Victoria aut mori!— Victory or Death!

Victoria aut mori!� Victory or Death!� ���By Man of Steel

 

If you are reading this, you are a Steeler fan, and if you are a Steeler fan, your week has been filled with trepidation.� The Terrible Towels adorn the rabbit ears of your TV, the Terry Bradshaw limited edition mug has pride of place on the coffee table, the Bettis jersey hangs ready at the door.� But still they come, those night crawlers of the AFC North.� The signs are everywhere.� The Ravens beating us�US!�into physical submission, the Browns showing no signs of fear, the Bengals roaring as if Boomer were somehow back in command.� And it's not just in our own backyard.� In the West, our enemies have found new life, ex-Browns suddenly stiffening the backbone of the once broken Broncos.� In the East, the Patriots, filled with castoff Steelers, flash their rings and laugh at us, and, coming this Monday night, the Steeler faithful will gather to watch what will be, barring a miracle, the most vicious ass-whipping administered to Art Rooney's team since the Detroit Game Massacre of 1983.

 

Like all Steelers fans, last year's 15-1 record came as a shocker.� Could it be that Cowher was right?� That the record of the 2003 team (6-10) was the result of injuries, and not, as Still Mill and other fans insisted, poor coaching, poor drafting, and a fundamental dwindling of identity?�

 

We had seen many players wear the Black and Gold since Noll stepped aside, conferring on younger strengths the team he had built from nothing.� Many of these newer players remains favorites with the Steeler faithful:� Greene, Dawson, Bettis (in his prime), Woodson, and, of late, Troy P. and Big Ben. With Cowher winning division titles and a roster filled with the occasional all-pro, we told ourselves that we were competitive, even if Cowher didn't have enough players to win any Superbowl banners or rings.�

 

We wanted to believe him. But the true was that the Cowher faithful and Cowher himself have grown complacent with just winning division titles.� Twenty-five years after the last Superbowl victory, the front office and coaching staff is content to be merely a contender, as if that were enough.�

 

And now that we are going to play a well-run, well-coached team, a team that has drafted with forethought, managed the cap, but a team, nonetheless, who has yet to win ANYTHING, our coach tells us the best�the BEST� we can expect is to keep the game from being a complete blowout:

 

COWHER: "That's the most important thing in my mind, to keep this game within striking distance. If we can do that and not beat ourselves and not give up some of the big plays, make them do things methodically and slowly, the longer we can keep this thing going into the fourth quarter."

 

This is a malaise that must end. It's not just Cowher or the front office, though, as I will argue, the buck must stop with them. Steeler fans have grown content as well.� After all, compared to the Pirates and the Penguins, the Steelers have maintained some sense of cohesion.� The team has been successful enough to sustain a national fan-base, even while operating out of a small media market.� We have comforted ourselves with the notion that star athletes from top schools didn't want to play in cold weather towns, that we didn't have the money to compete, that the free-agency system has made dynasties a thing of the past, that Terry and the Boys were shoulder-padded heroes of a Mythic Age, never to come again.�

 

And so it might have remained, were it not for New England, a team situated far to the north of comparatively balmy Pittsburgh, operating on a difficult budget, a team with no tradition of excellence, no national fan-base, coached by a blunderer that had been chased out of Cleveland�out of Cleveland, for God Sakes!�� And this rag-tag roster of cast-offs, these exiles of a CFL base-camp, these scum of practice squads, led by a rookie QB no less, somehow kicked our asses and won not one, not two, but three Superbowls!!!!!!

 

It was then that Steeler fans across the country began to question the victories that had been our comforts: the string of division titles, the occasional all-pro or future Hall of Famer.

 

Now, as we prepare for Monday night-- a night we used to DOMINATE!!!!--we know it was all a lie.� We're not contenders, we're not even mildly competitive.� The Steelers have not beaten a .500 level club since week 5 and struggled against sub.500 teams for the last month.�� We�ve been pushed around, physically manhandled by the Browns, Green Bay and the Ravens. Who in their gut thinks we can beat Indy, Dallas, or Denver?� We can�t move the ball on the practice-squad Pats, who are last in the league in almost every defensive category.� We can�t stop a Ravens team that has no credible offensive threat. A top-10 club?� More like a bottom-10 team with a good record against the NFL also-rans.

