View topic - Digging for hope in 2012

[trenches Profile]

Digging for hope in 2012 has been posted by In the Trenches at Stillers.com.

[PGHeaven Profile]

You had me right up until the closing line about taking that over the alternative. F that. I hope we lose and lose BIG. Yes, you heard me right. That is why I post here at this site instead of koolaid dot assholes. Yep, I hope we get mauled embarrased pummeled jackep up beaten down and humiliated. Why? To awaken the front office - to tear down the walls of denial. To crush the deadly status quo bullshit that has destroyed this great franchise. I dont recognize any of the hacks on the field. I look at Ryan Troy Ike Ben Heath James and get the feeling we are looking at the last of the greats. The rest of these mofos are coddled pussy pansies of the new Steelers gen and I HATE IT! Heyward - get him the F outta here. Hood SAME Woodley SAME and ALL of these fairies in the secondary. (I do think Timmons has potential) And Larry Foote???? This is our hulking modern day Jack Lambert????????

WAKE THE F UP ROONEY!!!!

[trenches Profile]

I respect your opinion, PGHeaven, I just personally cannot wish for my team to lose even if it would be better due to draft picks, wake up calls, etc.

So... Hope is faint, but I still cling to it. Because any win is better than a loss in my books. If this season isn't a wake up call so far then nothing will be.

[PGHeaven Profile]

Yeah - I hear ya Trenches. Maybe I should temper that - truth is I find no enjoyment in the losses - that much is evident in my rants ay

[Steelblud Profile]

when is the last time the Steelers made the post season look easy?

[LenSherwood Profile]

Steelbud, the last time that the Steelers made the post season look easy...you would have to look most likely to the 1970s...their first Super Bowl win against the Vikings was after they tore through the AFC. They absolutely destroyed the Bills in the first round and then won easily in Oakland. In the Super Bowl they held the Vikings to 19 yards rushing. 19 yards!!! That was incredible in those days where teams didn't throw the ball 40 times. Plus they absolutely harassed poor old Fran Tarkenton to death. He was running for his life all day. But you are right... in Cowher's or Tomlin's recent history, the post season is a nail biting horrorshow....

[SoCal Stiller Profile]

"the post season is a nail biting horrorshow...."

That's the best description of the playoffs I've ever heard!

[bubbybrister Profile]

I have come to embrace the suck that is this season. I always feel any team that loses to the raiders will go nowhere and do nothing come playoffs. I expect Ben and the boys to bounce back this week and pull out a close win vs the Bungels, then true to form, come out flat and completely shit the bed in the finale vs the Stains. Sadly, at this point in the season, I hate more of the players and coaches on this team than I like.

[Still Peon Profile]

Mike Wallace is contagious. See the performances of Antonio Brown and Emanuel Sanders lately. Inconsistency galore! He’s really infected the whole team.

It's funny how much denial of this exists within Steeler Nation. There is a thread at another forum I frequent, entitled "Just say no to Wallace" ( http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=95003 ), where myself and many others say exactly that, only to watch the Wallace Apologist Commitee come out and rally against us. Somehow they failed to notice just how slack ass of a football player he is, and refuse to acknowledge that he hammered the final nail into our coffin Sun against the Cowdicks. You gotta have some damn rosey colored glasses to see Wallace for anything but a fraud at this point.

[LenSherwood Profile]

Still Peon... Wallace tantalizes you with that speed and an occasional athletic play based upon that speed, but the whole receiving corps is as reliable as a 1970s GM car....at least the ones I had. Plus they are not blessed with a large amount of grey matter either. Compare the entire corps to H. Ward whose only bad plays were were he laid someone out for the 15 yard penalty. Even then it served a purpose--sure you lost 15 yards, but aggressive plays made the defense look twice for him.

[Still Peon Profile]

Compare the entire corps to H. Ward whose only bad plays were were he laid someone out for the 15 yard penalty.

Amen brother! I'm still chapped to no end that we couldn't keep him for 1 more year, and as I've said before, it ain't a coincidence that our receiving corps has started this horseshit the year 86 isn't with the team. With a little luck only Wallace is the contagion.

[isfry Profile]

Even if Wallace IS the only contagion, it has spread. I would love to see him get cut loose after this year, but that probably doesn't solve it at this point. It will likely require bringing in some veteran presence at WR or even at WR coach (Hinsey?) next year to whip these assholes into shape.

