2017 NFL Playoffs - Super Bowl LI Confirmed! Atlanta Falcons vs New England Patriots!

[Anacybele]

Oh yeah, Jedi's gonna wish he was in my town if he sees this... Larry Fitzgerald is going to be visiting Ft. Bragg's south Commissary here on the 15th. :P

[Jiac]

Apparently Tom Telesco has signed 21 UDFA. I'll just name the notable ones.

Brock Hekking, a OLB/DE, from Nevada. He is 6'4 and 255 pounds.

He recorded 180 tackles, 21.5 sacks, 31.5 tackles for a loss and 4 forced fumbles. These stats, are highly productive, and I wonder why he went undrafted.

"Money"

He also looks like a buff and blonde Johnny Manziel. His hair makes him seem like the perfect partner for Weddle. The blonde basher with the beard bandit. Dude also looks like a wrestler for the WWF.

Also looks pretty badass with glasses.

Kicker, Josh Lambo. Texas A&M.

I think this pick-up is good even though our Kicker situation is ok. He'll likely push for a starting job from Novak. Nick Novak is a very accurate kicker, but his leg strength is pretty average. Josh Lambo has a soccer background, and he hit 13 out of 15 in College. His leg is monstrous too. This will put fire under Novak.

Quarterback, Cole Stoudt, Clemson

His measurable are pretty good for a QB, 6'5, 215 pounds. He doesn't have the most eye-popping stats but he does have productivity. Despite his 9 TDs-10 INT. He threw for 63.2%. (191 completed out of 302 attempts) for 1892 yards. 6.3 yds average. I did watch some games including him. He has a quick release, though he isn't fluid in the pocket and tends to fumble.He does have accuracy issues with short throws, but he's very on point with his long bombs. Also, every year he stepped up his game. From 2011 to 2013 there was noticeable improvements in his game. 2014 he did pretty well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vVhgRYaAYM

"That's our Quarterback."

Wide Receiver, Tyrell Williams, Western Oregon

Alright his measurables look pretty good 6'4, 200 pounds. Would prefer if he was heavier. He ran a 4.33-4.5 40 time. He has a 39 1/2 Vertical Jump. His route running skills are unpolished for intermediate routes. Otherwise his route running is alright. He can be a legitimate deepthreat like Floyd.

Linebacker/Fullback, Ryan Mueller, Kansas State

He played Defensive End in College. He is 6'2 245 pounds. Played in the All-Big 12. 33 inch vertical with a 4.84 40 times. Haven't seen much on him can't evaluate him too much. From what I can tell he is a very high effort player, if a play looks grim, you'll expect him to try to run downfield to catch the guy, in attempt to get him. He's willing to make a play out of pure effort alone.

Strong Safety, Johnny Lowdermilk, Iowa

He isn't a freak athlete you can say. Not the best lateral runner unable to close up space. Ran a 4.5 40 times. But, he has very good instincts, he was able to read runs before the play even started. He's always close to the ball, he knows where the ball is going to go. He is also a sure tackler, being able to tackle well in open space. There are a few times where if he didn't hesitate he would've got a turnover, but regardless he is an instincts player. He did get arrested for DUI though.

Defensive Back, Gordon Hill, Sacred Heart

This kid is what you can define as a freak athlete. He is projected to play Strong Safety, some teams even wanted to put him at Outside Linebacker. He's 6 feet, 212 pounds but ran a 4.5-4.6 40 yard-time. He's a very tenacious tackler who is looking to run you over, or knock you down. I can't say much about him since I haven't seen enough of him.

(I'll add more to this later on 4 other notable picks)

[chococoke]

The new title of this thread is accurate. I didn't follow the draft too closely this year but Bill made some very questionable calls. The fact that a CB wasn't drafted until the 7th round is pretty ridiculous. I'm pumped to see the Pats defense of a few years ago that allowed mediocre QBs to throw for 350 yards each week

[Anacybele]

^Wow, if the Pats D is that bad, my Steelers are going to stomp all over them a dozen times over. #2 ranked passing game and #8 ranked run game last season, yo.

