Oakland Raiders
Tennessee Titans
Cleveland Browns
San Diego Chargers
Teams with a combined 16-37 and the Steelers have lost to all of them this season. What was a cakewalk schedule for the Pittsburgh Steelers evaporated into losing to teams that were every bit as bad on paper coming into the season. That is inexcusable.
Kansas City Chiefs
Philadelphia Eagles
2 Teams with a combined record 6-20 that the Steelers beat by a combined total of 5 points on their home field. That is inexcusable.
The Steelers have dealt with a ridiculous amount of injuries this year, injuries to key players that other teams in the NFL aren't losing.
092c3c43f4fa4339a17f5c4.pngHow many teams have lost their Elite level Franchise Quarterbacks this season to injury? Aaron Rogers? Peyton Manning? Tom Brady? Matt Shaub? Matthew Stafford? Matt Ryan? All of them are healthy.
How many passing teams with Elite QB's are starting a 3rd String/Practice Squad Right tackle midseason? Let's back that up and ask, "how many teams had to start a rookie early in the season at RT to help protect their Elite Franchise QB"?
Name me one other team that has been forced to move their Pro-Bowl Center to LG and play their backup Center because of constant injuries to an overpaid, constantly injured LG?
How many other teams in the NFL have also been without their Top Defensive Back, All-Pro Safety and Top Pass Rushing Linebacker?
Put all of that in a blender and you have the 2012 Pittsburgh Steelers. A team that can't get the same 5 Offensive Linemen to play 2 consecutive games together. A team that can't start a healthy Defensive lineup in back to back games or do so without at least missing a top player from the unit. How many games have the Steelers played where Troy Polamalu, James Harrison, Lamarr Woodley, Ike Taylor and Ryan Clark all played?
Yet, despite all of these injuries, the Steelers should have still beaten the Oakland Raiders, Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns. The Steelers should've beaten the Baltimore ravens on their home field. The Steelers still had enough talent on the field at any given time to beat those teams despite a complete lack of chemistry and having to replace important players during games. the best way to describe the Pittsburgh Steelers in all of these loses to these teams is :
Flat
This recent performance against the San Diego Chargers is the freshest one in our memory. Team played flat until the 2nd Half, at least on Offense but when the Offense started to gain momentum, the defense couldn't make the big stops needed, combined with bad Refereeing and bad Coaching decisions.
So why have the Pittsburgh Steelers been flat? They are mentally prepared for these matchups and that is on Mike Tomlin.
Football is a mental sport. People can talk about how physical it is, but let's be honest, every player in the league is out there playing physical. Most of the players have the physical ability to matchup against the other player. The outcome of games is a matter of mental strength. Mental Strength whether it comes from a play call that outwits the Offense or Defensive blitz and scheme that smothers the Offense. Mental strength where the players win their 1 on 1 matchups by wanting it more or making the right decision at the right time. Football is more about the mental challenge than people think. You can have physical players but if those players aren't playing the game mentally with the proper attitude, focus and desire, it won't mean a thing. We've all seen bigger and stronger players get pushed aside by smaller and weaker players. That's desire, will, positioning and all of those things are mental elements of the game.
f729ebe5b1214f8db5aba5e.pngThe Steelers going into these games against lesser opponents on paper are playing with an unfocused, undetermined mental state. This happens before the game, it continues during the game. Sure, these are paid players, making a lot of money to play this sport, but coaches aren't hired, aren't making the money they are if they don't have responsibilities of their own. Mike Tomlin's job goes further than just over seeing practice, making roster calls, in-game decisions and meetings. A large part of his job is preparing his football players mentally. I'll make a quick joke reference here but "hoka hey". If you don't know what that means, go search The Pirates Forum but it's not the term of the phrase it's the meaning behind it which is about mentally preparing the players, creating focus for a season, for a career, game in and game out.
