Pittsburgh Steelers General Thread

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
Steelers have the cheapest OL in The League. Potentially bad news for Trubisky and Pickett..

https://www.pennlive.com/sports/202...sive-line-could-cost-them-dearly-in-2022.html

The Steelers have the most expensive defense in the league and the least expensive offense, going by salaries. Their run defense was non-existent last year, reminiscent of the Big 12, and the D in general isn't going to be improved this year either. But the DWFs of course are obsessed with how soon Trubisky will be replaced by Kenny Pickett. NFL defenses are all pretty bad, but don't dare question why 90%+ of them are Black year after year, decade after decade.
 

Bucky

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jul 20, 2018
Messages
9,097
Could be a rough year for Pittsburgh. Right now over/under for their season is 7.5 wins!

Plus they sold out their namesake and it's no longer Heinz Field. The things these Shabbos Goys do for shekels.
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
The Steelers' game plan is to have Mitch Trubisky start this season, and then turn the reins over to Kenny Pickett next year, unless Trubisky turns out to be too good to sit down, or so bad that Pickett is promoted early. Hard to know where Mason Rudolph fits in other than as the third stringer despite being talented and having a very good camp so far according to reports. If Trubisky stumbles Rudolph could end up being the starter at some point in 2022 though that's unlikely. Pickett started a bit slow but is coming on:

Steelers Camp Takeaways: Kenny Pickett Spectacular on Thursday

Do not worry about Kenny Pickett at Steelers camp. If Thursday is any indication, the growth and maturation of the rookie quarterback could be happening right in front of everyone’s eyes in Latrobe. Pickett’s growth has actually been somewhat linear to this point after an extremely rough first week of practice. Now, he is putting together a solid week into the beginning of August.

Pickett zipped balls all over the field on Thursday which was impressive. Is his arm strength ever going to be elite? Probably not. Still, Pickett’s got just enough arm strength to make some real magic happen. On Thursday, it seemed like he was dialed in on another level. Up to this point in his career, this is likely the best practice of Pickett’s young NFL career. https://steelersnow.com/steelers-camp-takeaways-kenny-pickett-looks-spectacular-on-thursday/
 

white lightning

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 16, 2004
Messages
20,684
I'm torn as to who I want to win the starting qb job. I guess I will slightly root for Trubisky as he got screwed over in Chicago like so many of our guys do on that team. The Bears are Unbearable to watch for us here for the most part. I
would like to see Trubisky prove all the haters wrong. I like white duel threat quarterbacks as it goes against the narrative of whites being athletic. Try telling Josh Allen that. Lmao. We know whites can be stars at any position from
rb to cb to quarterback and more. All they need is for a team to believe in them. The Steelers are in a Win/Win Situation having both of these young stud qb's. Let the best man win but I'm quietly rooting for Mitch to win the starting job.
 

El Gringo

Mentor
Joined
Feb 12, 2021
Messages
1,513
I’m with you on Mitch for the reasons you mentioned. He has caught so much hell for being drafted before Mahommes it would be great to see him succeed.
 

white lightning

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 16, 2004
Messages
20,684
Mitch Trubisky has been named one of the captains for the Steelers. Great news that the team really is getting behind him. We all know he has
the talent with his arm and his legs. Hoping for a very solid year as his knowledge of the offense gets better and leads to many wins!
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
The fans will be ready to turn on Trubisky in an instant as Pitt product Kenny Pickett is the current people's choice. Steelers fans are notorious for disliking White QBs with a passion. They'll turn on Pickett too if he starts and the team struggles. Big Ben was a frequent target of criticism even as he carried the team on his broad shoulders for a number of years.

The best case scenario for this year is that Trubisky does well and is then traded to a team that will start him as the Steelers turn to their first round draft choice Pickett, who is already 24 years old.

