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Kovacevic - Polamalu leaves on unhappy terms

SteelVictory said:
One of the local guys on radio today was talking about this DK article, said it was well known in media circles Troy hasn't been happy with the direction the team is taking.

Relayed this Troy quote
"..when I got here this locker room was full of men, now it is full of entitled children..."

I don't understand the shooting the Troy messenger going on in this thread.
There have been thousands of posts on this forum in the last few years expressing the same sentiment as the DK article.
But now one of the most respected and revered Steeler of all times basically corroborates that those posts were in the ball park and he is given the "don't let the door hit your *** on the way out treatment"?
Accusing him of not following the "Steeler Way"?

is it
Team Troy vs Team AR2?
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It's not shooting the messenger so much as it is questioning the timing of the message. First, if Troy made the statement above, it should have been reported when he said it. It might have actually resonated. Second, if Troy asked that the above statement not be printed while he was with the team, shame on him. As a leader of the team, if that's how he felt he should have said it and let it stand.

The statement above doesn't show that Troy has a problem with the FO so much as he didn't respect his teammates. Maybe as a leader he could have spent a little more time helping to mold those children into men instead of, other than the last two years, training in California by himself. James Harrison, of all people, seems to be taking this approach with the young linebackers and he is gaining their respect and trust.

Finally, and this is not Troy's fault, but the timing of the article makes it look like Troy is having a "sour grapes" moment. Lebeau was either sent packing or encouraged to leave and so was Troy in many ways. His skills declined from legendary to about average and the team went in another direction. Troy is a proud man and I'm sure that stung. However, the article itself is notable for it's lack of any quote from Troy. Just a third-hand retelling of second-hand "insider information" that may have originated with Troy. Then again, it may not have. In any event, attributing the feelings to Troy "after" he has retired makes Troy seem a little "salty".
 
SteelVictory said:
I don't understand the shooting the Troy messenger going on in this thread.
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Troy Polamalu has been my favorite player for over a decade, absolutely love everything about the guy. I also think a lot of the locker room stuff is overblown. Sure, the receivers have been pompous pricks, but that's been going on forever. I'll give Troy credit if that's who he's pointing at. I see a team that got young in a hurry. Having a bunch of twenty year olds replacing vested veterans will bring with it predictable turmoil. Hope these guys continue to grow and mature, LeVeon Bell in particular. The fact that the transition's been bumpy hasn't surprised me one bit, these guys are in process of creating their own identity. Guys like Shazier, Jarvis Jones, Shamarko, Tuitt, Cam Heyward ...that D is now filled with new blood, for better or worse.

I'm not hating on Troy at all, for anything he may say or his critcism of players or coaches. At this point, I'm more eager to move on and find out about this year's squad, see who's gonna step up and lead the team...as the veteran crew is gone.

I'd rather Troy write a book. I'd love reading it in five or so years. As opposed to reading snipets from a journalist, that come across as mud slinging. That's not Polamalu anyway, so why buy into someone trying to sensationalize it? Unless of course these comments help fuel the fire for those gloating over how terrible the owner, head coach and GM are - individually and collectively - and are looking forward to running them all out of town, at the first possible opportunity. Whatever floats your boat...I don't view the Steelers being in such dire straights, not at all, actually.
 
The reason the Steelers "kept" him around is because they had no one to take his place. This coaching staff and FO can't find one single DB or LB. Hell they paid Allen big bucks and then they had to bench his ***. That's why Ike's old swag was still here. They have sucked at drafting DBs for years now. It wasn't out of the kindness of their heart Troy was still here. It was because they had no one even remotely better.
 
Vader said:
The reason the Steelers "kept" him around is because they had no one to take his place. This coaching staff and FO can't find one single DB or LB. Hell they paid Allen big bucks and then they had to bench his ***. That's why Ike's old swag was still here. They have sucked at drafting DBs for years now. It wasn't out of the kindness of their heart Troy was still here. It was because they had no one even remotely better.
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As far as LB go, they did find Timmons. Also Woodley until he lazied his *** out of town. Williams and Spence look like we can expect continued growth from them this year and the jury is still out on Shazier after only 1 year. Jarvis? meh .. we'll see. Plus we'll see how Dupree, Chickillo and Lemon look this year.

DB's ... not so much. The problem was that they had to know Troy was going to decline sooner rather than later. And all they invested in his replacement was a 4th rounder who even they wouldn't let see the field at the position they drafted him for. At least they attempted to be proactive with the CB position. The problem was/is that they continued to devalue the position and when they actually found one that was decent, they let him leave town via free agency.

The stubborn reliance on aging vets to make "one more push" at the expense of developing younger talent by getting them playing time hurt this team tremendously. And I'll blame that stubbornness on all three of the FO, Coaching Staff and the Owner (who could have demanded a change in focus, but apparently didn't. Wait, aren't we supposed to be blaming ARII for being meddlesome?).

