OT: NFL

[CHIP72]

He was already playing with broken ribs too…

It will be interesting to see who exactly will start at quarterback for the Eagles in their first round playoff game against Green Bay, or even who the official backup will be in that game. There are scenarios where it could be Jalen Hurts, Kenny Pickett, OR Tanner McKee. Hurts will start if he's cleared out of concussion protocol, but he's now not been cleared for 2 1/2+ games since getting injured in Washington. Pickett could start despite the cracked ribs (as he did against Dallas), but starting a backup quarterback with cracked ribs in a playoff game is always a dicey proposition. And McKee had never taken a NFL snap in a regular season game prior to the last two weeks, though he has generally looked solid in his abbreviated action against the Cowboys and full game against the Giants.

Hopefully Hurts is cleared to play and also Pickett is in good enough health to play if necessary against the Packers.

[IUP24]

The Steelers could be irrelevant for a long time. They have no QB or reliable receivers, and they have a couple big holes on their offensive line. They’ll also likely lose Harris to free agency. Their defense lacks talent among their younger guys and their best players are aging fast. They haven’t drafted well in recent years and the huge mistake of drafting Kenny Pickett in the first round is going to haunt them for a long time. Where in the heck do you start in the draft? Ideally they could draft a receiver but I don’t know how they can without a decent QB.

Aside from personnel, for the first time I’m getting off the Mike Tomlin bus. At the end of the day, all those winning regular seasons are meaningless. He is who he is and I think he has his fingers into too much of the operation. On top of that, he has weak coordinators. Some of the offensive and defensive play calls last night were head scratchers. I’m not at all convinced Arthur Smith is the answer at OC.

The Steelers biggest mistake was not taking a clear opportunity to have a four-win season in 2019 when Ben Roethlisberger went down in Week 1 or 2. Instead, they traded a 1st round pick for Minkah Fitzpatrick, doubled down on defense in an offensive league, and went 8-8 trying to win games 13-10 with Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges. If they observed the forest through the trees, they would have realized that they could have easily had an excuse to finish bottom five in the league and draft somebody like Joe Burrow or Justin Herbert. But the Rooney's refuse to accept a year or two where they are not "in the hunt" for the playoffs.

Kenny Pickett is a huge scapegoat for the Steelers, their fans, and much of the media that has very evident disdain towards Pitt and Pat Narduzzi (it is well known I am a Pitt fan, but this has ZERO to do with that). They blame him because he's the easiest thing to blame. But he was the furthest thing from the actual problem with the Steelers. Teams miss on quarterbacks every single year. And that isn't stopping anytime soon. If you actually look around the league, there are so few "franchise" level guys. It's hard to find one. A lot of 1st round picks end up as backups or are out of football in under 5 years. A third of the starters are just recycled guys that keep bouncing around the league.

The Steelers reshuffled their entire QB room, which was supposed to fix their problem. But at the end of the day, they are still 10-7 when it's all said and done. They are spending less money on the QB room today than they did last year, and used a chunk of that saved money to lock up a tight end who has achieved league average offensive production and cannot block. They have no idea what they are doing. People screamed about Pickett, but Wilson's production the last month of the season is the same or worse in some games than Pickett's was.

Arthur Smith is mostly a front man. This is Tomlin's approach. It's his philosophy. It's his offense. Paraphrasing this some, but Tomlin said in his press conference that he wanted to change their offensive approach this game against Cincy to "keep the ball away from Burrow," by utilizing conservative, high-percentage play calls in the passing game, and leaning on their run game. I nearly spit out my beverage when I heard that. The Steelers scored 44 points against the Bengals on the road and he wanted to play a conservative football game when his team is reeling and needs to find offensive footing. At the same time, despite wanting to "keep the ball away from Burrow," he gave Burrow the football on the opening drive, and his defense looked lost as Cincy marched down the field without the ball touching the ground.

