Miss him yet?

NAPA VALLEY (KDKA) — Mr. Big Chest has done it once again this season, just with another team.

Former Steeler Antonio Brown, who was known for his grand entrances, arrived to Oakland Raiders training camp riding a hot air balloon.

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2019/07/26/brown-hot-air-balloon/

“Mr Big Chest” arrives in Oakland training camp appropriately in a HOT AIR balloon. #Raiders. pic.twitter.com/P4PlK5qRDm

— Bob Pompeani (@KDPomp) July 26, 2019

I miss seeing opposing teams message boards saying something to the extent of, "Is anyone going to cover Antonio Brown?"

He was anywhere from a troubled soul to a shit bucket off the field. On the field, he was absolutely glorious.

i love it.
i was hoping he would keep up with the stupid stuff

You know what. His new first name is kinda catchy. "FORMER" Steeler Antonio Brown or FSAB. He was exciting to watch on the field. Off the field not so much.

I'm at peace with him gone and looking forward to the WRs in camp. Overall we are better than we were last year. I look for Washington to light it up this year. Moncrief had his best year when a quality QB threw to him (Luck). Ben should feel comfortable this year. Plenty of targets to spread the ball around.

jak341 wrote:

I miss seeing opposing teams message boards saying something to the extent of, "Is anyone going to cover Antonio Brown?"

He was anywhere from a troubled soul to a shit bucket off the field. On the field, he was absolutely glorious.

I'm a firm believer in addition by subtraction. I'm not suggesting that AB's drama is the main cause of all the team's problems, but he certainly contributed. I know camp just started, but this team already seems more focused than in recent years.

Dont miss his punk ass one bit. That was a cancer that needed removed and the team is better for it. Back to Steeler foorball.

Wallace108 wrote:

jak341 wrote:

I miss seeing opposing teams message boards saying something to the extent of, "Is anyone going to cover Antonio Brown?"

He was anywhere from a troubled soul to a shit bucket off the field. On the field, he was absolutely glorious.

I'm a firm believer in addition by subtraction. I'm not suggesting that AB's drama is the main cause of all the team's problems, but he certainly contributed. I know camp just started, but this team already seems more focused than in recent years.

I couldn't agree more.For the last few years the arrival at camp looked more like the Oscars with everyone showing off their new dresses. Also the "keyword" here is TEAM. We haven't seen that in awhile.
I don't wish either Bell or Brown any harm. I just hope the Jets and Raiders are bottom feeders until they both retire or move on.

JuJu: “Everyone is on the same page. We are starting practice 10 minutes early. That is unusual for us to do that. No one is late. We are all here for the same reason. The mindset is very positive. Just the chemistry we have right now you can see it changing slowly.” #Steelers

— Steelers Depot (@Steelersdepot) July 27, 2019

That's a lot of insight packed into one quote ...

"Everyone is on the same page."

"That is unusual for us to do that."

"No one is late."

"We are all here for the same reason."

"The mindset is very positive."

"Just the chemistry we have right now you can see it changing slowly."

It also sounds to me like Ju Ju is becoming a leader on and off the field. Made to order for a team like ours where drama had become normal. I really like the direction the team is heading in.

More evidence of addition by subtraction ...

Ben R.: “I told my wife when I was home the other day, she was asking how it was going. I said I feel like I love football again. She got a big smile on her face and said it made her happy to hear that.” #Steelers

— Steelers Depot (@Steelersdepot) August 1, 2019

Wallace108 wrote:

More evidence of addition by subtraction ...

Ben R.: “I told my wife when I was home the other day, she was asking how it was going. I said I feel like I love football again. She got a big smile on her face and said it made her happy to hear that.” #Steelers

— Steelers Depot (@Steelersdepot) August 1, 2019

I'm loving it. When you love the game, that's when you play your best. When it's just a job to you, and you're just collecting a paycheck and not purely having fun, that's when you aren't playing to your potential. Love the direction we're headed in. The team seems so much more positive without those two ego-maniacal clowns constantly causing distractions.

What a difference a year and a serious purge can do. Pretty much to a man in interviews players are saying "I just want to go out and do what they
tell me to do". This team seems closer than they've been in years and I think they can have a ton of fun winning games.
Now all we can hope for is health. If we stay healthy I think we are a contender and I hope the so called experts dog us all year. In the past under Tomlin we have played our best ball as underdogs.
Here are some "ifs" and a question:
If our offense gets on the same page and plays as a team.....
If our defensive front continues to get after the QB while our secondary creates more turnovers...
If we get one or two key plays on STs....

Who can stop us but ourselves?