Each game Mike Tomlin has to prepare his players not just with video and a game plan but by getting them focused and mentally prepared to be better than their opponent. The best game plan in the world will not matter if the players themselves aren't motivated enough as a whole to execute on it. Against these lesser teams, the Steelers don't play with the same motivation that they take into games against teams like the Baltimore Ravens. Defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants. A Hyped up RGIII lead Washington Redskins. A tough divisional game against the Cincinnati Bengals. It's more difficult to mentally prepare for Matt Cassel than it is Eli Manning. It's more difficult to prepare for the Cleveland Browns defense mentally than it is the Baltimore Ravens or New York Giants. It's normal human nature we do it as fans. We get more intense for matchups against the Baltimore Ravens than we do the Cleveland Browns. We are more intense about a game against the New york Giants than we are against the Kansas City Chiefs. Players are the same. money doesn't alter basic human emotion.
This is where good coaching comes into play. It's not hard to coach up a team to prepare mentally for good teams, but a good coach is able to get the same intensity and mental preparation from his players against the weaker teams. you don't have to be a sideline cheerleader, or spray spit when you talk and yell at players. Bill Belichick even without Video Cameras gets his players prepared to present an *** whoopin to the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins like he does for his team when they face good teams. That's why they route so many teams. The Steelers, rarely route anyone. If there's a message being delivered that is very similar in nature and I assume that it is, then the delivery is what separates that outcome.
The Steelers have a talented team that can beat any other team. Some teams just don't have that type of skills but when you get out on that football field, any team can win if they want it enough. If a lesser talented team wants it as much as a more talented team, well, that lesser talented team is still going to lose but the outcome might not be as bad.
The 2012 Steelers simply lack mental focus against weaker opponents. Winnable games have been lost because of this. You don't turn the ball over to the Cleveland Browns 8 times because the Browns have better talent. You don't turn the ball over 8 times because they called the perfect play to combat yours. you turn it over 8 times because you aren't focused mentally and when so many players are making mistakes, that falls on the shoulders of the Coaching staff and primarily the Head Coach - Mike Tomlin. His job is to make sure that those guys are focused mentally and Tomlin has done a terrible job of that in 2012. His handling of the Running Backs has been terrible and inconsistent with the rest of the team. Benching them for fumbles as "punishment" but he's not taking out willie Colon for every stupid penalty his overpaid *** makes or every time he fails to pick up a blitzer. He's not benching Mike Wallace every time he drops a ball. The double standard with the running backs cannot send a good message to those guys mentally and the rest of the team who is possibly thinking along the same lines as me. They will say one thing to the press but emotionally feeling another. Mike Tomlin has to tap those emotions and make sure they are with him.
Beyond the poor handling of personnel this year which goes from the Running Backs to evaluation where we saw Ryan Mundy start more than he should've and the ongoing fiasco with Willie Colon, in-game decisions in 2012 have been terrible. Decisions to go on 4th down whether it's around the 50 or the goal line. The strategic parts of the game when this happens and approved play call selection have lead to lost opportunities for the Steelers in 2012. None of these decisions affected the outcome 100% but they could've played a part in doing so. They could've changed the momentum or prevented a change in momentum. They could've helped put your team in a better position to succeed which is the Head Coaches ultimate goal every second of every practice and game. mike Tomlin has done a poor job managing these situations.
When you are dealing with as many injuries as the Steelers have been, the lack of cohesion and chemistry that stem from the injuries, you can't be putting your players in positions to fail. You can't be making the wrong decisions. The coach has to step up his game even more and find every little possible way to win and make up for the losses, not add to them and Mike Tomlin has added to the losses this season.
I like Mike Tomlin. I' am in no way suggesting he's not a capable coach. If Mike Tomlin is over his head as a Head Coach then what does that say about every coach in the NFL not named Bill Belichick who hasn't been able to take his team to multiple Super Bowls since 2007? Plenty of coaches have inherited strong rosters and failed to do much with them, Mike Tomlin has taken teams to the Super Bowl twice in 5 seasons. It takes a good manager of talent, personalities, emotion, in-game decisions and strategy to do accomplish that especially in a parity type league. It could be worse, the Steelers could be an annually hyped team like the Baltimore Ravens whose coach cannot manage his players to win the important games. Mike Tomlin wins when it matters most and if we can squeak out a win against a crappy Cleveland team, Mike Tomlin will have his team prepared to beat the better talent and win the games that matter most
That was very well put. There was no physical reason why the Steelers lost those games this year to lesser opponents because they still had better talent on the field. Do the Steelers think they are going to win simply because they are the Pittsburgh Steelers? Do they not think they are going to get those teams best shot? A champion prepares for every game like they are going to be playing the defending Super Bowl champions, like every game is for the title. When the Steelers start taking that approach, they will start dominating again.
