Post season rant.

[plenewken]

Only 10pts at half-time and only 2 FGs in the 2nd half, that's the sign of a mediocre offense and a very conservative game plan. I'm sorry but the Steelers were not Superbowl material this year, no more than they were for the last 4 years, and injuries don't explain everything.

My opinion is that they had another average performance (no higher than B- IMO), losing to a couple of bottom feeders (as usual), making the playoffs thanks to the Jets losing the last game and not because they were controlling their destiny, advancing in the wildcard game mainly because of the Bungles' lack of discipline, etc..... Sorry but these are facts.

Yesterday, they lost because they couldn't capitalize on the numerous dropped passses by the Broncos in the 1st half and because they could only manage to score 3 pts per quarter for the last 3 quarters, never separating themselves from the Broncos by more than 1pt for most of the game. This doesn't cut it at this stage of the competition, let's be honest. Manning wasn't pressured AT ALL yesterday.

Question: How many more LBs will we need to draft before we can put pressure on a QB and get sacks or turnovers? Seriously?

I know, I see the glass half-full and not half-empty but the Steelers have been underachieving for so many years now, considering the roster they have, that I can't be happy with the result.

Question: How many points do you think the Pats would have scored against Denver yesterday? As much as it pains me to say it, the Pats would have beat the Broncos by at least 2 scores, and they will most likely do it next week.
5 AFC championship games in a row for the Pats vs. 0 for the Steelers in the last 5 years, need I say more?

What else the Rooneys need to finally realize that we're not performing at the same level, on the field and on the sideline and to make the necessary adjustments? Or maybe they're just pleased that we beat the Browns twice every season? I'm not.

[GBMelBlount]

Manning wasn't pressured AT ALL yesterday.

Question: How many more LBs will we need to draft before we can put pressure on a QB and get sacks or turnovers? Seriously?

I was disappointed with special teams, field position and QB pressure yesterday.

Pleased with the year overall except for our ongoing penchant for playing down to level of other teams.

I place the blame for this on the coaches and "Bad Ben" who seems to play at a much higher level when the underdog.

I do think if our defense improves and the injury gods smile upon us that we could go all the way next year.

[katmandu]

Only 10pts at half-time and only 2 FGs in the 2nd half, that's the sign of a mediocre offense....

Uh...... Do you realize that our Offense was MISSING the following long list of INJURED players ????

ALL STARTERS BTW....

1) #1 WR in the game................................ Antonio Brown ?
2) Perennial Pro Bowl Center....................... Markice Pouncey ?
3) #1 RB the dynamic and explosive.............Leveon Bell ?
4) Not a Starter but or #2 RB...................... DeAngelo Williams ?
5) Our starting LT ...................................... Kevin Beachum... Which BTW, was replaced by a ROOKIE

Not to mention the fact that Ben was playing with 1/2 of his throwing arm ?

And you have the audacity to call out our Offense as MEDIOCRE ??

Holy CRAP MAN ! Bit unrealistic don't ya think ?

[Hawkman]

Uh...... Do you realize that our Offense was MISSING the following long list of INJURED players ????

ALL STARTERS BTW....

1) #1 WR in the game................................ Antonio Brown ?
2) Perennial Pro Bowl Center....................... Markice Pouncey ?
3) #1 RB the dynamic and explosive.............Leveon Bell ?
4) Not a Starter but or #2 RB...................... DeAngelo Williams ?
5) Our starting LT ...................................... Kevin Beachum... Which BTW, was replaced by a ROOKIE

Not to mention the fact that Ben was playing with 1/2 of his throwing arm ?

And you have the audacity to call out our Offense as MEDIOCRE ??

Holy CRAP MAN ! Bit unrealistic don't ya think ?

Yeah, I almost responded with an eye roll and decided to let it go....so thanks........oh and not to mention it was against a top defense on hostile turf.

[tube517]

The 70s Steelers should have won 10 Super Bowls. Noll sucks. What a bunch of under achievers.


Bellycheat** would have won 900-0 against the Donkeys yesterday. He izzz duh graytest evahhhh!

[Bluecoat96]

I think that people are sometimes too blinded by their allegiance to whatever team they root for. It's almost as if they forget that the other team gets paid to win as well. Denver has an elite defense, and we were beat to hell....and we still darn near pulled it off.

If....and it's a big if.....we are able to stay healthy on offense next year and can continue to make some "relatively" minor tweets on defense, next year could be special.

[Rotorhead]

We played the best Def in the game missing our best 2 offensive weapons . . . Considering the list of injuries this season and what we all thought our defense was, we played great this season. This wasn't our year, and frankly nobody thought it would be.

