Silver lining. It's not over.

[Iron Steeler]

0-3 start , some are hitting the panic button. Although I would like to point out some positives.
1.We button up some mistakes and penalties at crucial times we are 2-1.
2. Defense is getting better each week.
3. The AFC North all 4 teams are going through a transition year at the same time. Still up for grabs.

1.
Seahawks game:
--Moncrief volley ball set up interception, put Seahawks in a easy scoring position.
--Phantom overturns PI on Edmunds again puts them in scoring position. we gift wrapped

If we button up those mistakes we most likely win this game.

49ers Game:
--Conner fumbles under 6mins in the 4th and we have the lead. We were looking like we were going to ice the game.
-- Barron gets a PI on 3 and 17? in the redzone. Damn. That one hurt. If he doesn't do that 49ers most likely settle for a FG to tie the game, giving us the ball in a 2 minute offense.

2. Our defense is improving:
Minka Fitzpatrick looks like is the instinctive playmaker we needed in the secondary. Our front seven is playing incredible . And we are starting to create turnovers as a habit. (just need to tidy up the secondary coverage techniques on 3rd down)

3. AFC North is going through growing pains.
Ravens just lost 2-1
Brown's lost 1-2
Bengals are 0-3

Next week we all face eachother. If we can capitalize on divisional wins we are in good shape.

10-6
9-7

is still attainable. But why settle for good when great is on the table. Let's go 13-3.

[teegre]

Great post/thread.

[Squeegee Thompson]

A couple other positives:

1) The pass rush is getting home. Garoppolo got the shit kicked out of him all game. 5 turnovers is no fluke. One fumble by Garoppolo, and one pick that was his fault (the other was on the receiver, IMO). The 9ers dominated every aspect of that game except the -3 turnover ratio. They were clearly the better team. No ifs, ands, or buts - but we still almost snuck out of there with a win, and I'm sure Garoppolo is spending most of the day today in the ice bath.

2) Minkah Freaking Fiztpatrick (whom I shall now refer to as 'MFF' from here on) looked every bit the first rounder that we gave up to get him. He's been on the team less than a week, and was everywhere - flying to the football, creating turnovers, etc. That stick on Hittle inside the red zone, where he flipped him, was a fundamental tackling thing of beauty. Hopefully the rest of the secondary was taking notes on how to make an open-field tackle.

3) Mason Rudolph. Yeah, he was shaky at first - but he was playing behind the absolute worst performance our O-line has put up in at least 5 years. Hostile environment, your O-line has just turned into human turnstiles, but he stayed poised, confident, collected and delivered two beauties for those touchdowns once he settled in. Now that he got that rough road game under his belt, I think we see a much better performance at home against the hapless Bungles. I'm honestly excited about this kid. The 'it' factor is there, IMO.

4) Ola Adeniyi. How does he not dress every week? The one play where they called the blind block on Heyward, he was motoring after and chasing down Garoppolo from behind ... from the other side of the field. Dupree just doesn't have those wheels - never did. This kid needs more snaps getting after the quarterback. A Watt / Ola combo on the outside? I like the sound of that.

5) Diontae Johnson. The stage does not seem too big for him. As Moncrete has played his way out of a hat, and most likely off of the team, the rookie has stepped up admirably. He and Rudolph seem to be developing a rapport, which can only help open up Juju and Washington more. This was also done without Vance for most of the game.

6) Devin Bush. Yeah, I saw him getting swallowed up by blockers on most of the big runs SF ran to the inside. But this is also only his 3rd game in the NFL. If his football IQ and instincts are as good as advertised, he'll come around and start learning to recognize these isolations. When he does shed blockers he's always around the football. 2 fumble recoveries in one game doesn't happen unless you're flying to the football on every snap.

Bush and MFF are changing the character of this defense drastically. It won't happen overnight, and the team defense statistics are ugly right now. But the arrow is pointing up - and there's now a speed and tenacity on D that just wasn't there in the last couple of years.

This squad is going to take its share of lumps this year, but there are some things to get excited about in how it bodes for the future. Some amazing new talent on D. A QB, who I think is much more than a clipboard-holder, and a nice new wideout to take some of the heat off of the veterans. This probably isn't a playoff team this year, but it's setting the stage for a bright future.

[Edman]

Mason Rudolph is not in the Malone/Stoudt/Kordell/Tomczak Class as some people feared. He can actually play. And had the game won if it weren’t for Conner’s fumble. Despite of all of the garbage thrown at him early on (Poor O-Line, crap playcalling). The dude has the poise of a veteran.

Now that they have the first start with him under center to see what worked and what didn’t, it’s time to develop the offense and let him and the rest of the receivers grow.

[Hawkman]

WOW! Thread has been up for 2 1/2 hours and the regular grumps haven’t brought it down yet. Must be a busy Monday at the office.

[Rotorhead]

I agree with most of what is here, one thing missed was that Boz is back also. His off year literally cost us 3 games last season.

[Fire Goodell]

WOW! Thread has been up for 2 1/2 hours and the regular grumps haven’t brought it down yet. Must be a busy Monday at the office.

or recovering from a hangover lol

Here's my takes:
1) Fitzpatrick is a BALLER. Yeah we traded our 1st round pick and it was well worth it. This is the type of player we've been swinging and missing on for multiple years in a row. I don't care if we got him through a draft or trade, we got him and he should be a Steeler for many years.
2) Defense is young, but can be something if they get it together. Garappolo is going to be in the tub for a couple days, he got roughed up bad lol.
3) Rudolph looked ok, I was hoping for more, but our O-line was getting destroyed by SF's front seven. Our offensive line I don't think is top tier anymore. They're good, but not a top 3 unit like they're touted to be. WR's are all a bunch of new guys, it make take a little time before they're all on the same page.
4) We need a TE badly. Grimble as the starter does not give me any confidence in that position. He did spring Juju on the long TD though.
5) Jalen Samuels deserves a shot, not because of Conner's fumble, but scheme. Even without Ben, our 'identity' is we like to spread the defense out and pass the ball. If that's the case, Samuels is much more of a match for this offense since he's a very good receiver and has that breakaway speed. Conner is more of the north-south runner that doesn't really fit as well into what they're trying to do.

