NFL 2013-2014 Season!

[Anacybele]

Yeah, but if we have another "down" year this season, the fans won't be happy. Steeler fans aren't used to seeing their team play so badly. There's gonna be some serious changes if they don't make the playoffs again.

[Phoenix Wright]

no fans are happy when their team loses. <_< and just because folks that enjoy the bills, rams, browns, etc. have to suffer losing more often doesn't make it any less disappointing.

[Anacybele]

Well, true. But there will still be serious changes if we miss the playoffs two times in a row. Todd Haley will get the boot, Dick Lebeau will probably retire (the guy is old as they come), and as much as I like him, Mike Tomlin will probably go too. My stepdad and I both think the team will get a whole new coaching staff.

Let's just say that Steeler fans are rather demanding and stubborn because they aren't used to their team being so bad...

Edited September 9, 2013 by Anacybele

[MRDRHAWK]

I don't think that the Steelers are as bad as everyone seems to think they are. Sure, their offense blew yesterday, but so did Tennessee's, and that was in part due to the defense. They also lack a real starting tailback since they cut Dwyer, much like the Broncos, and are thus similarly one-dimensional in their offensive tactics until Le'Veon Bell gets back from injury. Once that happens, the Steelers will be good again, but I don't think they'll be challenging for the Super Bowl for the time being.

[Anacybele]

Oh yeah, we do need Bell back too. We had no Bell, no Miller, lost Pouncey early. We really should've had a better start that what we did. We just wound up starting the season already out a few injured people. I don't know if keeping Dwyer would've improved things, though, they said he wasn't dedicated enough.

[MRDRHAWK]

Dwyer was by far their most talented and productive back, and with the Steelers' locker room and leadership from guys like Roethlisberger and I would argue Pouncey, that could've easily been fixed.

[Anacybele]

Dwyer was really good, yes, but that won't count if he isn't willing enough and dedicated enough to use those skills to the fullest.

[Lord Raven]

Well, true. But there will still be serious changes if we miss the playoffs two times in a row. Todd Haley will get the boot, Dick Lebeau will probably retire (the guy is old as they come), and as much as I like him, Mike Tomlin will probably go too. My stepdad and I both think the team will get a whole new coaching staff.

Tomlin's job is pretty safe. The lack of talent in the offensive line, the receiver and RB depth, and both the age of the defense and the injuries is not completely his fault. Tomlin's been a solid coach for his entire tenure at Pittsburgh, it's up to the GM and Tomlin to patch up the team from Ye Olde Days and bring it up to speed. 2012 highlighted the weaknesses, 2013 looks like a rebuilding year, and maybe their 2014 will be solid again.

It isn't Tomlin's fault that for the first time in the team's history the Steelers have less depth at WR/RB/QB than the Ravens and Bengals. That just happens from time to time. This dude survived a season with Tommy Maddox as the starting QB among other things that happened before the 2005 season (remember that the Steelers have had 1 Super Bowl appearance between the 70s and 2005) and I'm pretty sure Tomlin was an HC during that time. I don't he'll be gone until he retires from the NFL or something.

I'm not sure about what Todd Haley does badly exactly but didn't he run the 2008 Cardinals offense? The one with Boldin, Fitzgerald, and Warner? (Then again he wasn't their OC in 2009 so I guess)

I thought it was 4. But that doesn't matter. And I'm not trying to justify anything. There's no excuse for how poorly the Steeler offense played yesterday. The defense played decently, but it still wasn't enough.

Also, I can't contribute to your conversations because I don't follow the teams you've been talking about. I didn't watch any of those games. And talking about the game I DID watch is contribution. It's on topic and everything. If you don't like seeing Steeler talk, then leave.

Yeah but bringing up the Steelers every five seconds and talking about them like you do becomes intolerable, especially because their news isn't particularly interesting or big as other teams these days. Refusal to talk about the faults of your team and refusal to engage in reasonable discussion with regards to your team - one recent example is your baseless point that the Steelers are one of the best teams of the AFC and then later refusal to acknowledge that the Steelers played like complete shit. And then when people bring it up you either take it personally and assume rivalry (btw I'm not jumping on Randa as much as I am jumping on you even though he's a fuckin Patriots fan - I hate the Patriots far more than I dislike the Steelers, for reference, so it's definitely _not_ bias) instead of trying to make discussion - that's stifling it. The fact that you talk about no other teams makes it a lot worse.

