it will be really interesting

[sowhat]

to see how coaching makes a difference.
this team (talent wise) probably isn’t much better than last year.and it could be much worse at the most important position (qb).
i’m excited to see just how much mediocrity was all mikey.

[Steelafan77]

Well on paper they are better.

Pittman already better WR2 than anything we had.

Secondary gets a huge boost in Brisker and Dean.

Running game will be more potent and require defenses to pay attention to it.

Now if we can get competition at LG and solidify LT the OLine could be better as well.

I do agree with you it will be interesting going forward as there are still moves that can be made.

Still have the draft process to see through and of course what are we doing with QB?

[sowhat]

Well on paper they are better.

Pittman already better WR2 than anything we had.

Secondary gets a huge boost in Brisker and Dean.

Running game will be more potent and require defenses to pay attention to it.

Now if we can get competition at LG and solidify LT the OLine could be better as well.

I do agree with you it will be interesting going forward as there are still moves that can be made.

Still have the draft process to see through and of course what are we doing with QB?

i agree that wr and secondary should be an improvement. i think rb is a wash right now.
our oline is worse at the moment.
i’d like to see an offensive lineman signed. a starter tho, not a scrub back up.
qb is definitely going to be a down grade even if AR comes back.

[.Kodiak]

Well on paper they are better.

Hindsight. Squad last year was expected to win a playoff game, at least. But after Tomlin got done doing his thing, the narrative made it's annual change to "Tomlin overachieving with a shitty roster".

If Mike McCarthy swings and misses, then they'll win maybe 7-8 games and LOOK worse than last year. But that's sort of how it works - when you strive to be more than mediocre, sometimes you fail massively. But if McCarthy instead pushes the right buttons, then it's going to look like the team was way more talented than last year.

They've added guys on the margin, like they do every year. Rodgers wasn't anything special last year. Ostensibly still the same team. That's what is exciting about this year - for good or bad, COACHING this year could produce a different outcome than the playoff shellackings we've come to expect. Regardless, I have a feeling at least a couple of "jags" might suddenly look like players under McCarthy...

[lifelongsteel]

Tomlin had a way of winning specific types of games at a very high rate, which allowed the Steelers to win more than they should based on what their D and O indicate. He consistently made the steelers more successful than the sum of their parts. He's the ultimate high floor low ceiling coach.

I expect that both the offense and defense will look better and be statistically better with McCarthy. Curious to see if it results in more wins, better playoff success, etc.

[.Kodiak]

He consistently made the steelers more successful than the sum of their parts. He's the ultimate high floor low ceiling coach.

No, coaching to a "high floor" is the exact opposite of the sum being greater than its parts. To outperform the talent, you have to maximize potential. That's not what Tomlin does taking risk out of the equation. Minimizing failure is NOT getting more for less.

[Steelafan77]

I much rather have Dean than Pierre….. no second thoughts.

Brisker was one of my wants this off season. Glad that came to fruition.

Losing Gainwell was anticipated and of all the backs available Dowdle I believe is the best fit. Where does that leave Johnson?

LG was already a problematic position even with Seumalo being injury prone and long in the tooth. F/A could be a hidden gem still.

Ramsey played a decent role last season but let’s agree he’s no safety. Boundary he got his ass handed to him. Keep him in his rover role.

Signed a real safety. Albeit a head injury prone safety. Nonetheless a better safety than what is on the current roster. And I like Elliott.

The biggest issue for the defense is stopping the run. They struggled last season but not as bad as the season before.

Queen needs replacement with a F/A and/or a draftee and Dline needs a True Nose Tackle.

Benton is better suited as a 5 tech IMO, not at NT and Black is a WIP [work in progress] Black isn’t a true nose either, IMO.

Think they’re trending in the right direction. Draft will tell us even more.

Dean wearing 35
Dowdle wearing 13
Pittman wearing 11

[shellwagnerblount]

I much rather have Dean than Pierre….. no second thoughts.

Brisker was one of my wants this off season. Glad that came to fruition.

Losing Gainwell was anticipated and of all the backs available Dowdle I believe is the best fit. Where does that leave Johnson?

LG was already a problematic position even with Seumalo being injury prone and long in the tooth. F/A could be a hidden gem still.

Ramsey played a decent role last season but let’s agree he’s no safety. Boundary he got his ass handed to him. Keep him in his rover role.

Signed a real safety. Albeit a head injury prone safety. Nonetheless a better safety than what is on the current roster. And I like Elliott.

The biggest issue for the defense is stopping the run. They struggled last season but not as bad as the season before.

Queen needs replacement with a F/A and/or a draftee and Dline needs a True Nose Tackle.

Benton is better suited as a 5 tech IMO, not at NT and Black is a WIP [work in progress] Black isn’t a true nose either, IMO.

Think they’re trending in the right direction. Draft will tell us even more.

