• Please be aware we've switched the forums to their own URL. (again) You'll find the new website address to be www.steelernationforum.com Thanks
  • Please clear your private messages. Your inbox is close to being full.

Bottom line: Are we better or worse?

  • Thread starter Thread starter POP
  • Start date Start date
P

POP

Guest
http://espn.go.com/blog/pittsburgh-...n-smoke-clears-did-steelers-roster-get-better

To be honest, if we have Bell and D Will back, and don't end up with Landry Jones or Vick under center (and Ben misses less games), plus have Pouncey back, that makes us better right there, in my opinion.

I like Green and James at TE; Miller has zero speed by last year (he had to rip the ball out of defenders hands, because he never had separation).

I loved Heath to death, as we all did, but he hung it up at the right time. It seems most in here ignore the Green signing as little significance, but I think it was pretty big and meaningful. And James showed some flashes after his disastrous start in the NFL (dropped TDs, fumbles).

Obviously, Bell and D Will back at RB is huge.

Losing Bryant hurts a bit. But it's an area that we can afford a ding. AB is insane; he needs balls thrown his way all day. Wheaton is solid and capable of big games when needed. Coates is unproven but I have a feeling he will be productive when his # is called. The coaches rave about him in practice. I think he is hungry. As long as Ben is under center, we will be fine in the passing game.

OL should be better. Beach is gone, but Val already proved he can handle the job, and he should be better this year, plus we have depth from free agent signing. Everyone else is back, including Pouncey (maybe he can finally stay healthy this year).

DL will be better, with the rookie at NT.

LBs will be better as Bud will not fade like he did as a rookie; I think Shazier is ready to break out, ONLY if he can stay healthy. Timmons is steady. Jones is still the weak link.

Our secondary will be better; it has to be. No where to go but up. The D wasn't as bad as it seemed, only giving up the 11th most points. They will be better.

I feel our draft was so so, but it could be good enough with the potency of this offense if Ben is playing.

As of now, we have as good a chance as any team in the AFC to make the show. We just need some good luck on the injury front.
 
nice summary, agree we have improved, and better yet the FO did it while getting younger
 
We improved on defense even if we lost depth at LB, NT and special teams (those LBs).

The loss of Beachum is negated with Villanueva and Harris fighting it out for that position.

The loss of Miller is absolutely huge. Ben played his entire career with Heath so adjusting to Green will take a bit.

The loss of Bryant is also huge as he was a big time playmaker.

We can't judge how the newcomers on defense will perform, but I tend to think they are an improvement over what we had last year. This is going to be a much younger team with more athletes.
 
Hines57 said:
We improved on defense even if we lost depth at LB, NT and special teams (those LBs).

The loss of Beachum is negated with Villanueva and Harris fighting it out for that position.

The loss of Miller is absolutely huge. Ben played his entire career with Heath so adjusting to Green will take a bit.

The loss of Bryant is also huge as he was a big time playmaker.

We can't judge how the newcomers on defense will perform, but I tend to think they are an improvement over what we had last year. This is going to be a much younger team with more athletes.
Click to expand...

Ben was used to having Heath....but a Heath in his prime. Last year, we saw that he was just barely able to get it done. He was too slow. Green will be an upgrade after he and Ben form a rapport. An in-his-prime Green should be better than an old Miller.

The D will be relatively young, but I think they will cause more turnovers than we have seen in recent years. If the front 7 can pressure the QB, it will make the DBs' job much easier.
 
POP said:
Ben was used to having Heath....but a Heath in his prime. Last year, we saw that he was just barely able to get it done. He was too slow. Green will be an upgrade after he and Ben form a rapport. An in-his-prime Green should be better than an old Miller.

The D will be relatively young, but I think they will cause more turnovers than we have seen in recent years. If the front 7 can pressure the QB, it will make the DBs' job much easier.
Click to expand...

Agree on Heath's play declining, however where we had a big advantage is his blocking. Don't know anything about Green as a blocker.
 
The bottom line is we won't have any idea until camp starts and we won't know till they play in the first game of the season. Anything else till then is speculation.
 
DBS1970 said:
The bottom line is we won't have any idea until camp starts and we won't know till they play in the first game of the season. Anything else till then is speculation.
Click to expand...

And what are message boards for? To only deal with facts and never make predictions? That is cracked.
 
I thought this was gonna be about those twerpy SteelerWatch kids.
 
I'm not trying to stir the pot but I am a little reserved about the Steelers being better. The loss of Bryant is massive to this teams super bowl hopes....dude is an absolute freak talent and that will not be easy to replace. Bell is coming off a major injury...no guarantees that he will be the same player. It also seems the Steelers are going to rely heavily on contributions from a revamped secondary and I'm not sure they are up to the task just yet. The bottom line though is that if #7 is healthy and under center the Steelers can beat anybody....should be an interesting season.
 
The key is that the steelers did play much of 2015 without some of these key players. Bell, Martavis, Beachum missed significant time. Pouncey missed the season. Ben missed games.

So they lose Martavis, but they gain Bell, Pouncey and Ladarius Green. At this point, Green is a much better receiving threat than Miller was. The last few seasons, Miller was purely safety valve. He wasn't beating anybody. He was just finding holes created by defenses being scared of AB and Martavis.

