My brother is advocating that the Steelers act like this game vs. the Bengals is meaningless and rest all their starters. He is aware that likely means the Steelers get the sixth seed and then go to Baltimore for the Wild Card game. He is of the mind that he'd rather the Steelers be as rested and healthy as possible and face Baltimore than fight to the death to beat Cincy and be weakened to go to Houston or lose to Cincy anyway and be weakened to go to Baltimore. Thoughts?
I don’t think they earned the right to rest. I would play starters , they’ve had 11 days when game starts . At least first half. I’d actually like to see Fields play a half though. I’d rather play Texans and assume they do as well.Originally Posted by El Kabong
Good post agree 100%
you are right , no way I rest this team ...I would however start Fields and see if he can keep pace with the high flying Bengal offense ...if he did then I make the switch Russ has IMO imploded
Kenny Pickett is who I though he was .. Eagles didn't value him either , now he is a Stain at the Mistake by the Lake 3 teams in 4 years more of a shooting star than a superstar
Tomlin said NO. We gotta get this stench off of us and enter the playoffs on the right foot
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They really need to have a winning mentality starting this week. Tomlin basically admitted as much. Playoff mindset starts now.
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I think you start the starters who are healthy. However, if it's a borderline decision on health I think you h.ave to consider sitting that player
No.
Hope that helps.
No. Because they have a better chance at moving forward against the Texans than the Ravens.
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According to this the Steelers could be playing themselves wildcard weekend. I think we'd kick our asses.No. Because they have a better chance at moving forward against the Texans than the Ravens.
The Steelers can only end up with 3,5 or 6 seed.
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3 a pipe dream with Ravens a 16 point favorite
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They need to get on a winning streak and win out or the season is all but over.
All Defense!
Not sure how you can have a streak with one game left.
5-0…that’s all they have to do from here on out.
HELL NO !!!! They have been resting the past 3 weeks. What can they be tired from??
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They should be tired of losing.
Lambert said it best, "I hate losing more than I like winning."
All Defense!
Ravens or Texans, doesnt matter too much to me. I think the Steelers should not rest their starters and try to win tomorrow, they're on 3 game losing streak, they need to feel what it means to win again before the playoffs start
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I think they need to do more than just win tomorrow. I think they need a dominant performance. I would love to see them line up and man handle the Bengals. Rush for 200+ while eating up 40 minutes of clock and ending each drive with a score. But, we'll probably try to throw with them and win in another shootout.
if the O line can be dominant and keep burrow off the field that would be great. The o line gelling in run and pass blocking at this time would be ideal
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If you are ever at a football game, anywhere U.S.A., and you hear some guy keep yelling, "RUN THE DAMN BALL!", it could easily be me. I coached OL for 8 seasons and I love a ground and pound game. To me, it's so much easier to scheme a 'beat the guy in front of you' play and run the ball for 3,4,5 yards a pop. You may break it off into a big gain here and there. But that is how you just demoralize the defense. Remember what it felt like when the Eagles did that to us for the last 10+ minutes of that game? We could do that to the Bengals for the entire 60minutes. I would love it.
Tomorrow will depend on what defense shows up.
A chance to host a home game and he wants to rest starters? Starters who have played terrible?
Well, if Baltimore holds on then it depends on who we want to play.
Last edited by feltdizz; 01-04-2025 at 05:43 PM.
Had the Steelers shown up Saturday night and won then they would be going to Houston for an indoor game against a team playing as poorly as they are. Instead we now get to go to Baltimore to play in 27 degree weather.
Not saying we are going to win the SB this year but I'd much rather play Houston then Baltimore and at least TRY to win a playoff game for the first time in 9 years.
Last time they were the 6th seed….
If that’s accurate…maybe?
Honest and open question.
From what I can gather most folks here are of the following:
1. Steelers would lose in the opening round to the Ravens.
2. Steelers would beat the Texans and then lose in the next round.
Assume those to be true...what is the difference? I can get on board with both of those being accurate statements. And I see almost zero difference between the two. They both mean that the Steelers can be a "good" wildcard team and fall short against the top AFC contenders.
Like we know that anyways. They need more ammo and some technical adjustments. OK. Who does that surprise?
We want to see a playoff win?
Why?
For me -and no one has to agree - if I know my team isn't a big time contender, what round they lose in during the playoffs makes no nevermind to me as a fan.
During the prime Ben years, no matter how understable, playoff losses stung. Because they had a chance to go far.
But with Mason Rudolph at the controls? Meh. Doesn't move the needle.
I don't share the attitude that if the Steelers don't win the Super Bowl, then they might has well have had a losing record.
For one thing it is FUN to see the Steelers win a playoff game. That IS supposed to be the point of watching, right?
But also, as fans we want to have hope that the team is moving in the right direction. Seeing the Steelers win a playoff game gives us reason to hope.
Because anything can happen with weather, wind, fumbles, but yes ultimately at this point it would have been better to go 3-14 and get a shot at a high pick. Unfortunately barring some very lucky drafting this team is going to be stuck in this position for a very long time. I'm not going to rehash what I've already posted multiple times. Coach .501 is what he is. A Coach that keeps his team competitive but not the cream of the crop. Unless we hit pay dirt with a QB somewhere this team will be a .501 team.
You have basically described every team in the NFL.
Honestly, I don't wish to argue with you. You and others can feel any single darn way you want about the state of the Steelers. I just can not understand where you are coming from. No one is winning without high end QB play. Either you get that QB play from having a honest to goodness good QB or you get it by Jed mind tricking some previously mediocre QB into playing better through fancy schmancy scheme stuff.
And, looking at it across the league, the scheme wizardry gets you a couple of seasons. Look at Miami, they had injuries and other issues and it doesn't look good. Daboll coaxed a decent year out of Daniel Jones and now the Giants are picking top 3 in the draft -- again. The Niners (the gold standard for Jedi trickery) fell apart when they didn't have their top guys. Other teams have weathered similar spates of injuries and not collapsed. The Bucs are currently just the Steelers with more wideouts.
If I can understand things, folks want the Steelers to be an exceptional case. The 1 of 1 franchise that achieves playoff victories, regardless of the state of the roster, specifically the QB position. I will grant that we can split the recent playoff drought into two boxes (2016-18 and 2019-24). The one box was disappointing, the other is a wonder they are even in the bracket.
And, again I am NOT picking on you (you were good enough to respond!), but the "hey get in and anything can happen thing" is hard for me to square as well. If the Steelers squeak a bad team into the playoffs, "hey they should win a few rounds and you never know!" but if they bring a good squad to the playoffs and get beat...the same ideas do not apply. Those teams were embarrassing or unprepared or whatever. If the argument is valid that it can go any way once you start the playoffs, than you have to accept it both ways. And Steelers fans do not.
There is a discussion here somewhere about expectations. And that is my point. I have never encountered a fan base as unrealistic with their expectations as Steelers fans. They truly believe the Steelers are exceptional and regularly get disappointed and angry in their reactions when the team does not experience a unique or almost totally unique outcome. The discussion and frustration over playoff victories and losses from 2019-24, for me, is the same as when people were shocked and dismayed that Trubisky didn't work out. Trubisky working out would've been an almost completely unique outcome. The 2019-24 Steelers winning playoff games is the same thing. They don't have the horses to be in the race.
Last edited by Mojouw; 01-09-2025 at 10:21 AM.
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