Wildcard Weekend - Browns @ Steelers (We got mojo, yes we do. We got mojo, how 'bout you?)

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

Great Randino wrote:

jak341 wrote:

Same old, same old Browns, right JuJu?

Did he say that?  I don't pay attention to anything he says so I wouldn't know...

Yep, he did. And Garrett said it was on their bulletin board.

Juju has let his ego get the best of him.

and his ego will be playing somewhere else next year.

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

Great Randino wrote:

jak341 wrote:

Same old, same old Browns, right JuJu?

Did he say that?  I don't pay attention to anything he says so I wouldn't know...

Yep, he did. And Garrett said it was on their bulletin board.

Juju has let his ego get the best of him.

and his ego will be playing somewhere else next year.

Fine by me. Tired of guys like this constantly creating distractions year in and year out.

I wanted us to trade him a year ago. Don't know if he's really worth much but it might move us up a few places in the draft.

Hooper was literally wide open in the back of the end zone. I hope that was a busted coverage.

Fucking gave up another TD.

I'm done.

Have a good night fellas. I'd rather get some sleep before work than continue to torture myself with this pathetic excuse of a tesm that showed up tonight.

Yep. I'm out as well. Maybe they come back and I'll miss the greatest comeback in history. I'll take my chances though.

Mike Tomlin has cost this team a comeback victory. The team sucks, but fuck him for ruining any chance of a comeback.

Welp Ben played pretty shitty... 4 INTs and we lose...
Pouncey needs to retire...
Ben should retire...
Villanueva should go...
Edmunds.... needs go or get demoted...
Fieler played better Left tackle then RG...
Fitchner needs to go...

Highsmith is a bright spot... as are Dotson, Banner, and Chuks....

Lots of work needs to be done on that O-line...

Should have gone for it on 4th and 1. But the D should've found their balls and shut down the Browns and given us a chance.

Its a complete effort. But its also a 4 INT complete letdown.

SteelerFreak58 wrote:

Welp Ben played pretty shitty... 4 INTs and we lose...
Pouncey needs to retire...
Ben should retire...
Villanueva should go...
Edmunds.... needs go or get demoted...
Fieler played better Left tackle then RG...
Fitchner needs to go...

Highsmith is a bright spot... as are Dotson, Banner, and Chuks....

Lots of work needs to be done on that O-line...

I strangely agree with every one of those.

They've gotten bounced in their last 7 playoff appearances. Last two they allow 45+ points and get embarrassed at home. 1-5 to end the season after 11-0. Heads need to fucking roll. Don't care tomlin has never had a losing season. 3 playoff wins in the last 10 years and not winning anything the last 7 playoff appearances is unacceptable. Heads need to fucking ROLL

I'm gonna give Ben a pass. Dude played his ass off this season and the coaches gave him zero help. No running game killed us and it forced Ben to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. It's simply not acceptable to me that we were that poor running the ball. Just look at how many times Ben threw tonight, absolutely insane how unbalanced we are offensively.

Need to reset the offensive line. These guys are not good. Pouncey is washed up, so is Villanueva. Gotta get younger and stop paying so much to guys who are past their prime. The quick passing game really helped to hide how bad I think this line actually is.

Defense is fine but could use a coordinator that can make actual in-game adjustments.

Shalieve5090 wrote:

They've gotten bounced in their last 7 playoff appearances. Last two they allow 45+ points and get embarrassed at home. 1-5 to end the season after 11-0. Heads need to fucking roll. Don't care tomlin has never had a losing season. 3 playoff wins in the last 10 years and not winning anything the last 7 playoff appearances is unacceptable. Heads need to fucking ROLL

Oh yeah...this has become the script with Tomlin...players shoot their mouths off he does nothing. He's never had a losing season but then loses in playoffs every year. This browns team was gift wrapped with all the players out...coach was out. I'm sure Tomlin blames players for not executing...of course his game plan are always flawless.

The stretch we are in right now reminds me of the time after they won the last Super Bowl against the Rams until Cowher got here in 92. There needs to be player and coaching changes. We need to get back to where we were 12 years ago.

