2023 Steelers Season Thread

[tommy156]

Originally Posted by Smarty1

Agreed on having someone monitor for challenges. That was my main point - it should NOT be on Tomlin to look at the Jumbotron, rely on what he did or did not see live, or just listen to the players, or whatever the heck they are doing now. You can’t tell me that they are at the mercy of the stadium Jumbotron operators. Nobody On the team payroll has a freakin IPad or other device that they can use to stream the broadcast? Nobody on the team is videoing the game themselves for future study? Somebody associated with the team must certainly have access to video replays shortly after they occur. That somebody should be in charge of notifying Tomlin as to whether or not a challenge is warranted.

Again, whether or not the casual fan would have known to challenge this particular play is irrelevant. The call was blown, and it should have been challenged. This is a professional football team - it is the job of the head coach and anyone else tasked with reviewing calls to know the rules and recognize when a challenge should be made. The Steelers record regarding replay challenges during the Tomlin era is undeniably god awful. If there is someone who is advising Tomlin on challenges, then he needs to follow Canada out the door. If there isn’t then either it is because Tomlin has too big an ego to actually delegate that responsibility to someone else and actually listen to them or the Rooneys are extraordinarily cheap and refuse to hire someone for the job. Either one is pretty shameful IMO.

It really is not that difficult, as the Penguins prove year in and year out. You have someone whose only job is to review replays of game action and notify the coach when there is some reason to challenge a call. The coach can just put the challenge decisions out of mind and focus on other game planning and strategic decisions, relying on the video review person for challenge decisions. If I’m watching a Pens game and they challenge a call, I am very confident that they will win the challenge - they almost always do. I have no such confidence with the Steelers.

I agree to a large extent. Are we sure the NFL allows for such a position in the booth (someone whose sole responsibility is to check for challenges)? Honest question.

[tommy156]

Originally Posted by Iceman

If Johnson does his job and holds on to the ball it never needs challenging. If Warren doesn't fumble on the next play and the Steelers still score, it's a minor point.

Johnson standing around doing nothing on the fumble play is inexcusable. He didn't block his man, he didn't try to recover the ball, and he didn't try to make a tackle. I hope he's traded or cut this offseason.

As for the coaching staff, the Steelers have one of the smallest and least costly staffs. That is on Rooney.

This is also true. They won a divisional game on the road, and this is the thanks they get lol.

I think this issue is mainly nitpicking/looking for a reason to blame coaches for the shortcomings of players.

[Charley3]

Chicago ran Chase Claypool out of town for almost the exact same thing. This is also far from being Diantae’s first problem. He’s high maintenance and not good enough to be high maintenance.
Pretty sure his contract is done after this year so see ya.

[tommy156]

Diontae is signed through 2024, unfortunately

[Smarty1]

Originally Posted by tommy156

This is also true. They won a divisional game on the road, and this is the thanks they get lol.

I think this issue is mainly nitpicking/looking for a reason to blame coaches for the shortcomings of players.

I certainly agree as well … Johnson could have made it all moot by simply holding on to the damn ball (and pouting and standing around and doing absolutely nothing on the subsequent play didn’t exactly make him look any better either). However the fact that they won does not mean they should get a free pass for obvious mistakes, especially when such mistakes are correctable going forward. It isn’t just nitpicking. Had the game gone differently, a missed opportunity to score a TD could very well have been the difference between a win and a loss. It was unlikely, but suppose Cindy had recovered that onside kick at the end and drove for a winning TD - would you still think discussion about the missed opportunity to challenge and get a TD is nitpicking?

This has nothing to do with blaming coaches for the shortcomings of players. Johnson screwed up; he should have held on to the damn ball. Tomlin though had an opportunity to mitigate Johnson’s screw up, but he failed to do so. Why are we trying to absolve Tomlin for the blame for that? (Or if Tomlin wants to hire a replay review assistant but ownership won’t allow it, why are we absolving the Rooneys?)