Bottom line is it is Tomlin's team. Everything about it is. He believes the rest of the league will bend to how his vision of football. He refuses to adapt to how the sport is played or by doing what is actually necessary to win.

[IUP24]

Between The Fan and DVE it was an entertaining morning commute. A month ago the Steelers had a two game lead in the division and every conceivable tiebreaker over Baltimore even if they lost the 2nd meeting. They wound up losing the division by two games. It’s actually an impressive display of ineptitude. Saturday was just an embarrassment.

It’s time for Tomlin and the Steelers to part ways. Both parties have to recognize they are spinning their wheels. Art II needs to be his own man. Dad and Granddad are gone. Heck, even Dad wouldn’t give in to Cowher’s demands and helped nudge him to CBS. Tomlin won’t have any shortage of opportunities in coaching and beyond.

The entire outfit is low rent. I like the Steelers, but I don't pretend to live and die with them, mostly because over the last decade, I've come to pretty clear grips with exactly who and what they are under Tomlin.

Here's how I mostly evaluate coaches in high level sports...

Coaches all have a plan and a game script that they want to follow. At the core, coaches want a game to follow a traditional script. But sports are disruptive. And the immediate responses in those disruptive moments separate good coaches from bad ones, and good coaches from those who are elite. The sequence at the end of the 1st half against the Bengals is exhibit A of the Steelers under Mike Tomlin.

Tomlin needed to be explained by the officials how the 10-second runoff worked in that specific situation (he did not know the rule). The traditional game script for how you would envision the half of a football game to end was thrown off, and the Steelers got thrown into chaos. They had no clue what to do. They were indecisive in the moment. They were late getting guys onto the field and they looked so unsure of themselves at every level. And here's the deal... Whether you go for it there on the 4th and 1, or if you punt... I truly don't care. But whatever you decide, you have to be sure. And that decision has to be immediate. They looked so chaotic and unprepared for the situation. And every time those types of moments pop up in a game, it's ALWAYS the same with the Steelers.

Say what you want about guys like Dan Campbell and Nick Sirianni (they are both riverboat gamblers and arguably way too aggressive). But if you watch those guys coach, they have 2-3 situations every game where things get off script and a unique situation pops up requiring an immediate decision. If you watch those teams, there is never a doubt. Their sidelines are a well oiled machine. Cohesion at every level. Coaches, players, support staff. They all know EXACTLY what to. You don't need to be an analytics nerd to be organized and have some semblance of a plan. The Steelers are so far away from that. And that ALL starts with the head coach.

[Fightingscot82]

The Bears won, but Bagent should have played yesterday. Caleb Williams ain't progressing with that line.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Between The Fan and DVE it was an entertaining morning commute. A month ago the Steelers had a two game lead in the division and every conceivable tiebreaker over Baltimore even if they lost the 2nd meeting. They wound up losing the division by two games. It’s actually an impressive display of ineptitude. Saturday was just an embarrassment.

It’s time for Tomlin and the Steelers to part ways. Both parties have to recognize they are spinning their wheels. Art II needs to be his own man. Dad and Granddad are gone. Heck, even Dad wouldn’t give in to Cowher’s demands and helped nudge him to CBS. Tomlin won’t have any shortage of opportunities in coaching and beyond.

Coaches have a shelf life. Now, he's obviously never getting fired.

They haven't won a playoff game in, what, 7-8 years now. That alone gets most canned in the NFL.

He's loaded by this point, financially. The networks would literally have a bidding war for him. I do wonder how much longer he wants to stay in the game.

Your boy, Big Sexy Double M, will be fantastic later today.

[Chuck Norris]

He's washed and they stink.

It's real simple.

That said, the total Tomlin thing to do would be win at Baltimore in Round 1 (then get blasted in Round 2).

Between The Fan and DVE it was an entertaining morning commute. A month ago the Steelers had a two game lead in the division and every conceivable tiebreaker over Baltimore even if they lost the 2nd meeting. They wound up losing the division by two games. It’s actually an impressive display of ineptitude. Saturday was just an embarrassment.

