I watched the entire Bills game and as tough as it was to watch, I kept reminding myself it was preseason, it was in Buffalo etc, etc. Every pre-season I seem to panic that the defrense is not tough enough, strong enough etc and by the end of the season the Steelers seem to find a way to win.
From what I have seen so far on the field, are we only going to have an occasional James Harrison bull rush sack as a positive Defensive play? Geez he's 37!
Personally, having watched Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and now Mike Tomlin, I think Mike Tomlin is much more like Chuck Noll than Bill Cowher. He's not an in your face type of coach he foams at the mouth but his words "Walking Dead". should carry weight with the players like Chuck Noll's did with his players.
My problem is not Mike Tomlin but the personnel we have. Admittedly we were blessed during the Noll era to have such a unique group of guys who took their" life's work" at the time, football seriously. If Chuck Noll would have said the Defense played like the walking dead, you can rest assured that the next game the other team's Offense was in for a beating. The players responded. Is it just me or do I think the present players are indifferent to how bad they look? That's was scares me about this season. Mitchell has NOT shown me a darn thing since he's been here other than he can talk a lot. Maybe he needs to get on with life's work and be a commentator on ESPN football extra. At least when Ryan Clark talked (and he did a lot) he backed it up on the Field. I see a few signs of hope on D, Heyward & Shazier but beyond that? UGH.
Finally, I know the league has changed the rules to favor the offense to score more points to make the game more interesting and "fun" to watch (Please don't deny that Goodell) BUT our defense looks like it forgot to read the memo. "You are supposed to stop the other teams Offense before they score a touch down AND 2 pt play.
I have honestly looked at the regular season schedule and right now an 8-8 season looks like the VERY BEST WE CAN possibly hope for. We'll score on lot of point but lose a lot of shoot outs and on the weeks the offense is struggling we will get killed.