In any event, the younger players they have brought in over the last few years on defense are going to have to produce .. and produce at a high level in order for the FO and Coaches to keep their jobs (can't fire the owner). This will be an interesting season.
 
Hanratty said:
The Steelers have become soft, sloppy and undisciplined under Tomlin directly reflecting the coach, Anyone who thinks the Steelers are anything more than mediocre under Tomlin are in for a rude awakening this year, no soft schedule and bad QBs to hide all our problems like last year. It has been 4 years since a playoff win and counting under the moron/.
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Pot meet Kettle.
 
Troy is one of my all time favorite Steelers, but it was time for him to go. His coverage skills diminished, which we needed from him last year. And like most players, he wanted to leave on his own terms, which were different from the team's timeline. He wouldn't have been happy playing behind Shamarko, and would have been too expensive. I'm not a fan of Art II because I think he butts in more than we're used to, but the Chief and Dan spoiled us. But he, coach Tomlin and Colbert had to do what was best for the team. Unfortunately, it was getting rid of 3 players (and a coach) that contributed to our most recent success.
 
I think people are severely misreading Polamalu's dissatisfaction with Art II/Colbert/Tomlin.

I don't think it has anything to do with how his retirement/last year was handled and much more to do with his disappointment in how a once great defense has eroded under poor leadership, bad drafting, poor talent evaluation and smoke & mirrors coaching.
 
deljzc said:
I think people are severely misreading Polamalu's dissatisfaction with Art II/Colbert/Tomlin.

I don't think it has anything to do with how his retirement/last year was handled and much more to do with his disappointment in how a once great defense has eroded under poor leadership, bad drafting, poor talent evaluation and smoke & mirrors coaching.
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And what are you basing this off of?
 
Hanratty said:
YOU of all people calling someone a moron, I can fit all your football knowledge on my thumb and still have room to scratch my ***.
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Says the MORON out of his ***.
 
You fellas might want to take a deep breath and calm down before the ban hammer is brought out.
 
Hanratty said:
You are too dumb for words, go jaclk off to ypur Tomlin poster faggott.
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Show me some quotes then...I haven't seen any direct quotes from Troy as of yet. Oh by the way. I threw my Tomlin posters out a couple of seasons ago. Why would you think I had any to begin with?
 
SteelVictory said:
One of the local guys on radio today was talking about this DK article, said it was well known in media circles Troy hasn't been happy with the direction the team is taking.

Relayed this Troy quote
"..when I got here this locker room was full of men, now it is full of entitled children..."
Click to expand...

deljzc said:
I think people are severely misreading Polamalu's dissatisfaction with Art II/Colbert/Tomlin.

I don't think it has anything to do with how his retirement/last year was handled and much more to do with his disappointment in how a once great defense has eroded under poor leadership, bad drafting, poor talent evaluation and smoke & mirrors coaching.
Click to expand...

Yep, this is not the first time I've heard this either. A colleague of mine has a husband that does work at the facilities sometimes and they mentioned a significant difference between the "old" Steelers and "new" Steelers and basically echoed that quote above. The veterans were very respectful to work with, but that is not the case with the new players. Also mentioned that the young players did not respect LeBeau as the older veterans did. Given how the defense has played over the past few years and the comments from guys like Polamalu and Keisel, I'd say there is some smoke to that fire.
 
SteelBuckeye said:
He's an interfering owner. He made Tomlin (who is hated) fire Arians (who was hated) and hire Haley (who was hated at first, and is still only "accepted" grudgingly). He mandated that the run game become more effective (which was good). And well ... He's not Dan or The Chief.

Oh, and we're not him. That sucks too. :):)
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Unfortunately Artie is a lot like the Chief. This franchise suffered for decades under the Chief and his poor decisions but only came to life once Dan took over. Dan was the catalyst for all of the success that this franchise has accomplish. I don't know man with Artie, he really scares me looking ahead to what might be for this franchise. He's more the business man where Dan was more the lets promote the family concept. I don't get that feeling with Artie. And no as much as I don't like Tomlin it is not fair that Artie dictate to him whom to hire and fire. That's just not right.
 
I believe part of this, if true, is just the awakening we all hopefully go through as we grow older and see things more clearly. When you are young and everyone is older you naturally look up to them and tend to not see the negatives as we progress and become the older members we see how truly stupid and immature we were when we were younger. I remember the Seniors in school when I was a freshman much differently than I saw myself as a senior. It is all a matter of perspective and keeping that in mind when we judge others for being young and stupid.
 
SteelBuckeye said:
As far as LB go, they did find Timmons. Also Woodley until he lazied his *** out of town. Williams and Spence look like we can expect continued growth from them this year and the jury is still out on Shazier after only 1 year. Jarvis? meh .. we'll see. Plus we'll see how Dupree, Chickillo and Lemon look this year.

