Game thoughts

[tbsteel]

*Interesting that Mitch Trubisky was voted a team captain, because he plays like an absolute coward. Constantly backpedaling, inconsistent mechanics, and if his first read isn't there he panics and loses all poise entirely.

*In the least shocking news ever: jet sweeps and RPOs haven't revolutionized offensive football. Canada won't be our OC this time next year.

*Another Sunday of Najee being hesitant, missing holes and obvious cutbacks, and being slow as shit. The first carry was a classic Najee play that sums up why this dude ain't it. He doesn't make anyone around him better and does nothing to change games. Absolutely one of the most overrated players in the NFL who is closer to Trent Richardson than he is a good RB. I will continue to pound the drum until the day he's no longer our starting RB.

*Feel bad for the D. So much pressure on them every week, and that Gunner fumble really screwed them over.

*Hey Mitch, you sure you feel okay? Is that a sniffle I detect? You might be sick. Take your time resting up and please don't rush back out there. Take all the time you need.... but seriously, any excuse we can come up with for him to sit works for me. The o-line has been fine. Let's throw Kenny out into the deep end, see if he can swim, and know what we need for next season because either way this team ain't doing much this season.

[Orangesteel]

5 star poast.

[alancac98]

I'm not sure throwing Pickett out there with the worthless as shit OC calling and designing a POS offence is going to do anything. Pickett is just starting out and may not have the balls to look at the sideline and say fuck you and do his own thing. Ben drew plays in the dirt to pull many a game out last year, but Pickett doesn't have that kind of experience with NFL defenses to do that successfully. Until Canada is removed, this offence is going be stuck in stinky swamp muck that will be the downfall of the Steelers this year. Mickey T will finally have his losing season and it will be an embarrassing one!

[Orangesteel]

I'm not sure throwing Pickett out there with the worthless as shit OC calling and designing a POS offence is going to do anything. Pickett is just starting out and may not have the balls to look at the sideline and say fuck you and do his own thing. Ben drew plays in the dirt to pull many a game out last year, but Pickett doesn't have that kind of experience with NFL defenses to do that successfully. Until Canada is removed, this offence is going be stuck in stinky swamp muck that will be the downfall of the Steelers this year. Mickey T will finally have his losing season and it will be an embarrassing one!

But you need to put Pickett in when the bullets are flying to see if he has the “it” factor; why wait any longer for that?

Mitch most certainly does not have it.

Mitch is currently taking snaps away from Pickett and we need to see how Pickett looks against starter and backup talent.

Do it already. Sorry Mitch; it ain’t gonna work out.

[steelmann58]

If Matt gets fired the biggest question how fast will another team pick him up in the NFL or for that matter College.

[Steelperch]

QB
Mitch’s mechanics suck and he does play scared. Scared to take a chance, scared to turn the ball over, scared to take a hit. Every throw is off his back foot because he wants to release the ball to eliminate any chance he gets hit, at the cost of driving the ball to the receiver.

As mediocre and uninspiring as Mitch is, no QB could succeed under the design and play calling of this offense. Ben did next to nothing last year in the structure of the offense. When he went off script he looked like prime Ben. Mitch doesn’t have that ability. It’s painfully obvious the coordination of the offense and play calling sucks. It’s sucked last year and nothing changed with this new athletic QB. Canada is a bum. Tomlin doesn’t know offense. He’s too dense to hire for his weakness. We’ve got 3 very good defensive minds on the staff and absolutely none on offense. Rooney needs to step in and force a hire to take over the offense.

As much as we all would rather see Pickett, does it make sense to pollute his career with a season under abject failure of play calling and offensive design?

Gunner
Belichick gave up on Olszewski because he is a fumbler. Attrition football and a high turnover offensive player doesn’t mix. If Olszewski and Dionte Johnson turn the ball over like they have shown they are prone to, this team doesn’t have the ability to overcome their errors. At any rate chalk this one up to Belichick outsmarting the Steelers again.

Whipping boy
Terrell Edmunds has played well through two weeks. Somebody needs to point that out. Devin Bush hasn’t made many plays, but he hasn’t been awful which is a big improvement. Spillane has taken a step back from last year.


