Superbowl

This has the feel of a superbowl season. We got off to a rough start but I think between the Scobee meltdown, mike vick and Bens injury it is amazing that we are 4-2,its almost like after Ben got hurt the entire team noticed it was up to them and they have delivered, our defense is surprisingly strong and when Ben is bombing 60 yard bombs to Brown and Bryant and Bell is rushing for 7 yards per carry. This Offense is going to be a wrecking ball. Its been a tough season so far. We have a tough schedule and this team is being tested right now.

At full strength we may be the best team in the AFC, especially if the defense keeps it up I think we could make a superbowl run. It would be nice to avoid the cheats @ cheatsboro , make them come to us.

I havent seen this loaded of a roster for the steelers in quite some time and definitely see superbowl potential, in fact if scobee didnt cost us 2 games we would be 6-0 and everyone would be talking about us.

We might as well do it with the team we have now because theres no way we can afford to sign Bell,Bryant, wheaton, Brown. etc. not all of them. we are so lucky to have Bell and Bryant to become pro bowl caliber players.

So I'm calling it now, we finish 11-5 and make a good run to the superbowl.
Outside of pittsburgh I dont think many people are aware of what this team will be capable of.

Scobee didn't cost us the Pats* game.

But I like the feel of the team too and think Super Bowl is attainable. No way we end up with a better W/L than NE, so hopefully someone knocks them out before the AFCCG.

This season definitely has that 'super' feeling.

- Young players are stepping up, the 2014 draft class could turn out to be one of the best drafts in Steeler history. Shazier (when healthy) / Tuitt / Bryant are all solid starters, ALL with pro-bowl potential. McCullers at the very least will be a solid backup. Jury is still out on Dri Archer, but he's definitely improved at KO returns. I still would like to see how he fits on offense, I think he can be good as a slot WR but we're so loaded with weapons on offense, he may not get many chances.

- Speaking of weapons: AB, Bryant, Wheaton, Bell, D. Williams, Heath, and even Heyward-Bey is out there making plays. This lineup already looks like every defensive coordinator's worst nightmare, who the heck do you cover? I've never seen a lineup this stacked with talent at the skill positions since the 90's Cowboys. Maybe even more so, I'd say Bryant is much more dangerous than Alvin Harper, and our backup running back is way better than sherman williams was.

- Defense stepping up: We may give up yards, but we're good when it counts. Our defense is close to a top 5 unit at points allowed. They are also getting to the QB and creating turnovers. Although this isn't the top 3 Steeler defense in the past, they are still looking like a championship-caliber defense (top 10), especially with the way our offense scores, they just have to be good enough.

- Special teams: Often overlooked, but our kick coverage looks pretty good. Archer is doing a much better job on returns and looks like it's just a matter of time before he finds daylight and takes it to the house. Also this year hes running with more authority, doesn't seem to go down as easily on first contact. Our new kicker can nail it from 50 yards pretty easily it seems.

- We're winning games without our starting QB. That can't be done unless you have a strong supporting cast. We would be 3-0 without Roethlisberger if not for Scobee sucking majorly. 2 of those wins were impressive in the sense that one was a west coast road win (we usually never win those unless it's one of those SB seasons), and the other was against a strong playoff contender. Pulled off both without Big Ben.

Yes and if everyone is healthy we would be an unstoppable force, if it comes down to kicking bradys ass in Foxboro in the afc championship game then so be it, We can go 5 wide easy, Brown,Bryant, wheaton, DHB, Coates not to mention plugging heath and bell to that mix we could possibly force a linebacker to cover one of our receivers.

This team has a different feel than it has had in the past few years. Like last year i knew we wouldnt go to the SB because our defense was so poor. It just seems like we have a lot of hungry young talent that would just love their first superbowl win. The defense is playing remarkably well, forcing turn overs and playing with intensity. I just cant freaking wait to get Ben and Shazier back. I have a feeling theres a lot of future hall of famers on this roster.

Ben going down made our defense step it up
Scobee having a meltdown lead us to find someone that can hit from 50+ at heins field right down the middle and probably our place kicker of the future (sorry sush, you can't kick from beyond the 45)

i'll have to let the season play out a little be fore i could talk about superbowls. *s are going to be a problem and so could the kitties. i do like our chances though

I love the upside of this team, but we haven't seen enough yet. They have the toughest schedule in the NFL, so they need to navigate that gauntlet and put themselves in good position in the playoffs. When they wrap up a playoff spot, we can start talking about how far they can go.

