• Please be aware we've switched the forums to their own URL. (again) You'll find the new website address to be www.steelernationforum.com Thanks
  • Please clear your private messages. Your inbox is close to being full.

So here's how it's looking now...

If memory serves, every time in recent years that we needed someone else to win or lose to get us into the playoffs, it didn't work out in our favor.

Yep, I have to go back to '93 to when I remember it actually working. Steelers needed to beat the Browns and for the Dolphins to lose and maybe somebody else, can't exactly remember.
 
They won't do it because of TV ratings but the league should change it so no team with a record below .500, or .500 and below, gets into the playoffs.

All you need to prove this point is the fact that with 4 games left, the 3-9 Titans and the 4-8 Jags and Cowboys are still in playoff contention.
 
They won't do it because of TV ratings but the league should change it so no team with a record below .500, or .500 and below, gets into the playoffs.

Would that really make much of a difference? The NFC wild card contenders are nearly as bad as the teams in the NFC East. Bump out the Skins for who, Tampa?
 
Would that really make much of a difference? The NFC wild card contenders are nearly as bad as the teams in the NFC East. Bump out the Skins for who, Tampa?

Forget the NFC, the Steelers might be sitting at home watching the Colts is the playoffs. As they would if they started today.
 
Agree the Steelers need to address one game at a time and just win out. Problem solved.

Question though. If some of the sub .500 teams do make it into the post season, does it affect their draft position?
If a 7-9 team would slip in for an obvious 1 and done, it would be a kick in the balls to go from drafting 12 to 24.
 
Agree the Steelers need to address one game at a time and just win out. Problem solved.

Question though. If some of the sub .500 teams do make it into the post season, does it affect their draft position?
If a 7-9 team would slip in for an obvious 1 and done, it would be a kick in the balls to go from drafting 12 to 24.

It does, indeed **** up their draft position. Look at the 2010 season. Seahawks make the playoffs at 7-9. Beat NO in the first round (so, not obvious 1 and done!). They draft 25th in the 2011 draft.
 
The Jets have Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Chiefs have Alex Smith, the Texans are playing Brian Hoyer and the Bills are playing Tyrod Taylor each of these teams is capable of losing any game they play the rest of the season. The Steelers have Ben and the toughest schedule of the 5 teams, I still like the Steelers chances at winning better than the other teams just because of Ben.

Papillon
 
We play the #1 & #2 seeds in our conference the next two weeks. Lets revisit this after the next two games to see where we are. The margin for error is very slim.

Bingo! This will determine if we go to playoffs or sit at home. I don't like either matchup. Bengels are very explosive on offense and have good defense. Broncos have a great defense that will be very difficult to score on. Plus you still have to get by the two bad teams and that is something under this coach we have a history of playing to their level. I don't like the way this schedule reads for the last 4 games. That is why you have to win games against the Ravens and Bengels at home that you should have won and not piss away opportunities like the one in Seattle when you put up 30 on the road. Pitiful! These will be the games to look back on.
 
We sure played down to those Browns and Colts didn't we? smh
 
There are four AFC opponents remaining, the Steelers need to win out. Any speculation over what other teams will do is just hopes, lies and bull ****. They need to go to Cincinnati and win, this is a better Steelers team than the one that lost 10-6. The Broncs are the #1 Defense in the AFC, mmkay the Steelers Defense just shut down a four game Colts winning streak and made it look easy.
The Rats got over on the first meet and Cleveland?? If Tomlin does anything in these next four games he builds on the formula of that Colts game and gets this team playing at the same consistent level. Both the Rats and Clowns games could be traps, they should lay 50+ points on both of them and have Harbage crying for running up the score! Pettine won't care, he's already got his resume' typed up!
Foot on the gas boys!
 
The fact is.. if we play to our potential on both sides of the ball as we did against Indy, we can beat anyone. I am NOT scared of playing Cincinnati in their building, or Denver in ours.
 
If I were on the Steeler's staff in any capacity whatsoever I wouldn't be thinking about anything at all except this Sunday's game. There isn't anything else in the world to worry about.
 
We sure played down to those Browns and Colts didn't we? smh

Those Colts were 6-5 at kickoff, as I recall, so wouldn't it be impossible for the Steelers to "play down" to a team with the same exact record?
 
Back in 2005 -- the Steelers were faced with similar dire straits. Outside looking in at 7-5 needing the final 4 games to get into the playoffs. Team comes together under Cowher and behind the motivation of Bettis last season to make an unprecedented run to the championship.

Can they repeat that feat? It starts in Cincy this weekend. They can only control their destiny by winning out, and hoping that collectively the Chiefs, Jets, Bills, Texans and Colts stumble down the line.
 
