This is the thing to me though - even after a new OC is hired, we are still not
going to have much of a clue as to what this means for this team or how this is
going to look.
The braintrust wants to build a roster around a power running game and made
moves last offseason to begin to construct that. They have some dynamic
receivers and a solid group of TE’s. They have question marks at the most
critical position in sports. There’s no indication that even if they hire a
co-ordinator from a pass happy background that he will adapt to the way the
Steelers are lining up their roster, or whether he will impose his own scheme
or whether it will be an amalgamation of the two. We are only going to begin to
find out what this will look like when mandatory mini camp begins and even
then, installing a new scheme will take a lot of work.
Focus on the process they are going through, not the names here. The hiring
when it happens will prompt a lot of questions and not a lot of answers.
Sent from my iPhone
On 23 Jan 2024, at 19:20, Scott H <blitzum@xxxxxxx> wrote:
nothing against Caldwell, his name just always comes up whenever we have an
opening and at 69 years old goes against the idea of heading in a “new”
direct. he is exactly the guy who i would have put money we looked at if not
for the press conference
On Jan 23, 2024, at 12:46 PM, David Reid <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Nothing wrong with Jim Caldwell….. great offensive mind.
Sent from my iPhone
On 23 Jan 2024, at 17:16, Scott H <blitzum@xxxxxxx> wrote:
so far he’s putting his money where his mouth went. Kingsbury supposed to
meet with the Steelers per Peter King.
might be a dog and pony show and Jim Caldwell could the OC in the end, but
he is at least making the effort we all wanted
Scott in Jersey
On Jan 23, 2024, at 7:08 AM, David Reid <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I hope you all saw the Tomlin press conference last week because it’s
probably the most revealing and honest press conference he’s given in many
years. I think it was very telling, this was a man who knows he has an
extension in his back pocket and yet, he seemed to be chastened in some
ways. The end of the season often brings clarity, as Parcells always said,
you are what your record says you are and that brings things into sharp
focus.
I know that whereas he still has the full support of the Rooney’s, several
of the minority owners and partners have been questioning the direction of
certain things. Also, I'm confident in my belief that having seen some of
the answers to questions he was asked in the presser that during the exit
interviews with certain senior players that he’s been hearing their
thoughts as well and they’ve been forthright in pointing out where things
went wrong this year, too. He said that ‘we can’t do the same things and
expect a different result’ and that he’s open and willing to change.
And I am reassured that things are going to change. They have to. When
players from Najee to Minkah to Diontae are calling out some of the things
that went on in the locker room this season and saying things have to
change, they have to change and I really think Tomlin gets that. He knows
that outside hires are needed and the culture of promoting from within has
to change. He spoke about adding to the offensive staff - the Steelers
still have one of the smaller coaching staffs in the league - so we’ll see
where that goes.
He handled the questions about the QB position deftly. He knows that no
one will be anointed the starter and it sounds like for once that Latrobe
won’t be Club Med, with 20 starting positions already determined like it
usually is and there will be open competition. He supported Kenny, which
is the right thing to do. He wants to retain Mason, which is also the
right thing to do. We’ll see what transpires in the offseason and there
are a lot of moving parts here from players, to coaching to scheme, but he
sees what the rest of us saw and that was a positive too, because as we
all know, we’ve wondered whether that was truly the case or not in recent
years.
There’s an offseason to go through now. The jigsaw puzzle has been emptied
out of it’s box and the pieces will slowly be put together, from the
coaching staff to which veterans and free agents retained to the draft and
so on. It’s way too early to start talking about many of these things, but
the only thing I will say is this is a very shallow draft. Teams often
pick players from a pool of 150-200 players with “draftable” grades, but
this year, that number will be in the low end of that range. You’re going
to see an awful lot of teams dumping picks after round four because the
players available carry the same grades as free agents. It’s a thin class.
But I will say these two things and this is the point of this ramble.
- With Tomlin recognising his shortcomings and that things have to change
and having a desire to implement change both in house and by bringing in
external voices.
- Year one of the Omar Khan / Andy Weidl partnership is in the books and
it was in my eyes a success, they drafted well and they added veteran
depth where it was needed, both in the offseason and during the season
when injuries hit and you can bet your house on them reviewing what they
did, fine tuning what they did and building on it in year two. You can’t
cure all ills and fill every hole on the roster in an offseason, but they
exceeded my high expectations and I expect more in year two.
With these two things, I have never been more confident in the structure
and setup of this franchise in terms of the pieces being in place to
rebuild this team to compete at the highest level. Not since the
Donahoe-Modrak era have the Steelers had someone who is so in tune with
building a deep, competitive roster via the draft and free agency than
they do with Andy Weidl on board. And the head coach - finally - has
recognised the need for things to change, he sees what we all see and it’s
up to him now to implement that change. It’s now about staying the course
that is set out before them, sure there are questions and they have to
address the key one which is to build an offense which still bears the
scars inflicted on it by the Canada era, but believe me when I say that
I’m very confident they are on the right path here, they have the right
people and process in place to build a winning team again.
I don’t know where it leads, you look around the loaded AFC and wonder
where the Steelers fit in and there are still lots of questions to be
answered, most notably at the QB position, but to have a season that was
filled with such trial and tribulation and still scrape into the playoffs,
to have seen a strong performance from a good rookie class, to see the
front office find veterans to come in and contribute in a major way, I
think that this team culturally is in better shape and has a brighter
future than many people think. As someone who has more of an interest in
how teams build rosters and how teams instil a winning culture in the NFL
in this day and age, I’m excited by the future of this team and the
direction they are heading in.