Dean wearing 35
Dowdle wearing 13
Pittman wearing 11

Very nice summation...this feels like a fresh start and it's invigorating..I would rather have had one of the younger coaches who were available but then again, we don't really have our future QB on the roster. Maybe we have a transition coach who will get us set up for the next era of Steeler football. Losing Tomlin is the biggest win of the season ...

[Charles Demarr]

I much rather have Dean than Pierre….. no second thoughts.

Brisker was one of my wants this off season. Glad that came to fruition.

Losing Gainwell was anticipated and of all the backs available Dowdle I believe is the best fit. Where does that leave Johnson?

LG was already a problematic position even with Seumalo being injury prone and long in the tooth. F/A could be a hidden gem still.

Ramsey played a decent role last season but let’s agree he’s no safety. Boundary he got his ass handed to him. Keep him in his rover role.

Signed a real safety. Albeit a head injury prone safety. Nonetheless a better safety than what is on the current roster. And I like Elliott.

The biggest issue for the defense is stopping the run. They struggled last season but not as bad as the season before.

Queen needs replacement with a F/A and/or a draftee and Dline needs a True Nose Tackle.

Benton is better suited as a 5 tech IMO, not at NT and Black is a WIP [work in progress] Black isn’t a true nose either, IMO.

Think they’re trending in the right direction. Draft will tell us even more.

Dean wearing 35
Dowdle wearing 13
Pittman wearing 11

Good stuff 77…agree, the roster is better and more FAs will be brought in (Teller or Bitonio?). 12 draft picks too. This team has driven me crazy for years and I’m actually a bit excited right now.

[anpsteel]

Tomlin had a way of winning specific types of games at a very high rate, which allowed the Steelers to win more than they should based on what their D and O indicate. He consistently made the steelers more successful than the sum of their parts. He's the ultimate high floor low ceiling coach.

I expect that both the offense and defense will look better and be statistically better with McCarthy. Curious to see if it results in more wins, better playoff success, etc.

Tomlin coached not to lose, and frequently lost games they should win, because of that mentality. Particularly once Ben was no longer there to bail him out


I have no idea how McCarthy is going to do, but not going into turtle mode at the opening kick off should be a significant improvement on its own

[Steelafan77]

They just signed a nose Joseph-Day two year deal. See what’s left in the tank….

[lifelongsteel]

Tomlin had a way of winning specific types of games at a very high rate, which allowed the Steelers to win more than they should based on what their D and O indicate. He consistently made the steelers more successful than the sum of their parts. He's the ultimate high floor low ceiling coach.

I expect that both the offense and defense will look better and be statistically better with McCarthy. Curious to see if it results in more wins, better playoff success, etc.

Tomlin coached not to lose, and frequently lost games they should win, because of that mentality. Particularly once Ben was no longer there to bail him out


I have no idea how McCarthy is going to do, but not going into turtle mode at the opening kick off should be a significant improvement on its own

It's going to be fun to watch this play out in real time. Tomlin won more then he should of in the last 5 years and less then he should have the previous 5 years. Tomlin consistently made the playoffs with non playoff rosters. I'm happy he's gone. But don't be surprised if they win 6 games with McCarthy instead of the 9-10 they would win with Tomlin. On the flip side they have a much better opportunity to win 11+ and the elusive playoff game.

[Steelperch]

They just signed a nose Joseph-Day two year deal. See what’s left in the tank….

They have aggressively attacked defense in free agency which makes me think

1. McCarthy wants to build his offense from scratch using the draft and all of the picks they have
Or
2. They plan to move up to make sure they get a QB (Simpson) in this draft and will fill out the offense around him with draft picks.

Who knows. Regardless they are pretty well set to go BPA in the draft.

[Steelafan77]

I hope there is at least one more F/A signing….

Spencer Anderson at LG is not how we should be going into the season.

[.Kodiak]

Tomlin consistently made the playoffs with non playoff rosters.

Maybe once. It just looked that way because no one did less with more.

Again, if you look at expectations and preseason hype - the team consistently underperformed. It was only after disappointing season after disappointing season the apologists enter "it wasn't a playoff roster" after the fact.

Tomlin had Ben for like 15 of his 20 years. That's 15+ years he had a playoff roster, but he only made the playoffs like 10 times.

Those rosters all look a lot better with good coaching, development and scheming. Mediocre talent is the result of mediocre coaching. That's an absolute certainty. And I'm not even talking about Tomlin's role in building those rosters.

[sowhat]

Tomlin had a way of winning specific types of games at a very high rate, which allowed the Steelers to win more than they should based on what their D and O indicate. He consistently made the steelers more successful than the sum of their parts. He's the ultimate high floor low ceiling coach.

I expect that both the offense and defense will look better and be statistically better with McCarthy. Curious to see if it results in more wins, better playoff success, etc.

totally disagree.
i think he did less with more.
in a division with the stains and bungles is pretty much 3 wins every year. split with the ravens gives him 4 wins.