I know Cam Thomas was on the field during the Cincy game but I never noticed him against Denver. Ditto for McCullers.

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The issue of the defense running out of gas is legit. IT seems like with Keith Butler, the defensive line rotation that Johnny Mitchell has used since 1993 hasn’t been used. Tomlin was asked about it at the press conference today.

Tend to agree on Smith. Special teams has not been a liability under him and they have had flashes, but still have not been very special. (Of course the Steelers inability to find a kick returner is not Smith’s fault.)

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You know something funny? A friend of mine who isn’t a Steelers fan commented on “how good the Steelers tackling is.”

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Always well put Ivan, and you bring up a great point with Brice McCain. I wonder how he did in Miami. Funny thing is, despite all of the sound and fury over his departure, you never heard people mention him during the season.

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I do agree that the wind was an unexpected but annoying factor. Much was being made of dropped passes on the Broncos side, but many of them were thought to be balls which went astray in the wind because Manning can’t throw a really strong pass anymore. There were also drops on the PIT side, and it is a credit to Ben and the receivers that there weren’t more if the wind was really that much of a factor. It probably also accounts, at least partially, for Wheaton’s abysmal showing in the return game. The Denver kicker said it was the worst he’d ever had to deal with.

2) I am incredibly excited to see what the 2016 defense looks like. I think with the development of the youngsters and an infusion of DB talent, either via the draft or the guys we’ve got healing and developing (or more likely both) it is going to be a major factor in next year’s Super Bowl victory. (Does that make my glass 3/4s full, or 7/8s?)

3) I would totally agree with Homer, except that we never know what goes on behind the closed doors of the Southside facility. I remember the year everybody (including, strangely, Bob Labriola of steelers.com) was talking about how great a job Jack Bicknell Jr. had done with the offensive line. He got fired a week later. It could have been entirely non-performance related, of course. Maybe he tweeted a nude photo of himself to Teresa Varley or something. But from the outside it looks like a really solid coaching staff to me, and MT said he didn’t anticipate changes.

4) ONE. Come on, Hombre, there have to be at least two. One, you bring Boz into training camp to compete with Suisham, grabbing him before the Giants do, and he’s already there when Sushi gets hurt. Two, you pick up one of the quarterbacks off the trash heap who play like All-Pros when they play the Steelers. Well, that’s maybe going too far, but if you knew that Gradkowski was going down, that Landry Jones would mostly play like you thought he would, and Ben would be hurt a considerable amount of time, you maybe cut your losses with Jones and try someone else. Who, I don’t know. I would have to study harder to be able to give a complete answer to that question.

And actually there needs to be at least three. Knowing that Vontaze Burfict is going to decimate your roster if you don’t figure out something, you infiltrate his rehab facility and have oxytocin or one of the nurturing hormone pills relabeled and presented to him as a highly effective, little-known, yet legal performance-enhancing supplement. Then you hope he keeps taking them. If you find out he’s been watching rom-coms you can breathe a lot more easily…

5) I think Roosevelt Nix is a good option. The trouble is, so many of the quiet contributors have been ‘sung’ on this site…

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My mom used to give me a piece of her mind. Unfortunately I think she gave too many of them away : (

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“piece of mind”, the chunky and unsettling variant of “peace of mind”

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Could not agree with your #4 and 5 answers more. Boswell would have been the ultimate hindsight move. AV played his damn mid out in my opinion. He didn’t bend with his knees at times, but I can forgive a 6’9″ fellow for that.

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…
‘piece of mind’?

Good lord, elpalito. That’s terrible. And I even have a Lit degree.

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