Sorry Last nights game begs the question

[tony hipchest]

the question i have is how bad would it have been if the broncos had a healthy champ bailey and javon walker?

how bad would the loss arizona have been with a healthy boldin?

the scenario of winning a tiebreaker with the patriots will not even come up. and right now looking at a 3 or 4 seed may be too ambitious. the ravens and jaguars are right there with us, and denver is only 1 game back and have the tiebreaker.

cincinatti's superbowl is played next week, and after that we will have a refreshed raven team with 2 weeks study time for the steelers.

i hope to see the steelers play with a sense of urgency like the broncos did last night, from here on out. the ravens may decide to quit doing us favors by losing (especially when they play us).

[Counselor]

Originally Posted by tony hipchest

the question i have is how bad would it have been if the broncos had a healthy champ bailey and javon walker?

how bad would the loss arizona have been with a healthy boldin?

the scenario of winning a tiebreaker with the patriots will not even come up. and right now looking at a 3 or 4 seed may be too ambitious. the ravens and jaguars are right there with us, and denver is only 1 game back and have the tiebreaker.

cincinatti's superbowl is played next week, and after that we will have a refreshed raven team with 2 weeks study time for the steelers.

i hope to see the steelers play with a sense of urgency like the broncos did last night, from here on out. the ravens may decide to quit doing us favors by losing (especially when they play us).

Tony you sound like the sky is falling. Its not the presence of absence of those stars that made a difference.

You are correct that we're having touble beating teams that "want it more"---that have an emotional advantage. Motivation has always been an issue---ie why the Steelers do better as an underdog, than the favorite. That said, they will have plenty of motivation against the division teams.

I am hopeful that Tomlin's coaching will eventually even the team out emotionally----then we'll be able to win as the favorite. But we still have risidual "cowher" energy. Tthere is a reaon why his teams could never win home AFC championship games---because they didn't handle being "the favorite" well. (Lets face it---we were nearly as strong of favorites this week as NE was---which is why I knew we were doomed:)

This is an "any given sunday" league----as witnessed on many occasions the first few weeks . I think we'll win the divison, but even if we don't the goal is making the playoffs---if we do that, no harm to foul. In the recent past the teams with the best regular season records don't win the superbowl. (Steelers '04, Colts '04, Chargers '06). No need to worry just yet.

[FOOTEupyourarse]

no one team is invincible! yes, i think we can beat the patriots, colts, jags, etc. you have to outplay your opponent. that is what denver did to us last night and we are a much better team than they are but the beat us. it still hurts today!

[steelpride12]

We must play smart and clock managing play against the elite teams to have a chance. We have to have the heart like we did against the Hawks and the skill like we had against the browns.

We have to come out every week like we have something to prove, like were 0-6 and have no chance. We need motivation and we crave on people downing us saying were not good enough. Were a A+ caliber team and some weeks we prove it and some weeks we go out slow and its ends in a big L!

The inconsistance kills me. I never know what Steeler team im going to see. The perfect steelers witht there backs against the wall against Seattle with injurys, or the Steelers that have mostly everyone healthy, but still play terrible due to what? Lack of care, no heart, no will, i can tell you one thing Denver wanted it more than us, and we got what we deserved!

[tony hipchest]

Originally Posted by Counselor

Tony you sound like the sky is falling. Its not the presence of absence of those stars that made a difference.



This is an "any given sunday" league----as witnessed on many occasions the first few weeks . I think we'll win the divison, but even if we don't the goal is making the playoffs---if we do that, no harm to foul. In the recent past the teams with the best regular season records don't win the superbowl. (Steelers '04, Colts '04, Chargers '06). No need to worry just yet.

the steelers rode this way of thinking all the way into game 9 last season. then with a record of 2-6 and being left for dead, they found out it was the time to worry. last year, if we win the early games against the bungles or falcons, we beat KC in a tie breaker (courtesy of an early victory), and we make it to the playoffs at 9-7.

so the sky definitely isnt falling, but the facts are facts. ravens and jaguars have as many wins as the steelers. the broncos have 1 less.

the patriots, colts, and chargers are gonna make the playoffs. ravens, jags, broncos, and steelers will most likely be fighting it out for the final 3 spots.

facing the reality of the situation doesnt mean someone is panicing.

[revefsreleets]

We lost to a bad team on the road, and it's not the first time we've done that this season. I gave the Steelers a pass once on this issue, but when a mistake or whatever you choose to call it is repeated without the lesson being learned, it's cause for concern.

It seems to me that some people are rationalizing by attributing more worth to the Denver Broncos then they deserve. Please remember that this is a team that had 2 wins prior to this, and they were both determined in the last seconds. Those wins came against the Bills and the Raiders. And we were down to this team 21-7. A team with a patchwork OL and their best cover corner out. The WR corp of the Bronco's was elite at one time, but last night? Um, no.

If we were playing NE or Indy on the road next week, we'd be 21 point dogs and we'd deserve to be. We have yet to prove that we can beat bad teams on the road, and until we do, this is not a quality football team.

[Atlanta Dan]

Originally Posted by revefsreleets

We lost to a bad team on the road, and it's not the first time we've done that this season. I gave the Steelers a pass once on this issue, but when a mistake or whatever you choose to call it is repeated without the lesson being learned, it's cause for concern.

It seems to me that some people are rationalizing by attributing more worth to the Denver Broncos then they deserve. Please remember that this is a team that had 2 wins prior to this, and they were both determined in the last seconds. Those wins came against the Bills and the Raiders. And we were down to this team 21-7. A team with a patchwork OL and their best cover corner out. The WR corp of the Bronco's was elite at one time, but last night? Um, no.

If we were playing NE or Indy on the road next week, we'd be 21 point dogs and we'd deserve to be. We have yet to prove that we can beat bad teams on the road, and until we do, this is not a quality football team.

although +17 appears to be the ceiling on Pats pointspreads so far

But FWIW 13-3 probably is a number 3 seed in the AFC this year, so just winning the AFC North or West with a lesser record gets the same result - a first round home game and a ticket to Indy or Foxborough. The Steelers have 10 weeks to improve.

For that reason I do not think last night had any real impact on whether and where the Steelers will be playing in January - but lose to Cincinnati and the season starts taking a definite turn for the worse.

[revefsreleets]

There won't be any rationalization left if we lose to Cincy. But I can't envision us losing that game.

[BlastFurnace]

Originally Posted by revefsreleets

There won't be any rationalization left if we lose to Cincy. But I can't envision us losing that game.

If our defense plays like it did last night, Palmer will put up 35 on us.

[revefsreleets]

Yeah, but the Bengals don't play defense. If it's talent versus talent, we should light them up for 50.