My take on the season...

[revefsreleets]

First off, this will piss many, many people off. Too bad.

The season was not as bad as you think. Why? Well, for starters, we have a new head coach, and, since we aren't exactly the Arizona Cardinals, it's kind of a big deal. We also had a new OL coach and a new OC. 9 out of 10 NFL teams go through that transition and they lose 3-5 more games then they did the year before. We won 2 more.

10-6. Playoffs. For almost any other team in the NFL a two game improvement and a playoff trip is a successful season when balanced against the previous years failure. Not in Pittsburgh! Yeah, we are a little greedy, and any season where we don't ultimately hoist a Lombardi seems a little lacking, but, you know, we actually only win one out of every 8 on average, and we DO have 5, and only one other team has that distinction. How many Lombardi trophies are there in Cleveland again?

My point is that you grade the season on a curve. We improved. We won 2 more games. We should have won at least 2 more than that (Jets, Broncs and Cards should have all been victories).

The defense, for the most part, played well and we suffered two HUGE losses in Smith and Clark, and Troy was gimpy too.

The Offense showed some good. We have a horrible OL, yet Willie really produced. Ben really came into his own.

The special teams are awful. We need to play starters next year if there isn't improvement.

Next year we should win 2 more. 12-4. That'll get us a bye and homefield for at least one game. And 12-4 with our schedule next year will be truly amazing.

[revefsreleets]

And blasting Bruce Arians? Are you KIDDING! He had an awesome gameplan. If we had executed it even moderately well, we'd have beaten the Jags by 14, easy. We passed when we looked like we'd run, Ban ran waggles and bootlegs and got out of the pocket. We ran screens and counters, there were slant passes galore. Arians called a brilliant game, and when there was failure, it was player error and lack of execution.

[TackleMeBen]

this is going to kill me having to agree with a OSU fan, but you are right. with a rookie hc we made the playoffs and had a good record.

[stillers4me]

I don't see anything there I don't agree with...........I hope you're right about next year at 12-4, especially with the schedule we'll have.

As Steelers fans, we have higher standards than most other fans. While I'm not unhappy about how the season turned out under a brand new HC, I certainly see much room for improvement, and no reason why it can't happen.

[revefsreleets]

I had a long two hour ride home, and all we talked about was draft and FA. I think we may be better off than we think in those regards as well, but I can't get into all that now. Suffice to say, we are headed in the right direction.

[shevdog]

Bruce Arians had an awesome gameplan? You kidding me? Where was the run game????

As for Tomlin's first season, I wasn't sure where we'd end up until the pre-season. I called a 10-6 or 11-5 season this year and was right on. Yet we could have been better and Steelers need to play better ball than they did. Sure, it was an improvement, yet then again in 2004 we were 15-1 and in 2005 we won a Super Bowl. So us Steelers fans do have high expectations. Merited? Maybe yes, maybe no??? No matter, we expected more than this. Just stupid losses all season, even against the Jags twice.

Anyhow, good point revefsreleets.

[Atlanta Dan]

Originally Posted by revefsreleets

And blasting Bruce Arians? Are you KIDDING! He had an awesome gameplan. If we had executed it even moderately well, we'd have beaten the Jags by 14, easy. We passed when we looked like we'd run, Ban ran waggles and bootlegs and got out of the pocket. We ran screens and counters, there were slant passes galore. Arians called a brilliant game, and when there was failure, it was player error and lack of execution.

Maybe if they ran the plays in these awesome game plans more often they would execute them better - blaming everything on the employees when the business plan fails is typical bad management bullshit

Every play succeeds on paper - but that is not where the game is played - part of coaching is getting your brilliant plans executed

As for next year, the Steelers are not going 12-4 next season with that schedule

[LVSteelersfan]

You all have to realize we had a LOT OF INJURIES. I think the Steelers did a GREAT JOB considering how many holes had to be filled all season long. 5 key players on IR is murder. Troy hurt in a lot of games. Hines hurt in a lot of games. Santonio was out for several. Casey Hampton was out. It is hard to overcome those kind of majr injuries and we did well for the most part. Some of the conservative play calling drove me insane and the defense not being able to stop the other team on 3rd and 4th down this year drove me up the wall. But overall, I think the season was a success. The Steelers were in almost every single game except the Pats game even when they played poorly most of the game. The comebacks that Ben engineered were fantastic although we came out on the losing end more than once. I really like this team and look forward to next season IF we get an O-line that can block and fix the STs.

[SteelCityMan786]

Hey TMB, I'm a Penn State fan, don't you think that's kind of hard for us to? lol.

Anyway, yeah pretty much nothing I can find wrong.

[revefsreleets]

Originally Posted by Atlanta Dan

Maybe if they ran the plays in these awesome game plans more often they would execute them better - blaming everything on the employees when the business plan fails is typical bad management bullshit

Every play succeeds on paper - but that is not where the game is played - part of coaching is getting your brilliant plans executed

As for next year, the Steelers are not going 12-4 next season with that schedule

That's kind of a cop out, Dan. I expected stronger language.

It's fine, though. BA will be back, and the simple fact that we will have at least a little continuity from year to year is something that none of you other offensive guru's have commented on.