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There's no way in hell they go 4-1.
Even IF they manage to play out of their minds and beat San Diego or N.E., They'll lay an egg against Oakland and/or Cinci. And the Saints? Uh huh.
Yesterday wasn't about lack of preparation, or being cocky. Yesterday was about **** falling apart on a spectacular scale. The blocked kick, avoidable but that's on the special teams coach and the players to know the tendency. Grimble's fumble - literally a 1 in 25 likelihood event. Just crap luck. Ben's first int - a combination of Brown being slightly held, him giving up on the route and Ben throwing a little wide. (That took 3 things for it to go so far south.) Conner's fumble - again, freak thing. You see that happen maybe 2 or 3 percent of the time. Ben had what? 3 deep throws that just didn't quite connect for one reason or another. One was just too deep, one was a case of Washington not having the experience to make the play and one was a 1 or 2 in 100 case of Brown NOT making the toe-tap on the sideline. Ben's 2nd int... Well that was a HORRIBLE throw, and I can't really find any good spin on that. I WOULD like to know if that was truly a run play that got botched at the snap. Certainly I'd LIKE to think that was it and that Ben just failed to do the smart thing and throw the ball away, but I'm not sure about that as Brown WAS in a route, albeit a crap one. (However if the run was to the left outside the tackles, Brown would have been clearing a DB and Safety so, maybe...)
Anyway, the point is if it COULD go wrong it did. Literally the ONLY bounce the Steelers got their way yesterday was when Switz was somehow magically able to recover his own fumbled punt. Every other break went to the Broncos.
So you MAY be thinking I'm saying (after a day's worth of speculation) that "Hey, it wasn't as bad as it seemed in the greater scheme of the universe, and I suppose that's true. But the fact of the matter is, the unavoidable - inevitable truth of it all is that the Steelers simply don't "have it". They will not win challenging playoff games, at home or away. They will not play consistently enough to advance past perhaps the first round of the playoffs, and they certainly will not play in the SB. not because they "can't" No, they won't because they're NOT that team. They're too inconsistent, they've been too distracted, they just aren't "that team". The last time I felt the Steelers were truly "That team" was when they came in as a 6th seed and swept through the three toughest teams in the AFC to advance to a SB. (Yes, revisionist history.) I can honestly say at the time they got in I was telling people they were the most dangerous 6th seed the league had seen in my lifetime.
This year, sure - they're dangerous. But they're also prone to critical mistakes or simply bad luck at the most inopportune time. Ya, I'd love to be wrong. I'd LOVE to eat crow. But I won't.
Regardless, I love them. I'm happy when they win, I'm mildly depressed for a few days when they lose (this thread serves as testimony) and I'll back them until I die. But once again, this aint the year. You can just see it in the last three games. First they destroy the Panthers in a game where pretty much every single thing goes their way and we all assume they are the most amazing thing since twist ties. Then they look like The Browns circa 2015 against the Panthers until some late heroics from a couple players convince us they can overcome any problem, any deficit. Then they come out against the Broncos and you see how fate can simply destroy what we believe is this amazing, unstoppable offensive force. They're not unstoppable. They aren't even really amazing. At times they are efficient and even explosive, but more often than not they're essentially pedestrian. It's gotten better with Fichtner, I suppose. I'm happy about that. But - they aren't even in the same area-code as the Chiefs, or the Rams. And while neither of those teams have much of a defense, does anyone really believe they'll NEED one against the Steelers? The odds that Pittsburgh can outscore either of those teams is more unlikely than Brown missing a toe-tap on a sideline catch.
As for the P*ts, They can't overcome Ernie Adams. I have no doubt of that. Even if they manage to win the regular season matchup, which is unlikely, they cannot possibly beat them in the playoffs. Ernie will have what he needs of Fichtner's verbiage and scheme and Tom Brady will be whispered to in the playoffs and once more the perfect play will appear at the perfect moment, somehow magically to continue their unending streak.
Tomlin, noble as he is, is incapable of preventing this. He likely will not make the necessary changes to the play calling verbiage and processes in order to force the cheaters to actually "play" the game. Rather he would like to go out and "lace em up". That will fail every single time against an Ernie Adams team.
Truthfully, odd as it sounds, I would have felt better about this team had they simply been soundly, fundamentally beaten by the Broncos. As it is, with the cruel bounce of fate being the primary catalyst, I doubt Tomlin or the players will take the loss seriously. Why would they? This was an aberration of titanic proportions. So, they'll proceed as they must, in a business as usual manner and the Chargers will eviscerate this defense. The offense may or may not play well, but with the points San Diego will put up, it won't matter.
The reality is, this team is nowhere near good enough to beat themselves, fate AND the opponent. That's just how it is. So. Enjoy the season. Hope Ben gets some good numbers and that Conner finishes strong. Hope that Brown manages to re-assert himself as a receiving threat, hope that JuJu continues to have an exceptional season. Hope that they find a receiver next year that can pull some pressure off Brown. Hope Ben decides to give it one more year. Maybe THAT will be their year. Maybe.