Post Gazette's Ray Fittipaldo in his report card for the game tonight:

Quote :

Coaching: Mike Tomlin won a Super Bowl in his second season as head coach, but he has just three playoff victories since 2011. His team came out and looked totally unprepared against a team that hadn’t practiced all week and was missing some of its best players due to COVID-19 protocols. His head-scratching decisions on extra points and then punting on fourth-and-1 early in the fourth quarter will go down as some of the most bizarre gaffes of his tenure. It might not be time for Tomlin to go, but major staff changes are a must. His team collapsed late in the season for a third consecutive year. Grade: F

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2021/01/10/pittsburgh-steelers-cleveland-browns-nfl-wild-card-playoffs-grades-report-card/stories/202101100188

Its more than an hour after the game Fichtner should already have been relieved of his duties.

If they say changes are coming like they did last time and fire a RBs coach I swear to fucking God. They need to do what the eagles did and fire the whole staff

Shalieve5090 wrote:

If they say changes are coming like they did last time and fire a RBs coach I swear to fucking God. They need to do what the eagles did and fire the whole staff

They are getting quite the resume....Tebow game...Blake Bortles...Covid ravaged coach-less browns.

LambertWardSteel wrote:

Shalieve5090 wrote:

If they say changes are coming like they did last time and fire a RBs coach I swear to fucking God. They need to do what the eagles did and fire the whole staff

They are getting quite the resume....Tebow game...Blake Bortles...Covid ravaged coach-less browns.

And yet the Rooneys are perfectly ok with it. Mind boggling

I think O-Coordinator, and D-Coordinator need to be evaluated. I'm more upset with Fichtner overall, but Butler's inability to adjust tonight killed us at key moments in the game. I'm still pissed off about the Browns going empty and Butler not making any kind of adjustments to address the easy mismatches the Browns were exploiting. How many times can you watch poor Spillane get absolutely roasted by Jarvis Landry before you decide that you better do something to adjust to it? Makes me wonder if Keith Butler even knows how.

We need coordinators that can bring out the best in our talent, not talent that masks deficiencies in coaching ability.

Tomlin got outcoached tonight by an Interim HC... Nuff said in that department.

I turned it off after Ben threw his 3rd INT about midway through the 2nd.
From what I'm reading it didn't get much better. Here are the playoff records for our last 3 coaches:


Noll= 16-8 (22 seasons)

Cowher= 12-9 (15 seasons)

Tomlin= 8-7 (13 seasons) Can Tomlin improve on this record given more time? We haven't seen any evidence. My conclusion is:

We are going backwards.
We need a complete rebuild of the O-line. I think Pouncey, Decastro and AV need to retire.

Ben is a shell of his former self. Misses on a lot of throws,long and short. I know 2 of his INTs were on Johnson but he is not mobile at all and his accuracy is bad. We can blame it on the line but let's be honest. If he has enough time to throw down the field and he over throws his mark that's not his line's fault.
We need a new OC. We had a better record in the playoffs with BA as our OC and that wasn't good enough. I believe in rewarding loyalty but you don't promote coaches because they stuck around. They have to be able to coach.
The same goes for Butler. The D played well this year for 12 of 17 games.What really shows up is there are no adjustments in game and honestly it looks like there are little adjustments from first to second half.We continue to put slow LBs on TE. We line up 10 yards off of the WR. I think Butler or Tomlin tells these guys at halftime "guys we have to play better than this".

Tomlin is a players coach. Great. Now be a leader of men. Put your foot down when needed and quit brushing off conduct that is detrimental. If he's not willing to change that maybe it IS time to move on.
There is absolutely no excuse for this loss. We spotted them 28 points. We had no answers for anything they were doing (at least for the first quarter and a half that I watched). It's on Tomlin.
Did he think all we had to do is show up? That this was an easy home game with a depleted opponent? Well I can say this...WE UNLEASHED HELL!!!!!! Just to bad it was on ourselves.

solardave wrote:

I turned it off after Ben threw his 3rd INT about midway through the 2nd.
From what I'm reading it didn't get much better. Here are the playoff records for our last 3 coaches:


Noll= 16-8 (22 seasons)

Cowher= 12-9 (15 seasons)

Tomlin= 8-7 (13 seasons) Can Tomlin improve on this record given more time? We haven't seen any evidence. My conclusion is:

We are going backwards.
We need a complete rebuild of the O-line. I think Pouncey, Decastro and AV need to retire.