[chococoke]

Lol Ana you're acting like you haven't mentioned the Steelers' INCREDIBLE OFFENSIVE SUPERIORITY at every opportunity ;)

Besides, the Steelers not only got outscored by the Patriots (who didn't have the luxury of playing the cupcakes of the NFC South) but they didn't even put up close to 500 PF. The Patriots have done that like 4 times in the past decade. Chump offense imo

[Anacybele]

Maybe that's because they DO have an incredible offense right now and this is something Steelers fans haven't seen in quite a long time? I've every right to be happy that we have such a good offense.

Defense though... Yeah, needs work. I like our draft and all though, so hopefully this side of the ball will be pretty decent now at least.

The Patriots haven't outscored the Steelers by much. Look at weeks 8 and 9 of last season. The Steelers scored the exact same number of points as the Patriots in both. Besides that, they've still beaten other teams with good offenses (see Colts in week 8, for example).

[Lord Raven]

I mean again their offense really wasn't much better than the Ravens in execution, but you ignored all the numbers and jerked off the killer B's so

[chococoke]

I mean, to be fair she did say they were HER Steelers. She must be a part-owner of the team, which gives her every right to ignore stats

[Anacybele]

Obviously when I say "my" I don't mean it that literally. >_>

I mean again their offense really wasn't much better than the Ravens in execution, but you ignored all the numbers and jerked off the killer B's so

I'm not saying that our offense is the absolute best or way better than everybody else, you know. Just that it's really good right now and the best it's been in many years. This was a record breaking season and Ben, AB, and Bell are all being honored for it with a special display in Heinz Field.

But I do apologize for mentioning it a lot, this just makes me really happy for the Steelers that I've loved watching since I was a little kid and first saw guys like Kordell Stewart, Tommy Maddox, and Hines Ward on TV. It's been hard for me to keep my hype in. xP

Edited May 3, 2015 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

What records did they break? Franchise records? I mean, we broke a bunch of franchise records too but I'm not ignoring other people about it

I'm not saying that our offense is the absolute best or way better than everybody else, you know.

Yeah, you did...

[Jiac]

Well if you want to consider more stuff, the AFC North did go up against the NFC South last year, so it's a testament to Brady and his receiving corps to have such a small margin compared to the Steelers. Also the AFC East is filled with defensively built teams such as the Jets, Bills and Dolphins.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Vermilia Scarlet

[Anacybele]

For some reason, the forum wasn't working for me for like hours...

What records did they break? Franchise records? I mean, we broke a bunch of franchise records too but I'm not ignoring other people about it

Yeah, you did...

Not just franchise records, NFL records too, remember? Ben is the only player in history to throw 500+ yards twice and throw 6 TDs in back to back games. AB has the second most single-season catches and holds the record for the longest streak of five catches and 50+ yards a game. That streak is still going too. Bell didn't set an NFL record, but he's set franchise records and only in his second season.

No, I didn't. I don't see anywhere in this thread a post where I wrote "our offense is way better than everybody else's offense!"

Well if you want to consider more stuff, the AFC North did go up against the NFC South last year, so it's a testament to Brady and his receiving corps to have such a small margin compared to the Steelers. Also the AFC East is filled with defensively built teams such as the Jets, Bills and Dolphins.

Yeah, but the Steelers also put up a lot of points against three good defenses: Panthers, Colts, and Ravens. The Ravens and Colts might not have had their best CBs, but they still had some other good guys there. Otherwise, I wouldn't believe that the Colts shut out the Bengals. And the Ravens...Haloti Ngata. >.>

Edited May 4, 2015 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

Not just franchise records, NFL records too, remember? Ben is the only player in history to throw 500+ yards twice and throw 6 TDs in back to back games. AB has the second most single-season catches and holds the record for the longest streak of five catches and 50+ yards a game. That streak is still going too. Bell didn't set an NFL record, but he's set franchise records and only in his second season.

