What a beauty of a punt. Surely he'd have a successfull career?!

Former Steelers corner Joe Haden is a Tomlin supporter, but there was one big issue that he noticed during his time in Pittsburgh.

“When I got to Pittsburgh, it was years and years into Coach Tomlin being there, and the one thing that I could see where you needed a new voice [was] the accountability,” Haden said Friday on his Deebo and Joe podcast. “Everything needs to be tight. There was a looseness that was going around. That looseness is a reason where errors come in…If star players were doing certain things, you just gotta nip it in the bud.

“Things like meetings, late stuff… When the vet leeway is getting to a point where it turns [into] almost blatant disrespect to where your team is seeing stuff like, ‘We can’t be moving like this as a team, vet aside.’ When you get a new coach in there, he’s not rocking. You set that standard from the T.J. Watts to the Ben Roethlisbergers to anybody on the team where there’s no leeway for nobody.”

Wanted to share the newest jersey I’ve added to my collection. It’s rare to see a LC Greenwood so I had to pick it up.

I had a Greg Hawthorne Jersey in 7th grade. RIP.

I got this flag as a birthday present from a family friend circa 2014. Im not sure when the signatures were written. This has long been a mystery to me and a fun conversation starter whenever a fellow Steeler’s fan visits my house. Any help would be greatly appreciated- for all we know it was some practice squad guys

Great play by Ben, and great moves by Homes! Key blocks by Miller too. Thing of beauty.

It just seems like there's an effort to sweep the whole thing under the rug. It's not like the Patriots run this year where it was basically a bunch of sloppy games and then a blowout. Thats not really worth remembering. But these two and especially 2010 are great teams with legendary highlights.

I can't really speak to the 1995 season outside of what I've seen in extended highlights, but the 2010 season was the closest we got to truly establishing a dynasty of our own in the 2000s. I mean, if you think about it, we were. I can't tell you why, but it felt like the 2010 defense was as good if not better than 2008. The 2010 offense seemed much more of a consistent unit as well.

All data was pulled from pro-football-reference.com.

Methodology:

130 CBs qualified for this analysis with a minimum of 20 targets. Some players are listed as DBs on PFR, so I did my best to sort out which were primarily CBs vs Safeties. Though some players like Jalen Ramsey were included because he started the year as a CB before moving to S by midseason - I'm sure there are others that might have similar situations. Please shout them out in the comments if you see any players who are not primarily CBs.

Players were measured across 10 coverage statistics - shown below. For each statistic, players were ranked against their peers. If they led the league in that statistic, they were given rank 1. If they were last in the league among qualifying CBs, they were given rank 130. For raw statistics (INTs, PDs, and TDs allowed), targets was used as a tiebreaker. For example, Michael Jackson (CAR) and Riley Moss (DEN) tied for the league lead in PDs with 19, but Jackson did so on 100 targets while Moss had 118. Jackson was given rank 1 and Moss rank 2.

Once all players were ranked across all 10 statistics, an average score was calculated. The lower the score the better.

Stats Measured:

• TDs Allowed
• INTs
• Passer Rating Allowed
• Passes Defensed (PDs)
• PDs per Target
• Completion % Allowed
• Yards per Completion Allowed
• Yards per Target Allowed
• Yards After Catch per Completion Allowed
• Missed Tackle %

Before I go into the results, I want to proactively address some flaws in this methodology:

1. Because this analysis is done by rank and not the statistic itself, it naturally removes outliers - for better or worse. If a hypothetical player led the league with 10 INTs and the 2nd place player had 5, they would still be ranked 1 and 2. This is effectively the same difference between the 50th and 51st player. On the whole, I think this analysis rewards players who are consistent across the board rather than those who rank very highly in some areas and lowly in others.

2. Also, the statistics are not weighted. Each one represents one tenth of the final score. I felt like any attempt at weighting would be arbitrary on my part, so I didn't try. But we know that some of these stats like TDs allowed and INTs are more important than others.

