11/29/16-Can The Steelers Ride This Mini Streak?
By: Mike Pelaia
The Steelers left Thanksgiving night with a 6-5 record, having just beaten the Browns and the Colts on the road in a span of four days. While beating the Browns isn’t much and beating the Colts without Andrew Luck in particular is also not as difficult, winning two road games in four days is a massive feat for a team who had recently dropped four straight games.
Now the question becomes, can the Steelers ride this current mini streak? While I’m a bit dismissive of the Colts and I have absolutely no respect for the Browns, a win over the Giants at home this coming Sunday afternoon would certainly help paint the picture of which direction this Steeler team is headed.
The Giants are a good team; they stand at 8-3 and contain both a solid offense and defense. They obviously have a veteran quarterback who’s used to winning, a solid pass rush with Jason Pierre Paul and a stud Wide Receiver in Odell Beckham. If the Steelers can come out of Sunday with a victory, I’ll buy into this team headed in the right direction again. If they fail to do so, then these last two victories are rendered meaningless to me.
We need to see this team play well against and beat a good team. They did that earlier in the season with wins over both Native American representatives, Washington and Kansas City, but beyond that, they’ve lost to the Cowboys, Patriots, Dolphins and division foe Ravens, the next group of respectable teams they’ve faced. It’s been eight weeks since the Steelers dismantled the Chiefs so a win vs. a quality opponent is long overdue.
Can they do it? Sure, they can. They have the talent on offense with the Killer B’s to do so. Will they do it? Well, even after these last two wins, I’m not ready to jump there and say they will. The defense still scares me. I don’t trust the pass rush just yet. Yea, it’s been improved the last two weeks but let’s see it on Sunday. I still don’t trust the secondary and I’m very concerned about who will stop Odell Beckham and honestly, the rush defense isn’t very solid either. The Giants may not be the best running team in the league but they too can gash the Steelers for big plays via the ground if the intensity of play isn’t amplified even more.
Lastly, as you are all well aware, I don’t trust this coaching staff. Now that this team has won a couple in a row, Tomlin is capable of getting back to his arrogant ways, making the wrong calls and certainly botching clock management.
So as this team has a few extra days to prep, I’ll be very interested to see how this staff took advantage of it. Having the bye week a few weeks ago did nothing for the black and gold, will Tomlin and company learn from their erroneous ways? One can only hope. Their playoff lives may not depend on it, but they do take a big hit in that quest should the team come out on the losing end this weekend.
So, can the Steelers ride this mini streak? Sure, they can but we’ll have to wait til Sunday evening to find out if they truly will as I’m just not going to go out on a limb for these guys just yet.
11/22/16-Steelers Win But Far From Being Good
By: Mike Pelaia
The Steelers finally snapped their four game losing streak this past Sunday against the winless, hapless and hopeless Browns. The score looks good enough, the stats may seem fine on paper but if you set your eyes to the game, you know, or should know, the real deal.
This team needed that win badly in order to keep their playoff hopes alive but they are far from being good. Offensively, they have issues with Sammie Coates, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Markus Wheaton and DeAngelo Williams all hurt. Thanks in large part to those injuries, guys not named LeVeon Bell or Antonio Brown only amassed a total of 36 yards on Sunday. That’s a potentially huge problem against a team who is not nearly as inept as the Cleveland Browns are.
Big Ben is still one of the best in the business and is capable of making huge plays every time he has the ball but he does need additional help and if the Steelers depth chart can’t provide that, it won’t take much for quality defenses to shut down, or at least contain Brown and Bell.
Mike Tomlin once again tried his best to boot the game as he three times went for a touchdown on 4th and goal at the end of the first half. If not for two Browns penalties on back to back plays, the Steelers would not have scored. Yes, they ultimately got the touchdown but the Browns saved Tomlin from looking like the true fool he is and was in that situation. Logic dictates that you kick the field goal and go up 9-0 rather than risk going in the locker room with no points in that situation and only holding a one score lead. Many will laud Tomlin for his bravado but don’t count me in that group. I berate his ignorance and think he is quite possibly the most overrated coach in the NFL. But you’ve heard me speak to that at nauseam. My point is quite simply this, against other teams across the league, Tomlin needs to tone down his arrogance or he’ll pay the piper in a big way, similar to the Dallas loss.
Moving on, the defense played rather well with the highlight being the James Harrison sack to set the Steelers franchise record but if we are being honest here, were you that impressed with the performance they put out there? I wasn’t. I want to be, I really do but I just wasn’t. They were playing the worst team in the history of football, which was starting a rookie at quarterback and they still struggled in some areas. They allowed some big run plays and when Josh McCown came into the game, he marched the team right down the field, further proving this defense stinks. If and when the team plays a veteran quarterback with any kind of talent around him, they’ll be in trouble.
Encouragingly enough, it did appear that Keith Butler picked up the pressure which did contribute to the six sacks but we need to see this against a real NFL team, not the JV squad of the league.
A win is a win and the Steelers do find themselves tied for first atop the AFC North with a real chance to win the division. I think a wild card is probably out so it’s division or nothing for the black and gold but with all of the issues this team has, it’s hard to be too optimistic about how far they can advance because despite all the talent they do have on this squad, they still have major issues that keep them far from being good.
11/15/16-All Aboard The Fire Mike Tomlin Train
By: Mike Pelaia
The fire Mike Tomlin Train is revving up and about to leave the station. It appears it’s starting to pick up steam around Pittsburgh. I’ve been the conductor of this train for many years now and it appears that I’ve finally started to gain some passengers. As we leave the station, you’ll have plenty of stops of which to depart on this trek to get Tomlin fired. Are you ready to go? If not, perhaps you’ll get on the ride after I describe each stop.