Tomlin also seems to need to have a contingency for the worst possible scenario, which I imagine has been the 2012 season with all the injuries. The next man up sounds good in theory, but it isn't realistic ina season like this one. You have to know what you backups are truly capable of and scheme/prepare accordingly. Maybe if they got their younger players more game/practice time they would be more prepared to step in and take over for injured starters, something Belichik is good at. It's time for Tomlin to adapt and evolve as a head coach because this season has exposed his weaknesses.
Originally Posted by hobarthogrider
This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. ://" onclick="kh99_iqts_show('271355_1'); return false;">Show Quote I still feel that the biggest responsibility of a pro is to be prepared.If you can't get yourself up to perform at a high level in this league,pack your bags,there's someone in the wings who can.But,having said that,motivation is also the head coaches primary responsibility.So,maybe some of these guys need to get motivated,someway,somehow.And I know the head coach had better ensure that happens-it's what he gets paid for-or fired for. The problem with this is that it's not always that easy. There's tons of things that we all love to do but we don't it with the same energy and excitement every time. Like you said, thats where the HC comes in and needs to motivate. Needs to assume that every player there needs that fitre in them. You don't have to do much when you face the Ravens but to face the Chargers or the Chiefs or the Raiders... those are "paycheck" games. Games that you goto because you have to but you don't put your all into it maybe because you don't think you need to, don't want to etc... Tomlin IMO has to make sure that doesn't happen. That, that attitude doesn't exist
Originally Posted by Steelreign
This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. ://" onclick="kh99_iqts_show('271356_2'); return false;">Show Quote That was very well put. There was no physical reason why the Steelers lost those games this year to lesser opponents because they still had better talent on the field. Do the Steelers think they are going to win simply because they are the Pittsburgh Steelers? Do they not think they are going to get those teams best shot? A champion prepares for every game like they are going to be playing the defending Super Bowl champions, like every game is for the title. When the Steelers start taking that approach, they will start dominating again.
Tomlin also seems to need to have a contingency for the worst possible scenario, which I imagine has been the 2012 season with all the injuries. The next man up sounds good in theory, but it isn't realistic ina season like this one. You have to know what you backups are truly capable of and scheme/prepare accordingly. Maybe if they got their younger players more game/practice time they would be more prepared to step in and take over for injured starters, something Belichik is good at. It's time for Tomlin to adapt and evolve as a head coach because this season has exposed his weaknesses. Ryan Clark recently said something that I think works in the opposite, he said that "the fans feel entitled"... but the truth is, the players feel just as entitled. they feel like crappy teams are supposed to just drop at their feet, hand them the game. This is the way it looks after the performances against all of these bad teams.
the positive is that outside of the Browns, the Steelers face stiff competition the rest of the season and barring a matchup against the Broncos in Denver, the Steelers have a great chance at succeeding pretty far. I wish they would play the same that they do against the Giants, redskins, Bengals and Ravens when they face the Browns, Chargers, Raiders and Titans.
The only positive for the final season matchup against the Browns is that we might not need to win it. Beating the Bengals and Cowboys, we would be 1.5 games ahead of the Bengals and ahead of the Jets (provided they win out) since we won the head to head. (head to head is the first tie breaker outside of the division). 9-7 Steelers could make it to the Playoffs and I'm not positive but I don't recall any 9-7 teams ever Winning a Super Bowl. I know they've made it there (2008 Cardinals were one).
so... a lot of optimism
I think I would have characterised the fan feeling as one of expectation. Each year, we expect our team to be there competing in the play-off, though we know full well it's not a given.
When our expectations are foiled or jeopardised, we get a bit stroppy and Mike Wallace found that pointed directly at him yesterday.