Steelers Super Bowl
This season isn’t going anywhere, we all know it. The only goal is winning a “Steelers Super Bowl” (9 win season). Long term, the AFC North looks up for grabs if we can get the offense figured out. Burrow is going to die at some point. Hats off to that guy. He’s been put in awful situations in Cincy and never blinked. Getting sacked 6 times a week will catch up with him sooner or later. Ravens defense looks bad on the back end again and Lamar Jackson hasn’t shown he can lead a team with his arm. Browns are the Browns. If the Steelers get the OC right, piece together a better O line and Pickett is a player, they could be back on top of the division as soon as next year.

[tbsteel]

That's at least giving me hope, SP.

I feel confident in that a) we'll miss the playoffs and b) that Canada will be run out of town before next year.

Best case scenario is Trubisky bottoms out, Pickett is actually good but we still manage to lose more than we win, and they spend the offseason doing what the Bengals tried to do this past season: rebuild the o-line. I'd love to see Omar Khan make his stamp with trading down a time or two into the back end of the first round and nabbing a couple of extra top 100 picks to try and inject this team with some good depth, which is sorely lacking now.

[Stosh-67]

Have the Steelers ever had a team captain that never played a down for the team.
I believe the players vote on that.
How did they vote Mitch team captain. Or offensive captain, when he never lead them in battle, shared sweat, mud and blood? Shared victory or regrouped from a loss.

Won't it be that much harder to remove a captain from a starting spot? Will it not weigh in the decision making?

I do think the OL has played better than we had projected a few weeks ago.
Less penalties today from that group.
Less blown assignments.
Another week to gel.

They still lack the run block drive and nastiness...
But maybe it will come with repetition, trust and success.

It's a short week....
I think by week 4....
Kenny is a go.

[franco32]

I'm no Matt Canada fan, but right now I'm putting about 75% of the blame on Mitch. We can't make excuses for him.

1. We know his mechanics suck. He's throwing off the back foot way too often and sometimes he gets away with it because he's got a pretty strong arm. But oftentimes it leads to inaccuracy like the Najee wheel route.

2. I saw Mitch completely ignore open receivers today quite a bit. And, that's why I'm not blaming all of this on Canada. Let's take the famous 3rd and 8 on the second to last drive. The reason we are in that hole is because Mitch missed a back shoulder throw to Pickens by about 5 YARDS. Horrific. Then on 3rd and 8 someone earlier mentioned he had no choice but to dump it to Najee because of pressure. BULLSHIT. Mitch had Muth running wide open for an easy first down in the middle of the field. Instead, he sensed a bit of pressure and immediately just dumped it. Pathetic.

3. Mitch is playing scared. He's not stepping up in the pocket at all and instead bailing towards pressure off his back foot. He can't hang in and step into a throw to save his life.

So, in short, he's not seeing the field well, his mechanics and accuracy are poor, and he's playing scared. THIS IS CLEAR AS DAY TO ANYONE BUT MIKE TOMLIN.

[steelmann58]

I am not sure if this team OL is ever going to be nasty. Tomlin must hire a quality OC

[Orangesteel]

Hard to argue with any of that Franco and SP. The common theme here is fear; you cannot be a good/very good QB in this league playing scared. Mitch is totally scared because he probably feels like this is last legitimate shot to play football for a living.

On theme, that is a scary thought for anyone, really. Dude was taken 2nd overall in front of a really good QB (Watson) and a sure shot HoF (Mahomes); Watson rapes women and he gets 260MM guaranteed; Mahomes will be playing in the NFL for the next 15-17 years making boat loads of cash.

So while I get the Canada/Tomlin scheme is so vanilla and designed to give your defense the chance to win games, Mitch is probably thinking “just don’t royally fuck up” and it might prolong his career.

It might in PGH; everywhere else he’s toast. I say he gets one more singular chance in Cleveland to wow us; one last shot.

Otherwise the Pickett show it is; and it will be ugly and we will deal with it, but we will at least get a good idea of the size of the kid’s balls.

[Louis Lipps Service]

My reasoning for putting Pickett in immediately:


We have the following guys on cheap rookie deals that will expire in 2-4 years:

Claypool
Pickens
Harris
Friermuth

And we have Diontae for 2 more years.

And Heyward, Watt, and Minkah signed for another few years.

Why wouldn’t you put Pickett in now to get work with those guys and have your Franchise QB developed before you lose more or all of those guys?

