A couple of thoughts...

[YourPittDanceTeam]

- I have been critical of Jeff Capel over the years, especially his losing a number of players that he recruited (i.e. Xavier Johnson, Trey McGowens, etc...). That being said, I will give him credit for putting together this years basketball team.
I genuinely believe that this Pitt basketball team can do some serious damage in this years NCAA basketball tournament. I gave always believed that the teams that do well in the tournament have a good big guy to get some rebounds under the basket. They also have a couple of players who can shoot the three point shot well and a point guard that is athletic enough to drive to the hoop and convert free throws when he gets fouled. This years team has all of those things and I think that they will be able to hang with any team in the tournament, even a top seed like Purdue.
A spot in the Sweet 16 is certainly not out of reach for this team.
- With the direction that the NFL is going right now, to win games, you MUST have a good offense. Because of that, I think it would benefit the Steelers to consider trading T.J. Watt. He would certainly bring back a couple of top offensive players, multiple draft picks or a combination of both. Then again,
- The Pirates picking up Andrew McCutchen is a nice story, but I must ask why? They gave the man away when he was in his prime and in typical cheapo Pirates baseball style sign him near the end of his career. I wish him the best, but how about giving some of the younger outfielders in the organization a chance to play in the big leagues.
- Speaking of the Pirates, they should be embarrassed by how they have Bryan Reynolds. He is their best player and certainly worthy of being paid for his talent. I am fairly certain that when this season ends he will not be on their roster. Being cheap sucks.
- While I am hoping that Phil Jurkovec is the answer, I fear that he is not. I really think the struggles that the Pitt offense had last year is more an issue of having an OC that is running an offense from 25 years ago.
- H2P!!!

 

[MJG-90]

Funny that in one paragraph you say the Bucs gave McCutchen away. Then in the next mention Bryan Reynolds is their best player.

 

[BurghGuy68]

Was that Bob Smizik and his random thoughts in the original post?

 

[YourPittDanceTeam]

Funny that in one paragraph you say the Bucs gave McCutchen away. Then in the next mention Bryan Reynolds is their best player.

They did let McCutchen go. The man was their best player at the time and very popular in Pittsburgh. The organization was didn't want to pay the man what he had earned, so they basically gave him away because they are to cheap to pay the players who have done well.
Bryan Reynolds is in that same situation right now. He is the Pirates best player right now and is due to receive a raise and they are taking the cheap route again.
I do find it funny that they gave an unproven player like Ke'Bryan Hayes a long term contract but yet they hesitate to sign a proven MLB talent like Reynolds.

 

[Pitt2009]

They did let McCutchen go. The man was their best player at the time and very popular in Pittsburgh. The organization was didn't want to pay the man what he had earned, so they basically gave him away because they are to cheap to pay the players who have done well.
Bryan Reynolds is in that same situation right now. He is the Pirates best player right now and is due to receive a raise and they are taking the cheap route again.
I do find it funny that they gave an unproven player like Ke'Bryan Hayes a long term contract but yet they hesitate to sign a proven MLB talent like Reynolds.

I think he meant because the Pirates traded McCutchen for Reynolds.

 

[MJG-90]

I do find it funny that they gave an unproven player like Ke'Bryan Hayes a long term contract but yet they hesitate to sign a proven MLB talent like Reynolds.

Since Reynolds is more proven, he’s likely demanding a lot more money than Hayes did. He’d be a fool to give Nutting a discount given that Nutting has yet to demonstrate he really wants to win baseball games.

 

[OH Pete]

- I have been critical of Jeff Capel over the years, especially his losing a number of players that he recruited (i.e. Xavier Johnson, Trey McGowens, etc...). That being said, I will give him credit for putting together this years basketball team.
I genuinely believe that this Pitt basketball team can do some serious damage in this years NCAA basketball tournament. I gave always believed that the teams that do well in the tournament have a good big guy to get some rebounds under the basket. They also have a couple of players who can shoot the three point shot well and a point guard that is athletic enough to drive to the hoop and convert free throws when he gets fouled. This years team has all of those things and I think that they will be able to hang with any team in the tournament, even a top seed like Purdue.
A spot in the Sweet 16 is certainly not out of reach for this team.
- With the direction that the NFL is going right now, to win games, you MUST have a good offense. Because of that, I think it would benefit the Steelers to consider trading T.J. Watt. He would certainly bring back a couple of top offensive players, multiple draft picks or a combination of both. Then again,
- The Pirates picking up Andrew McCutchen is a nice story, but I must ask why? They gave the man away when he was in his prime and in typical cheapo Pirates baseball style sign him near the end of his career. I wish him the best, but how about giving some of the younger outfielders in the organization a chance to play in the big leagues.
- Speaking of the Pirates, they should be embarrassed by how they have Bryan Reynolds. He is their best player and certainly worthy of being paid for his talent. I am fairly certain that when this season ends he will not be on their roster. Being cheap sucks.
- While I am hoping that Phil Jurkovec is the answer, I fear that he is not. I really think the struggles that the Pitt offense had last year is more an issue of having an OC that is running an offense from 25 years ago.
- H2P!!!

Interesting thoughts.

Agree on Capel. He didn't do a good job the past few years. I love how folks rip peoples thoughts on Capel from last year as if they are totally silly takes. They weren't silly. Capel either did something differently than he had been doing or he has gotten lucky this year. It isn't that he had a plan all along that finally came to fruition. He was a bad coach for a few years and it looks like he may have turned that around. I hope so and I'm totally rooting for him.

Have you seen the Steelers record when TJ Watt isn't in the line up? Unless they think the team needs blown up and totally rebuilt, trading him isn't an option.

