Early Offseason Record Prediction

StillerInCT · **Posted:** Sat May 26, 2012 6:24 pm

Apparently the ESPN panel thinks there's too much change in Pittsburgh and we'll fall to 3rd in the division. I personally love this assertion because I HATE when the Steelers get any respect before the season.

Offense:

Every year we've heard that "This is the year our offense elevates to the elite status of the NFL" only to fall well short of expectations. I firmly believe this was due to Arians inability to call a decent situational game plan. Our offense was all to predictable in almost every situation. I loved his play design, but he just couldn't call games with any sort of consistency. Enter Todd Haley. He led the Cardinals offense to their first Super Bowl appearance ever and came within a Santonio Holmes sideline grab of winning it against a historically great defense. Luckily the good guys won. He led a 4-12 2009 Chiefs team to a 10-6 record, a division title, and playoff appearance in his first season as head coach. The next season he loses his best defensive player in Eric Berry and best offensive player in Jamal Charles. Hard to overcome that and he ultimately lost his job and landed in Pittsburgh.

I have high hopes for our offense this year and I'll say it: This is the year our offense elevates to the elite status of the NFL. Here's why:

1.) Big Ben: We're going to go as far as the Franchise takes us. Ben has been a battered and bruised warrior his entire career. No QB in the league has taken the pounding he has, but yet he's still led the team to 3 Super Bowls and won 2. Finally Colbert and co. addressed MY largest concern entering the season by upgrading the OLine with the first two picks. Due to the reaches taken in R1 we landed a top 15 talent at #24 and landed a 1st round tackles in the 2nd because he had some maturity concerns (Lucky for us and him that he landed here). So what does this mean? Ben should finally get more than his standard 2 seconds in the pocket before the defense is grabbing at his jersey. Some people say he isn't your prototypical pocket passer and I agree, but I think we're going to see a different QB this year with a much more mature game. He'll still be a dangerous playmaker outside the pocket, but I think he'll do most of his damage between the tackles. He'll have a career year with the talent on the OLine and at the skill positions. Mark it down.

2.) Young Money Crew: With Wallace entering his 4th season, Brown his 3rd, and Sanders his 3rd we have a young but experienced receiving crew. I'll also add extremely talented. Wallace will sign his tender in the 11th hour and we'll get a long term deal done. He'll spend 2012 building on what he accomplished in 2011. He fell off a little bit in the 2nd half of the season, but he also drew double coverage. Enter Antonio Brown. 1,000/1,000 are the stats of a playmaker. Historically the 3rd season is the year receivers breakout. See Mike Wallace. I don't expect anything less from Brown. We have two legitimate 1,000 yard threats on the outside that can take the ball to the house on any play. Wild Card: Emmanuel Sanders. Unlucky with injuries, but he may have the best hands and route running in the WR group. With Wallace and Brown drawing the coverage, expect big things from Sanders out of the slot. This is the perfect situation for him and I firmly believe he will deliver this season.

3.) Offensive Line: Enter the offseason as the weakest unit IMO, but will enter camp as one of the strongest. Amazing what our front office can accomplish when 31 others show no discipline in their draft process. There will be some growing pains, but if we let the young guys play and gel the passing game and ground game will be dangerous. We should be able to impose our will, whether run or pass if we control the trenches. It all starts up front and I have very high hopes for this unit.

Defense:

1.) The "old men": Much has been made the past 3 years about the age of our defense. We purged a lot of that age this offseason signaling winds of change. We'll still have 5 starters over 30, but I'm not concerned about this. Troy Polamalu joined OTAs for the first time in his many seasons. He's adamant about stepping up and being a leader. Very hard for the young guys not to respect what he brings to this team. Sure Farrior was a great leader on defense, but Troy will transition into that role with relative ease. As long as he remains healthy I expect another pro bowl season from him. The X-Factor to me is James Harrison. We didn't get after the QB as much last season as we have historically. I attribute this to James Harrison playing at less than 100%. If he comes into the season healthy I expect him to return to form. I'm thinking 11+ sack season for him. Bookend that with 10+ sacks from Woodley and our defense will be just fine.

2.) The young men (Secondary): We didn't address the secondary until late in the draft. This tells me that there is confidence in the guys we've drafted the past few season (Allen, Brown, Lewis). Lewis has had time to observe and learn playing behind Ike, McFad and Gay. The other corner spot is his to lose this season. I mostly liked what I saw from him last year and I think with more consistent playing time he will solidify that spot. Allen also showed flashes last year in limited duty. I think he'll fill in nicely at the nickel, but not without some growing pains. He'll learn and will be much better come playoff time. Patience will be key with this unit in 2012. Let them makes mistakes and hopefully they learn from them.

3.) The young men (Spence and DL): The Spence pick wasn't sexy and controversial for some. He's not your prototypical ILB, but I think he brings a dynamic to this defense that will add plenty of value for the 3rd round pick. He has great instincts and a nose for the ball. I think that can make up for what he lacks in size. I see a poor man's Polamalu. Definitely not his equal. Who is? But I think he can play a similar role and if you can get both on the field it will cause headaches for OC's. It's also time for Cam Heyward and Ziggy Hood to step up. Ziggy Hood hasn't done a lot to justify his first round draft tag, but he can certainly make up for that this season. With the uncertainty surrounding Hampton, the loss of Aaron Smith, and an aging Keisel it's imperative that these two men step up their play. I'm excited to see how Cam has progressed from his first season. I'm also excited to see how Ta'amu plays in his rookie season. I have my concerns about the group at DL more than any other on the team. I think their is tremendous upside, but I can also see them being somewhat dissapointing. I'll take the wait an see approach with these guys.

And the #1 reason we'll be contenders again this year:

Mike Tomlin: He's not Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, or even Belichick. But he's an incredible leader of men. You get the feeling that these guys would run through a wall for the guy and that has obviously translated to the play on the field. People have their criticisms of Tomlin. He's not great situationally, he calls timeouts at the most inopportune times, etc. I think this is completely overblown. He's still a young coach by many standards and he continues to improve. He's a no non-sense guy and doesn't make excuses. I love that about him. He keeps everybody accountable including himself. It's no coincidence that he seems to hit that 12-4 mark with consistency. Don't kid yourself, winning 12 games a year isn't easy. He's already done it 3x and has done it the past two seasons. I can't help but get the feeling that we're witnessing greatness at the HC position. I'll leave it at this: How many other coaches could have dealt with the adversity through injuries, trades, and suspensions that the team went through in 2010 only to lead them to the brink of another Lombardi?

So my very early prediction for 2012:

What else? 12-4.

What do you have?

Early Offseason Record Prediction

Early Offseason Record Prediction

Early Offseason Record Prediction

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