NFL 2022-23 Season

[iacas]

Guardian helmets required for certain positions from now until the second pre-season game.

• all offensive linemen, defensive linemen, tight ends, and linebackers

Guardian Cap Debuts at Training Camps League-wide

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[boogielicious]

Patriot lineman were wearing them in camp too. If they’re not too hot, it’s a good idea.

[iacas]

14 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

Patriot lineman were wearing them in camp too. If they’re not too hot, it’s a good idea.

Well, yeah, they're required.

[Friz]

Anyone watch Hard Knocks?  Detroit Lions are the team followed for training camp and the preseason, which I absolutely love to see.  I'm not expecting them to take a Bengals like jump to the Super Bowl this season, but I love Dan Campbell's passion and intensity, and I can't wait to see what he gets from those guys this season.

[mcanadiens]

6 minutes ago, Friz said:

Anyone watch Hard Knocks?  Detroit Lions are the team followed for training camp and the preseason, which I absolutely love to see.  I'm not expecting them to take a Bengals like jump to the Super Bowl this season, but I love Dan Campbell's passion and intensity, and I can't wait to see what he gets from those guys this season.

They drafted a bunch of defensive players, so maybe that side of the ball gets a little better. Swift, St. Brown and Hockensen are decent. It is a shame Williams isn't going to start the season.

I'm just not sure how far they'll ever get with Goff at quarterback. 

[Friz]

3 minutes ago, mcanadiens said:

They drafted a bunch of defensive players, so maybe that side of the ball gets a little better. Swift, St. Brown and Hockensen are decent. It is a shame Williams isn't going to start the season.

I'm just not sure how far they'll ever get with Goff at quarterback. 

Defense is going to be the big question mark.  I love Aiden Hutchinson, hope he can adjust to the NFL quickly, but I'm not concerned about him getting there.  Maybe a healthy Jeff Okudah helps the DB group, jury is still out on him since he hasn't been able to stay healthy since he was drafted.

Offense is exciting though.  Jared Goff may not be the long term answer, but I also try not to forget he's been to a Super Bowl.  He's a very accurate passer.  He developed a good rapport with St. Brown by the end of last season, and when Jameson Williams gets healthy there will be some legit weapons.  And in the long term, Lions are building a good foundation, and they may be able to simply slide in the answer at quarterback in the future.

I'm biased, but also optimistic.  Hard Knocks made it really easy to get excited for the season.

[mcanadiens]

19 minutes ago, Friz said:

I'm biased, but also optimistic.  Hard Knocks made it really easy to get excited for the season.

All you can ask for is to have at least a bit of optimism in August. I've even heard Bears fans who have some belief (for some reason).

Let's try to keep Mr. Swift healthy all year this time. 

 

[iacas]

Tua Tagovailoa and the NFL’s Horrible Handling of Head Injuries

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The Miami Dolphins quarterback suffered a brutal concussion on Thursday, but he never should have been playing in that game at all. Now, it’s time for answers from his team and a league that was supposed to...

[dennyjones]

10 hours ago, iacas said:

Tua Tagovailoa and the NFL’s Horrible Handling of Head Injuries

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The Miami Dolphins quarterback suffered a brutal concussion on Thursday, but he never should have been playing in that game at all. Now, it’s time for answers from his team and a league that was supposed to...

That is scary.   

[onthehunt526]

Were almost halfway through this season. The Steelers are awful. No offensive line no QB no running game.

By the way, I do not blame Mike Tomlin for any of this. I blame the Rooneys, and will continue to. They have some decent receivers Claypool, Pickens.
 

The dumpster fire that this year is becoming, all started when they tried to franchise Le’veon Bell a second time and he just refused to play. The Rooneys don’t know how to structure contracts to deal with cap issues. They may be the most incompetent owners in the NFL. The Rooneys are the reason Coach Cowher retired.

[ChetlovesMer]

3 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

They may be the most incompetent owners in the NFL. 

Wow, Hyperbole much?
I can tell you that half the fan bases in the NFL would love to have the Rooneys as owners. 

[iacas]

4 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

By the way, I do not blame Mike Tomlin for any of this.

I do. Give me a f***ing break. Look at his coaching tree. It doesn't exist, despite being in the NFL for like 17 years. Look at his teams in the playoffs the past, oh, ten years or so. Look at his coaching hires, like Matt Canada — who is terrible.

4 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

I blame the Rooneys, and will continue to.

That makes no sense.

4 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

They have some decent receivers Claypool, Pickens.

DJ, Claypool, Pickens… their receivers are fine.

4 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

The Rooneys don’t know how to structure contracts to deal with cap issues. They may be the most incompetent owners in the NFL. The Rooneys are the reason Coach Cowher retired.

Yeah… literally none of that is true.

[mcanadiens]

7 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

The Steelers are awful.

Isn't it about time?