Yeah but keep in mind that 2002 was not a pass heavy NFL, so 123 receptions now is not really much compared to Harrison's 129. They also threw to Antonio Brown a lot, whereas a bunch of these other 120+ receptions came in a less pass heavy time with another receiver that eclipsed 1000 yards (which the Steelers didn't have).

Passing yardage is a stupid benchmark anyway, the 2014 Pittsburgh Steelers will be lucky to be considered a footnote in history. On top of that, these NFL records won't matter as much considering they didn't even win a playoff game and they struggled a lot throughout the season. It's also less impressive because they had to pass a lot more because of their terrible defense (they had a point differential of 68 which is #10).

No, I didn't. I don't see anywhere in this thread a post where I wrote "our offense is way better than everybody else's offense!"

No, but that wasn't what you denied. You denied that you didn't say it was way better than many offenses, which I've proven to you to be false because the #8th scoring offense (you guys were #7 btw), the Ravens, were not as good but they were very close (scored equal FGs and TDs). The fact that we didn't devolve into a shootout with as many teams should actually give the execution crown to us because we don't have a tendency to run up the score in the second half.

Yeah, but the Steelers also put up a lot of points against three good defenses: Panthers, Colts, and Ravens. The Ravens and Colts might not have had their best CBs, but they still had some other good guys there. Otherwise, I wouldn't believe that the Colts shut out the Bengals. And the Ravens...Haloti Ngata. >.>

Panthers D was fucking terrible (well when you guys played them), Colts defense started to suck shit before they played the Steelers, and Ravens had one of the worst secondaries in the league. And even then, they had two stinkers against the Ravens compared to 1 ridiculous game. You know that he threw 1 TD and 3 interceptions and got sacked a million times against the Ravens in the other games right? You also know that our front 7 is night and day with our secondary right? We're #22 in passing yardage allowed, and if it weren't for these sacks (we led the league in yardage lost due to sacks) we'd be in the bottom 5. The Colts were #12, but you happened onto them without their best defensive players (it wasn't just their best CB in that game, I'm pretty sure they were missing a safety and a pass rusher).

Ravens played a lot of Dime in that playoff game which most teams have torched with no effort despite our numerous DBs and the Steelers still couldn't score on them. This is given the fact that Bell was ineffective in our first two matchups, so having Bell back there didn't actually change much of anything in terms of your passing game except maybe some pass protection, but Dean Pees called a much different game in the playoff game than our second game.

You also forget that the Steelers got a bunch of garbage time yardage too because of just how badly they played in some other games, and in around 7-8 of their games they were nothing special. The turnovers they got were the reason why they could run up against Houston and Carolina, so that wasn't even on their offense. Against the Saints they put up 32 (with the last score being a 2 point conversion with 0 seconds left on the clock) when they were down 35-13 in the fourth. Couldn't do shit against the heavily injured Jets. 27 points against the worst passing D in the league (Atlanta) is nothing special. In fact, the last three games of the season were nothing special; it was 3 explosive games and a bunch of games that just weren't anything interesting.

The truly historical offenses in our lifetimes were the 02-09 Colts, the 2007/10-12 Patriots, the 99-01 Rams, the 08 Cardinals in the playoffs, the 06-13 Saints, the 12-13 Broncos, the 09-12 Packers, many of the 00s Chiefs, the 06-08 Chargers, the second half of the 2012 49ers season (there's a reason why Kaepernick gets so much media attention - that was probably one of the scariest teams to play once Kaepernick took the field, by god I was hoping the Falcons would beat them because that 49ers team was their best team in the Harbaugh years), and the Ravens offense in the 2012 playoffs. The 2014 Steelers, and hell any offense this season, are a footnote in comparison. The Ravens would be even closer to footnote status, if anything, because of how we were the only team to completely torch the Patriots in Foxborough this year, despite losing the game. (of course, the Packers/Patriots/Broncos this year are closer than them for obvious reasons).

