DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Antonio Brown Episode IV: A New Hope

Funchess signed with Indy. Moncrief signed with Steelers.

Apologies for bumping an older post, but this post is a work of art.

It's almost like Dorsey is playing Madden but also got to mess with the Ravens and Steelers rosters.

I think it's perfectly objective to say that these teams got worse. Perhaps even a lot worse.

The Steelers will be fine, but this episode has undoubtedly fractured their locker room. These little things chip away at the armour and crack with pressure. If their season starts slow, I think it's lights for Pittsburgh.

It also doesn't help that their better talent is aging and I'm not sure how much Roethlisberger has left in the tank. He's been far more hurt and out of shape than Brady and Brees... and he's rolling his way towards 38.

The Ravens are just weird. They had core talent and just let them walk. They made some decent moves, but I'm not sold that they didn't step backwards.

Don't forget the Rats lost Ozzie Newsome. In my opinion, he's been one of the best drafting GMs for nearly 20 years. Always seemed to find a way to make the team better. His understudy got the nod, but you just can't replace Ozzie Newsome. So we're seeing a GM let talent walk so he can build his team the way he wants - but I think it would be foolish to not expect some form of decline in their ability to add talent.

And this is happening at a time in which the Browns, at least on paper, have one of the strongest rosters in the league.

It's an incredible time, and the players seem to understand what kind of opportunity they have ahead of them.

That's right, my bad. Tells you how big a signing it was for them...….lol

I also think Ju-Ju is better than people seem to be giving him credit for... I also think Washington will have a good season for them.


As weird as it may sound, I think the steelers could be a sleeper team this year.

I feel like the Ravens are on like a mini-rebuild. I don't know that I would say a step back, but I think it's just different. It all rides with the one at QB they entrusted their franchise with...


The Bengals who are rarely mentioned, I think could also surprise. I think there could be a battle with all 4 teams til the final game for the division.

As much as I hate the Steelers, that is a well run organization. Every year, it seems, people proclaim their demise, and every year they prove their detractors wrong. The predictions are usually based on the decline of aging stars. But they draft well, and while established stars fade, new players emerge. They still have a great OL, they have Schuster, Washington, Connor, Watts, Dupree, and Heyward coming into their own. Sure, they lost Brown and Bell, but they still have good, young players.

The one real concern they have is at QB. Ben is getting old, and they don't appear to have an answer behind him.

This is a good point on the Steelers. I've been expecting them to take a step backwards for about three years now.

But, frankly, they already did take a step backwards last year.

They were a 9-6-1 team who lost four of their last six games. Those two wins were a 17-10 win over New England following an uncharacteristically poor game from Brady and a 16-13 win over the Bengals in the final game of the season - with everything to play for while the Bengals had nothing to play for.

And they narrowly beat Jacksonville in week 11 (20-16) so they're damn lucky they didn't finish the season 2-5. Jacksonville had a 16-0 lead going in to the 4th quarter - the offense couldn't get a first down as Blake Bortles was, well, Blake Bortles. Antonio Brown was dominant (Including a 76 yard TD to get them on the board) and they got a lucky facemask call to give them a final shot to win it with two seconds left.

Pittsburgh started the year at 7-2-1 but faded down the stretch. They were not playing good football at the end of the year.

That's not a great omen for a team who just lost their superstar receiver and their 38 year-old QB is going to have his blindside blocked by 4/5 guys in their 30s - including Ramon Foster who will start to season five months shy of turning 34.

And that's to say nothing of the Browns additions. Their OL feels a lot less scary after adding Olivier Vernon and Sheldon Richardson. Especially when Ogunbjoi, Garrett and Avery all flashed incredible talent.

None of this means Pittsburgh suck - but they're not as scary as they were.

It would be unwise to write of the Squealers.

[quote Dupree, and Heyward coming into their own][/quote]

Dupree stinks, he is not the player he was hyped as coming out. And Heyward was said to have underperformed last year. This is what I get listening to Pittsburgh radio.

Their defense after losing Shazier was not that good.

Dupree stinks, he is not the player he was hyped as coming out. And Heyward was said to have underperformed last year. This is what I get listening to Pittsburgh radio.

Their defense after losing Shazier was not that good. [/quote]

They were 6th in total defense last year. They were 10th in pass defense, 6th against the run, and 16th in scoring defense. The only area where we bettered them defensively was in takeaways.

If we had their defense last year, we probably would have made the playoffs.

They were 6th in total defense last year. They were 10th in pass defense, 6th against the run, and 16th in scoring defense. The only area where we bettered them defensively was in takeaways.

If we had their defense last year, we probably would have made the playoffs. [/quote]

They were also the most penalized defense yardage-wise last year. 1170 yards worth.

j/c:

Quoting other posts is hard.

jc

I randomly learned that Antonio Brown was on Dancing With The Stars.

So now I must laugh.

They were also the most penalized defense yardage-wise last year. 1170 yards worth. [/quote]

I understand that they were a decent defense, but the players I mentioned were nowhere near the stars that they should have been. And many steeler fans feel the same way.

We'll see how Bush adds to their D though too ... IF he's a Shazier type impact, they'll be good for a while