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Is the Steelers offense overrated?


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3 hours ago, LaserFocus said:

Depends on who you talk to, Ben's performance on the bigger stage has been clearly superior to either Romo or Rivers. It's going to be a major surprise if he isn't a first ballot HOF pick. The decline of the Steelers defense due to age, etc. after 2010 has been a factor in Pittsburgh not getting back to the SB.

 

Ben's 15 TD to 12 INT probably factor a little bit too since 2010. He is a 2 time champion so he is pretty much automatically looked at as clutch in the post season but he and Romo had about the same TD% in the playoffs but Ben has more than three times the interception rate.

Those two titles pretty much end any debate of who will be seen as better though.

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 I personally overrate them considering I think they have the 2nd best Offensive Line, the best WR, the best RB and a top 5-7 QB and expect them to put 40+ on every game, and obviously they don't. 

Too high expectation rather than overrated, I suspect

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5 hours ago, Thomas5737 said:

Ben's 15 TD to 12 INT probably factor a little bit too since 2010. He is a 2 time champion so he is pretty much automatically looked at as clutch in the post season but he and Romo had about the same TD% in the playoffs but Ben has more than three times the interception rate.

Those two titles pretty much end any debate of who will be seen as better though.

Let's not forget Ben hasn't consistently had the services of Bell and Antonio Brown, either. In the 2015 playoffs, Ben was carving up that Denver defense minus both players. I don't think the lull in SB appearances will mean anything at this point.

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 yes, the Steelers offense is overrated based on the talent they have compare to the consistent output. But that's the key thing that's missing... Consistency. It's proven it can be every bit as good as people think... they just don't perform at a high level as often as they should. I think a big issue has been coaching... Not all but much of it. not sure that's been fixed, but I am glad Haley is gone, because under him it would have just been the same old same old.

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I think on-paper the Steelers probably have the best offensive roster in the NFL, just because of Big Ben, AB, and Bell, but there are absolutely other offensive rosters that match up very well.  The Saints obviously have plenty of weapons, the Falcons, the Rams, the Vikings, etc.  So I think its quite possible that the Steelers are "overrated" in the sense that the media pushes that Pittsburgh narrative pretty hard and the roster is full of big names.  That doesn't mean they won't be the best offense in the NFL this year, but being great on-paper isn't the same thing as being great on the field when it matters (just look at last year and the Jags games).  At this point of the preseason its just impossible to say with certainty how things will shake out in the regular season, but if I were personally make a prediction of who the top offenses will be at the end of the 2018 regular season it would be this:

 

1 - Atlanta Falcons - I admit this is a bit of a homer ranking but I really believe the Falcons have the personnel to regain their offensive swagger from 2016 (especially without the whole SB hangover thing hanging over their heads).  With all the weapons they have (including an MVP QB) I see no reason why Atlanta can't have the #1 offense in the league this season.

2 - Pittsburgh Steelers - Well, you can't deny the Killer Bees and if all these guys play up to their ability this year, the Steelers can definitely be the #1 offense.  The question is, WILL they all play up to their talent?  You also have to consider Big Ben's yearly injury and how many games he will miss.

3 - Los Angeles Rams - I'm still not totally sold on Goff (or Gurley for that matter), but I am 100% sold on Sean McVay.  The Rams have bought a very impressive roster this year, but its always hard to predict just how well teams built up with big FA signings will fare on the field.  Still, McVay is a genius (second only to Kyle Shanahan) and this offense should be explosive.

4 - New England Patriots - As much as I'm loathe to give the Patriots any praise at all, as long as Brady is 100% they will always have a top offense in the league, no matter who's on the roster.  The big question for me is that the decline is inevitable (no matter how many times Pats fans try to sweep it under the rug).  I just don't think it will happen this year, but soon for sure.

5 - New Orleans Saints - The Saints have Brees and Payton, along with a very talented roster of weapons.  Brees faces many of the same questions for me as Brady does, but he's younger and more athletic so he shouldn't be declining this year.  I do think that the impressive rookies from last year (like Kamara) will take a step back and Brees will have to do more this year.

 

That's my prediction for the Top 5 offenses in the NFL this year and I suspect it will be mostly accurate.  There are certainly other teams out there that could end up in the Top-5, but this is what I'm thinking going into 2018.  The Eagles have Wentz, a great OL, and a great TE, but I'm not sold on their RB's or WR's yet (plus they are coming off a SB high so we will have to see if they can keep up that intensity in 2018).  The Texans should be very dangerous with Watson fully installed as the franchise QB and a top-4 WR in Hopkins, but how will they run the ball???  Vikings fans are going to kill me on this Top-5 list but how good is Cousins really going to be?  Sure they get Cook back, Thielen and Diggs are nice receivers and the OL is stout, but its no slam dunk that Cousins will even be able to match what Keenum did last year, and he's going to need to play even better than that for them to be the #1 offense.  SF is interesting as well because I really believe Kyle Shanahan is the greatest offensive genius in the NFL right now.  But I still need to see more than 7 games out of Jimmy G and they still don't have many weapons.  Can Andrew Luck be Andrew Luck again, after 2 years out of the league?  Even if he can be, I don't see nearly enough talent on the Colts roster to crack the Top-5.  Is Cam going to be 2015 Cam or 2016 Cam?  History would indicate he will be pretty bad this year because he always follows up a playoff season with a stinker, but they've improved and Norv Turner still knows how to coach an offense.  Then there are the Packers with Rodgers.  I know how great he is but I really just don't see this offense as anything more than mediocre without him.  He will probably work miracles to get them into the playoffs, but they won't be a Top-5 offense IMO.  