At least all three QBs on the team are White. Mason Rudolph is talented and he may be traded or sign as a free agent elsewhere in the offseason as this is the last year of his rookie deal. Unfortunately he's already been labeled as a backup because of his lack of opportunities so far.
 

Carolina Speed

Hall of Famer
Joined
Feb 13, 2011
Messages
5,307
The fans will be ready to turn on Trubisky in an instant as Pitt product Kenny Pickett is the current people's choice. Steelers fans are notorious for disliking White QBs with a passion. They'll turn on Pickett too if he starts and the team struggles. Big Ben was a frequent target of criticism even as he carried the team on his broad shoulders for a number of years.

The best case scenario for this year is that Trubisky does well and is then traded to a team that will start him as the Steelers turn to their first round draft choice Pickett, who is already 24 years old.

At least all three QBs on the team are White. Mason Rudolph is talented and he may be traded or sign as a free agent elsewhere in the offseason as this is the last year of his rookie deal. Unfortunately he's already been labeled as a backup because of his lack of opportunities so far.
Yeah Don, Trubisky needs to perform well, but I'm really looking forward to watching Pickett. I got see him live in Winston-Salem when my daughter was at Wake Forest. As an old Dallas Cowboy fan, I can't believe I'm saying I'm looking forward to watching the Steelers, BUT I am.
 

booth

Mentor
Joined
Jul 23, 2015
Messages
1,717
The Steelers signed Zack VanValkenburg a DE from Iowa and assigned him to the practice squad.
ESPN has already started the bench Trubisky talk. Patrick Canty said Pickett could not be any worse than Trubisky. Two games into the season and they are ready to bench him.
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
Rookie second round WR George Pickens was pouting, yelling, and otherwise carrying on during Sunday's game against Atlanta. Even though the Steelers led the entire game and won, that didn't matter to Pickens. He could be seen mouthing "Get me the f'in ball" during one of his temper tantrums.

This is a rookie who has yet to accomplish anything. I've watched the Steelers a fair amount this season, in part because I'm rooting for Kenny Pickett to succeed, and while Pickens has great body control and has made some very difficult receptions, that's about it. He often doesn't seem to be where Pickett expects him to be, and of course he doesn't use two hands when trying to catch the ball.

Reporters were gingerly asking him some questions today and he remained defiant and sullen. And good old Mike Tomlin defended him during his weekly press conference, instead criticizing those who were critical of Pickens.

Tomlin has to be the leading enabler of bad behavior in NFL history. The Steelers have drafted one receiver after another who has turned out to be a prima donna, a bonehead, or a criminal. Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Juju Smith-Schuster, Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool, and now Pickens. And RB Leveon Bell was worse than any of them other than Brown. And think of this circus going on during Pickett's rookie season rather than during the long reign of Big Ben, who was used to a-hole behavior even though he destested it. It couldn't be more selfish on Pickens' part.

Instead of demanding accountability and mature behavior from his players, Tomlin is forever just one of the boys. He knows he's almost impossible to fire so he does what he wants as the Steelers settle long-term into being just another run-of-the-mill NFL team.

To get back to one-handed catches, that has to be the most ridiculous discarding of a football fundamental yet. All MLB outfielders used to catch a baseball with two hands, meaning they caught it with their glove while using their other hand to close the glove, thus securing the catch. Willie Mays was the first notable baseball player to make one-handed catches and it very slowly but surely spread from there.

But catching a football with its oblate spheroid shape with bare hands is considerably more difficult than catching a baseball in a glove. I know the players use special gloves and some kind of super-stickem now, but come on, it's only common sense that two-handed attempts have less of a chance of being dropped than a one-handed attempt. The turning point would seem to be Odell Beckham's one-handed snag that was replayed over and over a billion times. Because after all it's more important to look and act cool than following the traditional technique that cuts down on drops.
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
When he's criticized, and there are many things to criticize about him, Mike Tomlin's defenders always parrot the line, "But he's never had a losing season!" At 5-8 all it will take is one more loss in the final four games for that streak to end. It will also mark six straight seasons without a playoff win by the Steelers following about 40 years of lots of playoff wins during the Noll, Cowher, and early years of the Tomlin regime.
 