[Smarty1]

Originally Posted by tommy156

I agree to a large extent. Are we sure the NFL allows for such a position in the booth (someone whose sole responsibility is to check for challenges)? Honest question.

That is a fair point, but AFAIK there are no league rules regarding who NFL teams can hire to their coaching staffs or what jobs can be assigned to those coaches. I may be wrong, but I can’t see any reason a team would not be permitted to employ a video review person.

While I’m on the soapbox, if I were in charge of an NFL team, I think I would also give very serious consideration to hiring a coach specifically for clock management and analytics decisions (things like when to go for it on 4th downs, go for 2 pt conversions and suchlike). This is almost always the sole province of the head coach and (not singling out Tomlin or any other particular coach) I often see these decisions botched pretty badly. I truly think the biggest obstacle is that NFL head coaches tend to have big egos and want to be solely in charge of such things as clock management and replay decisions (and again I’m not singling out Tomlin or any other head coach).

[Charley3]

Originally Posted by tommy156

Diontae is signed through 2024, unfortunately

That’s a shame.

Hopefully they can use him as trade bait after the season. Maybe move up in the draft to grab a QB.

If the Rooneys are in fact being cheap about assistant coaches then that is inexcusable and needs called out by the local media.

[Chase7]

If Cincy had run that fumble back more than likely Steelers would have lost. Would it then be a big deal.
The rest of the “Team” not Johnson saved the win.

How about this. What if everyone else on the team pouted like so many wide receivers. I’m thinking isn’t it usually the wide receivers doing this.
Does the rest of the team have anything to do with Johnson being able to make 1 million a game.
Would be be nice if Cam Heyward would jump his ass. Johnson may cry even more, he’s being picked on, poor me.

[Charley3]

Well….I was at that shit show, and a couple takes:
Our line is and has been horrible for years.
Our center hasn’t been able to snap the freaking ball for years.
We have to lead the league in presnap penalties!!
4th and goal at the one and we run shotgun.
Our skill position guys are overrated.
Our defense didn’t really show up today.
After the first lightning delay, Arizona came out and warmed up, we ran around separately a little then kind of goofed around. No wonder we have so many damned pulled muscles!!

To use a Tomlin phrase, Mike Tomlin is not on his details!

[Chase7]

-Kenny has a bad ankle we have him try to run for the TD, really, injures I believe his other ankle so bad he’s out of game
- Please give up on Trubisky
- Tomlin said Trubisky will start Thursday
- To me the penalties had a major part in losing the game. Undisciplined also unprepared

[chizzy]

put mason in, much stronger arm. trubisky sucks

[Salty Again]

... "Undisciplined and Unprepared" - the perfect phrase
to describe the season to this point.

And last year's season... and the one before that, and so on!

#### Salty

[Charley3]

Tommy….where ya at? You get your wish here, Mitch will be starting probably 3-4 games. I hope you’re right about him, but I don’t see it at all.

[tommy156]

Originally Posted by Charley3

Tommy….where ya at? You get your wish here, Mitch will be starting probably 3-4 games. I hope you’re right about him, but I don’t see it at all.

I never wished for KP to get hurt, but wanted Trubisky to at least get a proper chance after getting unfairly railroaded last year, and now it appears he'll have one. Important to note that he won his most recent start (last year vs. Carolina). I never said he was the answer either, just the best hope we have on the team right now.

It's painfully clear that Kenny ain't the guy. He's had 2 TD passes over the last 8 games. That's only 2 more than I have and I don't even fucking play football. He's a dud. Trubisky already has 1 in 2 quarters. Make sure to snap the ball into his hands (looking at you, Mason Cole) and the offense is instantly better.

[flows-with-water]

I believe Tomlin has run his course here. Kenny P will probably be QB 1 next year but probably not the following. Rooney should have on the quiet some consultants searching for the next head. They are on the precipice of the abyss.