Originally Posted by Kipper
This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. ://" onclick="kh99_iqts_show('271582_1'); return false;">Show Quote Ryan Clark recently said something that I think works in the opposite, he said that "the fans feel entitled"... but the truth is, the players feel just as entitled. they feel like crappy teams are supposed to just drop at their feet, hand them the game. This is the way it looks after the performances against all of these bad teams.
the positive is that outside of the Browns, the Steelers face stiff competition the rest of the season and barring a matchup against the Broncos in Denver, the Steelers have a great chance at succeeding pretty far. I wish they would play the same that they do against the Giants, redskins, Bengals and Ravens when they face the Browns, Chargers, Raiders and Titans.
The only positive for the final season matchup against the Browns is that we might not need to win it. Beating the Bengals and Cowboys, we would be 1.5 games ahead of the Bengals and ahead of the Jets (provided they win out) since we won the head to head. (head to head is the first tie breaker outside of the division). 9-7 Steelers could make it to the Playoffs and I'm not positive but I don't recall any 9-7 teams ever Winning a Super Bowl. I know they've made it there (2008 Cardinals were one).
so... a lot of optimism I can have a lot of optimism... or not!
The remainder of our schedule is must win, IMHO. And where does Clarkie get off telling us that we are entitled? **** you, Clarkie... how's that? As a member of the vastness that is the Steeler Nation, as well as one who just happens to live in a town filled with people who are openly resentful and hostile to the Steelers, you can bet your *** I'm entitled to see my team beat another that they know, deep down, that they should be able to beat. Having to defend the 2012 Steelers, whilst living in Cleveland, has been a chore, to say the least.
I know in my head that we are capable of flattening each of the last three teams on our regular season schedule. But, in my heart, something tells me that this team has already given up, in certain instances, and that far too many players are already mailing the rest of the season in.
8 turnovers v. the Browns? Mailing it in!
Letting bad teams hang in the game too long, instead of making key plays to eliminate doubt? Mailing it in!
Allowing a team with a lame duck HC to run the **** over you AT HOME! Mailing... IT... IN!!!
I don't need to belabor the point. But time and again this season, even with all the injuries, the guys out there have shown an overwhelming tendency to simply not give a **** or to make ****ing excuses for their poor play. Fortunately, when the off-season does come, many of those players will be shown the door, asked to never again have the honor that comes with adorning themselves in Black and Gold Sunday after Sunday.
I, for one, await this off-season with the anticipation of the unexpected, because I feel as if much of the disaster that this season has become will come to light the in ways we cannot even fathom right now.
Originally Posted by War Machine
This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. ://" onclick="kh99_iqts_show('271583_1'); return false;">Show Quote I think I would have characterised the fan feeling as one of expectation. Each year, we expect our team to be there competing in the play-off, though we know full well it's not a given.
When our expectations are foiled or jeopardised, we get a bit stroppy and Mike Wallace found that pointed directly at him yesterday. Be of good cheer, my friend! Mr. Wallace is but one of the aforementioned who will never again wear the Black and Gold after this season. That fortune awaits Mr. Mendenhall, as well!
Originally Posted by Kipper
This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. ://" onclick="kh99_iqts_show('271596_1'); return false;">Show Quote Ryan Clark recently said something that I think works in the opposite, he said that "the fans feel entitled"... but the truth is, the players feel just as entitled. they feel like crappy teams are supposed to just drop at their feet, hand them the game. This is the way it looks after the performances against all of these bad teams. Boy I agree with this sentiment. Reminiscent of 2009 and eerily reminiscent of 2003 where Porter Kept saying, "WE ARE A GOOD TEAM". Well last week the team played like a bunch of TRASH EATING STINK BAGS.
I think Tomlin is getting worse rather than better. I wanted to say that with just reading the title of this thread and not any of the post yet. Getting worse is my shooting from the hip reaction of Tomlin and now, I'll read through the postings and see if I'm too rough on Tomlin.
And before I read the other comments I want to say this. The more Tomlin puts his thumb on things, the more it goes away from our Steeler identity. the run game isn't there. The defense is not what it used tobe despite the number one status. I ask myself is it injuries, age of the players, the Goodell system ?
1. Everyone has to play the Goodell way
2. Everyone has injuries
3. All players age and move on.
Is Tomlin doing all that he can with the above mentioned or is it out of his hands and Colbert does it all ?
The things I'll spew just to get my posting up to 2000 and then I can be somebody around here.