For reference my team just won a Super Bowl and my main source of conversation about the Ravens recently were people talking down on them for a pathetic (second-half) performance on Thursday and I've been talking about other teams for a while.

Wow, aside from the 14 points give off turn-overs the Bills completely out played the Pats. In the end, the play calling did us in. Despite the loss, im pretty excited for the rest of the season. EJ Manuel looks very promising.

I was actually excited for the Bills. Good luck, I was surprised that EJ Manuel played so well in his first game. He outplayed Tom Brady in his regular season opener, that is impressive. Congratulations and hoping that the Bills have some good seasons to come.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Lord Raven

[Jedi]

Oi Lord Raven, thanks for showing me the Warner video the other day. It was quite great to learn even more about the QB who nearly led Arizona to victory those few years ago.

[Da Bear]

Well... being a fan of the Bears the Saints and the Colts I can say I was satisfied with the weekend.

The Packers lost so that's a plus.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Lonely Wallcrab

[ddxgrsd]

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Loving everything but the run D for this first half for my Chargers!

[Lord Raven]

holy fuck did you see that throw and catch by floyd?

Fun fact: at this point in last Thursdays game, Manning had 3 TDs against a defense that wasn't as good as Houston's. Watch Rivers tie or break the record.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Lord Raven

[Helios]

Anyway, about the Lions game. I couldn't believe how many times we were robbed of TDs by the refs. Yeah we made some mistakes, but it wasn't like Trevathan dropping the ball outside the endzone in the Broncos-Ravens game (still loling at that one). Still, it was really good to see the defense repeatedly pay for loading on Megatron. It's gonna get interesting when teams realize they can't beat us by taking Johnson out of the game. He and Bush both should have big games this season.I also liked what I saw from our secondary, and Ansah is coming into his own faster than I would have imagined possible. I swear the NFC north should be the strongest division in football. We only have the best QB (Rodgers), best RB (Peterson) and best WR (Johnson). The only other division that comes close is the NFC west and MAYBE NFC south

We lost at least 5 TDs off the top of my head (the two from Calvin, the two from Reggie, and the pick six that was lost because of Suh's penalty). You're right about the NFC North being a top 3 division. While the top teams aren't necessarily the best in the league (the Pack are one of the best, but the Bears and Vikes are wild card caliber teams and the Lions are potentially a playoff team) there's a lot of parity. I think the NFC West is still the toughest, then maybe a tie with the NFC South, and right under the AFC North (since apart from the Bengals those teams have gotten worse).

Tomlin's job is pretty safe. The lack of talent in the offensive line, the receiver and RB depth, and both the age of the defense and the injuries is not completely his fault. Tomlin's been a solid coach for his entire tenure at Pittsburgh, it's up to the GM and Tomlin to patch up the team from Ye Olde Days and bring it up to speed. 2012 highlighted the weaknesses, 2013 looks like a rebuilding year, and maybe their 2014 will be solid again.

It isn't Tomlin's fault that for the first time in the team's history the Steelers have less depth at WR/RB/QB than the Ravens and Bengals. That just happens from time to time. This dude survived a season with Tommy Maddox as the starting QB among other things that happened before the 2005 season (remember that the Steelers have had 1 Super Bowl appearance between the 70s and 2005) and I'm pretty sure Tomlin was an HC during that time. I don't he'll be gone until he retires from the NFL or something.

I'm not sure about what Todd Haley does badly exactly but didn't he run the 2008 Cardinals offense? The one with Boldin, Fitzgerald, and Warner? (Then again he wasn't their OC in 2009 so I guess)

Yeah but bringing up the Steelers every five seconds and talking about them like you do becomes intolerable, especially because their news isn't particularly interesting or big as other teams these days. Refusal to talk about the faults of your team and refusal to engage in reasonable discussion with regards to your team - one recent example is your baseless point that the Steelers are one of the best teams of the AFC and then later refusal to acknowledge that the Steelers played like complete shit. And then when people bring it up you either take it personally and assume rivalry (btw I'm not jumping on Randa as much as I am jumping on you even though he's a fuckin Patriots fan - I hate the Patriots far more than I dislike the Steelers, for reference, so it's definitely _not_ bias) instead of trying to make discussion - that's stifling it. The fact that you talk about no other teams makes it a lot worse.