Ben is a shell of his former self. Misses on a lot of throws,long and short. I know 2 of his INTs were on Johnson but he is not mobile at all and his accuracy is bad. We can blame it on the line but let's be honest. If he has enough time to throw down the field and he over throws his mark that's not his line's fault.
We need a new OC. We had a better record in the playoffs with BA as our OC and that wasn't good enough. I believe in rewarding loyalty but you don't promote coaches because they stuck around. They have to be able to coach.
The same goes for Butler. The D played well this year for 12 of 17 games.What really shows up is there are no adjustments in game and honestly it looks like there are little adjustments from first to second half.We continue to put slow LBs on TE. We line up 10 yards off of the WR. I think Butler or Tomlin tells these guys at halftime "guys we have to play better than this".

Tomlin is a players coach. Great. Now be a leader of men. Put your foot down when needed and quit brushing off conduct that is detrimental. If he's not willing to change that maybe it IS time to move on.
There is absolutely no excuse for this loss. We spotted them 28 points. We had no answers for anything they were doing (at least for the first quarter and a half that I watched). It's on Tomlin.
Did he think all we had to do is show up? That this was an easy home game with a depleted opponent? Well I can say this...WE UNLEASHED HELL!!!!!! Just to bad it was on ourselves.

Having had some time to calm down and come to my senses I really don't blame Ben all that much for this game, or for throwing some INTs. He threw the ball something like 65 times. That's not a good thing. We should not be having to ask our almost 39 year old QB to throw the ball that much, and it should almost be expected that if you're going to put that much pressure on him that mistakes are going to be made. You can't have a total lack of an effective running game the way that we have and put that much pressure on your QB to have to play at a phenomenal level to win games. Look at Rodgers, Brees, Brady, Mahomes... All of them are prolific passers, but none of them are throwing the ball as much as Ben. All of them have at least some kind of running game. The offenses they play in are more balanced and they play better because they're not expected to do everything on their own. We've had no running game whatsoever for weeks on end and we're asking a nearly 39 year old QB (who just had major elbow surgery coming into this season) to throw the rock 50+ times a game. Therein lies our biggest issues offensively.

I think Ben showed he still has plenty of gas in the tank, but the coaches have to get him some help. They absolutely have to focus on shoring up this offensive line and getting a running game going for next season. The defense just needs to get health and getting Devin Bush back next season will only make them better.

All of that being said, my faith in our coordinators is at an all-time low. I don't like Randy Fichtner or Keith Butler, and I think the Rooney's and Coach T really need to consider moving on from them.

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

solardave wrote:

I turned it off after Ben threw his 3rd INT about midway through the 2nd.
From what I'm reading it didn't get much better. Here are the playoff records for our last 3 coaches:


Noll= 16-8 (22 seasons)

Cowher= 12-9 (15 seasons)

Tomlin= 8-7 (13 seasons) Can Tomlin improve on this record given more time? We haven't seen any evidence. My conclusion is:

We are going backwards.
We need a complete rebuild of the O-line. I think Pouncey, Decastro and AV need to retire.

Ben is a shell of his former self. Misses on a lot of throws,long and short. I know 2 of his INTs were on Johnson but he is not mobile at all and his accuracy is bad. We can blame it on the line but let's be honest. If he has enough time to throw down the field and he over throws his mark that's not his line's fault.
We need a new OC. We had a better record in the playoffs with BA as our OC and that wasn't good enough. I believe in rewarding loyalty but you don't promote coaches because they stuck around. They have to be able to coach.
The same goes for Butler. The D played well this year for 12 of 17 games.What really shows up is there are no adjustments in game and honestly it looks like there are little adjustments from first to second half.We continue to put slow LBs on TE. We line up 10 yards off of the WR. I think Butler or Tomlin tells these guys at halftime "guys we have to play better than this".