Those Colts were 6-5 at kickoff, as I recall, so wouldn't it be impossible for the Steelers to "play down" to a team with the same exact record?

Yeah, the Colts have been dominating all year long, minus their franchise QB, and replacing him with a 90 year old Hasselback...you're right, the record is what indicates a good team at the time :eye roll:

Simple fact is that this "playing down to opponents" under Tomlin is a made up myth that happened just as often under Cowher as it does with Tomlin. Let down games happen, and it's not all on the coach when it does...
 
Yeah, the Colts have been dominating all year long, minus their franchise QB, and replacing him with a 90 year old Hasselback...you're right, the record is what indicates a good team at the time :eye roll:

Simple fact is that this "playing down to opponents" under Tomlin is a made up myth that happened just as often under Cowher as it does with Tomlin. Let down games happen, and it's not all on the coach when it does...

Right. I forgot...the records only matter when we're talking about how wonderful Tomlin's career winning percentage is. Got it.

Didn't say the Colts were "dominating" anybody. They're a middle-of-the-pack team fighting for a playoff spot...just like the Steelers. Which was exactly the point.

BTW, that 90-year old quarterback has a 4-1 record as their starter. I guess you haven't noticed that the franchise guy is 2-5 and hasn't been playing all that well this year.
 
Oh I noticed, I've also noticed the teams his wins have come from. I've also watched more than one Colts game, and they are awful, absolutely awful. So spare me the semantics, you can continue on with your pathetic Tomlin's at fault for everything rhetoric, and I'll continue on with my realistic views of things.
 
Oh I noticed, I've also noticed the teams his wins have come from. I've also watched more than one Colts game, and they are awful, absolutely awful. So spare me the semantics, you can continue on with your pathetic Tomlin's at fault for everything rhetoric, and I'll continue on with my realistic views of things.

So if we were Colts fans, we'd be blaming Pagano right now for his poor coaching and wasting a season with a franchise QB?
 
So if we were Colts fans, we'd be blaming Pagano right now for his poor coaching and wasting a season with a franchise QB?
Would have to watch all their games to make that call. I'm not saying Tomlin is horrible coach, but makes some dumb *** calls. Go for it a couple times on 4th down with a back up qb vs Baltimore and says we don't live in our fears we were trying to win the game, 4th and goal at the 2 with your franchise qb and he kicks a fg and says he wanted to send the D out with a positive note, yeah OK.
 
Would have to watch all their games to make that call. I'm not saying Tomlin is horrible coach, but makes some dumb *** calls. Go for it a couple times on 4th down with a back up qb vs Baltimore and says we don't live in our fears we were trying to win the game, 4th and goal at the 2 with your franchise qb and he kicks a fg and says he wanted to send the D out with a positive note, yeah OK.

Different scenarios entirely. In the Seattle game, you have 3 points guaranteed because the field goal is basically as far as a pre-2015 extra point. That in itself makes it apples-to-oranges and just stupid to trot out the "you don't live in your fears except when you do so Tomlin is clearly a dum-dum" line.

EDIT: Tomlin has made game-management mistakes, just like every coach including Belicheat (he made an incredibly dumb decision to go for a 4th down in the 2007 Super Bowl but that was in the first half and people only want to talk about David Tyree), but it's stupid and lazy to take two situations that are entirely different and pretend that just because a coach is "aggressive" - as defined by Average Joe Bar Stool - in one case that he must now forever "go for it" or he is being inconsistent or living in his fears.

Rarely are two decisions exactly the same...the factors that go into a decision include 1) time remaining 2) field position 3) score differential 4) timeouts left for both teams 5) how good is your opponent / how well are they playing...this extends all the way to the skill of kickers and punters 6) how good is your team / how well are they playing...has your kicker been shanking kicks all night like Scobee? 6) weather 7) key injuries 8) do you have a play call in mind that gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling?

A computer can account for 1-4 and give you an answer: punt, field goal, go for it but that still leaves a ton of variables out of consideration.
 
Last edited:
So if we were Colts fans, we'd be blaming Pagano right now for his poor coaching and wasting a season with a franchise QB?

If Colts boards are anything like this, and have the same types of posters absolutely. But I'd be blaming their GM for the team he has assembled around Luck...
 
If Colts boards are anything like this, and have the same types of posters absolutely. But I'd be blaming their GM for the team he has assembled around Luck...

Absolutely. It's mind-boggling that the Colts were (according to Vegas) the preseason favorites to make the Super Bowl (Colts-Packers Super Bowl had the lowest odds). The Colts did nothing in the offseason to change the fact that the Pats could run the ball right down their throats and owned them on both sides of the LOS. Some people thought bringing in two old men (Gore and Andre Johnson) and drafting a small, speedy WR in round one was going to fix the Colts' issues????
 
Top