Joined
Apr 6, 2022
Messages
297
I was a kid when he played but he was a class act like most of the players in the 70s and mid 80s. Sometime after that diva receivers came into the game and is now mostly mired with thugs and prima donas . Even Steelers like John Stallworth always were classy on and off the field.
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
Wow, that's a shocker. Saturday night's game between the Steelers and Raiders was going to have a big commemeration of Harris's "Immaculate Reception" as it happened 50 years ago in December of 1972. Now it'll be a mourning over his passing. Franco was often seen on Pittsburgh TV in commercials and interviews right up until now, which is why his death was so unexpected.

Watching the Steelers of the '70s was great fun for me, first as a teenager and then later as a college student. Pittsburgh had been a terrible, poorly run franchise for 40 years until Chuck Noll was hired in 1969, and it still took a few years until the team jelled in '72. The Immaculate Reception symbolized a turning point as from '74 through '79 the Steelers were an awesome team, as strong a dynasty as any before or since, or at the least a worthy rival to Lombardi's Packers.

Franco was a tank as a rookie in '72 and for a few seasons afterward, a combination of power and elusiveness rarely seen. Later his power left and he became much more of a juker, and became famous (or infamous) for being the first running back to regularly run out of bounds to avoid contact. He was kind of a militant in his early years. Being half-Italian and half-Black he identified only with his Black half, but like Joe Greene and others he mellowed out and became a long-time beloved member of the establishment in Pittsburgh, doing countless commercials and events. Definitely became a good guy, friendly and of course answered millions of questions from people about whether he had actually made a shoestring catch or did it hit the ground first (he never gave a definitive answer, which only added to the aura of the play). RIP
 

Rocky B

Master
Joined
Jan 1, 2017
Messages
2,051
RIP Franco. I used to keep hand written notes of his stats each game when I was a kid.....My boy Rocky was already fazed out by the time I was old enough to pay attention.....Aside from the going out of bounds thing late in his career, definitely a class act on and off the field....Franco’s mom was Italian. A couple of his brothers also played for Penn St....There was a fan group “Franco’s Italian Army”......
 

BeyondFedUp

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 30, 2004
Messages
4,468
Location
United States
Wow, being a lifelong Cowboys fan up until just a few years ago I always sort of hated the Steelers and especially back in the 70's but this is sad news to me. I was watching the Immaculate Reception game by myself in my grandmother's house on one end of the home with the family on the other end watching something else. I was amazed that day and I still believe it was a catch. 72 seems young to me and I know the question that's in my mind as it probably is in most of yours. Does anyone know if he did or not? It doesn't matter now but if he did it's just one more taken down by the ruling Elites before his time. Sad indeed in my opinion. RIP
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
Wow, being a lifelong Cowboys fan up until just a few years ago I always sort of hated the Steelers and especially back in the 70's but this is sad news to me. I was watching the Immaculate Reception game by myself in my grandmother's house on one end of the home with the family on the other end watching something else. I was amazed that day and I still believe it was a catch. 72 seems young to me and I know the question that's in my mind as it probably is in most of yours. Does anyone know if he did or not? It doesn't matter now but if he did it's just one more taken down by the ruling Elites before his time. Sad indeed in my opinion. RIP
There was no definitive camera shot, and as I wrote above, Franco never said whether he made the catch or not, so we'll never know for sure, which makes the play even more legendary.

There were other controversies surrounding the catch. At the time a pass couldn't hit a player and then be caught by another player on the same team, it had to bounce off a defender and then be caught to be legal. Replays seem to indicate the pass hit the Steelers' Frenchy Fuqua first and then the Raiders' Jack Tatum (as dirty a player as ever played in the NFL), but it was so simultaneous between Tatum and Fuqua that it can't be ascertained for certain.