It’s time for Tomlin and the Steelers to part ways. Both parties have to recognize they are spinning their wheels. Art II needs to be his own man. Dad and Granddad are gone. Heck, even Dad wouldn’t give in to Cowher’s demands and helped nudge him to CBS. Tomlin won’t have any shortage of opportunities in coaching and beyond.

[IUPNation]

He's washed and they stink.

It's real simple.

That said, the total Tomlin thing to do would be win at Baltimore in Round 1 (then get blasted in Round 2).

Even his.didibe interview was cringy..like the dude wanted to be at the casino next door instead…

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Tomlin looked like he didn’t want to be there last night.


Kenny Pickett played with broken ribs last and threw a few TD’s before Parsons dirty hit him out of the game.

He's washed and they stink.

It's real simple.

That said, the total Tomlin thing to do would be win at Baltimore in Round 1 (then get blasted in Round 2).

[IUPNation]

The Steelers could be irrelevant for a long time. They have no QB or reliable receivers, and they have a couple big holes on their offensive line. They’ll also likely lose Harris to free agency. Their defense lacks talent among their younger guys and their best players are aging fast. They haven’t drafted well in recent years and the huge mistake of drafting Kenny Pickett in the first round is going to haunt them for a long time. Where in the heck do you start in the draft? Ideally they could draft a receiver but I don’t know how they can without a decent QB.

Aside from personnel, for the first time I’m getting off the Mike Tomlin bus. At the end of the day, all those winning regular seasons are meaningless. He is who he is and I think he has his fingers into too much of the operation. On top of that, he has weak coordinators. Some of the offensive and defensive play calls last night were head scratchers. I’m not at all convinced Arthur Smith is the answer at OC.

Tomlin looked like he didn’t want to be there last night.


Kenny Pickett played with broken ribs last and threw a few TD’s before Parsons dirty hit him out of the game.

[EyeoftheHawk]

The Natives are getting restless at Areyousure Stadium.

The Steelers could be irrelevant for a long time. They have no QB or reliable receivers, and they have a couple big holes on their offensive line. They’ll also likely lose Harris to free agency. Their defense lacks talent among their younger guys and their best players are aging fast. They haven’t drafted well in recent years and the huge mistake of drafting Kenny Pickett in the first round is going to haunt them for a long time. Where in the heck do you start in the draft? Ideally they could draft a receiver but I don’t know how they can without a decent QB.

Aside from personnel, for the first time I’m getting off the Mike Tomlin bus. At the end of the day, all those winning regular seasons are meaningless. He is who he is and I think he has his fingers into too much of the operation. On top of that, he has weak coordinators. Some of the offensive and defensive play calls last night were head scratchers. I’m not at all convinced Arthur Smith is the answer at OC.

[IUPNation]

The Natives are getting restless at Areyousure Stadium.

[IUPNation]

Kenny Pickett had a decent day going until
Micah Parsons dirty hit him……

He was already playing with broken ribs too…

[IUPNation]

Kenny Pickett had a decent day going until
Micah Parsons dirty hit him……

[EyeoftheHawk]

NFL owners/TV/money have really changed the game of football. It is why I follow D2. Having ESPN provide cameras & broadcast for semi's and championship games really changed the flow of the game. ROCK games all season ran 2 1/2 - 3 hrs long. the semi game was over 3 1/2 hours long with a ton a commercials and a few senseless reviews.

Heck, it has extended all the way down to high school games. I’ve been to many high school football and basketball games that have media timeouts. It totally kills the flow of the game and makes it really difficult to maintain any momentum.

[TheROCK]

NFL owners/TV/money have really changed the game of football. It is why I follow D2. Having ESPN provide cameras & broadcast for semi's and championship games really changed the flow of the game. ROCK games all season ran 2 1/2 - 3 hrs long. the semi game was over 3 1/2 hours long with a ton a commercials and a few senseless reviews.