[isfry Profile]

And while I'm at it, does any of the blame for the fumble-itis, running out of bounds when you shouldn't or not running out of bounds when you should, dropped passes, and overall lack of effort (at least on Skillet-Hands part) and concentration fall on second year WR coach Scottie Montgomery? I don't know much about the position of WR coach, but it appears that someone like Ward, who has a far more impressive college and professional career, would be just as qualified as a Duke receiver who washed out in the NFL, ended up in the arena league, went to coach WR's at his alma mater (maybe not the hardest job to get as an alum?) and got his first start coaching at the pro level just last year. Leading up to his second year as WR coach our deep threat pulls a prima donna and holds out the whole preseason, and then our corps of "young money" receivers all seem to have fallen in love with themselves and forgotten how to actually play the game? Zero concentration, zero heart, zero clutch...AND zero accountability?

[trenches Profile]

And while I'm at it, does any of the blame for the fumble-itis, running out of bounds when you shouldn't or not running out of bounds when you should, dropped passes, and overall lack of effort (at least on Skillet-Hands part) and concentration fall on second year WR coach Scottie Montgomery? I don't know much about the position of WR coach, but it appears that someone like Ward, who has a far more impressive college and professional career, would be just as qualified as a Duke receiver who washed out in the NFL, ended up in the arena league, went to coach WR's at his alma mater (maybe not the hardest job to get as an alum?) and got his first start coaching at the pro level just last year. Leading up to his second year as WR coach our deep threat pulls a prima donna and holds out the whole preseason, and then our corps of "young money" receivers all seem to have fallen in love with themselves and forgotten how to actually play the game? Zero concentration, zero heart, zero clutch...AND zero accountability?

Well stated, isfry!

[relictele Profile]

You had me right up until the closing line about taking that over the alternative. F that. I hope we lose and lose BIG.

The many Madden-playing, Fathead-displaying, #1 Steeler Fan license plate-owning schlubs that we all know and disdain may be worried strictly about the next game but any knowledgeable fan taking the long view must, regrettably, hope for a complete and total flameout the next two weeks. Only then will all concerned - fans, media, coaches, players and front office - finally wake up to the fact that the fuel gauge is pegged well below E. The idiot light has been on for nearly the entire season but Rooney, Tomlin, LeBeau et al have been running on fumes and coasting down hills, convincing themselves and, they hope, others that they are getting great mileage so it doesn't matter.

The most frustrating part is that this franchise has usually only had to face one crisis at a time: age, injury, inexperience, lack of talent, bad actors, coaching turnover, etc. In 2012 all these factors are conspiring to wreck any grand plans well into 2013 and beyond unless the front office and coaches drop the everyone-gets-a-trophy attitude and start a tough love campaign.

I hear local media voices repeating the 'Ben is a franchise/elite QB therefore he compensates for the other problems.' Sheer credibility-destroying madness. Look at all the teams that have taken this approach and languished through the years especially AFC North opponents. The 'Magic QB' phenomenon has been the ruination of many an NFL draft day and the seasons beyond as OL, DL, LB, and DB choices become afterthoughts. Success from the likes of RG3, Luck, Wilson and Kaepernick, all in the same year, only increases the belief that the right QB cures all ills but I'm sure all those QBs and their coaches and GMs will emphasize the other players drafted in/acquired with them or already on the team.

Pessimism shouldn't come this easy but when you have chronic injury, attitudes, loafers (hat tip to The Chief for one of his favorite phrases) and plain old mediocrity at almost every position it will be difficult to jettison all the troublemakers and retain a 53-man roster that has any chance next year.

Tomlin has either placed a very large chip on his shoulder this year or it was there all along and the press are just starting to notice. But the Crown Prince Of Coachspeak had better stop worrying about the source of criticism and instead start making it go away.

[trenches Profile]

The many Madden-playing, Fathead-displaying, #1 Steeler Fan license plate-owning schlubs that we all know and disdain may be worried strictly about the next game but any knowledgeable fan taking the long view must, regrettably, hope for a complete and total flameout the next two weeks. Only then will all concerned - fans, media, coaches, players and front office - finally wake up to the fact that the fuel gauge is pegged well below E. The idiot light has been on for nearly the entire season but Rooney, Tomlin, LeBeau et al have been running on fumes and coasting down hills, convincing themselves and, they hope, others that they are getting great mileage so it doesn't matter.

The most frustrating part is that this franchise has usually only had to face one crisis at a time: age, injury, inexperience, lack of talent, bad actors, coaching turnover, etc. In 2012 all these factors are conspiring to wreck any grand plans well into 2013 and beyond unless the front office and coaches drop the everyone-gets-a-trophy attitude and start a tough love campaign.