I don't want to be a negative nancy, but I believe that Steelers' fans have way too high expectations for this team. I absolutaly love the direction this team has taken by getting rid of Bell and Brown, but there's no denying we have lost a lot of talent and with the dead cap hit the departure of Brown created there was no cap room to overcome that loss of talent this year. I think we have to wait until at least next year before we can take a step forwards again.

If I break down our team by unit compared to other teams it looks like this:

QB: No problem there to be a contender, Ben at his best is top 5, top 10 at worst.
OL: No problem there either, top 3 in the league I guess although they're getting older so it could be that one of our starters will regress this year.
RB: Not bad, we don't have a top 10 RB, but the unit is ok. Compared to other teams average.
WR: Here's already a problem. JuJu is top 10, but after him it's one big question mark. We don't have a capable #2 and #3 at the moment. Washington has shown very little last year, Johnson is unproven, Rogers and Moncrief are meh. In a pass happy league you need at least 2 and ideally 3 quality WR, we only have 1. Compared to other teams bottom 5-bottom 10.
TE: Even a bigger problem. McDonald is good, but hardly top 10, probably more top 15. There's a chance that our #2 wouldn't make the roster on another team. Grimble is meh and Gentry is even worse. Easily the worst TE unit in the NFL.
That means our offense has an incredible weak receiving corpse. WR and TE combined we have 2 valuable receivers... If Juju or Vance would go down it's a catastrophy.

OLB: TJ is very good and we can hope he even improves. Ola is getting a lot of hype, but he's still inexperienced and it's insure if he will get a decent chance with Dupree still in the mix. Dupree is avarage at best as we all know. I would say this unit is a little above average.
ILB: Barron and Williams are average, nothing special but not big liabilities either. All will depend on Bush. I believe he has a great future ahead of him, but he's still a rookie. Hard to tell when he will pick up the pace of the NFL and how fast he will adapt to his role on our team. Will he be playing lights out at the end of the season already or will it take 2-3 years until he's ready to fill in his role for us? Depending on Bush this unit will be good or below average.
DT: Heyward, Tuitt and Hargrave. Hargrave is highly underrated by Steelers' fans, maybe because he's playing alongside Heyward and Tuitt. In year 2 he already was one of the best NT in the league. Outstanding against the run and a disruptive pass rusher. The best unit in the NFL for me.
CB: Haden isn't a great #1, he would be an excellent #2. Nelson is an average #2, he would be an oustanding #3 and they are our best CB's. Layne is raw and probably won't be ready this year, Burns has mental issues, Sutton is a disappointment so far. Hilton is a good slot CB. Let's say this unit is below average. Better than last year with the addition of Nelson, but still a big problem when playing good QB's.
S: Edmunds and Davis are difficult to evaluate. How much will they improve? Edmunds was playing better at the end of last season so let's hope he can build on that. First season that Davis can play at the same position as the year before. Going from FS to CB in college, going from CB in college to SS in his first season here and switching to FS last season. Hopefully it will do him well playing the same position again. I would say this unit is below average as well compared to other teams.
I expect the secondary to be improved compared to last year but still too mediocre to be a contender. Actually our defense in his entirety seems mediocre to me right now. With a lot of young players they can become better the next couple of years though, but we need to be patient.

ST: Let's hope Boswell can find his mojo back and that someone beats out Berry in camp. Our ST as a whole need to improve a lot but as long as Danny Smith is coaching them that won't happen I fear.

Combined with our tough schedule I predict an 8-8 or 9-7 season which would be a good result for this team and I expect them to take some steps forwards the next 2 years which would make them a play-off team again and then anything is possible.

You guys made some good comments I wanna come back to later. In the meantime ...


Raiders' Jon Gruden: 'I think we're all disappointed' in Antonio Brown's continued absence from practice

Antonio Brown missed a considerable part of Pittsburgh's 2018 training camp with a mysterious, undisclosed injury. The same story is now playing out in Oakland.

Brown, arguably the NFL's best receiver who was traded from Pittsburgh to Oakland this offseason, missed his second consecutive practice on Friday. The Raiders have not provided a timetable for Brown's expected return after the receiver has missed several practices since Oakland opened training camp last week.

Not only was Brown a non-participant in practice, he was nowhere to be found, leaving head coach Jon Gruden to utter some disparaging comments after practice.

"I think we're all disappointed," Gruden said, per Lindsay Jones of The Athletic. "We want to get the party started."

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/raiders-jon-gruden-i-think-were-all-disappointed-in-antonio-browns-continued-absence-from-practice/

Antonio has yet to practice this week with the Raiders... has an undisclosed injury... lol already starting kids already starting they just don't realize it yet...

That 3rd and 5th round pick are looking better and better...

