Steeler Hitman Posted September 12, 2023 Share Posted September 12, 2023 Opening week versus the 49'ers certainly didn't go the way we expected. The Steelers had a plan and the 49ers hit harder and more often. I want to address a few things and then move on to the Browns: 1. The Steelers failed opening night only. This is not how you want to start a season. The Steelers wanted to start building wins. They had preseason success on offense and defense for the first time in the preseason in a while. Were the Steelers cocky? I don't think so. Were they confident? Yes. Again, everyone has a plan until they are hit in the mouth. The Steelers got hit early and often. What makes champions is not just winning in good times, but overcoming adversity. Can the Steelers get off the mat and prepare to beat a confident Browns team fresh off destroying the Bengals? 2. The Steelers are not as bad as they played. In the immortal words of Rudyard Kipling in my favorite poem, If, "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same:" It was a bad game after expectations were high. The Steelers and fans expected to march downfield on the opening drive and be up 7-0. When they went three and out on the first several drives, the offense looked confused and unprepared. They never recovered and everything was difficult. This team is said to have more leaders, character, and strength. If that is the case, the early gut and mouth punches will test their mettle. Can they get back up and hit the Browns in the mouth, gut, and balls? They are the Browns we fight harder. 😄 3. No one thought a successful preseason was the prelude to an undefeated season. A lot of people are saying, "I told you so! You homers over-estimated this team!" No one expected 20-0. Not many expected 30-7 and the way it played out. Every champion has adversity at some point that they must overcome. The team did some things this off-season that were dramatically different than others. Because the success wasn't seen in week one against a quality opponent does not cancel out everything else they have improved and built on. 4. There's nothing wrong with believing in your team. I will continue to say that winners and champions overcome adversity. The Steelers may not be champions yet, but they can prove to be winners. We expected an effort like the Lions put on against the Chiefs. The past two seasons they over-achieved and then lost the next week or weeks. This year they under-achieved week one. If they can step up they can still be 1-1 as before. What do they do to rebound? I still believe that this Steelers team is dramatically better than the 2022 version. Time will tell, but being a Steeler fan doesn't make me or others "only" see from black and gold colored or covered lenses. Losing stinks and it is something that no Steelers fan wants to get used to. Success doesn't always come right away. I still believe this team will win more than they lose and are building something. The loss was bad. This was the first home game in many years and the Steelers have played very good teams well the past few seasons. They were out-hit, out-coached, out-offensed, out-defensed, and out special teamed. Those guys by the San Francisco Bay are pretty darn good. The disappointment is that the Steelers weren't more competitive. The positive thing is that they have 17 more weeks and 16 more games to get better. Although they won't meet the 49ers again unless both teams reach the SB, they can beat up on some other opponents and they will. Not what we wanted and many expected, but not the end of the season either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rivers Posted September 12, 2023 Share Posted September 12, 2023 4 hours ago, Steeler Hitman said: 4. There's nothing wrong with believing in your team. after a loss like the 49ers game , it makes me question this team in a way. Not sure how to portion the blame, but this team wasn't prepared and looked bad. 49ers deserve major credit, but the Steelers were also really bad in so many ways. Not 1989 opening day but still bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steeler Hitman Posted September 13, 2023 Author Share Posted September 13, 2023 4 hours ago, 3rivers said: after a loss like the 49ers game , it makes me question this team in a way. Not sure how to portion the blame, but this team wasn't prepared and looked bad. 49ers deserve major credit, but the Steelers were also really bad in so many ways. Not 1989 opening day but still bad Steelers are not as good as they looked in preseason, but not as bad as they played last Sunday either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rivers Posted September 13, 2023 Share Posted September 13, 2023 20 minutes ago, Steeler Hitman said: Steelers are not as good as they looked in preseason, but not as bad as they played last Sunday either. agree, but how did they look THAT bad , and thats after giving props to the 49ers, we know they are legit. Still, the game was really bad for at least half of the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steeler Hitman Posted September 13, 2023 Author Share Posted September 13, 2023 9 hours ago, 3rivers said: agree, but how did they look THAT bad , and thats after giving props to the 49ers, we know they are legit. Still, the game was really bad for at least half of the time. They had a bad game. No excuses for them, they played poorly and got beat in every facet of the game. The expectation is for them to remain highly competitive each game win or lose. Perhaps this does them some good in realizing that things won't be easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warfelg Posted September 13, 2023 Share Posted September 13, 2023 26 minutes ago, Steeler Hitman said: They had a bad game. No excuses for them, they played poorly and got beat in every facet of the game. The expectation is for them to remain highly competitive each game win or lose. Perhaps this does them some good in realizing that things won't be easy. Compounding with the fact that SF played almost as perfectly as they could. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steeler Hitman Posted September 13, 2023 Author Share Posted September 13, 2023 6 minutes ago, warfelg said: Compounding with the fact that SF played almost as perfectly as they could. The Steelers had that in some of the preseason games. 🙄 Teams with pre-snap penalties, untimely holds, etc. It kills their drives and some things that helped sustain our offensive drives. The Steelers lost that game in the trenches on both sides of the ball. One special team's bright spot was that McFarland looked like he almost broke a few KOR's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
43M Posted September 13, 2023 Share Posted September 13, 2023 People who need to be fired immediately if we have another performance like the 49ers... 1. Matt Canaduh 2. Mike Sullivan 3. Frisman Jackson 4. Pressley Harvin The OL was a mess, but I knew they would have trouble vs the 49ers. Willing to give them some time. The D sucked, but between losing Cam and being on the field all game, Im not pointing many fingers at the defense aside from Loudermilk, who isn't an NFL caliber DLineman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rivers Posted September 16, 2023 Share Posted September 16, 2023 @43M whoever is responsible for thinking Adams and Loudermilk are starting calibre DL shuld be considered too as this will show to be a major flaw. DL should be more like Heyward, Tuitt, Hampton, Hoke, Smith, Benton (looks legit) , Ogunjobi (when healthy) , Hargrave . They will get tested vs the Browns, no doubt about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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