There used to be a saying in the computer business: Nobody got fired for choosing IBM.
It was always a safe bet to outfit your global organization with a set of AS400 servers built by Big Blue rather than take a chance with any of those other newfangled options entering the market at the turn of the Millennium.
The same has been true with the Pittsburgh Steelers since Coach Mike Tomlin took over the chief headset of the organization in 2007.
Predicting the Steelers will have at least a decent season is one of the safest bets you can place at any Las Vegas sportsbook.
In fact, at least for the past ten years, the Steelers have been so patterned in performance you can forecast their upcoming season results with a mere flip of a coin. It pretty much will look like this if past performance is any indicator of future results.
The Steelers will get off to:
- An Impressive Start
- A Disappointing Start
If it’s Option One (Impressive Start), you can count on the entirety of Steelers Nation breaking out into a full lather, with old-timers streaming to the stadium with their BLEIER jerseys and younger fans quick to proclaim this year’s version of the squad as “The best Steelers team assembled…ever!”
Then, of course, predictably it will all fall apart. There will be a long, head-scratching stretch of the season where Steelers fans will endure home matches where their beloved team loses several in a row to winless, shoddily run organizations. The Black and Gold patronage won’t be able to fathom how their defense is being lit up by a quarterback who has never broken a 30 percent completion rate in any game he’s played since Pop Warner.
At some point in this dip in the season, Coach Tomlin will gather all the players in the locker room, reminding them they are all that matters, to ignore the ignoramus fans and media, and somehow the team will rally enough to squeak into the playoffs after miraculously clearing eight tiebreakers.
Once entered in the postseason, after much fanfare, they’ll be routed in the first playoff game. Shake hands. Nice season. We’ll get ‘em next year.
Much the same will be with Option Two (Disappointing Start), except that all the feverish calls for firing the entire coaching staff (always starting with the offensive coordinator), cleaning out the entire roster and starting all over again with players from Canadian League will begin after game two or three of the season.
Once again, after the prerequisite ticks in the loss column, Coach Tomlin will gather all the players together, inform them they are the captains of their own destiny, or the riders of their own storm, or the authors of their own vivid imaginations…and again, Voila!, the season will be turned around.
Those same fans calling for coaching pink slips will sheepishly return to the chats and say, “Shucks, I’m big enough to admit when I’m wrong” and pretty soon shirt sales will be going through the roof and as well as questions like, “Why doesn’t Coach Tomlin win coach of the year…every year?”
At this point the Steelers will either just miss making the playoffs after Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker defeats them on a 72-yard field goal as time expires and the ball bounces off both uprights and drops in for three…or the Steelers eke a win when that same field goal attempt only travels 71 yards.
In this case, they will play in the first playoff game and get routed. Everyone shakes hands and says, “We’ll get ‘em next year”.
This is how it goes. Just play the tapes.
But…could…this…be…the year? When the Pittsburgh Steelers rise above the median and become one of the elite teams in the NFL again?
If so, it will be because of the New Kids.
So…What’s The Big Difference
There is no greater question each year for the fan bases of 32 different teams throughout the NFL.
What’s the big difference?
Players get older and mature like fine wine. Limping antelopes are released. And then the New Kids are marched in as the great hopes of the future.
These NFL drafts picks are a quintessential source of resurgence. Did our team just draft the next Lawrence Taylor, Emmitt Smith, Randy Moss, or maybe even Tom Brady?
Let’s hope not. Did you see that guy’s NFL Combine photo with his shirt off?
The truth of all of this is that NFL drafts would matter most significantly if…only one team got to draft.
Unfortunately for those hoping for radical shifts in fortunes for their home team the reality is that all teams will benefit fairly equally from the new draft talent infusion.
On average, it’s mostly going to be a wash. One division rival brings in a brand spanking new fancy running back and their chief opponent adds a highly touted middle linebacker that is perfectly suited for tackling said new fancy running back.
For there to be a major shift in needle in a positive direction, one of two things have to happen…and preferably both.
- Your team has filled the missing four piece(s) of their puzzles and each is a perfect fit.
- Your drafted players are accidentally Hall of Fame material and in the ensuing years they won’t go crazy from the attention, leave you after their Rookie Contract or blow out a knee while competing on Dancing With The Stars.