All aboard!
Stop 1-As in Mike Tomlin has one total win in the playoffs since the 2010 season. In Pittsburgh, that kind of number in six seasons is completely unacceptable when the aspirations on an annual basis are Super Bowl or bust.
Stop Too-As in too many injuries occur under Tomlins watch. Sure, it’s a physical game but as Ben Roethlisberger pointed out, Tomlin runs these guys into the ground in practice and it takes a toll in the game.
Stop 7-As in Ben Roethlisberger, number 7, has taken a couple of shots at the coaching staff for the team injuries that mount up and the fact the team is undisciplined. When your franchise quarterback, who you’ve been with for 10 seasons, starts calling you out in the media, something is wrong.
Stop 10-As in Martavis Bryant, number 10, who is suspended for the year due to off the field drug use. He is just the poster boy for Tomlin letting the inmates run the asylum. The lack of discipline off the field with suspensions to Bryant and Bell this year; are a direct result of Tomlin being too soft on these guys from a disciplinary standpoint, they don’t fear for their jobs. But the discipline issue isn’t just off the field; it’s on the field too with reckless penalties and shameful dances by guys like Antonio Brown. When Tomlin was asked about Browns celebrations causing 15 yard penalties, he responded with “What do you want me to do, not play him?” Uh, yes Coach, that’s exactly what you do. You sit him for a bit to send a message to him and the rest of the team. I don’t care who the player is or how good he is, the better the player, the stronger the message is, so yes, Coach T, sit him!
Stop 17-As in the number of teams across the NFL who have better records than the Steelers do nine games into the season. Super Bowl contenders; at any point in any season don’t ever have 17 teams with better records than them.
Stop 25-As in the rank of the Pittsburgh Steelers defense in the NFL. They rank 25 out of 32 teams. Mike Tomlin ousted Dick Leabeau in favor of Keith Butler and stated he’d be more involved in the defensive schemes. Oops. The team is getting worse by the week in this category. A once proud unit of this franchise, that used to represent steel, now represents Swiss cheese, you can always find holes.
Stop 19-22-As in Tomlins record since 2012 against sub .500 teams. You don’t get too far in this league when you can’t beat the bottom dwellers.
Stop Game Management-As in Tomlin has no ability to manage the clock or make in game adjustments, which is a huge factor in the team losing a lot of their games.
Stop Cliché-As in Tomlin throws out the classic “Next Man Up” cliché all the time but the players don’t deliver because he doesn’t coach them.
Stop Arrogance-As in Tomlins insistence on pushing through plays and schemes that consistently fail or his insistence on going for two points in situations that clearly dictate the team should kick an extra point.
Last Stop, 8-8-As in the record the team seems destined for this season.
I hope you enjoyed your ride and picked several stops to visit. There are plenty more stops under construction that you’ll have an opportunity to visit soon, until then, get on board the “Fire Mike Tomlin Train” and hang on because it truly is a bumpy ride.
11/9/16-Time To Question Mike Tomlin
By: Mike Pelaia
4-4, that’s the record of your Pittsburgh Steelers at the halfway point in the season. Quite honestly, it’s a disgraceful record and one that the entire team should be ashamed of.
Mike Tomlin needs to recognize that his team has vastly underperformed so far this season and in particular over the last three weeks, going 0-3, twice to two AFC teams who were once again below .500.
This last loss in Baltimore however was the epitome of ineptitude and while Ben Roethlisberger struggled mightily for the first three quarters of that game, the loss needs to fall on the shoulders of the coaching staff, starting with of course, Mike Tomlin.
Listen folks, he’s just not a good game coach, when your teams consistently fall to sub .500 teams on a weekly and yearly basis, there is a problem. His messages appear to be falling upon deaf ears. His status as the head man doesn’t seem to be respected considering all of the discipline issues the team continues to have both on and off the field. When you commit 13 penalties the first game after a bye week, discipline is clearly at the forefront of the teams problems.
It’s nearly impossible to be as unprepared as the Steelers were against their biggest rival this past Sunday on any occasion but specifically coming off of a bye week. It really has to make you wonder what in the world Tomlin and his staff are doing to prepare for games, doesn’t it?
The defense is a mess as the secondary can’t cover anyone and the linebackers can’t apply pressure. The frontline can’t stop the run and the team fails to get off the field on major downs. While they have talent, it’s obvious that schematically Keith Butler is in over his head and should never have been promoted. Tomlin chose to push out Dick LeBeau, one of the best defensive minds of all time in favor of this guy. That’s a major failure on Tomlins part. But don’t forget that when Butler was hired, Tomlin vowed to be more involved on the defensive side of the ball as that’s his background. Well, the unit, despite all of its’ talent has failed miserably. It’s a coaching issue, a preparation issue and a discipline issue. It’s a Mike Tomlin issue.
It’s getting old having to preach this same thing week in and week out but the Rooneys won’t do anything about it. They don’t fire coaches and they won’t fire Tomlin. There’s still time in the season for Tomlin to get things turned around but he better start this coming Sunday against the 7-1 Cowboys, if he doesn’t, this season could go down in flames and several of the guys he has on his staff will need to burn with it.
I don’t think the Steelers have any reason to be thinking Super Bowl at this juncture but Ben Roethlisberger has come out and said “follow me”, in an effort to calm the troops. He’s been down this road a few times and I do believe in his ability to lead this team but we all need to hope that Mike Tomlin doesn’t get in his way.
But there are two consoling thoughts you all can have right now about the black and gold; 1) the season is only half over and there is plenty of time to right the ship and 2) if Donald Trump can be elected as the President of the United States of America then truly anything is possible and perhaps the Steelers can duplicate that miracle and turn things around under Mike Tomlin.
