his other seasons the Steelers are 13-10 against bad teams. So judging by Tomlin's history if Tampa Bay ends up falling into the bad category then we're probably looking at another .500 type season at best.

[ALLD]

I know I am not wasting 3 months of Sundays to watch a .500 team. I have better things to put my heart into.

[NCSteeler]

Like I said elsewhere, this is where you and I differ. I don not look at this team and see much more than a 9-7 team and the 3rd best team in the AFC North.

In particular the defensive side of the ball is in the midst of a rebuild/reload.

I have felt this way about the past 2 seasons or so. The only recent Steelers team I found totally disappointing was the one that lost in Denver to Tebow.

But you just used the draft position card to say NEs D was more talented , with that logic you cant say ours is bad

[Mojouw]

But you just used the draft position card to say NEs D was more talented , with that logic you cant say ours is bad

Talent doesn't always equal success. NE certainly has more highly evaluated one-time prospects on it than the Steelers at this point.

The point is that this Steelers team is not very good at 3 things right now - rushing the passer, covering outside receivers, and blocking non-terrible pass rushers.

The question is whether or not this team possess the talent/ability to do those things and it is being misdirected by the coaches or if the talent/ability to do those things is simply lacking on the roster. I argue for the latter.

[zulater]

Talent doesn't always equal success. NE certainly has more highly evaluated one-time prospects on it than the Steelers at this point.

The point is that this Steelers team is not very good at 3 things right now - rushing the passer, covering outside receivers, and blocking non-terrible pass rushers.

The question is whether or not this team possess the talent/ability to do those things and it is being misdirected by the coaches or if the talent/ability to do those things is simply lacking on the roster. I argue for the latter.

I think they can improve in two of the three things you cited. I think the pass rush can improve in time as players get more familiar with the system. Worlidis isn't as bad as he's playing. ( at least I hope not) And I think they are going to have to concede that against top edge rushers we can't leave our tackles on an island. they need help from back's tight ends, and the guards. Obviously doing this puts less receivers in the pattern. But as long as you give Ben that initial 3 seconds to complete his drop and scan the field he can bye time to take advantage of a defensive break down later in the play. Plus the longer a play goes on the greater the chance for defensive holding. So I think we're just going to have to accpet that Beachum and Gilbert can't go it alone against quality DE's and LB's. Covering outside receivers? Well the safeties aren't doing much to help right now. Maybe it's time to find out what Shamarko can do? Regardless our corners are mediocre to bad. Nothing much to be done about it this year. I could see picking corners with 3 out of the first 5 picks next year. Throw in an OT in the 2nd.