Regarding Cutch - perhaps they think that having Cutch around will benefit the young players you mention vs stunting their development?

Jurkovec - I hated what Cignetti did for most of this season. But I do recall him having some good offenses in the past, including his only full year with Jurkovec. His year with Jurkovec was only eclipsed by Mark Whipple in Kenny Pickett's last season. Before that KP and Whipple were worse than the Cignetti year with Jurk. So I am cautiously optimistic.

 

[TD_6082]

Interesting thoughts.

Agree on Capel. He didn't do a good job the past few years. I love how folks rip peoples thoughts on Capel from last year as if they are totally silly takes. They weren't silly. Capel either did something differently than he had been doing or he has gotten lucky this year. It isn't that he had a plan all along that finally came to fruition. He was a bad coach for a few years and it looks like he may have turned that around. I hope so and I'm totally rooting for him.

Have you seen the Steelers record when TJ Watt isn't in the line up? Unless they think the team needs blown up and totally rebuilt, trading him isn't an option.

Regarding Cutch - perhaps they think that having Cutch around will benefit the young players you mention vs stunting their development?

Jurkovec - I hated what Cignetti did for most of this season. But I do recall him having some good offenses in the past, including his only full year with Jurkovec. His year with Jurkovec was only eclipsed by Mark Whipple in Kenny Pickett's last season. Before that KP and Whipple were worse than the Cignetti year with Jurk. So I am cautiously optimistic.

Agree on your first paragraph on Capel. He hasn't been a very good coach, but he's having a fantastic year. He's getting 40 minutes of effort this year. This team is resilient. They don't quit and they play with a lot of pride. He deserves a ton of credit for that. Most importantly, he seems to have a much better pulse on his team and his locker room.

As for what that means going forward, impossible to say. As well as this season has played out, it was dangerously close to falling by the wayside a couple of times. The UNC & UVA comebacks early in the ACC slate was huge. That 3 game stretch after the home loss to FSU was also key. (WF, UNC, Miami) 2 or 3 of those games go the other way, I'm not sure where they would stand today. (just saying that I wouldn't feel comfortable in Clemson or NCSU's shoes right now) ...And who knows what any of these rosters are going to look like going forward. Probably be some coaching turnover too.

 

[Burgh15]

- With the direction that the NFL is going right now, to win games, you MUST have a good offense. Because of that, I think it would benefit the Steelers to consider trading T.J. Watt. He would certainly bring back a couple of top offensive players, multiple draft picks or a combination of both. Then again,

On top of a ridiculous dead cap hit trading Watt before the draft, the Steelers are not very good when Watt is out of the lineup and in the NFL, teams have to be able to throw the ball and stop the pass. Watt is a huge part of the latter.

 

[HailtoPitt]

I think the commonality of teams doing very well in the NFL is great QB play. Seems critical to get that guy, or build the team until that guy comes available. But I do wonder if a team can still build a great defense and then bring in a game manager at QB. Think of the Ravens and Bucs teams from the past where they were able to dominate on defense and do just enough on offense.

 

[TD_6082]

I think the commonality of teams doing very well in the NFL is great QB play. Seems critical to get that guy, or build the team until that guy comes available. But I do wonder if a team can still build a great defense and then bring in a game manager at QB. Think of the Ravens and Bucs teams from the past where they were able to dominate on defense and do just enough on offense.

I suppose it's possible. Peyton Manning was really nothing more than a game manager in his last year with the Broncos.

 

[Macchiato]

They got Reynolds when they traded Cutch
I think they lost every game that Watt was hurt
They would be sweet 16 if their center didn’t op out this year
Phil’s best season was with this OC at BC

 

[Cmart2004]

I think Jeff Capel has been a very bad coach for most of his tenure here. He has done very well this year and I’m cheering hard for him because I’ve always wanted him to be ‘the guy’ at Pitt, and he’s very likable imo.

I’m not sold on Jurk at all because Cignetti is stuck in the dark ages with his offense. If everything works next year I’ll be very happy but I’m not optimistic.

 

[YourPittDanceTeam]

Interesting thoughts.

Agree on Capel. He didn't do a good job the past few years. I love how folks rip peoples thoughts on Capel from last year as if they are totally silly takes. They weren't silly. Capel either did something differently than he had been doing or he has gotten lucky this year. It isn't that he had a plan all along that finally came to fruition. He was a bad coach for a few years and it looks like he may have turned that around. I hope so and I'm totally rooting for him.

Have you seen the Steelers record when TJ Watt isn't in the line up? Unless they think the team needs blown up and totally rebuilt, trading him isn't an option.

Regarding Cutch - perhaps they think that having Cutch around will benefit the young players you mention vs stunting their development?

Jurkovec - I hated what Cignetti did for most of this season. But I do recall him having some good offenses in the past, including his only full year with Jurkovec. His year with Jurkovec was only eclipsed by Mark Whipple in Kenny Pickett's last season. Before that KP and Whipple were worse than the Cignetti year with Jurk. So I am cautiously optimistic.

In regards to Watt, I'm just going on my own perception from watching NFL games. The NFL is very much a league that has focused its attention on offense. I get it. The more points that are scored the more excitement, attention and interest it receives. Look at the NBA. Very few players play defense and even fewer try to rebound the ball under the basket. Its all about 3 pointers and free throws. A guy like Watt who is still kind of in his prime could bring back quite a bit from another team in a trade. There are quite a few other NFL DE's who may not be quite as good as Watt, but are pretty close to his talent level, could be obtained and be paid even less then Watt. Package him up with Diontae Johnson and make a big trade. IMO, Johnson is not that good. Canada seems to love him a lot and throws in his direction more then what I'd like to see.