[teegre]

I hate chewing on tin foil.

[plenewken]

We played the best Def in the game missing our best 2 offensive weapons . . . Considering the list of injuries this season and what we all thought our defense was, we played great this season. This wasn't our year, and frankly nobody thought it would be.

I don't think we played great this season. If we did, we wouldn't have lost twice to the Ravens, the last time when they were decimated and we had Antonio Brown and Williams playing. If we played great this season, we wouldn't have needed the Bills to put us in the playoffs.

I maintain that the root cause is deeper than injuries. The proof is that it's been the case for 5 seasons in a row now. That's what p*sses me off. When it's not injuries, it's stupid play calls, insane clock management, lack of discipline, stupid penalties, blown assignments, poor preparation etc....

By the way, like you said, even before the season started and even before we were "decimated" by injuries, very few football experts gave the Steelers much chance to go to the Superbowl, let alone win it.

So I'll ask the question again, what are we missing that the Pats seem to have every year? It's not because they have a much higher payroll than the Steelers and it's not because they don't lose players in free agency either so what is it? I hate the Pats but I must recognize that they perform at a higher level than us year in and year out, and I don't like it.

So should I just lower my expectations and be happy like some of you are?

End of rant.

[fansince'76]

So I'll ask the question again, what are we missing that the Pats seem to have every year? It's not because they have a much higher payroll than the Steelers and it's not because they don't lose players in free agency either so what is it?

An always-healthy Brady and a division full of pushovers, more often than not. They practically cakewalk to the division title in the AFCE (and with it, usually no lower than the #2 seed) year in and year out. Once every 4-5 years or so the Jets seem to make a little bit of noise, but the other two teams in that division have largely been completely irrelevant.

In the meantime, and especially over the last 5 years, we've been sharing a division with the Bengals, who have all of a sudden put together a pretty talented roster and have become consistently competitive and the Ravens who outside of this year have always been competitive too.

When's the last time the AFCE has landed 3 of its 4 teams in the postseason? Since we're focusing on the last 5 years, the AFCN did it in 2011 and again just last year, and last year all 3 teams won at least 10 games.

Further, the only season during that stretch that the AFCN has had fewer than 2 postseason participants was in 2013. During the same timeframe, the Patriots were the ONLY team in their division to make it to the playoffs.

Again, think about that for a second. Nobody else in the AFCE has made a postseason appearance since the Jets in 2010. NOT ONE.

What's more, the Bills have yet to make the postseason in this century, which is the longest such drought in the league. Hell, even the Browns managed to make the playoffs back in 2002.

There's your difference in a nutshell.

[steelreserve]

Question: How many more LBs will we need to draft before we can put pressure on a QB and get sacks or turnovers? Seriously?

Zero. We need someone better than McLendon at DT. Then I promise you, the linebackers will get a ton more sacks and turnovers.

I know, I see the glass half-full and not half-empty but the Steelers have been underachieving for so many years now, considering the roster they have, that I can't be happy with the result.

Question: How many points do you think the Pats would have scored against Denver yesterday? As much as it pains me to say it, the Pats would have beat the Broncos by at least 2 scores, and they will most likely do it next week.
5 AFC championship games in a row for the Pats vs. 0 for the Steelers in the last 5 years, need I say more?

What else the Rooneys need to finally realize that we're not performing at the same level, on the field and on the sideline and to make the necessary adjustments? Or maybe they're just pleased that we beat the Browns twice every season? I'm not.

Listen, I'm disappointed as anyone that we lost yesterday (a game that we could've won, by all means), but I don't think a major overhaul is the answer. We're about two, maybe three players from being one of the most dominant teams in the league.

Out of our important coaches, I'd say two (Butler and Muchak) are great, among the best in the league at their jobs, one (Haley) is at least acceptable, and love him or hate him, Tomlin is not going anywhere, so all you can do is hope for the best.

Add a starting-quality CB, a dominant DT and some depth at DE and maybe S, and there are literally NO weak spots on this team. Maybe we should replace Lake as the DB coach and Smith at the ST coach, but otherwise I wouldn't shake that up too much. This obviously was just not our year. But barring disaster, this fall should be a whole different story.

[TD's & Beer]

The Peyton Slide - THAT WAS FUCKING BULLSHIT - HE SLID, he gave himself up - they should have whistled it dead

If anybody even hit Lord Manning it would have been called a hit on a defenseless player

Anything to keep that Brady/Peyton matchup of the century on schedule

[Born2Steel]

I think with all the suspensions, injuries, new players, and schedule this team over-achieved a bit. Getting swept by the Ravens sucks the most, IMO. Knocking the Bengals out of the playoffs again was priceless. The Vick led offense nearly killed the season early. Especially with a new DC and a defense of mostly rookies and 2nd year players. I think the future looks very bright indeed.