And then there was what looked like an illegal block from behind by a Steeler on one of the Raiders trying to catch Franco as he was streaking down the sideline, but it wasn't called (and it was close). John Madden and the Raiders furiously contested the call of a touchdown, and the officials huddled for a long time before verifying the call. There probably would have been a riot by the Steelers fans otherwise, as in those days fans could still run on the field after big wins and there was a lot of inebriated ones who had left the stands to join in the celebration.
 
Last edited:

BeyondFedUp

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 30, 2004
Messages
4,468
Location
United States
There was no definitive camera shot, and as I wrote above, Franco never said whether he made the catch or not, so we'll never know for sure, which makes the play even more legendary.
When I wrote " if he did or not" i was referring to the clot shot.
But as far as the catch, yes indeed, mystique and mystery when it comes right down to it. And I'm glad it's that way.
 

BeyondFedUp

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 30, 2004
Messages
4,468
Location
United States
OK Wile. We know now.

Maybe these posts about Harris' passing can be posted into its own thread. I'm still somewhat saddened by it. I'm sure Steelers fans, especially the older ones, are feeling the pain today.
 
Joined
Dec 18, 2004
Messages
2,947
There was no definitive camera shot, and as I wrote above, Franco never said whether he made the catch or not, so we'll never know for sure, which makes the play even more legendary.

There were other controversies surrounding the catch. At the time a pass couldn't hit a player and then be caught by another player on the same team, it had to bounce off a defender and then be caught to be legal. Replays seem to indicate the pass hit the Steelers' Frenchy Fuqua first and then the Raiders' Jack Tatum (as dirty a player as ever played in the NFL), but it was so simultaneous between Tatum and Fuqua that it can't be ascertained for certain.

And then there was what looked like an illegal block from behind by a Steeler on one of the Raiders trying to catch Franco as he was streaking down the sideline, but it wasn't called (and it was close). John Madden and the Raiders furiously contested the call of a touchdown, and the officials huddled for a long time before verifying the call. There probably would have been a riot by the Steelers fans otherwise, as in those days fans could still run on the field after big wins and there was a lot of inebriated ones who had left the stands to join in the celebration.

At Penn State, Franco Harris played second fiddle to Lydell Mitchell, especially in their senior year 1971. Joe Paterno built up Mitchell for All American and gave him twice as many carries. Franco never made a big thing of it.

The play was bang bang and the replays indicate the officials made the right call. Franco was a rough hard running back the early years of his career. I recall one team saying he was " a load." It was said he could get you 100 yards in a game you had to win.

Speaking of Tatum, he put out a book in 1979, a kind of apologia for the Darrell Stingley incident. He also ripped Franco for "caking out and heading for the sidelines." It's easy for a safety to hit somebody who isn't looking which Tatum loved to do.
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
At Penn State, Franco Harris played second fiddle to Lydell Mitchell, especially in their senior year 1971. Joe Paterno built up Mitchell for All American and gave him twice as many carries. Franco never made a big thing of it.

The play was bang bang and the replays indicate the officials made the right call. Franco was a rough hard running back the early years of his career. I recall one team saying he was " a load." It was said he could get you 100 yards in a game you had to win.

Speaking of Tatum, he put out a book in 1979, a kind of apologia for the Darrell Stingley incident. He also ripped Franco for "caking out and heading for the sidelines." It's easy for a safety to hit somebody who isn't looking which Tatum loved to do.
There was a lot of head scratching in Pittsburgh after the Steelers took Franco as the 13th overall pick in '72, but he was a great back from the get-go. Mitchell went to the Baltimore Colts in the second round a year earlier and had a nice NFL career of his own, going over 1,000 yards three different times and finishing with 6,534 rushing yards over nine seasons. Franco was definitely the less heralded of the two at Penn State.
 
Top