I don't think we make the playoffs, I'm not that optimistic. 7-9 or better I'd be happy with, just avoid a double digit loss season. Expectations are down, but I expect them to beat the Bengals. If not, that's pretty bad.

[DesertSteel]

I have not given up hope...... I'm hanging by at thread

[ALLD]

Continue to watch if you are an NFL fan, otherwise temper your expectations.

[Born2Steel]

Great thread! Here We Go!

[Hawkman]

I have not given up hope...... I'm hanging by at thread

I see what you did there.

[Shoes]

The AFC North is stinking pretty good. The Ravens are just two ahead of us with plenty of games to play. Mason scored two TD's each in both games. I think they will get on a roll plus Ben will be calling the plays next game Fitz made a very noticeable and positive impact on the Defense. I think they can turn this around

[86WARD]

Tomlin has to go 8-5 to get to the standard. Back against the wall!!! I think he can do it!!

[tube517]

Tomlin has to go 8-5 to get to the standard. Back against the wall!!! I think he can do it!!

Can cheerleaders chest thump their way to .500?

[Edman]

The Steelers overnight transformed from a “Win Now” group into a very young team in transition behind a new quarterback. The only starters at/over 30 right now are Ramon Foster, Villenueva, And Cam Hayward.

The Patriots, Seahawks and 49ers are three teams fully built to contend and win now. They will be in the playoff talk near the end of the year. The Steelers were competitive against two of those three, and very close to upsetting them both.

Still major issues to work out like coaching, but if they can get that down, they have a bright future. Maybe not this year, though.

[Fire Goodell]

I want to see the offense star putting together some drives, we haven't seen it all year.

Or defense got 5 turnovers, that alone should have helped us win the time of possession battle, but we only had the ball for 23 minutes despite this. The 2 scoring drives were big plays, we need to get better at sustaining drives

[steelreserve]

I think things would be going a lot better if the offensive line could get its act together. That alone could've won us the last 2 games. I don't know what the problem is (yes, Munchak, but what specifically). I know they have it in them, it's the same guys.

Until they figure that out, however, we will probably continue to get an ass banging on a regular basis.

[Squeegee Thompson]

The Steelers overnight transformed from a “Win Now” group into a very young team in transition behind a new quarterback. The only starters at/over 30 right now are Ramon Foster, Villenueva, And Cam Hayward.

The Patriots, Seahawks and 49ers are three teams fully built to contend and win now. They will be in the playoff talk near the end of the year. The Steelers were competitive against two of those three, and very close to upsetting them both.

Still major issues to work out like coaching, but if they can get that down, they have a bright future. Maybe not this year, though.

The Patsies, Seahawks and 9ers are three of their hardest games this year. I see the Chargers, Rams and Ravens (x2), maybe the Bills as the only other really 'hard' games left. The 2nd half of the season looks much more attractive than the first half.

Remaining games that should be wins (not accounting for Tomlin's uncanny ability to suck against shitty teams): Bengals (x2) - should win both, Dolphins (who probably couldn't beat Clemson right now), Colts, Browns (win at least one of those), Cardinals, Jets (pulling fans from the stands to fill out their 53-man roster), and steal one from the the Ravens.

That's 8 wins, go 8-8. Steal the other one from Cleveland or take out Buffalo at home, now it's a 9-7 or 10-6 team. Playoffs? Probably not, but stranger things have happened. But if the floor on the season ends up being 8-8 - then the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade looks brilliant in hindsight.

Secretly, I'm kinda hoping for 6-10 or 7-9 so the Tomlin regime is either on an extreme hotseat, or mercifully sent packing.

[pczach]

I have not given up hope...... I'm hanging by at thread

[Edman]

The Patsies, Seahawks and 9ers are three of their hardest games this year. I see the Chargers, Rams and Ravens (x2), maybe the Bills as the only other really 'hard' games left. The 2nd half of the season looks much more attractive than the first half.

Remaining games that should be wins (not accounting for Tomlin's uncanny ability to suck against shitty teams): Bengals (x2) - should win both, Dolphins (who probably couldn't beat Clemson right now), Colts, Browns (win at least one of those), Cardinals, Jets (pulling fans from the stands to fill out their 53-man roster), and steal one from the the Ravens.

That's 8 wins, go 8-8. Steal the other one from Cleveland or take out Buffalo at home, now it's a 9-7 or 10-6 team. Playoffs? Probably not, but stranger things have happened. But if the floor on the season ends up being 8-8 - then the Minkah Fitzpatrick trade looks brilliant in hindsight.

Secretly, I'm kinda hoping for 6-10 or 7-9 so the Tomlin regime is either on an extreme hotseat, or mercifully sent packing.

Tomlin and Ben's golf caddy isn't going anywhere, but Keith Butler might.

[86WARD]

At this point in the season, the Niners and the Seahawks are very good teams based on the fact that they played garbage schedules. Combined they played the Steelers, Bengals, Buccaneers and Saints (with Bridgewater)...and lost to the Saints (with Bridgewater). It’s not like they are playing top echelon teams here early on...lol. Quite the opposite actually.

Roster-wise, they aren’t very good. The Niners Offense isn’t anything but average and same goes for the Seahawks defense. I suspect that once they start playing decent teams, they’ll start to sink towards the middle to bottom half of the league.