Tomlin is a players coach. Great. Now be a leader of men. Put your foot down when needed and quit brushing off conduct that is detrimental. If he's not willing to change that maybe it IS time to move on.
There is absolutely no excuse for this loss. We spotted them 28 points. We had no answers for anything they were doing (at least for the first quarter and a half that I watched). It's on Tomlin.
Did he think all we had to do is show up? That this was an easy home game with a depleted opponent? Well I can say this...WE UNLEASHED HELL!!!!!! Just to bad it was on ourselves.

Having had some time to calm down and come to my senses I really don't blame Ben all that much for this game, or for throwing some INTs. He threw the ball something like 65 times. That's not a good thing. We should not be having to ask our almost 39 year old QB to throw the ball that much, and it should almost be expected that if you're going to put that much pressure on him that mistakes are going to be made. You can't have a total lack of an effective running game the way that we have and put that much pressure on your QB to have to play at a phenomenal level to win games. Look at Rodgers, Brees, Brady, Mahomes... All of them are prolific passers, but none of them are throwing the ball as much as Ben. All of them have at least some kind of running game. The offenses they play in are more balanced and they play better because they're not expected to do everything on their own. We've had no running game whatsoever for weeks on end and we're asking a nearly 39 year old QB (who just had major elbow surgery coming into this season) to throw the rock 50+ times a game. Therein lies our biggest issues offensively.

I think Ben showed he still has plenty of gas in the tank, but the coaches have to get him some help. They absolutely have to focus on shoring up this offensive line and getting a running game going for next season. The defense just needs to get health and getting Devin Bush back next season will only make them better.

All of that being said, my faith in our coordinators is at an all-time low. I don't like Randy Fichtner or Keith Butler, and I think the Rooney's and Coach T really need to consider moving on from them.

I agree with most of what you say but the big picture with Ben is even when he's had time his throws are off. A lot. His completion % this year is par with his career. 65.63% but like you said he's throwing more than ever so that tells me elbow soreness is not the problem. Mobility is probably his knee injury lately and age.
If we don't fix this O-line it won't matter who's back there and calling short passes an extension of our run game is BULLSHIT.To me that's code for "our OC couldn't find his ass with both hands. I would love to draft a guy like Chub. The problem is we need way to much help on our O-line to position ourselves to draft a franchise RB.
With all the FAs next year and cap issues we are in deep shit if you ask me.

solardave wrote:

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

solardave wrote:

I turned it off after Ben threw his 3rd INT about midway through the 2nd.
From what I'm reading it didn't get much better. Here are the playoff records for our last 3 coaches:


Noll= 16-8 (22 seasons)

Cowher= 12-9 (15 seasons)

Tomlin= 8-7 (13 seasons) Can Tomlin improve on this record given more time? We haven't seen any evidence. My conclusion is:

We are going backwards.
We need a complete rebuild of the O-line. I think Pouncey, Decastro and AV need to retire.

Ben is a shell of his former self. Misses on a lot of throws,long and short. I know 2 of his INTs were on Johnson but he is not mobile at all and his accuracy is bad. We can blame it on the line but let's be honest. If he has enough time to throw down the field and he over throws his mark that's not his line's fault.
We need a new OC. We had a better record in the playoffs with BA as our OC and that wasn't good enough. I believe in rewarding loyalty but you don't promote coaches because they stuck around. They have to be able to coach.
The same goes for Butler. The D played well this year for 12 of 17 games.What really shows up is there are no adjustments in game and honestly it looks like there are little adjustments from first to second half.We continue to put slow LBs on TE. We line up 10 yards off of the WR. I think Butler or Tomlin tells these guys at halftime "guys we have to play better than this".

Tomlin is a players coach. Great. Now be a leader of men. Put your foot down when needed and quit brushing off conduct that is detrimental. If he's not willing to change that maybe it IS time to move on.
There is absolutely no excuse for this loss. We spotted them 28 points. We had no answers for anything they were doing (at least for the first quarter and a half that I watched). It's on Tomlin.
Did he think all we had to do is show up? That this was an easy home game with a depleted opponent? Well I can say this...WE UNLEASHED HELL!!!!!! Just to bad it was on ourselves.