 

Surely, before we can fix the problem, we have to assign blame.� And there is enough to go around.� Cowher, for settling for mediocrity, is an obvious target.� But let's not forget the front office for poor drafts.�

 

The 2000 Draft:

 

1� Plaxico Burress

2� Marvel Smith

3� Kendrick Clancy

3 Hank Poteat

4 Danny Farmer

5 Clark Haggans

5 Tee Martin

6 Chris Combs

6 Jason Gavadza

 

Burress was an unhappy bigmouth, who is now playing like a star in NY. Smith remains an All Pro, though he is having an off year.� Clancy was never even a good� player � much less great -- and is long gone.� Poteat and Farmer played well above their potential and still were third stringers (Hank) or cut (Farmer).� Haggans has had a few good games but is no star.� Martin, Combs and Gavadza were wasted picks. Of this group, only Smith remains on the roster.

 

The 2001 Draft:

�

1 Casey Hampton

2 Kendrell Bell

4 Mathias Nkwenti

5 Chukky Okobi

6 Rodney Bailey

6 Roger Knight

7 Chris Taylor

 

Hampton is an All Pro, though he seems to have already lost a step.� Bell had one good year and is now in KC.� Nkwenti left the team as soon as he could.� Okobo is a career backup.� Bailey joined the Pats.� Knight and Taylor never made the team.� Of this group, only Hampton and Okobi remain on the roster.

 

2002 was a great draft, no doubt, but only in comparison to the junk of 2000-1.� There are NO All-Pros here:

 

1) Kendall Simmons

2) Antwaan Randle El

3) Chris Hope

4) Larry Foote

5) Verron Haynes

6) Lee Mays

7a) LaVar Glover

7b) Brett Keisel

 

ARE is a weapon, but not consistent.� Hope is playing to his full and limited potential.� So are Foote, Haynes and Keisel.� The rest never had any impact and are gone.

 

The 2003 Draft was a disaster, aside the first round:

 

1) Troy Polamalu

2) Alonzo Jackson

4) Ike Taylor

5) Brian St. Pierre

7) J.T. Wall

 

I admit the jury is still out on Taylor.� Given our full back, Wall never had a chance.� Alonzo was a joke from day one.� St. Pierre refuses to leave the Raven practice squad to play with us again!

 

2004 Draft:

1 Ben Roethlisberger

2 Ricardo Colclough,

3 Max Starks

5 Nathaniel Adibi

 

Obviously Big Ben seems like a dream come true; but how about the other players?� Colclough may be a star one day, but not any time soon.� Starks is already a failure.� Adibi never made the team.

 

2005 Draft:

1) Health Miller

2) Bryant McFadden

3) Trai Essex

4) Fred Gibson

5) Rian Wallace

6) Chris Kemoeautu

7a) Shaun Nua

7b) Noah Herron

 

All Pros or future All Pros?� Other than Miller and possibly McFadden, none.� Gibson and Nua were cut, Herron played very briefly and was then cut. Essex and Kemoeautu are sure to be cut next year.� Wallace is terrible on special teams.

 

Need we really compare any of these drafts to the legendary Steeler draft of 1974?�

 

(I digress to note that Dermontti Dawson and L.C. Greenwood are Hall of Fame finalists this year.� Dawson was drafted in the second round, Greenwood, in the 10nth!)

 

Nor need we look at the recent drafts of New England, or Denver, or Dallas, or Indy.�

 

It�s clear that the front office has done a terrible run.� To begin with, we need to dump Kevin Colbert, and let's do it right and dump Cowher, too!

 

Consider: Billick will almost certainly be on the market after this season and we all accept that he has gotten the job done in Baltimore.�

 

What? Hire the hated Ravens coach?�

 

Why not?� Both Noll and Cowher played for the Browns.�

 

And Jeff Fisher can�t be happy in Tennessee. He hasn't won a ring, but he's comes closer than we have, and he's proven that he can beat Cowher.

 

Perhaps this is only blowing off some steam.� After all, we're only fans, not shareholders.� But are we fans of mediocrity?� Of bad coaching, of bad drafts?�

 

Of course not.

 

If mediocrity is a Steelers trait, then I say we are NOT Steeler fans. We're fans of a team that won four Superbowls, the last of which came over two decades ago.�

 

I say we start a petition to have the ENTIRE front office and coaching staff fired, to have older complacent vets cut or traded, to get a coach who has proven he can win, to draft players who have only one goal in mind: multiple Superbowl rings.

 

I'm sure that Still Mill will sign on.� Will any of you?