DB's ... not so much. The problem was that they had to know Troy was going to decline sooner rather than later. And all they invested in his replacement was a 4th rounder who even they wouldn't let see the field at the position they drafted him for. At least they attempted to be proactive with the CB position. The problem was/is that they continued to devalue the position and when they actually found one that was decent, they let him leave town via free agency.

The stubborn reliance on aging vets to make "one more push" at the expense of developing younger talent by getting them playing time hurt this team tremendously. And I'll blame that stubbornness on all three of the FO, Coaching Staff and the Owner (who could have demanded a change in focus, but apparently didn't. Wait, aren't we supposed to be blaming ARII for being meddlesome?).

In any event, the younger players they have brought in over the last few years on defense are going to have to produce .. and produce at a high level in order for the FO and Coaches to keep their jobs (can't fire the owner). This will be an interesting season.
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Their LB evaluation has changed. They want smaller faster LBs. The problem is that they haven't found any that are dominant. What team is going to be afraid of this lineup:

Jones ROLB
Shazier ILB
Timmons ILB
Moats LOLB

Yes, their backups at ILB are good but they aren't going to be on the field much if at all as long as Timmons and Shazier can stay healthy. So Williams and Spence won't get on the field much. Nobody knows about Dupree and the rest. But again, only Dupree one of those is going to start.

I agree about the DBs. The reason those old vets were still here is because the powers that be can't draft defense. I don't think it was "one more push". I think it was "damn we can't find any one to take player X's spot". They've had rookies and young guys starting for years now. They just aren't getting it done.
 
I think (read hope) that the combination of Shazier and Timmons can eventually make offenses think hard about how they are going to attack them if not bring total fear. I don't think anyone was afraid of the Farrior/Foote combo inside. Yet, they knew that they would have to account for them because they were pretty much always going to be where they were supposed to be within the defense and they were going to make plays. What made them effective was the front line of Diesel, Snack and Smith. Those guys kept Farrior/Foote and Farrior/Timmons pretty clean over the years.

I see Heyward and Tuitt as being able to provide similarly effective production. The weak link in the front line equation to me is McLendon. He's just not the type of NT that's going to command double teams. Hopefully they are right and McCullers can grow into that type of player.

Man, what bothers me is that it's been a few years and I still find myself saying things like "hopefully (insert name) can grow into this or that". And yes, I do see that as a result of poor drafting on the defensive side. It's like they spent so much time/energy focusing on the offense for awhile that they didn't prepare for the departure of the old guard. That's ... well, negligent comes to mind. So, all I can say is that "I hope" they've got it right on most of these guys now. If not, it's going to be a loong time before we see a good defense in the 'Burgh and by that time, Ben may be gone.
 
Zack_of_Steel said:
Exactly this. We knew things were bad when we saw him HEATED in the preseason on the sidelines a few times, as well as the "we need to practice better" interview.

Troy's play the past few years is being grossly understated. He watched the team around him fall into a pit of undisciplined, untalented, heartless, entitled ****. All his fault doe.
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In that Troy got caught by time as we all do it was all his fault.
 
Steelerfan81 said:
Well I had enough of him.
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BanHammer.gif
 
SteelBuckeye said:
I think (read hope) that the combination of Shazier and Timmons can eventually make offenses think hard about how they are going to attack them if not bring total fear. I don't think anyone was afraid of the Farrior/Foote combo inside. Yet, they knew that they would have to account for them because they were pretty much always going to be where they were supposed to be within the defense and they were going to make plays. What made them effective was the front line of Diesel, Snack and Smith. Those guys kept Farrior/Foote and Farrior/Timmons pretty clean over the years.

I see Heyward and Tuitt as being able to provide similarly effective production. The weak link in the front line equation to me is McLendon. He's just not the type of NT that's going to command double teams. Hopefully they are right and McCullers can grow into that type of player.

Man, what bothers me is that it's been a few years and I still find myself saying things like "hopefully (insert name) can grow into this or that". And yes, I do see that as a result of poor drafting on the defensive side. It's like they spent so much time/energy focusing on the offense for awhile that they didn't prepare for the departure of the old guard. That's ... well, negligent comes to mind. So, all I can say is that "I hope" they've got it right on most of these guys now. If not, it's going to be a loong time before we see a good defense in the 'Burgh and by that time, Ben may be gone.
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Farrior was a very good ILB. He wasn't the biggest either but he could lay a lick and was smart. Shazier is an unknown and Timmons still has his "WTF" moments. Moats played ROLB last year and is moving over to LOLB this year. Jones is still unknown as well. When Farrior played you had a solid group of LBs. Now not so much.

I'm not as down on McLendon as some. He isn't Hampton but he can penetrate at times and he is strong. Heyward has finally come around but he still isn't Aaron Smith or Keisel. Which is the problem with the D overall. They can find adequate players but not great players.

I hope they get it together before Ben leaves. You can never count on a franchise QB falling to you in the draft.
 
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