Having had some time to calm down and come to my senses I really don't blame Ben all that much for this game, or for throwing some INTs. He threw the ball something like 65 times. That's not a good thing. We should not be having to ask our almost 39 year old QB to throw the ball that much, and it should almost be expected that if you're going to put that much pressure on him that mistakes are going to be made. You can't have a total lack of an effective running game the way that we have and put that much pressure on your QB to have to play at a phenomenal level to win games. Look at Rodgers, Brees, Brady, Mahomes... All of them are prolific passers, but none of them are throwing the ball as much as Ben. All of them have at least some kind of running game. The offenses they play in are more balanced and they play better because they're not expected to do everything on their own. We've had no running game whatsoever for weeks on end and we're asking a nearly 39 year old QB (who just had major elbow surgery coming into this season) to throw the rock 50+ times a game. Therein lies our biggest issues offensively.

I think Ben showed he still has plenty of gas in the tank, but the coaches have to get him some help. They absolutely have to focus on shoring up this offensive line and getting a running game going for next season. The defense just needs to get health and getting Devin Bush back next season will only make them better.

All of that being said, my faith in our coordinators is at an all-time low. I don't like Randy Fichtner or Keith Butler, and I think the Rooney's and Coach T really need to consider moving on from them.

I agree with most of what you say but the big picture with Ben is even when he's had time his throws are off. A lot. His completion % this year is par with his career. 65.63% but like you said he's throwing more than ever so that tells me elbow soreness is not the problem. Mobility is probably his knee injury lately and age.
If we don't fix this O-line it won't matter who's back there and calling short passes an extension of our run game is BULLSHIT.To me that's code for "our OC couldn't find his ass with both hands. I would love to draft a guy like Chub. The problem is we need way to much help on our O-line to position ourselves to draft a franchise RB.
With all the FAs next year and cap issues we are in deep shit if you ask me.

I think our only option is to roll with most of what we've got. We're going to have to get rid of, or just let a couple of guys slide in free agency but as long as we plug those holes via the draft and/or free agency we might be able to make one last run with Ben. Our cap situation is shit though, and the front office is going to have their work really cut out for them. They'll need to nail some draft picks and they're going to have to trust some younger players.

Honestly I think Ben can get better with these receivers given an actual offseason and hopefully a proper training camp and preseason as the next season begins. I really think he did a pretty admirable job given the circumstances of this season, and with these coaches asking so much of him with no running game to speak of.

I do think there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Sunday Night sucked but eliminate the mistakes from that game and we really could've won it. It wasn't as if we put up a goose egg. Disappointing yes, but not the end of the world... yet.

solardave wrote:

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

solardave wrote:

I turned it off after Ben threw his 3rd INT about midway through the 2nd.
From what I'm reading it didn't get much better. Here are the playoff records for our last 3 coaches:


Noll= 16-8 (22 seasons)

Cowher= 12-9 (15 seasons)

Tomlin= 8-7 (13 seasons) Can Tomlin improve on this record given more time? We haven't seen any evidence. My conclusion is:

We are going backwards.
We need a complete rebuild of the O-line. I think Pouncey, Decastro and AV need to retire.

Ben is a shell of his former self. Misses on a lot of throws,long and short. I know 2 of his INTs were on Johnson but he is not mobile at all and his accuracy is bad. We can blame it on the line but let's be honest. If he has enough time to throw down the field and he over throws his mark that's not his line's fault.
We need a new OC. We had a better record in the playoffs with BA as our OC and that wasn't good enough. I believe in rewarding loyalty but you don't promote coaches because they stuck around. They have to be able to coach.
The same goes for Butler. The D played well this year for 12 of 17 games.What really shows up is there are no adjustments in game and honestly it looks like there are little adjustments from first to second half.We continue to put slow LBs on TE. We line up 10 yards off of the WR. I think Butler or Tomlin tells these guys at halftime "guys we have to play better than this".