For most of the last 30 years, I've been watching the Steelers batter the NFL and my home state's Bengals and Browns in particular.

Most professional sports franchise have downward cycles. It's a testament to the Rooneys and the Steeler organization that they've had as much success as they have over such a long time period. It won't surprise me at all if Pittsburgh is back to being a royal pain in the butt sooner than later. I'm going to strive to enjoy this downturn in their fortunes for as long as it exists.

[dennyjones]

8 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

The dumpster fire that this year is becoming, all started when they tried to franchise Le’veon Bell a second time and he just refused to play. The Rooneys don’t know how to structure contracts to deal with cap issues. They may be the most incompetent owners in the NFL. The Rooneys are the reason Coach Cowher retired.

Compared to the Ford family that owns the Lions?   Not even close!

Edited October 31, 2022 by dennyjones

[iacas]

@onthehunt526, I'm not a "fire Tomlin" guy, and I think he's a GREAT motivator and a GREAT guy. But he's been helped quite a bit by Ben Roethlisberger throughout his entire career (until this year!), and he NEEDS to have a lot more good coaches under him, but whether he doesn't want to or can't, I don't know.

Consider this (from here😞

• As impressive as Tomlin's remarkable longevity and consistency have been, as much respect as he's earned -- in the truest usage of the term -- it’s equally fair, I’d say, to underscore that he's now 12-18-1 in his past 31 games. Lulls happen everywhere, but they'll ideally happen with more of a plan than how to beat the Saints.
• I'm not one of those who's ever believed Tomlin won with Bill Cowher's players, anymore than I'd ever intimate that Mike Sullivan won with Mike Johnston's players in the Penguins' 2016 Stanley Cup run, even though Sullivan took over behind the bench in midseason. At the same time, it's independently inescapable that Tomlin hasn't won a playoff game since January 2017 and that, in the four playoff losses that followed, the Steelers gave up 36, 45, 48 and 42 points.
• In 2021, his final season with a Hall of Fame quarterback, the Steelers went 9-7-1 with a surprising playoff berth, founded mostly on a 38-year old Ben Roethlisberger’s six fourth-quarter comebacks. Tomlin's first season without Ben will also be his first, barring some crazy reversal, with a losing record. Not to mention one in which they've plunged in all phases to across-the-board depths not seen since before Chuck Noll. That's quite the plug that got pulled there.
• Tomlin's coordinators and coaches, almost without fail, don't leave the Steelers for promotions or even lateral moves but, rather, to lesser positions elsewhere or all the way out of football. That tells me as much about the caliber of most of those coaches as it does about the hiring process on South Water Street.
• This might mean the most: Tomlin's been at least an equal partner in all areas of drafting and developing, per his own description during his time sharing that dual role with Kevin Colbert. And if I had to take the seven drafts (exempting this past one) that followed the wonderful one in 2014 that was headlined by Ryan Shazier and Stephon Tuitt, I'd be able cull but a few picks I'd safely label as high-impact players: T.J. Watt, a couple years of Bud Dupree, the version of James Conner that's now in Phoenix, the version of Javon Hargrave who wrecked the Steelers here on this day, a bit of rookie fun with JuJu Smith-Schuster and ... and ... who, Diontae Johnson? Never forget that the coach and the GM of this operation are essentially one and the same.

[dennyjones]

They are predicting so much snow this weekend that the Buffalo vs Cleveland game has been moved to Detroit.

 

The running joke in Detroit.... at least the Lions won't lose!

[mcanadiens]

9 hours ago, dennyjones said:

They are predicting so much snow this weekend that the Buffalo vs Cleveland game has been moved to Detroit.

 

The running joke in Detroit.... at least the Lions won't lose!

Thankful for that personally.

Byes have me starting Gabe Davis. A nice, dry rug in Detroit sounds a lot more suitable than a few feet of ice potatoes. 

[ChetlovesMer]

On 10/31/2022 at 11:39 AM, iacas said:

@onthehunt526, I'm not a "fire Tomlin" guy, and I think he's a GREAT motivator and a GREAT guy. But he's been helped quite a bit by Ben Roethlisberger throughout his entire career (until this year!), and he NEEDS to have a lot more good coaches under him, but whether he doesn't want to or can't, I don't know.

