PFT Live: Steelers already a lost cause?

Posted by NBCSports.com on September 18, 2013, 2:56 PM EDT

Ed Bouchette from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette joins Mike Florio on PFT Live to talk about the plight of the Pittsburgh Steelers and their surprising early-season struggles. Florio hints that it may be an uphill battle for the Steelers to turn it around, but Bouchette believes with Ben Roethlisberger at the helm and a good defense, this team is capable of big things.

 

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14 responses to “PFT Live: Steelers already a lost cause?”

  1. Pittsburgh is 0-2 and no 0-2 team has made the playoffs in the last 4 years. It’s not like the Steelers lost those games against the Broncos or the Packers. They lost against Tennessee & the Bengals. To top it all off, they looked awful losing to those teams.

    Add on the fact that they’ve lost some of their better guys to injuries. So nobody except the really diehard, Kool-Aid drinking Steeler fans should be stunned if the Steelers win only 4 or 5 games all year…

  2. Seriously, it’s week 2 and we’re one game back in a weak division. I don’t get the lost cause talk this early. This is one time I actually agree with Bouchette.
    That being said, they need to change something. For starters, quit trying to pound a square peg in a round hole with the running game until you get some bodies back that are more capable. Go with your strengths, which is your veteran QB.
    Oh, and how about mixing in a pass or two to the RB. Felix Jones is a decent receiving back.

  3. Its a long season. Too early for talk like this but I guess these guys gotta have something to do. With a relatively weak division, the AFC North will be up for grabs at the end of the season.

  4. They looked horrible against a bad Titans team & a “good” Bengals team on national television. Unlike the Ravens who’s “issues” have more to do with cohesiveness rather than personnel…the Steelers have no light at the end of this tunnel. All I keep hearing is “it’s the Steelers…so they’ll just get better…just because….it’s the Steelers.” That kinda logic right there will get them 3rd place in the division this season.

  5. welcome back cruzan, you must have slept through WK 1 when your personnel didn’t even look in the same league, and WK 2 when your personnel got shut out in the first half by the browns. I’m sure all you need to fix that is cohesiveness. I would have used the metaphor “glue” instead, but same difference.

  6. No matter what, the games gotta be played. Even the Broncod are being counted out by some ez chair analysts just because Ryan Clady is done for the season. I had to laugh at the Raider fans who were already booking their Super Bowl plans.

  7. Roethlisberger’s great strength is that he’s a sandlot quarterback who plays with wild abandon. That’s also his great weakness–especially as he gets older. Because of that, BA kept his offenses simple–i.e., predictable. I thought Haley would force him to play with more discipline. That doesn’t seem to be working, and at this point, it doesn’t seem Roethlisberger’s going to adapt to a structured system.

    The best hope we have of succeeding with our current players is for Haley to simplify the offense, returning to something closer to what Arians ran–or for the Steelers to bring in someone else who’ll do that. (How about Chan Gailey?) We also need to abandon the zone blocking scheme.

    Like Ed, though, I’m having a hard time seeing the Steelers beating Chicago Sunday night.

  8. Deb:
    For all intent and purposes, the Steelers have abandoned the zone blocking scheme. Against the Bengals, they zone-blocked only twice. The rest of the time, they powered blocked.
    I’m in favor of Roethlisberger calling his own plays. That would eliminate any drama about OCs. Let Ben run the offense, which I believe he already does. No OC would reduce the finger pointing by the media, fans and quarterback.

  9. Anyone declaring a lost season after two games is a fool. Likewise for promises of playoffs.

    Here’s what I know, Heath Miller and LeVeon Bell have yet to play and the OL lost a Pro Bowl center.

    They weren’t blown out in either game and fantasy football stats are just that…fantasy and meaningless.

    If the Steelers were in the NFC, I agree its a steeper climb, but no one except the Broncos looks unbeatable in the AFC.

    Win or lose, I support the Pittsburgh Steelers.

  10. The Steelers had better beat the Bears because if they don’t, history says it’s a lost season for them. No team in NFL history has started off 0-3 & won the Super Bowl.

    We will know after Sunday if Pittsburgh fans should switch their focus from the NFL to the MLB & the NHL.

    My prediction says they will have to….

  11. Of course the STEELERS can turn it around. The talent is on this team with a right mix of fresh young strong players and experienced players. The problem is not in the talent… 2 issues do present themselves: 1) lack of solid game plan (offense that is) and 2) lack of emotion…

    Yeah I know that Ben is cussing everytime he comes off the field after a turnover or a three and out… That’s a lot of cussing but nothing changes????

    Coaching has left this team down and until the coaching changes the production on the field will stay about the same…

    Wake up Tomlin….

  12. As I have said before, as a diehard Steeler fan I will watch every game and cheer for them until the end, enjoy the entertainment for what it is, and am appreciative of all the success I have seen with 6 SB wins. You can’t win every year and you won’t be in contention in every year, other teams will be better some years. Some people take this way too seriously.

    The season is young and a lot can happen, including to other teams. An important factor in success is how you finish the season, not so much how you start (ie NY Giants when they last won the SB), as long as you don’t get too far behind. Needless to say, the Steelers need to get a win.

    One of my frustrations is that the offensive play calling has not adapted to what they currently have to work with. No running back/game, no clutch tight end, OL problems. They have done much better with the no huddle, why not use it more? Throw the ball to set up the run (or at least attempts at the run). Jones has shown the most spark at RB, albeit not that great. Haley has not adjusted. Miller will be back which will have a large positive impact. Maybe Bell can add some power to the running game when he returns.

    Finally, the defense better start getting some turnovers, something that has been sorely lacking and will also greatly impact results.

  13. You just wait and see, come Monday morning the Steelers will be 0-3. The front office knows that they need to rebuild this team a bit. It’s not in Pittsburgh’s long term best interest to do well this season. The Black and Gold need to get back to the draft. Starting to look like a Ben Gay & Geritol squad out there.

  14. Ben refuses to drop back deeper, and he refuses to throw the ball. Therefore the play called never gets ran.

    I’d use 2TE’s and Cotchery and Wheaton in the slot playing like a TE “Possession” game, with Brown and Emmanuel split wide and running off defenders, and running some hero routes.

    I’d have my best open field runner as a single set back, and use a TE occasionally as a H_Back.

    Call short possession passes, and occasionally when Ben gets a rhythm, have him heave it deep.

    Get the Ball to your single set back, who is a good open field runner, in the open field.
    With an H-Back / TE lead blocking, you could break some big runs because TE’s are supposed to be able to run better than pulling linemen.

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