One thing that history has taught us......You never know what's going to happen or who is going to get hurt. They lost Bell just last year, and it cost them in the playoffs.

If they can go the rest of the way without losing anybody else for the year, they have a chance to be a very good team that can do serious damage.

I want to go through New England. I want this team to finally get over the 2 losses in the playoffs in 01 and 04. I want the Steelers to bury Tom Brady, in New England to get to the Super Bowl.

pczach wrote:

I love the upside of this team, but we haven't seen enough yet. They have the toughest schedule in the NFL, so they need to navigate that gauntlet and put themselves in good position in the playoffs. When they wrap up a playoff spot, we can start talking about how far they can go.

One thing that history has taught us......You never know what's going to happen or who is going to get hurt.

The schedule is murderous based upon the 2014 performance of teams on the schedule but the Steelers are not playing last year's teams.

As you state, past performance is no guarantee of future results and the schedule, while difficult, is not as bad as it appeared at the start of the season based upon the performance of teams such as the Chiefs and Seahawks in 2015.

As noted in this excerpt from the linked table, the Steelers schedule is still tough but not a death march (like 2008)

The Strength of Schedule table presents the winning percentages for each team and three different grouping of its opponents. These groupings include all opponents, opponents of games played, and opponents of unplayed games

Steelers

Opponents of All Games 51%
Opponents of Played Games 52%
Opponents of Remaining Games 51%

Strength of Schedule Rank
League - 13
Conference - 6
Division - 1

http://www.playoffstatus.com/nfl/afcsosag.html

One downside with these stats - Bengals still have the second easiest schedule in the league

But when considering the schedule difficulty is skewed upward by Denver being 6-0 (let's see how Peyton in decline handles Heinz in December), the schedule is another variable that looks better now than it did in August.

Bottom line is to be in contention for anything other than a wildcard the Steelers need to beat the Bengals twice

If the team is healthy I don't think there's a team we can't beat, our house or theirs. It's the most talent-filled Steeler squad I've ever seen.

I could care less if we gotta play the Patriots*** in their own homefield, I think we beat them there if we play them again. I'm predicting this team goes 12-4, and if healthy, we'll be that team that nobody wants to face in the playoffs.

Fire Arians wrote:

If the team is healthy I don't think there's a team we can't beat, our house or theirs. It's the most talent-filled Steeler squad I've ever seen.

I could care less if we gotta play the Patriots**** in their own homefield, I think we beat them there if we play them again. I'm predicting this team goes 12-4, and if healthy, we'll be that team that nobody wants to face in the playoffs.

Agreed nobody will want to face this team in the playoffs if all hands on deck, but I assume you mean most talent filled at RB, WR and QB.

The OL is blown up with injuries while only Heyward and Timmons would start on the 2008 defense

And my guess is unlike geezers like me you did not see the 70s teams

no no nooooooooo curse this thread!

I'm feeling cautiously optimistic..dont wanna get too excited just yet..defense has really surprised me and rest of our schedule doesnt scare me as much as it did when it was released..11-5 is a good possibility

DesertSteel wrote:

Scobee didn't cost us the Pats** game.

But I like the feel of the team too and think Super Bowl is attainable.  No way we end up with a better W/L than NE, so hopefully someone knocks them out before the AFCCG.

Scobee didn't cost us the game but he sure as hell cost us a chance in overtime. As far as someone knocking them out I'd rather see us get healthy and kick their damn door down on the way to kicking their asses in their own home. With or without headsets.

way to jinx those chances lol
ESPN did the same thing saying they are AFC favorites when Ben returns.

The Steelers when under the radar or in most cases the after thought they play far superior much like the D has since week 2.

But let's make the playoffs first and we'll go from there.

I hope its a Super Bowl season, but still too early for me to think about it.

SteelersNorth wrote:

way to jinx those chances lol
ESPN did the same thing saying they are AFC favorites when Ben returns.

The Steelers when under the radar or in most cases the after thought they play far superior much like the D has since week 2.

But let's make the playoffs first and we'll go from there.

Yeah.....let's clinch a spot in the playoffs first before we talk Super Bowl.

One game at a time but I do feel good about the team and its chances.