The Football Gods have spoken and reality hits those who try to defy them.

[HotInHere]

The Ravens won the Super Bowl last year b/c of their offense, and it didn't feel comfortable to them. So they went out and tried to fixed the D, at the expense of the Offense. Maybe that's good for the AFC North, but you gotta be able to outscore teams nowadays. I think the adage should be Offenses win Championships in today's NFL

I posted this in a different thread a while ago, but it bears repeating:

Here are the offensive rankings of the most recent SB Champs, starting with us last year: 16, 8, 9, 10, 1, 22, and 16. Only the Saints were "top flight." The others were mediocre to good. In fact you can have a 22nd ranked offense if you have a great defense to support it. ('08 Steelers.)

I think the adage should be "balance and a bit of luck win championships."

Good teams have good players. And good players generally cost a lot of money eventually. So you are going to have to overpay some of your players vs their performance. Ray and Ed last year, Ngata and Suggs this year, etc.

The key is to be able to draft well enough, and find cheap FA solutions (D. Smith) to keep from having gaping holes in your lineup. And you need to sprinkle in some good to great players who are young, and therefore are performing above their pay grade. Last year it was KO, Torrey, Art Jones, etc. In the first Super Bowl it was Ray and Jamal.

The Steelers biggest problem IMO is that last part. Their good players are older and overpaid. Their young players just aren't all that.

[wickedsolo]

I posted this in a different thread a while ago, but it bears repeating:


I think the adage should be "balance and a bit of luck win championships."

Good teams have good players. And good players generally cost a lot of money eventually. So you are going to have to overpay some of your players vs their performance. Ray and Ed last year, Ngata and Suggs this year, etc.

The key is to be able to draft well enough, and find cheap FA solutions (D. Smith) to keep from having gaping holes in your lineup. And you need to sprinkle in some good to great players who are young, and therefore are performing above their pay grade. Last year it was KO, Torrey, Art Jones, etc. In the first Super Bowl it was Ray and Jamal.

The Steelers biggest problem IMO is that last part. Their good players are older and overpaid. Their young players just aren't all that.

:word

Good post.

[lovefootball]

Steelers have big problem letting older players go, they give them big contracts that cone back to hurt them. Ward stayed a year longer then he should have, TP is a liability, Taylor was really not all that good. LeBeau is the glue holding the defense together, BR is part of the problem and the solution. His love of sandlot football makes him win some games and lose the important ones lately. Steelers have to retool and build for the future. LeBeau will have to retire eventually and there goes that top 10 defense.

[Terpsfan82]

that's why I am not saying a word right now bout any other team I believe the FO and Coaching staff drop the ball this offseason in how they handled things. I guess we will see how it turns out, right now we got our own problems I could give a shit what Pittsburgh is doing.

:word

[lowrider]

The demise of the Pittsburg Steelers may have been greatly exaggerated. I will say the same for the Ravens. I know things look pretty bad for the steelers but that organization has a history of bouncing back quickly. I doubt they win the SB this year but I would not be surprised to see them challenging for a playoff spot in December. The Ravens are in a similar position in the perception of many, and I think that similar to the steelers we will be in a position to make the playoffs at the end of the year.

[HotInHere]

The demise of the Pittsburg Steelers may have been greatly exaggerated. I will say the same for the Ravens. I know things look pretty bad for the steelers but that organization has a history of bouncing back quickly. I doubt they win the SB this year but I would not be surprised to see them challenging for a playoff spot in December. The Ravens are in a similar position in the perception of many, and I think that similar to the steelers we will be in a position to make the playoffs at the end of the year.

Both the Steelers and the Ravens have questions marks. Particularly at receiver. And the thought for both clubs is that they will figure something out as the season goes on, and each defense will be solid enough that they won't have to put up 5,000 yards in the passing game.

There are two main differences though. We have one of the top running games in the league to take the heat off of our passing game. They barely have a running game at all.

And more importantly, their offensive line is in shambles. That is not something that is going to improve as the year goes on, the way young receivers and new defenders will. They are just bad players.

So yeah, I hear you, in the past it has been dangerous to count the Steelers out. And while I'm not ready to shovel dirt on them yet, they are in very serious trouble this year, and if I had to handicap it, I'd put their over/under at about 7 wins. They'll beat the Jets, Raiders, Bills, and Browns, and squeak out a couple more.

[saintmatthew]

The end is nearer than we think for Pittsburgh.

;)

LOL - "the team barn"

[RavenScallywag]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...lary-cap-mess/

It's good to finally see some media call to light what a mess the Steelers are getting themselves into. These constant restructures have been pushing the pile to an eventual breaking point. It may not be next year, but it's coming. Heath Miller being due 9 mil next year? Yikes.

Ravens will have a mess on their hands a bit, but not due to restructures. That's simply due to large contracts of Suggs, Ngata, Webb, Rice, etc. It hurts to say this, but I hope Ozzie does the right thing and simply cut/trade/move on from a few of them, over restructuring to get some extra dollars back for 2014, trading cap space in 2015 and 2016 as a result. It might mean losing some fan favorites, but I think Ozzie remembers what happened in 2002, he never wants to end up in a cap gutting year.

[OhThePossibilities]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...lary-cap-mess/

It's good to finally see some media call to light what a mess the Steelers are getting themselves into. These constant restructures have been pushing the pile to an eventual breaking point. It may not be next year, but it's coming. Heath Miller being due 9 mil next year? Yikes.

Ravens will have a mess on their hands a bit, but not due to restructures. That's simply due to large contracts of Suggs, Ngata, Webb, Rice, etc. It hurts to say this, but I hope Ozzie does the right thing and simply cut/trade/move on from a few of them, over restructuring to get some extra dollars back for 2014, trading cap space in 2015 and 2016 as a result. It might mean losing some fan favorites, but I think Ozzie remembers what happened in 2002, he never wants to end up in a cap gutting year.

Won't Suggs & Ngata be on their last year though? Effectively clearing about $25M in cap space for 2015? (Though that would probably be mostly eaten up by increases to Webb/Rice/Flacco)

[alien bird]

When I look at the Ravens' drafts over the years it really is amazing how much Ozzie and team have hit on great players. The only really glaring mistake was Kyle Boller (not the only mistake, but one that IMO could not be overcome).

While that may be true, and hindsight is always 20-20, the Ravens don't hit on every draft. The first three picks of the 2010 draft netted Sergio Kindle (43), Terrance Cody (57) and Ed Dickson (70), and players picked after them included Carlos Dunlap (54), Eric Decker (87) and Jimmy Graham (95). I know which three players I would rather have on my team. I love me some Ozzie, but he isn't flawless.