Stella Nation wrote:

I don't want to be a negative nancy, but I believe that Steelers' fans have way too high expectations for this team. I absolutaly love the direction this team has taken by getting rid of Bell and Brown, but there's no denying we have lost a lot of talent and with the dead cap hit the departure of Brown created there was no cap room to overcome that loss of talent this year. I think we have to wait until at least next year before we can take a step forwards again.

If I break down our team by unit compared to other teams it looks like this:

QB: No problem there to be a contender, Ben at his best is top 5, top 10 at worst.
OL: No problem there either, top 3 in the league I guess although they're getting older so it could be that one of our starters will regress this year.
RB: Not bad, we don't have a top 10 RB, but the unit is ok. Compared to other teams average.
WR: Here's already a problem. JuJu is top 10, but after him it's one big question mark. We don't have a capable #2 and #3 at the moment. Washington has shown very little last year, Johnson is unproven, Rogers and Moncrief are meh. In a pass happy league you need at least 2 and ideally 3 quality WR, we only have 1. Compared to other teams bottom 5-bottom 10.
TE: Even a bigger problem. McDonald is good, but hardly top 10, probably more top 15. There's a chance that our #2 wouldn't make the roster on another team. Grimble is meh and Gentry is even worse. Easily the worst TE unit in the NFL.
That means our offense has an incredible weak receiving corpse. WR and TE combined we have 2 valuable receivers... If Juju or Vance would go down it's a catastrophy.

OLB: TJ is very good and we can hope he even improves. Ola is getting a lot of hype, but he's still inexperienced and it's insure if he will get a decent chance with Dupree still in the mix. Dupree is avarage at best as we all know. I would say this unit is a little above average.
ILB: Barron and Williams are average, nothing special but not big liabilities either. All will depend on Bush. I believe he has a great future ahead of him, but he's still a rookie. Hard to tell when he will pick up the pace of the NFL and how fast he will adapt to his role on our team. Will he be playing lights out at the end of the season already or will it take 2-3 years until he's ready to fill in his role for us? Depending on Bush this unit will be good or below average.
DT: Heyward, Tuitt and Hargrave. Hargrave is highly underrated by Steelers' fans, maybe because he's playing alongside Heyward and Tuitt. In year 2 he already was one of the best NT in the league. Outstanding against the run and a disruptive pass rusher. The best unit in the NFL for me.
CB: Haden isn't a great #1, he would be an excellent #2. Nelson is an average #2, he would be an oustanding #3 and they are our best CB's. Layne is raw and probably won't be ready this year, Burns has mental issues, Sutton is a disappointment so far. Hilton is a good slot CB. Let's say this unit is below average. Better than last year with the addition of Nelson, but still a big problem when playing good QB's.
S: Edmunds and Davis are difficult to evaluate. How much will they improve? Edmunds was playing better at the end of last season so let's hope he can build on that. First season that Davis can play at the same position as the year before. Going from FS to CB in college, going from CB in college to SS in his first season here and switching to FS last season. Hopefully it will do him well playing the same position again. I would say this unit is below average as well compared to other teams.
I expect the secondary to be improved compared to last year but still too mediocre to be a contender. Actually our defense in his entirety seems mediocre to me right now. With a lot of young players they can become better the next couple of years though, but we need to be patient.

ST: Let's hope Boswell can find his mojo back and that someone beats out Berry in camp. Our ST as a whole need to improve a lot but as long as Danny Smith is coaching them that won't happen I fear.

Combined with our tough schedule I predict an 8-8 or 9-7 season which would be a good result for this team and I expect them to take some steps forwards the next 2 years which would make them a play-off team again and then anything is possible.

I have to say I think it's too soon to evaluate this team. I absolutely agree we have a lot of ??? We also have new blood at WR,OLB,ILB and RB. IMHO Brown and Bell all but dismantled the team last year so in reality we lost a WR and a RB that are both delusional and locker room cancers. I think we are going to be better at WR,OLB and RB to say the least and I think we go 12-4. Maybe I'm delusional or a homer at least but I'll take a lesser talent with a good attitude and is coach-able over a better talent that is a any day. Oh yeah I read that Boswell hasn't missed a kick yet in camp and we now have Sutton Smith and
Ulysees Gilbert III who I think make the 53 on STs. I honestly think we are going to be a pleasant surprise.

solardave wrote:

I have to say I think it's too soon to evaluate this team. I absolutely agree we have a lot of ??? We also have new blood at WR,OLB,ILB and RB. IMHO Brown and Bell all but dismantled the team last year so in reality we lost a WR and a RB that are both delusional and locker room cancers. I think we are going to be better at WR,OLB and RB to say the least and I think we go 12-4. Maybe I'm delusional or a homer at least but I'll take a lesser talent with a good attitude and is coach-able over a better talent that is a any day. Oh yeah I read that Boswell hasn't missed a kick yet in camp and we now have Sutton Smith and
Ulysees Gilbert III who I think make the 53 on STs. I honestly think we are going to be a pleasant surprise.