Edited May 4, 2015 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

So numbers don't really matter? Okay then, why were you arguing numbers when telling me that the Ravens offense wasn't much worse than the Steelers offense?

Seriously, make up your mind, I'm honestly getting confused here.

The Steelers faced the Panthers in week 3 and at the time, the Panthers were 2-0 and still fresh off of a top-ranked defense. Nobody expected us to beat them. Nobody expected us to beat the Colts either. But we torched both.

The Patriots seem to have a history of having trouble against the Ravens.

Also, I wasn't trying to brand the Steelers' 2014 performance as a big story for the history books or anything. All I'm saying is that our offense is very good now for the first time in ages and I'm happy about it. Nothing more.

[Life]

Le'veon Bell is like... who's another forgettable HB who had a good season and will be forgotten forever... OH! Priest Holmes.

EDIT: No QB draft for the Bills. Ryan and Whaley are probably pretty sure with Cassel/EJ/Taylor and one of those three (probably Cassel) will be the man. Darby was a good pick-up (some draft boards had him in the 30s while we got him at 50) and he'll help out our mediocre secondary (only weak part of our defense) by giving McKelvin a run for his job and Gilmore more resting time. I'm OK with the rest of our draft and I really have no negative things to say.

Bills go 11-5 this season and make the post season. Hear me now.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Oogie Fletzet

[Anacybele]

Le'Veon Bell had a GREAT season and only in year 2 of his career. Not just a good season. Also, he got a rushing TD on the one team that had only allowed one other rushing TD all season.

[Life]

Le'Veon Bell had a GREAT season and only in year 2 of his career. Not just a good season. Also, he got a rushing TD on the one team that had only allowed one other rushing TD all season.

Remember when people used to spout this shit about guys like Priest Holmes and Deuce McAllister?

Oh, I forgot. If we're not talking about a Steeler, you have no clue what we're talking about.

Le'Veon Bell had a good season behind a very good OL. Sort of like DeMarco Murray (he plays for Philly but played for Dallas last season, just so you know). A good RB (a player who usually runs a ball) behind the best OL (the group of players that play on the line of scrimmage and attempt to allow a team to gain positive yardage) in the league. We'll see if he can keep this up for another couple of years before we can even consider calling him great.

I offer football lessons free of charge, in case you plan on actually learning about the sport.

[Lord Raven]

So did Ray Rice... although the receiving threats on that 2009 Ravens team were nothing short of bad (aside from Derrick Mason) and on top of that Ray Rice put up all of this despite McGahee rushing for 540+ and scoring 12 touchdowns. And Rice didn't even have a good OL to run behind... Also Priest Holmes 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years starting (5th-7th years in the league - Ravens drafted Jamal Lewis in 2000 and Holmes didn't really start for us outside of 98 when he was with us) were WAAAAAAAAAY better than Le'Veon Bell's lol

Although these guys had multiple years of dominance before anyone crowned them. Bell's only had a single year that was cut short by an injury, and now he's gone for 3 weeks in his third year.

So numbers don't really matter? Okay then, why were you arguing numbers when telling me that the Ravens offense wasn't much worse than the Steelers offense?

I'm not saying numbers don't matter, I'm saying that being #2 all time in receptions (beating others by one) when you're the only receiver to eclipse 1000 yards + nearly a decade and a half after Harrison broke the record + only beating Welker and other guys by one isn't all that impressive. The numbers that we can easily compare, and have probably the best comparison due to the # of common opponents, is another team in your division during the same year.

The Steelers faced the Panthers in week 3 and at the time, the Panthers were 2-0 and still fresh off of a top-ranked defense. Nobody expected us to beat them. Nobody expected us to beat the Colts either. But we torched both.