Barring these rabbits in the hats, everyone is going to get just a little better to balance out the fact that last year’s roster is a little older.
What About Our Stillers?
Enough blathering about. Are we any better or not after the 2023 NFL Draft? Are we going to win the Super Bowl this year? Just tell it to us straight.
Alright…let’s get to it.
BRODERICK JONES – Offensive Tackle – Round 1 (14th Overall Pick)
The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers invested a premium first round selection on an offensive lineman was more than a decade ago in the 2012 draft when they chose guard David DeCastro with their first selection.
To discover the last moment the Steelers invested a first-round pick on a left tackle, you’d have to go back to the time when they were wearing leather helmets.
Yes, in the 90’s they chose offensive tackles with their premium picks, Leon Searcy (1992) and Jamain Stephens (1996), but those two giants were clearly right tackle types, a position you can always acquire on the bargain table when compared to the lefties.
The reason the Steelers didn’t invest their top pick on a left tackle in any recent draft is that the best ones were almost always gone by the time they got to choose. The “sure things” in left tackles vanish by the time you get outside the Top Ten picks and the Steelers success at almost never having losing seasons reduced this possibility.
Which is why the team’s ability to acquire a player of Jones’ capabilities in their slot in the first round is one of the biggest headlines for this team in many years.
I know, I know. Choosing an offensive lineman in the first round isn’t as Hollywoodish as getting some touchdown maker.
It’s not as scintillating news as drafting Kenny Pickett as your new quarterback like last year.
Yet, the left offensive tackle position is typically occupied by the most important player on a roster outside of your gunslinger.
It truly is a franchise player position. It’s the cornerstone of any of your offensive hopes. You cannot have a dominant offensive line with a mediocre left tackle. It will always be broken unless your quarterback is left-handed.
You actually can manage with a dominant left tackle and a bunch of bums. Just run and pass left.
If you look at the kind of impact players like Jonathan Ogden, Anthony Munoz, Walter Jones, Orlando Pace, Jackie Slater and Tony Boselli had on their organizations, and for so many years, you quickly realize how exciting the Steelers first round selection this year has been.
You bring in an elite left tackle and a new era begins. It’s as simple as that. Will Broderick Jones be that player? That is one of most critical questions this year for the team to discover.
Many fans were shouting at their televisions when the Steelers passed on Joey Porter, Jr. when Jones was selected, but the former left tackle of the Georgia Bulldogs might end up being the most significant selection for the team for many years to come.
JOEY PORTER, JR. – Cornerback – Round 2 (32nd Overall Pick)
If the Broderick Jones selection ends up producing the positive impact the Steelers are hoping for, then their second-round selection has the potential of sealing the deal on making the 2023 Steelers draft as one of their best in the 2000’s.
Is that possible? Can you win an NFL draft merely by hitting it big on your first and second round selections? Absolutely!
It’s a myth that teams end up getting many keepers in each year’s draft. The majority of lower round players are cut or traded away cheaply within the first few years of their professional careers and if you look at the top 100 players in the NFL year after year, the vast majority were selected in the top two rounds.
If you can win in both round one and two you most definitely have a winning draft.
The tears on the faces of Steelers Nation had barely been wiped away after seeing their team pass on Peezy Jr. in the first round when all hope returned as other teams also passed on the Penn State standout.
When the first round of the draft was completed and with the Steelers in firm grasp of the first selection of the second round it was all but certain the team would be able to celebrate a family reunion by selecting the tall, ranging cornerback raised by one of Pittsburgh’s favorites.
This is a highly capable player, who many of the draft experts had ranked as a middle to high first round talent.
It was a dream come true for Steelers Nation. Or was it? Why did Joey Porter Sr. have to console his son so much because he wasn’t selected in the first round by any of the teams (including all our enemies)? Wasn’t being all but guaranteed to be a Steeler for life all that he and his entire family could ever have hoped for?
Apparently not. It’s a business for these players and dropping to the second round is bad for business.
So…Joey Porter, Jr. enters his Pittsburgh Steelers career with a chip on his shoulder? Maybe it will work to our benefit. It sure motivated Hines Ward and so many other future superstar Steelers.
Well…however it worked out. Peezy, Jr. is in the house and the Steelers have added a premium cornerback talent in a draft for the first time in a long time.
TO BE CONTINUED…