Even IF they manage to play out of their minds and beat San Diego or N.E., They'll lay an egg against Oakland and/or Cinci. And the Saints? Uh huh.
Yesterday wasn't about lack of preparation, or being cocky. Yesterday was about **** falling apart on a spectacular scale. The blocked kick, avoidable but that's on the special teams coach and the players to know the tendency. Grimble's fumble - literally a 1 in 25 likelihood event. Just crap luck. Ben's first int - a combination of Brown being slightly held, him giving up on the route and Ben throwing a little wide. (That took 3 things for it to go so far south.) Conner's fumble - again, freak thing. You see that happen maybe 2 or 3 percent of the time. Ben had what? 3 deep throws that just didn't quite connect for one reason or another. One was just too deep, one was a case of Washington not having the experience to make the play and one was a 1 or 2 in 100 case of Brown NOT making the toe-tap on the sideline. Ben's 2nd int... Well that was a HORRIBLE throw, and I can't really find any good spin on that. I WOULD like to know if that was truly a run play that got botched at the snap. Certainly I'd LIKE to think that was it and that Ben just failed to do the smart thing and throw the ball away, but I'm not sure about that as Brown WAS in a route, albeit a crap one. (However if the run was to the left outside the tackles, Brown would have been clearing a DB and Safety so, maybe...)
Anyway, the point is if it COULD go wrong it did. Literally the ONLY bounce the Steelers got their way yesterday was when Switz was somehow magically able to recover his own fumbled punt. Every other break went to the Broncos.
So you MAY be thinking I'm saying (after a day's worth of speculation) that "Hey, it wasn't as bad as it seemed in the greater scheme of the universe, and I suppose that's true. But the fact of the matter is, the unavoidable - inevitable truth of it all is that the Steelers simply don't "have it". They will not win challenging playoff games, at home or away. They will not play consistently enough to advance past perhaps the first round of the playoffs, and they certainly will not play in the SB. not because they "can't" No, they won't because they're NOT that team. They're too inconsistent, they've been too distracted, they just aren't "that team". The last time I felt the Steelers were truly "That team" was when they came in as a 6th seed and swept through the three toughest teams in the AFC to advance to a SB. (Yes, revisionist history.) I can honestly say at the time they got in I was telling people they were the most dangerous 6th seed the league had seen in my lifetime.
This year, sure - they're dangerous. But they're also prone to critical mistakes or simply bad luck at the most inopportune time. Ya, I'd love to be wrong. I'd LOVE to eat crow. But I won't.
Regardless, I love them. I'm happy when they win, I'm mildly depressed for a few days when they lose (this thread serves as testimony) and I'll back them until I die. But once again, this aint the year. You can just see it in the last three games. First they destroy the Panthers in a game where pretty much every single thing goes their way and we all assume they are the most amazing thing since twist ties. Then they look like The Browns circa 2015 against the Panthers until some late heroics from a couple players convince us they can overcome any problem, any deficit. Then they come out against the Broncos and you see how fate can simply destroy what we believe is this amazing, unstoppable offensive force. They're not unstoppable. They aren't even really amazing. At times they are efficient and even explosive, but more often than not they're essentially pedestrian. It's gotten better with Fichtner, I suppose. I'm happy about that. But - they aren't even in the same area-code as the Chiefs, or the Rams. And while neither of those teams have much of a defense, does anyone really believe they'll NEED one against the Steelers? The odds that Pittsburgh can outscore either of those teams is more unlikely than Brown missing a toe-tap on a sideline catch.
As for the P*ts, They can't overcome Ernie Adams. I have no doubt of that. Even if they manage to win the regular season matchup, which is unlikely, they cannot possibly beat them in the playoffs. Ernie will have what he needs of Fichtner's verbiage and scheme and Tom Brady will be whispered to in the playoffs and once more the perfect play will appear at the perfect moment, somehow magically to continue their unending streak.
Tomlin, noble as he is, is incapable of preventing this. He likely will not make the necessary changes to the play calling verbiage and processes in order to force the cheaters to actually "play" the game. Rather he would like to go out and "lace em up". That will fail every single time against an Ernie Adams team.
Truthfully, odd as it sounds, I would have felt better about this team had they simply been soundly, fundamentally beaten by the Broncos. As it is, with the cruel bounce of fate being the primary catalyst, I doubt Tomlin or the players will take the loss seriously. Why would they? This was an aberration of titanic proportions. So, they'll proceed as they must, in a business as usual manner and the Chargers will eviscerate this defense. The offense may or may not play well, but with the points San Diego will put up, it won't matter.
The reality is, this team is nowhere near good enough to beat themselves, fate AND the opponent. That's just how it is. So. Enjoy the season. Hope Ben gets some good numbers and that Conner finishes strong. Hope that Brown manages to re-assert himself as a receiving threat, hope that JuJu continues to have an exceptional season. Hope that they find a receiver next year that can pull some pressure off Brown. Hope Ben decides to give it one more year. Maybe THAT will be their year. Maybe.
