Pickett Steelers divorce
- Thread starter HopeandChangeforAntoons
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Honest to God has there been a more polarizing sports figure in Pittsburgh than Kenny Pickett the last couple of years? The Steelers just picked up a former Pro Bowl QB and a former 11th overall pick QB, but there hasn't been as much buzz about them than there has been about Pickett even after he left. I get that there was so much drama surrounding his tenure, but I honestly feel like between Pickett, Rudolph, Wilson, and Fields the Steelers fan base is largely divided and if Wilson doesn't come out blazing he could be in for it from the fans and media.
It's not that "no" free agent or draft pick could be better than Pickett, it's just that the examples you gave were all Hall of Fame QBs, immaculate coaching, an incredible roster, or all of the above. IMO, the Steelers don't have 2 or 3 and I don't see Tom Brady or Peyton Manning getting free to lead the Steelers to another Lombardi. The closest you're getting is mid-30s Dak or 39 year old Matt Stafford or Kirk Cousins.
So they will be picking from QBs who look a lot like Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett. Will they be better? Given no Matt Canada, almost certainly. Will they be good enough to get to a Super Bowl? Unlikely, especially given Tomlin's objectively poor track record in creating an offensive system more than "let Big Ben win the game for you."
So then they better get some great coaching or assemble a great roster. It's not supposed to be easy. No one is saying they're going to waltz into the Super Bowl solely because they got rid of Pickett, just like they weren't going to make the Super Bowl had they kept him.
But I don't understand why they can't draft a QB. If not in 2025 (if no one emerges), then in 2026. Either find a decent one in range where you'll be picking (which shouldn't be too low if Fields/Wilson is the disaster tandem a lot of Pickett defenders are predicting) or trade up to get into the top 10. That's just how it works. You have to do some things right if you want to win. They're not bound to mediocre free agents for the rest of eternity or something.
This staff couldn't develop Dan Marino or John Elway if they were gifted each. They would coach them to "not hurt us".
Is Pickett really the guy you want slinging it all over the field? I mean, he let Ben do that for ten seasons or so and it never got us anywhere. In the two championship seasons, Ben threw for 2,385 (12 games) and 3,301 yards. In the year we lost the Super Bowl he threw for 3,200 yards (12 games). Once Ben started posting more gaudy yardage totals, we stopped winning as many playoff games. Obviously there are nuances that go along with all that, but that's the cliff notes version anyway.
But it's tough to say Tomlin is inherently opposed to airing it out. He let it happen when we had the personnel to do it.
Out of all the crazy things said in this thread, this might be the craziest. Saying you’d rather have nothing than Dak Prescott is a take I thought I’d never hear.
Yeah, I’d also rather have a stable of nobodies or unknowns than the 2023 MVP runner-up and. 99+ passer rating in 4 of the past 5 seasons…
$40M/year to get you one playoff win every 4 years. So only about $160M per post season victory, I guess. Super duper value there. 2-5 in the playoffs with some bad picks. Mr. Regular Season, just like Lamar Jackson. In fairness, he did have to go up against Brett Favre, I mean Aaron Rodgers, I mean Jordan Love this past season in the playoffs. Can't win 'em all.
First off...Tomlin didn't let Ben do chit. Ben did what Ben wanted to do. Secondly, I don't know if I want anyone just slinging it all over the field. I just want someone who's coached not to take or make some chance throws.
There's a reason why 2 teams have given up on him in just 3 season. Moronic roster management and decision making on the stillers part.
Rape. But the stillers are ok with that one...
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That was the expectation this year as well. I also don't see that as a negative because being stuck in mediocrity is a really bad place to be in the NFL.
Mediocrity is out of reach in 2024. Baltimore, CLE and Cincy are all better and more physical than Pikksburgh
Wilson will start but get hurt in game 4. Fields will come in and in his first game rush for 80 yards and a score. The Steeler nation will go ape shat over fields until he throws 2 interceptions in game 8 and the Steelers lose. They will be 4-4 at that point and the bitching and complaining about starting QB’s and Coach T etc will be similar to last season. Going to be great to witness.
Steelers go 8-9 and don’t make the playoffs.
Steelers go 8-9 and don’t make the playoffs.
This is a great example of, “People believe what they want to believe.”
I’m sure there are plenty of examples of both sides of this drama to use as examples, but this is a good one.