So? Panthers defense was still awful for the rest of the season, people just expected the Colts to put up more than 35 points and win. As it turned out, Colts defensive depth is terrible, therefore the Colts lost because they allowed 50+ points despite Luck basically torching your defense.

The Patriots seem to have a history of having trouble against the Ravens.

What's your point?

Also, I wasn't trying to brand the Steelers' 2014 performance as a big story for the history books or anything.

Yeah, you pretty much were... Edited May 4, 2015 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

Yeah, you pretty much were...

No, I wasn't. This was never at all my intent. You simply misunderstood my posts.

Remember when people used to spout this shit about guys like Priest Holmes and Deuce McAllister?

Oh, I forgot. If we're not talking about a Steeler, you have no clue what we're talking about.

Le'Veon Bell had a good season behind a very good OL. Sort of like DeMarco Murray (he plays for Philly but played for Dallas last season, just so you know). A good RB (a player who usually runs a ball) behind the best OL (the group of players that play on the line of scrimmage and attempt to allow a team to gain positive yardage) in the league. We'll see if he can keep this up for another couple of years before we can even consider calling him great.

I offer football lessons free of charge, in case you plan on actually learning about the sport.

Wow, was insulting my intelligence and knowledge of the sport really necessary? I don't need any "lessons" thank you very much. I know plenty. I can't say I know as much as some people here (Lord Raven for instance, who is the only guy here I will ever call anything close to a teacher on the NFL. He's actually taught me a lot, and despite our clashes and the fact that he's a Ravens fan, I still respect him).

Our o-line isn't bad, but it's nowhere near as good as Dallas's. There were times where the o-line just completely shit itself, like when the Ravens sacked Ben THREE TIMES IN A ROW.

And yes, I know about DeMarco Murray and how he recently signed with the Eagles. He got a lot of yards behind Dallas's o-line, but fumbled way more times than Bell ever did. I compared their numbers. Bell has only fumbled once in two seasons. Murray fumbled seven times in just the last season alone. I know what an RB and an O-line are, stop treating me like I'm a fucking five year old.

Bell can definitely keep it up. I've got faith. He's got patience, he's not slow, and he can break tackles.

I'm not saying numbers don't matter, I'm saying that being #2 all time in receptions (beating others by one) when you're the only receiver to eclipse 1000 yards + nearly a decade and a half after Harrison broke the record + only beating Welker and other guys by one isn't all that impressive. The numbers that we can easily compare, and have probably the best comparison due to the # of common opponents, is another team in your division during the same year.

Oh, okay then. I just needed a little more explanation is all.

And Bell being suspended for three weeks doesn't mean he's not going to put up good numbers. He won't quite put up numbers like he did in 2014, sure, but still.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Anacybele

[Life]

Wow, was insulting my intelligence and knowledge of the sport really necessary? I don't need any "lessons" thank you very much. I know plenty. I can't say I know as much as some people here (Lord Raven for instance, who is the only guy here I will ever call anything close to a teacher on the NFL. He's actually taught me a lot, and despite our clashes and the fact that he's a Ravens fan, I still respect him).

Our o-line isn't bad, but it's nowhere near as good as Dallas's. There were times where the o-line just completely shit itself, like when the Ravens sacked Ben THREE TIMES IN A ROW.

And yes, I know about DeMarco Murray and how he recently signed with the Eagles. He got a lot of yards behind Dallas's o-line, but fumbled way more times than Bell ever did. I compared their numbers. Bell has only fumbled once in two seasons. Murray fumbled seven times in just the last season alone. I know what an RB and an O-line are, stop treating me like I'm a fucking five year old.

Bell can definitely keep it up. I've got faith. He's got patience, he's not slow, and he can break tackles.

You missed the point by a mile. I'm insulting the lack of knowledge that you have on the sport because you overhype any Steeler and show no knowledge on players outside of Pittsburgh. But let's go after your points.