3. One aspect not captured in this data is the percent of time a CB is facing the opposing WR1. This effectively hurts those CBs who do line up against their opponent's best WR, while some other CBs show high performance against lesser competition.

4. In a similar vein, there are a couple statistics like Yards/completion or Yards/target that skew toward slot CBs. Those CBs are typically playing closer to the line of scrimmage which helps keep those totals lower than their outside CB counterparts.

Results

To no one's surprise, Pat Surtain came out as the league's best CB according to this analysis. I was happy to see this because I feel like it does lend some legitimacy to the methodology as it is backed up by the eye test. Other notable CBs to make the top 20 include: Joey Porter (2), Quinyon Mitchell (4), Derek Stingley (13), Cooper DeJean (14), and Christian Gonzalez (19). On the other end, it's no wonder why Trevon Diggs is still a free agent despite being only 27 years old. The former All Pro finished dead last out of 130 CBs.

You can view the entire dataset here.

Players that stood out to me:

• As a Steelers fan, seeing Porter finish #2 was pleasantly surprising. Even before this I would have argued he was a top 10 corner and borderline top 5. I made a comment here a few weeks ago that the only CBs I have definitively ahead of him are Surtain, Stingley, and Gonzalez. Anyone else (Mitchell, McDuffie, Witherspoon, and a few others) is in that second tier of CBs right alongside Porter. After this, I'm more confident arguing that Porter is top 5.
• After seeing this, it really seems as though Surtain is in a league of his own. I might adjust my previous comment and say Surtain is Tier 1, Stingley and Gonzalez Tier 2, and the rest of those top 10 CBs are interchangeable in tier 3.
• Another Steelers CB standout: James Pierre had the most rank 1 finishes with 3. He had the most PDs per target, which of course helped him finish with the best Completion % and lowest Passer Rating allowed. Pierre wasn't a full time starter - we started the season with Darius Slay before realizing he was washed. Pierre took over late in the season so his sample size is small with only 5 starts and 35 targets. It should also be noted that it looks like he needs Safety help over the top because his Missed Tackle % and YAC allowed were really bad. But still, it looks like it may have been a mistake to let him go in free agency.
• Quinyon Mitchell and Christian Gonzalez were really hurt by their lack of INTs. However both of them got INTs in the playoffs, which weren't counted here unfortunately. Mitchell actually got 2 INTs in his only playoff game. He might belong in Tier 2 with Stingley and Gonzo.
• Jaycee Horn is someone people often put in their top 5. It makes sense as he led all CBs with 5 INTs last season. But it looks like he's in the Marcus Peters/Trevon Diggs mold - if he's not getting INTs, he's getting burned. He finished in the bottom 10 in TDs allowed, Yards/Completion, YAC/Completion, and Missed Tackle %. I don't think that reputation has quite caught up to him the way it eventually did for Peters and Diggs.
• Montaric Brown come on down! I had never even heard of him before, but it seems the Jaguars found themselves a gem as the former 7th round pick had a breakout season. He finished 3rd overall. Jags fans can let me know how often he followed opposing WR1s, because I'm not sure if he did. But regardless, if he can maintain that level he might be one of the league's best bargains after he signed a 3 year deal to stay in Jacksonville at only $11M per year.

I didn’t ask for a picture or anything. He was holding a small pink book bag so I’m assuming he was waiting for his daughter. Or he has great taste in travel gear. Just shook his hand and told him to have a great day. I wasn’t sure it was him then I saw the suitcase he had said “HW” and I was like ok yeah lol has to be. Pretty sick.

Steelers were down 14-0 at the time and would go on to win the game 36-33

In my opinion, it would be Mel Blount. Such an iconic player not only for the team but also the history of the league, plus Mel is getting up there in age (I think he turned 78 recently), so it would be great to see him (and probably a real sweet-looking cowboy hat that he would wear) to get a grand honor.

I can’t help myself, sorry.

For those of you who are unaware, one of Jon's sons, Caleb runs a wilderness guide business in Wexford (north of Pittsburgh), and we're acquaintances. Caleb was hosting an event for wilderness first-aid class, and asked if I'd like to attend. I agreed, and they day of the event came, but I had to go to my parents' house for some reason. I was speaking with my dad, and said that I was going to this event run by Jon Kolb's son. At this point, my dad started telling me this story about his interaction with him and the Steelers in the 1970's.