Tomlin is a players coach. Great. Now be a leader of men. Put your foot down when needed and quit brushing off conduct that is detrimental. If he's not willing to change that maybe it IS time to move on.
There is absolutely no excuse for this loss. We spotted them 28 points. We had no answers for anything they were doing (at least for the first quarter and a half that I watched). It's on Tomlin.
Did he think all we had to do is show up? That this was an easy home game with a depleted opponent? Well I can say this...WE UNLEASHED HELL!!!!!! Just to bad it was on ourselves.

Having had some time to calm down and come to my senses I really don't blame Ben all that much for this game, or for throwing some INTs. He threw the ball something like 65 times. That's not a good thing. We should not be having to ask our almost 39 year old QB to throw the ball that much, and it should almost be expected that if you're going to put that much pressure on him that mistakes are going to be made. You can't have a total lack of an effective running game the way that we have and put that much pressure on your QB to have to play at a phenomenal level to win games. Look at Rodgers, Brees, Brady, Mahomes... All of them are prolific passers, but none of them are throwing the ball as much as Ben. All of them have at least some kind of running game. The offenses they play in are more balanced and they play better because they're not expected to do everything on their own. We've had no running game whatsoever for weeks on end and we're asking a nearly 39 year old QB (who just had major elbow surgery coming into this season) to throw the rock 50+ times a game. Therein lies our biggest issues offensively.

I think Ben showed he still has plenty of gas in the tank, but the coaches have to get him some help. They absolutely have to focus on shoring up this offensive line and getting a running game going for next season. The defense just needs to get health and getting Devin Bush back next season will only make them better.

All of that being said, my faith in our coordinators is at an all-time low. I don't like Randy Fichtner or Keith Butler, and I think the Rooney's and Coach T really need to consider moving on from them.

I agree with most of what you say but the big picture with Ben is even when he's had time his throws are off. A lot. His completion % this year is par with his career. 65.63% but like you said he's throwing more than ever so that tells me elbow soreness is not the problem. Mobility is probably his knee injury lately and age.
If we don't fix this O-line it won't matter who's back there and calling short passes an extension of our run game is BULLSHIT.To me that's code for "our OC couldn't find his ass with both hands. I would love to draft a guy like Chub. The problem is we need way to much help on our O-line to position ourselves to draft a franchise RB.
With all the FAs next year and cap issues we are in deep shit if you ask me.

I'm about sick of being here every year. Started watching Steelers 78 season when I was in elementary school, I've never stopped and rarely missed a game in all those years win or lose. I'm just ready for deep playoff runs again. A few years ago we had a top 5 QB, probably best WR and RB in NFL but poor D. Now have a top D decimated by injuries but poor offense. Some of these games the past 10 years I really felt were wins, We always end up with someone shooting their mouth off and then the team comes out looking unprepared for the Tim Tebows of the world.

Almost would think that 2 of 3 top picks this year are OL and the other a RB. Cap becomes an issue as we all know or I'd say maybe pick up a decent veteran RB on the cheap in free agency to go with draft pick. Veteran RBs usually aren't expensive though. Tomlin needs to stop going into every year with the type RB crews that he has been.

solardave wrote:

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

solardave wrote:

I turned it off after Ben threw his 3rd INT about midway through the 2nd.
From what I'm reading it didn't get much better. Here are the playoff records for our last 3 coaches:


Noll= 16-8 (22 seasons)

Cowher= 12-9 (15 seasons)

Tomlin= 8-7 (13 seasons) Can Tomlin improve on this record given more time? We haven't seen any evidence. My conclusion is:

We are going backwards.
We need a complete rebuild of the O-line. I think Pouncey, Decastro and AV need to retire.

Ben is a shell of his former self. Misses on a lot of throws,long and short. I know 2 of his INTs were on Johnson but he is not mobile at all and his accuracy is bad. We can blame it on the line but let's be honest. If he has enough time to throw down the field and he over throws his mark that's not his line's fault.
We need a new OC. We had a better record in the playoffs with BA as our OC and that wasn't good enough. I believe in rewarding loyalty but you don't promote coaches because they stuck around. They have to be able to coach.
The same goes for Butler. The D played well this year for 12 of 17 games.What really shows up is there are no adjustments in game and honestly it looks like there are little adjustments from first to second half.We continue to put slow LBs on TE. We line up 10 yards off of the WR. I think Butler or Tomlin tells these guys at halftime "guys we have to play better than this".