- The Ravens had one of the best pass-rushes in the league last year (matched by Buffalo, Seattle and a couple of other squads to a slightly lesser degree). Three straight sacks by any one of those teams says something about the defense, not the OL. If we're talking about consistent sacks on 3rd and long, then the OL is laying a brick.

- Steelers OL of 2014 was one of the better units in the league. The receivers in Pittsburgh aren't amazing (nobody is Dez Bryant level for example) but even if they were, you can't justify constant 500+ yard games for Roethlisberger without tipping your hat to the OL who gave him time to throw. Most good QBs find it difficult to break 400 yards in the air with a mediocre OL because they just don't have enough time to look everywhere on the field.

- Faith isn't good enough. Le'Veon Bell has played about 1.5 seasons and he's shown that he's good at controlling the ball and running the rock behind a solid OL. That's it. You know what he has in common with a RB like Adrian Peterson? I can tell you something that isn't alike: AP never had a decent OL and was still incredible. Unless Bell can consistently run for 1000+ for the next four or so seasons, he's not great.

- I only compared Murray to Bell in order to prove that both of them are products of their surroundings. Murray will shit the bed in Philly, similar to how Jerry Hughes would do the same if he hadn't resigned with Buffalo. If Le'Veon Bell was suddenly traded to Jacksonville, you could kiss his career goodbye.

I really think that I don't need to go on.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Oogie Fletzet

[Lord Raven]

2012 Vikings had a very very good run blocking OL.

EDIT: but granted he came incredibly close to breaking a record despite one of the worst passing games of the past decade

Edited May 4, 2015 by Lord Raven

[Life]

2012 Vikings had a very very good run blocking OL.

It was halfway decent but they had no receiving threats so AP HAD to run the ball. All Minnesota had to catch was Percy Harvin and their QB at the time was Christian Ponder. There's a reason why AP averaged about 16 touches per game in 2011 (when he got injured, mind you) to almost 22 in 2012.

Vikings only sent one of their OL to the Pro Bowl, by the way. People say that the 2014 Bills DLine was very good but we sent 3/4 to the Pro Bowl. Vikings were good. Not "very very good run blocking" (which I'll still need to refresh my memory with film).

[Lord Raven]

I'll have to double check too but you don't have that ridiculous season with 8 man boxes most of the time unless your blocking is really good. Just about any player in the league is a product of environment anyway.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Lord Raven

[Life]

I'll have to double check too but you don't have that ridiculous season with 8 man boxes most of the time unless your blocking is really good. Just about any player in the league is a product of environment anyway.

I disagree with that second statement and I'll use my own team as proof.

Before Mario Williams came to the Bills, our last great star on our defensive line was Bruce Smith as far as I can remember. We had a piss poor run stopping crew and everyone knew it. Then we bring Williams from the Texans and suddenly, we turn it on. Sure, Kyle Williams stepped up his game and we drafted Marcell Darius. But Mario was already a Pro-Bowler and Jerry Hughes was considered a first round bust in Indianapolis. A couple years later, Buffalo has arguably the best defensive line in the league (Ndamukong Suh/JJ Watt does not instantly make a DLine best in the league but both of them help).

Jerry Hughes only became a player worth about 8+ million a year due to playing beside Mario, Kyle and Marcell. Mario was already a star before Buffalo.

[Lord Raven]

I mean, Tom Brady in 2013 did not play well unless Gronk was on the field, Yanda and Osemele did not look good (though somehow Yanda still made a Pro Bowl) when our center was Gradkowski (though Zuttah wasn't anything special and they were both the best Guards in football in 2014). Although my own team has a counter-example in Ed Reed who has played with a bunch of scrubby dudes at corner yet we still fucked up league passing offenses.

It sounds like a few of those guys were a product of their environments and Williams had a good set of DL beside him to do it.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Lord Raven