For reference my team just won a Super Bowl and my main source of conversation about the Ravens recently were people talking down on them for a pathetic (second-half) performance on Thursday and I've been talking about other teams for a while.

While I agree that Tomlin is arguably a top 5 coach in the league, that doesn't necessarily mean a job is secure. Look at Norv Turner or Andy Reid or Lovie Smith. All pretty solid coaches, but after a while, if you're not producing up to the team's expectations, and your team loses that spark, the only way to really light a fire up everyone's asses is getting a new coach. And look how that's working out. Bears won against a great team (the Bengals), Eagles had a big upset against the Skins just now, and the Chargers are currently routing the Texans. A coach has no choice but to work with the talent he's given, but a coach's job is also to make the most of that talent (like Bill Belicheck).

Also my 2 cents: I don't really mind Anacybele being a Steeler homer and talking about the Steelers all the time. She's a fan of her favorite team, not really the NFL as a whole. It'd be cool if she knew more about other teams but it's not like it's a necessity. All I care about is that you're all being respectful towards each other and not this "rivalry" bullshit too far.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Loving everything but the run D for this first half for my Chargers!

Yeah wow it's almost surprising how well they're doing against (on paper) a better team. Now the Texans secondary has struggled against talented QBs so in that sense it's not a big surprise, but the Chargers are just carving the Houston secondary up, and are managing to play decent enough defense to hold the Texans offense back. Maybe that whole "whoever plays the Eagles during the home opener wins the superbowl" thing might actually happen AGAIN.

[Lord Raven]

While I agree that Tomlin is arguably a top 5 coach in the league, that doesn't necessarily mean a job is secure. Look at Norv Turner or Andy Reid or Lovie Smith. All pretty solid coaches, but after a while, if you're not producing up to the team's expectations, and your team loses that spark, the only way to really light a fire up everyone's asses is getting a new coach. And look how that's working out. Bears won against a great team (the Bengals), Eagles had a big upset against the Skins just now, and the Chargers are currently routing the Texans. A coach has no choice but to work with the talent he's given, but a coach's job is also to make the most of that talent (like Bill Belicheck).

Disagreed. Tomlin is very secure for a few years to come, and I doubt anything this year will put him on the hot seat. Maybe after another season or two he will be but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

Norv, Andy, and Lovie had far worse problems to deal with than the Steelers. Lovie could not instill any semblance of a good offense at all in Chicago. This is a team with players on offense like Cutler, Forte, and Marshall; I don't know if it's offensive line or what but it's been ineffective and they have been to the playoffs once in 5-6 years. Norv's Chargers were very inconsistent and also had problems with not-winning records the past 3-4 years. Tomlin has had one 8-8 season and a bad game. It also helps that Pittsburgh media isn't nearly as dumb as the fucking New York media and etc. These are also franchises that are more used to coaching turnovers than Pittsburgh.

(Also from my understanding San Diego fans were pissed that Schottenheimer was fired in favor of Norv, so I don't think Norv's job was stable to begin with).

Andy's issues were probably a lot to do with the mediocrity of the Eagles the past two years. I don't completely understand it but it's also been around 14-15 years so it's also a matter of wanting to part ways with him. But Pittsburgh is not in the NFC East; NFC East is under constant media scrutiny.

I also just forgot that Bill Cowher retired less than a decade ago but I heavily doubt that Tomlin's in trouble considering that Pittsburgh seems to believe more in coaching longevity than firing for losing seasons. 1998-2000 Pittsburgh under Cowher did not make the playoffs. The Steelers are not that kind of an organization that 2-3 bad years will get him fired. Hence, Tomlin's fine.

EDIT: Just going to point out that Love Smith's situation is very comparable to Brian Billick's in Baltimore. Lovie's offense was probably a little better but his defense was probably not as great as Billick's.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Lord Raven

[Randombobman]

Texans showing everyone that they really are a front runner team and Schaub is a glorified game manager lol. Good thing he's got Andre to bail him out of sacks

[ddxgrsd]

A fly flew into my ear, died, and slowly ejected itself out of my ear (as painful as it sounds). Since then, our O has been fairly stagnant, and nervousness level is rising.