Losing Bell took away a lot of the offense because no other RB is as good a receiver. Adding Bell and Green gives this offense a ton of options.


McLendon was a 2 down player. He's a loss but not a huge loss. Burns and Davis have a lot to learn but purely on athletic ability they make the defense more diverse. All Golson as well. Last year they had nobody who could actually man cover so they had to play it pretty safe in the secondary.

This year they can mix and match a lot more in coverage. Golson is a small, quick guy who can cover the Edelman's of the league. Burns has length and can stay with guys like AJ Green. Davis is tall and athletic and can challenge TEs.

They have some chess pieces now instead of last year's collection of band aids.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MTC
To me, they are likely better just by getting back their injured players. The other factors and the rookies and second year players. If Coates steps up then Martavis will barely be missed.

Shazier still has not completely broken out. That may happen this year. Dupree is the other huge question. He showed flashes last year, but if he makes the leap to about 8-10 sacks, then that will really kick start the defense.
 
The Steelers won a super bowl with Cedric Wilson as a starter not saying Bryant won't be missed but as long as 7 is healthy we have more then enough weapons
 
POP said:
http://espn.go.com/blog/pittsburgh-...n-smoke-clears-did-steelers-roster-get-better

To be honest, if we have Bell and D Will back, and don't end up with Landry Jones or Vick under center (and Ben misses less games), plus have Pouncey back, that makes us better right there, in my opinion.

I like Green and James at TE; Miller has zero speed by last year (he had to rip the ball out of defenders hands, because he never had separation).

I loved Heath to death, as we all did, but he hung it up at the right time. It seems most in here ignore the Green signing as little significance, but I think it was pretty big and meaningful. And James showed some flashes after his disastrous start in the NFL (dropped TDs, fumbles).

Obviously, Bell and D Will back at RB is huge.

Losing Bryant hurts a bit. But it's an area that we can afford a ding. AB is insane; he needs balls thrown his way all day. Wheaton is solid and capable of big games when needed. Coates is unproven but I have a feeling he will be productive when his # is called. The coaches rave about him in practice. I think he is hungry. As long as Ben is under center, we will be fine in the passing game.

OL should be better. Beach is gone, but Val already proved he can handle the job, and he should be better this year, plus we have depth from free agent signing. Everyone else is back, including Pouncey (maybe he can finally stay healthy this year).

DL will be better, with the rookie at NT.

LBs will be better as Bud will not fade like he did as a rookie; I think Shazier is ready to break out, ONLY if he can stay healthy. Timmons is steady. Jones is still the weak link.

Our secondary will be better; it has to be. No where to go but up. The D wasn't as bad as it seemed, only giving up the 11th most points. They will be better.

I feel our draft was so so, but it could be good enough with the potency of this offense if Ben is playing.

As of now, we have as good a chance as any team in the AFC to make the show. We just need some good luck on the injury front.
Click to expand...

I think the Steelers are better off on defense, but took a step back on offense.

Allow me to explain:

Heath Miller was a beast of a run blocker and pass blocker and a safety blanket over the middle. Ben called him the team MVP.

Without Bryant, the team scores something like 6.4 point less per game. That's a lot of points.

The depth at tackle is very thin with Beachum out. Adams, while much maligned was all right when he had to start. Who's the next man up now?

Now for a glass is half full. We play the NFC East, and our schedule is on the easier side. It's too early to make a season prediction, but anything less than 10 wins would be a failure.
 
The defense should be better if Dupree makes the next step and Shazier can bring it every week. I feel good with Heyward and Tuitt on the defensive line and if Golson can add something in the defensive backfield (plus the absence of Antwon Blake), you are moving in the right direction.

Even with Bell and Green, the offense is worse off without Bryant. He can score a touchdown on any given play, which is something few NFL players can do. Without that special big-play threat, the offense will take some step back. What sucks is it is purely self inflicted. This team should have had Bryant to go along with a hopefully improved Coates, a healthy Bell and the threat of Green along with the rest of the returning starters. That would have been something special to watch.
 
On paper I'd say so but we all know that means nothing.. If we stay healthy and everyone progresses as expected, we are a legitimate super bowl contender. But injuries or unexpected declines in production could make us miss the playoffs
 
Bell, Pouncey, speed at the TE position and including Gholson three new DBS literally replacing nothing. Bryant was a big hit but Coates could be good. We are better at the moment but one thing I know is there will be injuries.
 
DBS1970 said:
The bottom line is we won't have any idea until camp starts and we won't know till they play in the first game of the season. Anything else till then is speculation.
Click to expand...

Week 2. The first time Dalton uncorks a deep one to Green, we'll know for sure what we've got back there in the secondary.
 
Steel Vanguard said:
Week 2. The first time Dalton uncorks a deep one to Green, we'll know for sure what we've got back there in the secondary.
Click to expand...

Kirk Cousins to DeSean Jackson could be telling week 1 as well. Over 4,000 yards and 70% completion rate throwing to one of the biggest deep threats in the NFL. The will definitely be trying to go long ball on our ***.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top