[86WARD]

Uh...... Do you realize that our Offense was MISSING the following long list of INJURED players ????

ALL STARTERS BTW....

1) #1 WR in the game................................ Antonio Brown ?
2) Perennial Pro Bowl Center....................... Markice Pouncey ?
3) #1 RB the dynamic and explosive.............Leveon Bell ?
4) Not a Starter but or #2 RB...................... DeAngelo Williams ?
5) Our starting LT ...................................... Kevin Beachum... Which BTW, was replaced by a ROOKIE

Not to mention the fact that Ben was playing with 1/2 of his throwing arm ?

And you have the audacity to call out our Offense as MEDIOCRE ??

Holy CRAP MAN ! Bit unrealistic don't ya think ?

This...and they were still "mediocre".

[Born2Steel]

AFC final 4 = mediocre

[st33lersguy]

Denver's defense is stacked with talented players at every position. It's no surprise that Pittsburgh didn't score more than 16 points while playing underhanded. Plus Denver isn't exactly the easiest place to win a road playoff game.

[Mojouw]

People realize that other than their unsettled QB situation Denver is one of the most loaded teams in the entire league?

[Hawkman]

It's no surprise that Pittsburgh didn't score more than 16 points while playing underhanded.

Don't you mean "undermanned". Sounds like they were playing dirty!!

[zulater]

To win a road playoff game you need to win the turnover battle, or at least not lose it.

You need to come out even or better in spacial teams.

You need to maximize your opportunities, redzone and otherwise.

We failed on all 3 of these points. That's why we lost

[TD's & Beer]

If we had Brown and DeAngelo back in a blizzard snowstorm in NE........I'd like our chances a lot


amen

Go Carolina....beat all these wannabe bitches

[plenewken]

An always-healthy Brady and a division full of pushovers, more often than not. They practically cakewalk to the division title in the AFCE (and with it, usually no lower than the #2 seed) year in and year out. Once every 4-5 years or so the Jets seem to make a little bit of noise, but the other two teams in that division have largely been completely irrelevant.

In the meantime, and especially over the last 5 years, we've been sharing a division with the Bengals, who have all of a sudden put together a pretty talented roster and have become consistently competitive and the Ravens who outside of this year have always been competitive too.

When's the last time the AFCE has landed 3 of its 4 teams in the postseason? Since we're focusing on the last 5 years, the AFCN did it in 2011 and again just last year, and last year all 3 teams won at least 10 games.

Further, the only season during that stretch that the AFCN has had fewer than 2 postseason participants was in 2013. During the same timeframe, the Patriots were the ONLY team in their division to make it to the playoffs.

Again, think about that for a second. Nobody else in the AFCE has made a postseason appearance since the Jets in 2010. NOT ONE.

What's more, the Bills have yet to make the postseason in this century, which is the longest such drought in the league. Hell, even the Browns managed to make the playoffs back in 2002.

There's your difference in a nutshell.

I agree with what you wrote but this only explains why the Pats make the playoffs every year, not why they advanced to the AFC Championship 5 years in a row.

[zulater]

I agree with what you wrote but this only explains why the Pats make the playoffs every year, not why they advanced to the AFC Championship 5 years in a row.

Getting a bye and home game in the divisional round puts you one game away from the final four.

I hate the Patriots but I wont diminish what they've done. Bellichick (albeit a cheater) is a tremendous coach, and Brady is the perfect qb for his system.

[plenewken]

Getting a bye and home game in the divisional round puts you one game away from the final four.

I hate the Patriots but I wont diminish what they've done. Bellichick (albeit a cheater) is a tremendous coach, and Brady is the perfect qb for his system.

I'm with you on this. I hate these bastards too but I recognize that they've had an edge over the rest of the AFC for many years now and the Steelers should take a hard look at their recipe. I think it's more due to coaching that the players. They lose players in free agency like everyone else, yet, they seem to always have the right game plan when it matters and they also always seem to adjust it whenever it's needed. Something that the Steelers have not been very effective at. Just my opinion.

[fansince'76]

I agree with what you wrote but this only explains why the Pats make the playoffs every year, not why they advanced to the AFC Championship 5 years in a row.

Tim Tebow, Matt Schaub, Andrew Luck, Joe Flacco, and Alex Smith. One of those hasn't come close to living up to the hype he gets (Luck), one is hot-and-cold (Flacco) and the other 3 are abysmal.