I hope you're right but I believe the young players need a year to develop. I see 12-4 happen next year, but not this season. And I agree about Brown and Bell, it's good both are gone.

Stella Nation wrote:

solardave wrote:

I have to say I think it's too soon to evaluate this team. I absolutely agree we have a lot of ??? We also have new blood at WR,OLB,ILB and RB. IMHO Brown and Bell all but dismantled the team last year so in reality we lost a WR and a RB that are both delusional and locker room cancers. I think we are going to be better at WR,OLB and RB to say the least and I think we go 12-4. Maybe I'm delusional or a homer at least but I'll take a lesser talent with a good attitude and is coach-able over a better talent that is a any day. Oh yeah I read that Boswell hasn't missed a kick yet in camp and we now have Sutton Smith and
Ulysees Gilbert III who I think make the 53 on STs. I honestly think we are going to be a pleasant surprise.

I hope you're right but I believe the young players need a year to develop. I see 12-4 happen next year, but not this season. And I agree about Brown and Bell, it's good both are gone.

Oh yeah I agree the young players need time but I don't think the learning curve is all that steep on STs soI think Gilbert and Smith could make serious contributions. I think Bush will start before the season is up. I think Adeneyi could take the #2 OLB spot and maybe even take some time away from Dupree. Hearing good things about Cam Sutton and his versatility. I'm hoping you're wrong about Gentry and he develops. Otherwise if McDonald goes down and history supports that we are in deep DoDo there. Grimble is not a #1. Correct me if I'm wrong but I can't remember any games where Grimble had a string of plays consecutively. There has to be a reason for that. Every year I start off being positive. Last year I predicted 13-3. Yeah This year 12-4 because we drafted some guys who could make an impact day 1. I think Washington takes a leap and becomes a solid #2. I like Dionte Johnson over Moncrief. I see Moncrief as a Bryant with slightly better hands but not a #2.
Switzer will beat out Rogers. So at WR I think it'll be JuJu,Washington, Johnson,Moncrief,Switzer and possibly Dionte Spencer because Switzer should be counted more as STs. Of course I reserve the right to be totally wrong about it all.

Here's a pretty good little clip from last night:

https://www.steelers.com/video/sights-and-sounds-of-family-fest

Stella Nation wrote:

WR: Here's already a problem. JuJu is top 10, but after him it's one big question mark. We don't have a capable #2 and #3 at the moment. Washington has shown very little last year, Johnson is unproven, Rogers and Moncrief are meh. In a pass happy league you need at least 2 and ideally 3 quality WR, we only have 1. Compared to other teams bottom 5-bottom 10.

I wouldn't sleep on Moncrief. The guy can fly, and he's got good size. He hasn't had much consistency in his career as far as the quarterbacks he's played with either. He's reportedly already showing out in camp, and has built a rapport early with Ben. I think he's going to be a major addition to this offense. If teams double up Juju, Moncrief is going to capitalize in one-on-one matchups. He has the speed to take a top off of a defense, so if teams roll the coverage his way, that's going to open up opportunities for Juju, and so on and so forth.

It's the 3WR position I worry about the most, but by most accounts James Washington, Ryan Switzer, and Eli Rogers are all playing well in camp, and everyone seems to be having fun out on the practice field. We also have Diontae Johnson and Diontae Spencer has really been showing up in camp as well. So I have confidence we've got enough talent in our WR Corps.

Maybe I'm just being too optimistic but I have a good feeling about this group. They don't have to deal with the toxic ego of Mr. Big Chest anymore and they aren't going to be expected to do everything. Coach Fichtner will find ways to use these guys to their strengths.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001040518/article/antonio-brown-turmoil-related-to-unhappiness-over-helmet



I'm glad we got a 3rd and 5th.

Stella Nation wrote:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001040518/article/antonio-brown-turmoil-related-to-unhappiness-over-helmet



I'm glad we got a 3rd and 5th.

I was one of the many who complained about getting only a 3rd and a 5th. It's starting to look like a steal.

Antonio Brown showing up to Raiders training camp like... pic.twitter.com/TISd1x2vGe

— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) August 10, 2019

Not going to lie, absolutely love that he's being a huge pain in the ass for the Raiders. AB is just proving the Steelers were right to show him the door.