 

Anyway, those are my thoughts so flame away fellas!

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On 8/14/2018 at 12:31 PM, Thomas5737 said:

Ben's 15 TD to 12 INT probably factor a little bit too since 2010. He is a 2 time champion so he is pretty much automatically looked at as clutch in the post season but he and Romo had about the same TD% in the playoffs but Ben has more than three times the interception rate.

Those two titles pretty much end any debate of who will be seen as better though.

And what defenses did Romo play in the post-season?

Exactly...

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On 8/14/2018 at 12:31 PM, Thomas5737 said:

Ben's 15 TD to 12 INT probably factor a little bit too since 2010. He is a 2 time champion so he is pretty much automatically looked at as clutch in the post season but he and Romo had about the same TD% in the playoffs but Ben has more than three times the interception rate.

Those two titles pretty much end any debate of who will be seen as better though.

Postseason performance just isn't about individual stats, there just isn't any rational debate in this matter. Romo failed to produce those plays a HOF-caliber QB needs to make in the postseason. Ben is also a better postseason QB than Phillip Rivers, and many other QBs already in Canton.

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They have arguably the best WR and RB in the game to go with a still great and future HOF QB. Definitely not overrated. Their refusal to play anything other than soft zone in their defensive backfield against the Patriots and other playoff caliber teams is nothing short of baffling. If they haven’t had the personnel, then they should have prioritized that years ago.

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The Steelers offense in recent years just doesn't produce points at the level it should. Their talent is elite at everything except TE. What I still can't believe is that the team only scored only 9 points more than the Ravens. They basically played the same schedule.

I'm not comparing the two offenses, because they shouldn't be compared in the same class. The Ravens 2017 offense was terrible. They lost their entire interior O-line, including their best player, the WR and TE groups were bad enough that they were completely replaced this offseason, their only RB playmaker was a guy they picked up on waivers during the season, and their QB was below replacement level for half a season, and then ok for the other half. Yes, the Ravens scored more TDs on defense and their special teams also boosts the points, but those qualifiers shouldn't be enough to make it that close. Against the same schedule the Steelers should have scored like 100+ more points than the 17 Ravens offense.

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11 hours ago, wackywabbit said:

The Steelers offense in recent years just doesn't produce points at the level it should. Their talent is elite at everything except TE. What I still can't believe is that the team only scored only 9 points more than the Ravens. They basically played the same schedule.

I'm not comparing the two offenses, because they shouldn't be compared in the same class. The Ravens 2017 offense was terrible. They lost their entire interior O-line, including their best player, the WR and TE groups were bad enough that they were completely replaced this offseason, their only RB playmaker was a guy they picked up on waivers during the season, and their QB was below replacement level for half a season, and then ok for the other half. Yes, the Ravens scored more TDs on defense and their special teams also boosts the points, but those qualifiers shouldn't be enough to make it that close. Against the same schedule the Steelers should have scored like 100+ more points than the 17 Ravens offense.

That’s a fact I didn’t know and am amazed by.  For such a supposedly vaunted roster of offensive weapons there’s no excuse for not scoring at least 100 more points than an awful Ravens offense.  That’s really weird.

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Yes, it is overrated by the media.  I think most of us that follow the NFL to the level of being on this forum are much more hesitant.  If that offense put it all together it has the talent to have the greatest offensive output during any season ever.  

Very, very good OL that has largely been together for a while, a top tier RB, future HOF WR(who honestly could be considered among all time greats if he keeps his pace up for a couple more years), a #2 that looks like he could be a star and stud in the NFL, and functional play at TE.  

I personally think Big Ben is overrated as a QB.  I will never consider him among the best QBs in the NFL, and would honestly take a number of QBs ahead of him including guys like Rivers who haven't have won near as much.  I can honestly never think of a season where I would put him in the top 5 of NFL QBs.  Brees, Brady, and Favre/Rodgers have been better throughout.  Peyton was for most of it, and you have guys like Warner, Romo, Rivers, Stafford, Eli, Ryan, Cam, and Luck that have had better years over his career.  He's always been in that 8-12 range for me.  Never bad, but rarely great.

Ben was dragged kicking and screaming to his first SB win.  But he did play quite well in the second one, although it should be indicative that he never won SB MVP as a QB despite winning two of them.  As amusing as Jalen Ramsey's interview was, I wouldn't disagree with him regarding AB making Big Ben.  He has always had a very good run game and solid WR to throw it up to in Ward, Holmes, Wallace, and AB.  

Not to mention a top 5 Dbased on YPG(not a definitive stat I know) in 04, 05, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, and 17.  But any QB would take that over their career.

I guess I would say that the offense as a whole isn't overrated, but that the QB running it is.  

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