Use this as a learning year, use damn near every draft pick on offensive line and/or free agent signings and hopefully have a championship caliber team in a year or two.

[sinceiwas4]

QB
Mitch’s mechanics suck and he does play scared. Scared to take a chance, scared to turn the ball over, scared to take a hit. Every throw is off his back foot because he wants to release the ball to eliminate any chance he gets hit, at the cost of driving the ball to the receiver.

As mediocre and uninspiring as Mitch is, no QB could succeed under the design and play calling of this offense. Ben did next to nothing last year in the structure of the offense. When he went off script he looked like prime Ben. Mitch doesn’t have that ability. It’s painfully obvious the coordination of the offense and play calling sucks. It’s sucked last year and nothing changed with this new athletic QB. Canada is a bum. Tomlin doesn’t know offense. He’s too dense to hire for his weakness. We’ve got 3 very good defensive minds on the staff and absolutely none on offense. Rooney needs to step in and force a hire to take over the offense.

As much as we all would rather see Pickett, does it make sense to pollute his career with a season under abject failure of play calling and offensive design?

Gunner
Belichick gave up on Olszewski because he is a fumbler. Attrition football and a high turnover offensive player doesn’t mix. If Olszewski and Dionte Johnson turn the ball over like they have shown they are prone to, this team doesn’t have the ability to overcome their errors. At any rate chalk this one up to Belichick outsmarting the Steelers again.

Whipping boy
Terrell Edmunds has played well through two weeks. Somebody needs to point that out. Devin Bush hasn’t made many plays, but he hasn’t been awful which is a big improvement. Spillane has taken a step back from last year.


Steelers Super Bowl
This season isn’t going anywhere, we all know it. The only goal is winning a “Steelers Super Bowl” (9 win season). Long term, the AFC North looks up for grabs if we can get the offense figured out. Burrow is going to die at some point. Hats off to that guy. He’s been put in awful situations in Cincy and never blinked. Getting sacked 6 times a week will catch up with him sooner or later. Ravens defense looks bad on the back end again and Lamar Jackson hasn’t shown he can lead a team with his arm. Browns are the Browns. If the Steelers get the OC right, piece together a better O line and Pickett is a player, they could be back on top of the division as soon as next year.

this.

[Stallworth16]

It’s time to start Kenny. Because it’s clear now that Mitch is not the future starter. But we need to start Kenny’s regular season learning curve now, week 3 against the Browns.

And hopefully Kenny will pay dividends right away. But he needs the opportunity. And it’s going to be tough with this offensive line. But it’s time to take that risk. Kenny isn’t a raw 20 year old, he’s an experienced 24 year old. He is not a typical rookie QB.

As far as Mitch, he’s a good guy, and probably a decent backup QB. But honestly, I would put Mason at #2 behind Kenny.

But will they actually start Kenny against the Browns? No they will probably start Mitch.

[steelmann58]

mitch is scared to make mistakes and looking to get the ball out but the play calling still stinks.

[El Kabong]

It’s time to start Kenny. Because it’s clear now that Mitch is not the future starter. But we need to start Kenny’s regular season learning curve now, week 3 against the Browns.

And hopefully Kenny will pay dividends right away. But he needs the opportunity. And it’s going to be tough with this offensive line. But it’s time to take that risk. Kenny isn’t a raw 20 year old, he’s an experienced 24 year old. He is not a typical rookie QB.

As far as Mitch, he’s a good guy, and probably a decent backup QB. But honestly, I would put Mason at #2 behind Kenny.

But will they actually start Kenny against the Browns? No they will probably start Mitch.

It's a short week. It might be tough to get Kenny ready for the Browns. Now the Jets on the other hand...

[Mick]

Lamar jackson is actually playing well this year; everyone else is trash. Issue for them is more (1) he’s a FA after this season and (2) if he’s using his legs, how often does he make it past week 10?

[steelmann58]

I not sure what qb will do well under this offense play calling

[Kodiak.]

I can't wait to see what junior high clown Tomlin digs up to replace Canada next year.

[steelmann58]

Art has to grow a pair of nuts and force him to hire a New OC even if you have to go down to the college ranks.

[Orangesteel]

We are apparently a world class professional sports organization where legitimate coaching talent should be lining up around the block to be a part of…

But nope. As long as you are from Virginia or you knew a guy who bunked with a dude that coached at Memphis, there is a place for you in the Steelers coaching tree. Just awesome.

