Pittsburgh Steelers beat writers, owner think making weak positions average is ticket to success

        Posted: February 9, 2016

They cover the news.

But in some ways, they just don't get it.

Beat writers of the Pittsburgh Steelers, like many observers (including the owner, apparently), seem to think that elevating weak positions to average is the way to win National Football League Championships.

They believe nonsense like the most important priority for 2016 is upgrading cornerback, and not spending high draft picks on positions the team has recently targeted.

All garbage.

You win championships by having better players than the other teams.

It doesn't really matter which positions they play.

Ed Bouchette said this in a Feb. 2 chat: "The Steelers have invested two NO. 1 picks on OLBs the past 3 drafts, so they won't be going after anymore anytime soon, at least not high."

Seriously? If their "highest rated guy on the board" at 25 is an OLB, they won't take him ... simply because they took another guy 3 years ago????

That's downright negligent.

In the Jan. 26 chat, Bouchette identifies Steelers needs not as "impact player," but "Cornerback.. Then safety."

Who cares if they draft a cornerback? How about just drafting a GOOD player???

Bouchette is asked whether a CB or TE, all things "being equal," makes the most sense in Round 1. He says, "Cornerback, by far. But all things may not be equal when it is their turn to draft in the first round."

How about just choosing the best player available?

Owner Art Rooney II said after the season, "I think we all agree that we need to be better in general as a pass defense."

So that's the problem? How about an offense that can actually score 20 points in a playoff game??

The Post-Gazette's Ray Fittipaldo said in an online chat that "we all saw how important outside linebackers can be the past few weeks with the Broncos."

Right. And how important are safeties when they are 25-year-old Troy Polamalu? How important are defensive tackles when they are 25-year-old Joe Greene?

Fittipaldo told one questioner, "I say go for a CB or safety in free agency and address the other and DL early in the draft." Really. How about going for good players in free agency and the draft?

That Steelers observers are pinpointing cornerback as the Achilles heel is bizarre. They barely lost a road playoff game to the Super Bowl champions because 4 of their top offensive players missed the game and they scored 16 points, and whenever that happens, you can have 6 Deion Sanderses in your secondary, and you are not going to win.

Ed Bouchette seems to think the Steelers have some strange inability to evaluate cornerbacks: "I believe it's an organizational issue and it would seem to me at times they are not all on the same page there."

If this ludicrous assertion were actually true, then why in the world would they spend a high draft pick on this position that this organization can't adequately evaluate?

One stark fact of pro football — it takes high draft picks to win. The only team to win the Super Bowl this century without a top 10 draft pick was the 2014 Patriots. When was the last time the Steelers had a top 10 draft pick? (Answer: Not since James Farrior retired.)

Instead of identifying "needs" for the useless 25th pick, basically terrible draft position, Steelers writers should be urging the team to trade up or trade down.

One of the saddest comments in recent memory is Ray Fittipaldo's assesment of Steelers contenders for the Hall of Fame. He was asked to rank, from most likely to least likely, the chances of Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu and Alan Faneca. His response? "Faneca, Polamalu, Ward."

Seriously? Alan Faneca, a guard, is more deserving of the Hall of Fame than Hines Ward?

Do these guys actually watch the games?

Basketball has a concept of the "point forward." In football it is the very rare wideout who puts a chip on his team's shoulder and wills them to score. There have been 2 in the last 30 years, they are Michael Irvin and Hines Ward. If you don't believe this page, check out their playoff stats and compare them to Moss, Torry Holt, Marvin Harrison, etc.

The notion that Antonio Brown is in the same league as Ward as ludicrous. Ward won 3 road playoff games with Cedrick Wilson as his fellow wideout. How many playoff wins, and how many playoff points, does the Antonio Brown-led offense produce? Have they topped 20?

Had Le'Veon Bell, Martavis Bryant, Maurkice Pouncey and Antonio Brown played every game, there's no telling how good the Steelers might've been. Would it have been enough to win the Super Bowl? Quite possibly. Then again, maybe not.

Stop thinking about cornerback or what positions were drafted the last couple years. Get better players.






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