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Steelers Continue to be Disrespected by National Media
Yinzer Crazy • August 13, 2020
The return of Ben Roethlisberger has the Steelers thinking Super Bowl - so why aren't others?
This past week Fox Sports Radio host and popular national “pundit” Colin Cowherd released his NFL 2020 team-record predictions. Almost immediately after digesting these - I couldn’t wait to get to the keyboard to thrash him about his outlook for the Steelers.
When I saw Cowherd predict a 7-9 season for the black and gold, I knew he was either asking for attention or flat out not paying any at all.
Cowherd is 90% mouth, and 10% football.
But his prediction had me thinking - haven’t I noticed this trend a lot lately?
On their season preview, ESPN.com’s Brooke Pryor has the Steelers finishing at 9-7.
And NFL.com analyst Adam Schein called the Steelers offseason “abysmal”, and said they are not close to being a complete team.
It begs the question - what are they smoking? And can we have some?
Apparently, we are just forgetting the 2019 version of this team ever actually happened. A season in which the Steelers nearly made the playoffs when arguably their most important player, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger - didn’t play a full game.
Now he’s back - looking and feeling refreshed (check out his twitter feed!), and yet there are still cats who get paid millions of dollars of cash money to talk sports who think the Steelers will somehow finish with a worse record than they did when Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges struggled to look the part of a competent quarterback.
That is mind-boggling. Stunning. Catastrophically bad.
The only justification or logical rationale behind a pick like that is if you back it up by saying, “I think Ben will get hurt again due to his age and injury history.” That’s fair - and probably true. If he does go down again the team will likely finish somewhere around 8-8 again.
But it’s time to stop stirring the pot and look at the facts.
The Steelers defense rose to the elite’s in 2019, led by superstars Minkah Fitzpatrick and the should-have-been defensive player of the year in T.J. Watt.
Cam Heyward and Stephone Tuitt, the latter also returning from an injury plagued 2019 - anchor a defensive line that is in the upper echelon in the league. And 2019 first round draft pick, linebacker Devin Bush is ascending into the next great Steeler at the position.
And I haven’t even mentioned corners Joe Haden and Steven Nelson - two players who ranked in the top-ten at their position tier on multiple analytic driven sites in 2019.
The Steelers defense isn’t just good. They legitimately have a chance to be the best in the entire league.
That simply means Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t have to go out and win them games.
He just has to not screw them up. Kind of like Mason and Duck did a season ago.
Similar to his early career - when the team won two superbowls on the strength of a Steel curtain-esque D captained by the likes of future Hall of Famers Troy Polamalu and James Harrison - Ben can once again lead this team to the promised land.
Many want to bring up his age - and rightfully so. Quarterbacks aren’t always at their best as they enter their late 30’s. But Roethlisberger’s last full season in 2018 he posted a 96.5 QB rating, while throwing for 34 touchdowns and 16 picks. He also led the league in passing yards at 5,129. Tom Brady just turned 43 years old. Ben is 38. Let's not put him in a casket just yet.
NFL.com ranked all 57 quarterback’s who started a game in the 2019 campaign. Mason Rudolph came in tied for 48, while Duck Hodges finished at 46.
Ben, to any objective viewer would finish in the top 15 of that list - and that’s if he had a poor season. At least relative to what he normally accomplishes when healthy.
So tell me Colin Cowherd - how in the heck can a team finish 8-8, drastically improve their play at quarterback (assuming 7 is healthy), and get healthier on offense and defense (return of James Conner and Stephon Tuitt to full-strength) and get WORSE?
If the Steelers get a full-season out of Roethlisberger, there isn’t a chance this team wins less than 10 games. Infact, I think there’s a good chance they compete for a division title - yet again.
Cowherd moved to Manhattan Beach, California in 2018 after departing his Connecticut home and long-time position at ESPN for Fox Sports. Since 2016, recreational cannabis has been legalized in California.
Yinzer Crazy Co-Founder and Steelers Realist - Mike Nicastro
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