Tomlin is a players coach. Great. Now be a leader of men. Put your foot down when needed and quit brushing off conduct that is detrimental. If he's not willing to change that maybe it IS time to move on.
There is absolutely no excuse for this loss. We spotted them 28 points. We had no answers for anything they were doing (at least for the first quarter and a half that I watched). It's on Tomlin.
Did he think all we had to do is show up? That this was an easy home game with a depleted opponent? Well I can say this...WE UNLEASHED HELL!!!!!! Just to bad it was on ourselves.

Having had some time to calm down and come to my senses I really don't blame Ben all that much for this game, or for throwing some INTs. He threw the ball something like 65 times. That's not a good thing. We should not be having to ask our almost 39 year old QB to throw the ball that much, and it should almost be expected that if you're going to put that much pressure on him that mistakes are going to be made. You can't have a total lack of an effective running game the way that we have and put that much pressure on your QB to have to play at a phenomenal level to win games. Look at Rodgers, Brees, Brady, Mahomes... All of them are prolific passers, but none of them are throwing the ball as much as Ben. All of them have at least some kind of running game. The offenses they play in are more balanced and they play better because they're not expected to do everything on their own. We've had no running game whatsoever for weeks on end and we're asking a nearly 39 year old QB (who just had major elbow surgery coming into this season) to throw the rock 50+ times a game. Therein lies our biggest issues offensively.

I think Ben showed he still has plenty of gas in the tank, but the coaches have to get him some help. They absolutely have to focus on shoring up this offensive line and getting a running game going for next season. The defense just needs to get health and getting Devin Bush back next season will only make them better.

All of that being said, my faith in our coordinators is at an all-time low. I don't like Randy Fichtner or Keith Butler, and I think the Rooney's and Coach T really need to consider moving on from them.

I agree with most of what you say but the big picture with Ben is even when he's had time his throws are off. A lot. His completion % this year is par with his career. 65.63% but like you said he's throwing more than ever so that tells me elbow soreness is not the problem. Mobility is probably his knee injury lately and age.
If we don't fix this O-line it won't matter who's back there and calling short passes an extension of our run game is BULLSHIT.To me that's code for "our OC couldn't find his ass with both hands. I would love to draft a guy like Chub. The problem is we need way to much help on our O-line to position ourselves to draft a franchise RB.
With all the FAs next year and cap issues we are in deep shit if you ask me.

Agree with you that this tended to be an issue with Ben. I get that when you chuck the rock more than 60 times, you're going to have to accept INTs. But they were throwing so much because he had 3 INTs early and got the team so far behind. The last INT I chalk up as something that comes with throwing too much, but not the first 3.

There's sooo much to unpack from how this season turned from so good to so bad. Look, I've been critical of Ben's performance this year. Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE fan. However, he seemed to lose his touch halfway through the season. MOP warned us that teams that start hot can fall off at the end. Injuries and a HOF QB losing his mojo are a good recipe for finishing 1-5.

The coaches are responsible for how things went down, even prior to this game. For whatever reason, Tomlin's teams lose to really bad opponents and last night was a perfect and exaggerated example. There was only one team playing in "Playoff Mode" last night and it wasn't the Steelers. Yes, the players should take responsibility for mentally being up for a game, but the coaches need to ensure their guys are ready to go.

I wish I could say "fire Fitchner, fire Butler" as a reaction to last night's game because it's an easy, simple stance. If we want to see improvement going forward, I don't think those firings will necessarily get you there since I'm not convinced the root causes of this poor season ending falls in their laps. Maybe heads need to roll because of my earlier statement of the coaches ultimately being responsible.

To prevent myself from writing something about as long as War and Peace, I'll stop here and post a few more items breaking down the season that evolved into a dumpster fire.