[steelmann58]

Nice you think we would hire a quality guy for this offense

[RemoAZ]

Nice you think we would hire a quality guy for this offense

Especially the most secure HC in the entire NFL. Why wouldn't that guy go out and get the best OC in the business and turn him loose? Makes zero sense. We should have someone like a former HC that's a great OC that will be here the next 5 years until the right team forgets he sucks as a HC and gives him another shot.

[SteelerDayTrader]

Have the Steelers ever had a team captain that never played a down for the team.
I believe the players vote on that.
How did they vote Mitch team captain. Or offensive captain, when he never lead them in battle, shared sweat, mud and blood? Shared victory or regrouped from a loss.

Won't it be that much harder to remove a captain from a starting spot? Will it not weigh in the decision making?

I do think the OL has played better than we had projected a few weeks ago.
Less penalties today from that group.
Less blown assignments.
Another week to gel.

They still lack the run block drive and nastiness...
But maybe it will come with repetition, trust and success.

It's a short week....
I think by week 4....
Kenny is a go.

Most of the time I suspect the captains are decided by the vets with lockerroom cred and everyone is kinda told who to vote for or the vets kinda kangaroo court it and vote together or just decide it.

Either way everyone knows this is a business

[Jobu]

I can't wait to see what junior high clown Tomlin digs up to replace Canada next year.

Does Dino graduate soon?

[SteelerDayTrader]

Also I don’t think you can let the D off the hook to easily

They were horrible late when it mattered

[chippedhamsandwich]

Also I don’t think you can let the D off the hook to easily

They were horrible late when it mattered

Their backs have been against a wall for the past 3 years and two games.

They are gassed, waiting for the offense to help out a bit, in this NFL you have to score.

[SteelerDayTrader]

Also I don’t think you can let the D off the hook to easily

They were horrible late when it mattered

Their backs have been against a wall for the past 3 years and two games.

They are gassed, waiting for the offense to help out a bit, in this NFL you have to score.

Lolololz

Let’s stop making excuses for an underachieving unit. Championship teams step up. Losers have excuses

[Who Dee Knee]

I'm no Matt Canada fan, but right now I'm putting about 75% of the blame on Mitch. We can't make excuses for him.

1. We know his mechanics suck. He's throwing off the back foot way too often and sometimes he gets away with it because he's got a pretty strong arm. But oftentimes it leads to inaccuracy like the Najee wheel route.

2. I saw Mitch completely ignore open receivers today quite a bit. And, that's why I'm not blaming all of this on Canada. Let's take the famous 3rd and 8 on the second to last drive. The reason we are in that hole is because Mitch missed a back shoulder throw to Pickens by about 5 YARDS. Horrific. Then on 3rd and 8 someone earlier mentioned he had no choice but to dump it to Najee because of pressure. BULLSHIT. Mitch had Muth running wide open for an easy first down in the middle of the field. Instead, he sensed a bit of pressure and immediately just dumped it. Pathetic.

3. Mitch is playing scared. He's not stepping up in the pocket at all and instead bailing towards pressure off his back foot. He can't hang in and step into a throw to save his life.

So, in short, he's not seeing the field well, his mechanics and accuracy are poor, and he's playing scared. THIS IS CLEAR AS DAY TO ANYONE BUT MIKE TOMLIN.

^^^This.

Tomlin won’t be able to defend Trubisky if he has another game like the last two. And thinking that Trubisky could be better is like thinking the Pirates might salvage the last game of a three-game series against the Cardinals or Braves. It ain’t gonna happen.

Pickett needs to get ready for the Jets coming out of the mini-bye.

[Stillchest]

Also I don’t think you can let the D off the hook to easily

They were horrible late when it mattered

Their backs have been against a wall for the past 3 years and two games.

They are gassed, waiting for the offense to help out a bit, in this NFL you have to score.

Lolololz

Let’s stop making excuses for an underachieving unit. Championship teams step up. Losers have excuses

Tomlin’s precious D is highly overrated.

Too much boom or bust. Falling apart, not getting sacks when an all world player is out with an injury,, getting manhandled by a young O-line, is not what supposedly, “top defenses” do.

When your D is completely dependent on one player, that D is not a top tier NFL D.