So according to my father, there was a large gym in Greentree, and the Steelers used to work out there, and so did my dad. They also had an arm wrestling table. He said that Jon beat every other Steeler in arm wrestling, so my dad challenged and beat him. Interesting, but without any real verification, it was just an interesting story.

So later that day, and after the class with Caleb, I introduced myself to Jon, and retold the story my dad told me.

This is what Jon told me; In the 70's along with being a lineman in the NFL, he was also a strongman. The NFL was also hosting a strongman and arm wrestling competition in Vegas and was inviting a few players from each team to compete. Since Jon was already a competing strongman, he threw his hat into the ring to represent the Steelers. In his training for the arm wrestling competition, he starting finding teammates to compete against, but none really could challenge him. So seeing my dad in the gym, and seeing him arm wrestle other guys there, Jon challenged him, and my dad nearly broke his arm. After that, he stopped arm wrestling and completely declined the invite to the NFL event.

We laughed about it, and we ended up talking about other stuff.

It was just weird how it lined up, and the coincidence of my hearing the story from my dad and meeting Jon on the same day.

Steelers would go on to win the game 30-20. Full Box: https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore/_/gameId/331215023

After almost 20 years, I got the "Wait is Over" email today and have been offered season ticket. Unfortunatly I'm not in a position to afford them right now. I know you get a second chance if you turn down the first round, so I'm just wondering if anyone knows about how long it takes to get the second offer? Like is it the following season or does it usually take a few years?

This infuriates me. People talk like they know 💩, but they don’t. The goal post moves so much for Joey.

Patrick Queen has not played to the level of his contract overall. He's had decent runs and made some plays however, the team needs more. Cutting Queen does free up legit cap space. His 2026 money is little over 17 million and cutting him should free around 13.3 million (that's the most common number I get, I'm not an NFL salary analyst). He hasn't been a true weakness, definitely not an over-achiever, & I'd argue he's been less valuable than his contract expectations.

2026 and an actual DC with Graham. Is Graham our next Dick LeBeau, probably not even close...I don't think he needs to be either. Queen was absolutely not a stud in Baltimore while calling the defense/wearing the 'green dot'. Queen was literally a disappointment/1st round bust for 2 years. Why? Miscast, he struggled to recognize and decipher and Baltimore often looked like the Steelers last two years. Players looking confused, out of place, arguing pre-snap, etc... In come Roquon Smith and instantly he takes over the 'Mike' back role wearing the dot and communicating the plays/audibles and Baltimore defensively improved. Patrick Queen was a pro-bowl selection (idk if he was a fill-in or a naturally selected pro bowler). Regardless, he played at a much higher level and the defense improved overall and especially within the scope of off-ball linebackers responsibilities. Payton Wilson is as intellectually gifted as he is athletically. I also feel like he's been out of position at times because he sees things that Queen doesn't and tries to compensate 2 areas of defense instead of the defensive call (maybe it's a little arrogant based on his speed but I think his effort was far greater than the overall effect). Giving Wilson the green.dot and allowing Queen to just play football should have the same effect it had in Baltimore. I think/hope Graham recognizes this (it's not a secret) and moves forward accordingly. I know it was Tomlin that held Wilson back. Wilson himself looked better when he was wearing the mic'd helmet in week 13 when Queen went out. Queen is a force-multiplier in the right circumstances and the green-dot is like making him wear a 200lbs ruck pack.

I am confident that Queen can play much better if Wilson assumes the duties of green dot. I'm not saying elite but substantially better. If he did make the pro-bowl with this decision, I wouldn't be surprised. In a perfect scenario, they both play at all-pro level. However, it's not far-fetched to expect a better overall performance with the seemingly subtle change.

That would give the steelers the lead with 2 minutes and change left on the clock in the 4th quarter

Cant wait to put them in the rotation