I hear local media voices repeating the 'Ben is a franchise/elite QB therefore he compensates for the other problems.' Sheer credibility-destroying madness. Look at all the teams that have taken this approach and languished through the years especially AFC North opponents. The 'Magic QB' phenomenon has been the ruination of many an NFL draft day and the seasons beyond as OL, DL, LB, and DB choices become afterthoughts. Success from the likes of RG3, Luck, Wilson and Kaepernick, all in the same year, only increases the belief that the right QB cures all ills but I'm sure all those QBs and their coaches and GMs will emphasize the other players drafted in/acquired with them or already on the team.

Pessimism shouldn't come this easy but when you have chronic injury, attitudes, loafers (hat tip to The Chief for one of his favorite phrases) and plain old mediocrity at almost every position it will be difficult to jettison all the troublemakers and retain a 53-man roster that has any chance next year.

Tomlin has either placed a very large chip on his shoulder this year or it was there all along and the press are just starting to notice. But the Crown Prince Of Coachspeak had better stop worrying about the source of criticism and instead start making it go away.

relictele,

Tremendous post. Unfortunately, I'm not sure even losing the next two games would serve as the straw that breaks the camel's back. The camel's back should have been completely collapsed long ago. If getting destroyed by Fleabow in embarrassing fashion wasn't a wake up call last year then I don't know what could be. They could pass that game off as fluke I suppose but no you really can't....not given the 24-hour hype ESPN bestowed upon Timmy Teabag...a hype that provided a constant grinding of salt in the playoff debacle wounds. Ignoring the playoffs this year and you can look at all of the awful losses this season, the lack of consistent play, the overall lack of focus, etc. All of these things should be WAY MORE fuel than needed to ignite a transformation fire. If they haven't recognized the broad-scale failures and issues yet, then will missing the playoffs do that job? Maybe it would trigger the Rooney's into action since they'd lose playoff $$$.

While I am with you about needing changes to stop an inevitable train wreck, I don't want the season to end because I'm a selfish fan that HATES not watching my team in the playoffs. I think it's possible to have an optimistic side without being a blind faith follower. If I thought that missing the playoffs will be the magic elixir that wakes the organization up, I might be able to swallow the bitter pill and root against the team in the name of improving the team. But, for now, I only do that in the heat of anger.

[Pommah Profile]

I don't know. I was prepared to write off the season when Ben went down, reports of shoulder separations and aorta-cutting ribs dangling about floating about in the press. But there he is flinging the pigskin and not looking bad (with exception of the last pass he threw).

If we could just get Polamalu and Harrison playing like they did in their prime, the defense would be in far better shape. The Gints won two superbowls with teams that didn't look like much toward the end of the season, but got hot. Maybe we could pull that off? Hey, Tom Brady could get hurt, the Texans got exposed, and Manning most always manages to throw some picks in the playoffs.

'Tis the season of hope.

[Ohio Profile]

I don't know. I was prepared to write off the season when Ben went down, reports of shoulder separations and aorta-cutting ribs dangling about floating about in the press. But there he is flinging the pigskin and not looking bad (with exception of the last pass he threw).

If we could just get Polamalu and Harrison playing like they did in their prime, the defense would be in far better shape. The Gints won two superbowls with teams that didn't look like much toward the end of the season, but got hot. Maybe we could pull that off? Hey, Tom Brady could get hurt, the Texans got exposed, and Manning most always manages to throw some picks in the playoffs.

'Tis the season of hope.

Pommah... see this... Getting in we should play baltimore. We have beaten them already. After that it should be houston. Which I'm not sold about. I mean... People we can get to the afc championship. We have a chance. Ok... I know I said 13-3 was a good chance. But and I say but... We have Ben... I think it all goes through him more than anything. Our defense has always been like this. The best on paper... The worst if you watch the game. I forgot how many times I switched to the nfl.com in order not to get mad at somebody.... Anyway... SB here we come ?

[Pommah Profile]

Sunday's game...40th anniversary of Immaculate Reception...two days after the world was supposed to end....

I'm thinking, Troy pick-6 90 yards or something like that to serve as a catalyst for a rebound to become the team they should be....

[trenches Profile]

I'm thinking, Troy pick-6 90 yards...

...while R.E.M. It's the End of the World blares on the loudspeakers...

I think that would complete your vision.