Consider this (from here😞

• As impressive as Tomlin's remarkable longevity and consistency have been, as much respect as he's earned -- in the truest usage of the term -- it’s equally fair, I’d say, to underscore that he's now 12-18-1 in his past 31 games. Lulls happen everywhere, but they'll ideally happen with more of a plan than how to beat the Saints.
• I'm not one of those who's ever believed Tomlin won with Bill Cowher's players, anymore than I'd ever intimate that Mike Sullivan won with Mike Johnston's players in the Penguins' 2016 Stanley Cup run, even though Sullivan took over behind the bench in midseason. At the same time, it's independently inescapable that Tomlin hasn't won a playoff game since January 2017 and that, in the four playoff losses that followed, the Steelers gave up 36, 45, 48 and 42 points.
• In 2021, his final season with a Hall of Fame quarterback, the Steelers went 9-7-1 with a surprising playoff berth, founded mostly on a 38-year old Ben Roethlisberger’s six fourth-quarter comebacks. Tomlin's first season without Ben will also be his first, barring some crazy reversal, with a losing record. Not to mention one in which they've plunged in all phases to across-the-board depths not seen since before Chuck Noll. That's quite the plug that got pulled there.
• Tomlin's coordinators and coaches, almost without fail, don't leave the Steelers for promotions or even lateral moves but, rather, to lesser positions elsewhere or all the way out of football. That tells me as much about the caliber of most of those coaches as it does about the hiring process on South Water Street.
• This might mean the most: Tomlin's been at least an equal partner in all areas of drafting and developing, per his own description during his time sharing that dual role with Kevin Colbert. And if I had to take the seven drafts (exempting this past one) that followed the wonderful one in 2014 that was headlined by Ryan Shazier and Stephon Tuitt, I'd be able cull but a few picks I'd safely label as high-impact players: T.J. Watt, a couple years of Bud Dupree, the version of James Conner that's now in Phoenix, the version of Javon Hargrave who wrecked the Steelers here on this day, a bit of rookie fun with JuJu Smith-Schuster and ... and ... who, Diontae Johnson? Never forget that the coach and the GM of this operation are essentially one and the same.

When I think about Mike Tomlin I think about my first sports team, The Chicago Bears. The reason being I remember in 1992 the Bears were thinking of letting Ditka go to hire the then unheard of Bill Cowher. As you know the Steelers hired Cowher and the Bears ended up hiring Dave Wannstedt. As a Chicagoan I can remember how every year Chicago sports fans lamented not getting Bill Cowher. 

What does that have to do with Mike Tomlin? ... I'm getting there. 

When the Steelers hired Tomlin in 2007, the Bears were in the middle of the Lovey Smith era. IMO - Lovey is/was the first or second best head coach the Bears have had in the modern Era. (I don't count George Halas, football was still played in leather helmets back then.) Lovey did more with less than any coach in Bears history. (Fun fact - Lovey Smith is the only Bears head coach to beat the Vegas odds on win total every year he coached the team.) 

I'm getting there, I promise. So anyway, even though the Bears were doing great under Lovey Smith (Great by Bears standards.) There were tons of Chicagoans who wanted the Bears to can Lovey and grab up Cowher now that he was no longer The Steelers coach. So everyone in Chicago had their eyes on this new guy, Mike Tomlin. 

Since The Steelers hired Tomlin the Bears have had Lovey Smith (who they never should have let go of... IMO), The Marc Trestman experiment ... Ugh. , John Fox ... A retread who somehow still gets hired even though woefully over-rated. Matt Nagy, possibly the most arrogant human being since Urban Meyer. (Nagy incidentally at least twice told his quarterback through the headset that they had a free play because the defense had 12 men on the field, both times ending in interceptions and both times the defense didn't have 12 men on the field.) And now Matt Eberflus. 

As a person who follows The Bears and The Steelers I can tell you without a doubt that The Steelers have had a not just good, but great coach. 

The head coach has several roles:

• Represent the team in front of the media. - Tomlin may be the best ever at this (IMO). If not for a guy named Urban Meyer, Matt Nagy would have been the worst ever at this. 
• Make major in-game decisions. - I can recall very few if any real blunders made by Tomlin in this regard. I can point to dozens of terrible in-game decisions made by Bears head coaches since Lovey Smith. 
• Putting together and installing the game plan for the week - Tomlin has to be top 10 in the league at this. 
• Hiring assistants and getting the right coaches under him - You may be correct here. This could be a Tomlin weakness. 
• Input into drafts and player decisions - You bag Tomlin on this, but I would argue he's infinitely better than most on this. Can I get you to concede at least top half of the league? 

I don't know how all that adds up, but I will say Tomlin has to be in the top 3rd of the league in terms of head coaches. I'd put him top 5, but I may be slightly biased because I like his personality. 

Now, I'll finally tie all of this together. Here's my point. Be careful about getting rid of a "very good" head coach. The Bears let go of the very good Lovey Smith because they thought they could do better. They have spent the last decade and a half trying in vain to at least find a mediocre head coach. 

Maybe Tomlin won't win without Roethlisberger. But maybe Belichick won't win without Brady. Mike Martz's winning percentage is less than 40% without Kurt Warner. John Fox is less than 30% without Cam Newton or Peyton Manning. 

Wow, looking up that was a longer rant than I thought it would be. Let me summarize. 
IMO - The Steelers should hang on to Mike Tomlin.