Steelers go 9-8, make the play-offs, lose in Ceveland 34-10 in wildcard weekend, .....Bill Murray cast as Coach Tomlin.
Seems like KP wanted away from the drama. But the NFL has become a soap opera for the new American man.
You mean like literally everything that has been said in this entire thread. There are multiple journalists with multiple "sources" with multiple versions of events and every argument in this entire thread is "people believing what they want to believe."
Common sense applied- it's pretty obvious that the stillers felt the need to trash KP for their own media cover. They look like complete incompetent morons for how they handled the last 2 years.
They look like.........the Cleveland Browns.
That's just it. The Stillers showed absolutely no professionalism in how this was handled. They were sleazy and are sleazy. The Stillers and the Rooneys and Tomlin don't have an ounce of decency or morals among them. I never cared all that much about the Stillers in the past. But now I hope they go 0-16, their QB's all suck really bad, and they get humiliated in every game. It would serve the whole bunch of those sleazeballs right, including their media whores.
The new American man, quits when he has to compete.
Well, if you feel lying makes you right, then you are just dishonest. And far less clever than you imagine.
Would have been better for you not to post anything.
Aw ,Poor lil Kenny was lied to.You know this how? Were you in the room? What is known is Kenny wasn’t goin to be handed the job and got his feeling hurt .He didn’t want to man up and compete for the starting job so he quit again.
How anyone can't see this was best for all parties is beyond me.
KP was in a bad situation with the Steelers.
They thought he was more NFL ready than he was, and the supporting cast/OC couldn't have been worse for him here.
If he has any chance of making it as a starting NFL QB, he needs to get better as well. He wasn't exactly lights out here even when he had time and wide open receivers.
Him being a Pitt guy just threw gasoline on the college rivalry situation in the triangle here with PItt, PedState and WVU fans all aligning as Steeler fans.
Just best for all parties to start fresh. Good luck to Steelers and good luck to KP.
Railing at the local media is like criticizing athletes in the special Olympics. They are that bad.
KP was in a bad situation with the Steelers.
They thought he was more NFL ready than he was, and the supporting cast/OC couldn't have been worse for him here.
If he has any chance of making it as a starting NFL QB, he needs to get better as well. He wasn't exactly lights out here even when he had time and wide open receivers.
Him being a Pitt guy just threw gasoline on the college rivalry situation in the triangle here with PItt, PedState and WVU fans all aligning as Steeler fans.
Just best for all parties to start fresh. Good luck to Steelers and good luck to KP.
Railing at the local media is like criticizing athletes in the special Olympics. They are that bad.
Applying common sense might also tell someone that the guy that left his team before their biggest bowl in decades, didn't suit up for the to be the emergency QB, was the only team captain that refused to be available for the media after the playoff game, had his own teammates lobbying for his replacement, and didn't mention his teammates in his farewell message might not be the team-first saint just because he played at Pitt and might be doing some damage control.
Why is it so difficult for some people to understand that there was going to be no competition? The Steelers had demoted Kinney from starter to 3rd string QB, i.e., last resort. They only wanted him to sit in case of disastrous performances from the other QBs or injuries to both . And it would cost them less than 2 million for 2024.
If the starting 2 QBs were not able to play, the brain (trust?) would be feverishly searching for a starter and backup to replace Kenny within the hour.
Kenney would never be given a chance to compete for the starting QB job. The enormous ego of Mr Tomlin would guarantee that. Kenney made the only logical decision available, get the hell out of Pittsburgh and away from Tomlin and the insatiable greed of the Rooney progeny.
Hey, let's also realize Kenny is not exactly a saint here. I mean, if he was a competitor, he would not have opted out in the bowl that was pretty important in the scheme of never having a 12 win, top 10 finish for the program.
You misspelled "stupidity". Once you fix that, you might be on to something.
I'd love to see a psychological study done on people that troll message boards for years. Clearly, they are miserable people, but what else drives this behavior? Boredom, loneliness, immaturity, insecurity?
I think it's in the same personality cluster as the former prom night dumpster babies who exist solely to virtually defecate on people on post emojis.
I'd love to see one on people whose entire personality is so tied up to the place they went to school that they feel it's their imperative to personally attack anyone that doesn't unconditionally support any narrative that casts their school and its graduates in a positive light.
I always figured they'd have to go someplace like state college to find enough examinees, but I guess UPMC could find enough in their own neighborhood.
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