Floyd has always been a good receiver when healthy, but that was a definite highlight reel catch.

And Raven you're partially correct with our hatred of Norv Turner - Schottenheimer was fired during an amazing reg. season (14-2 iirc) but lost in our first playoff game was part of it, and the fact that Norv Turner is often (maybe sometimes wrongly) associated with creating new ways to lose games/otherwise being a bad late game coach.

[shadykid]

so those Charg-

OOPS

[nflchamp]

Things I always need to keep in mind:

1) Texans are never ready for a big game.

2) Chargers don't know how to hold onto a lead.

[Lord Raven]

hey man that was an amazing play by Cushing

furthermore the key difference between Texans early season and late season was - you guessed it - Brian Cushing

[nflchamp]

Amazing play or not, the Chargers from the first half no longer exist. They've had a couple of nice plays this half to score at the beginning of the half and that's it. They've since played like I expect of the Jaguars.

[Lord Raven]

Well they forced a punt just now so I dont know what you're talking about. That would've been a potential completion if not for Cushing making a play on the ball, a recent drop on third down, and whatever.

If anything it looks more like the Texans are looking more like the bullrushers they should be as opposed to the Chargers playing like crap.

[ddxgrsd]

Losing this game means 2nd year in a row we lose on a night game after having a 20+ point lead in the 2nd half (lost after 24-0 lead vs. Denver Mannings). I hoped the coaching change meant an end to that era.

Sad thing is, most Chargers fans will put all of the blame on Rivers for that pick-6 without realizing Cushing is pretty good at that defense thing.

Edited September 10, 2013 by ddxgrsd

[MRDRHAWK]

Losing this game means 2nd year in a row we lose on a night game after having a 20+ point lead in the 2nd half (lost after 24-0 lead vs. Denver Mannings). I hoped the coaching change meant an end to that era.

Sad thing is, most Chargers fans will put all of the blame on Rivers for that pick-6 without realizing Cushing is pretty good at that defense thing.

The Chargers are still pretty bad, though, at least on offense. Rivers has no confidence anymore, and his O-line is garbage. Meanwhile, his primary tailback is made of glass, and his WRs are either hurt like Matthews, or just plain blow.

Defensively they're alright, but that offense is putrid. Not, say, Raiders or Jags bad, but still pretty bad. I wouldn't be surprised if they went 4-12 this year because they just couldn't keep up with anyone.

[Randombobman]

Rivers wasn't bad in the first half, but his clutch confidence is totally shot. He freezes up more than the statue that is Jay Cutler late in games. His WRs aren't even that bad. Sure Denario Alexander is out, but he's the most injury prone player since forever lol. Vincent Brown is young talent that could break out this season or whenever he gets a competent QB. If I were SD, I'd tank for Teddy Bridgewater and ditch Rivers. Anyway, Malcom Floyd really isn't that bad either, nor is Eddie Royal or Gates. It's really the offensive line, since Rivers needs time to make his reads.

[Lord Raven]

If I were SD, I'd tank for Teddy Bridgewater and ditch Rivers.

enjoy losing your job then, I would much rather keep Rivers than take Bridgewater if I were San Diego especially considering you have no clue how these college QBs will be especially when they're introduced to a situation such as San Diego's. It would be smarter for them to improve their situation, get a QB that they can groom to be Rivers' successor, then replace Rivers (kinda like what they did with the whole Brees/Rivers situation). And the moment you tank a season after just one game is the moment 2/3 of the team is out of their job and you have a repeat of the 2011 Colts. Except this time, Bridgewater isn't hailed as some godsend of a QB like Luck was. After all, he wasn't compared favorably to John Elway as a draft prospect.

randombobman i love you and all but dear god you're doing exactly what the media is doing - using week 1 to jump to immediate conclusions about the trajectory of every team's season, even if SD's showing last year was poor - much of that due to an o-line that is now improved and another part due to a terrible defense [see 4th and 29, ray rice, etc].

It really is just one game and it's also under a new head coach. Rivers is a very competent QB but he is not on the level of Tom Brady/Drew Brees/Aaron Rodgers/Peyton Manning, which everyone seems to designate as "competent" and everyone else as "mediocre, tank for Bridgewater."

Edited September 11, 2013 by Lord Raven