http://steelerswire.usatoday.com/2017/1 ... me-for-us/

Confidence can be a dangerous thing. On paper, the Pittsburgh Steelers look to outmatch the Indianapolis Colts in almost every phase of the game. But there’s no faster way to lose a game you should win than through complacency.

But at least one member of the Steelers recognizes this. Offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert understands just how tenuous Pittsburgh’s place is in the AFC and that any team can lose to any other team.

“There will be a lot of noise out there, people expecting us to win,” Gilbert said. We can’t hear all that noise. We have to execute the game plan and not shoot ourselves in the foot. That’s been our issue this year — not playing up to the level in games we’re supposed to win. This is a really good team, but we can’t go out there and lay an egg.”

Gilbert recognizes this season there have been problems with the Steelers playing down to competition but this isn’t new. This team has been losing games it should win, especially on the road for all of head coach Mike Tomlin’s tenure. They have also failed to win after the bye week in three straight seasons. Let’s hope they can put all that negative history behind them and win this weekend.


Because Tomlin

Because Tomlin in this case, Barry, likely means every damn player on the roster has had it drilled into his head by Tomlin that the Colts are still an NFL team and that every last player must execute.

So yeah, Gilbert likely saying these things because Tomlin.

Your interpretation of my intended meaning is incorrect

Proof is in the pudding

I've been conditioned by the board.

Gonna file this one in the No Shit cabinet

Lot of trap game losses in that cabinet

If you will

@ Indy too. I think the only thing we have going for us is Tomlin's record after bye weeks is pretty good if I'm not mistaken.

Nope, Barry stated they have failed to win coming off the bye week in 3 straight seasons, so confidence isn't running high on this one. Let's recap - losses in 3 straight after the bye week, ill-prepared to take on a team at the bottom that we should literally curb stomp, on the road, playing against a meh QB with a decimated D. Yep, sounds ripe for a loss to me. I did, however, pick the Steelers to win in the score game, but I slept at a Holiday Inn that night! We'll see in two days if Tomlin and Co. can overcome their glaring incompetencies and go out to take control of the AFC or if they play not to lose, looking past another team that also has professional athletes on it (which they then normally do).

Even if the Steelers do play not to lose, they should still win. The talent discrepancy is ridiculous. Tack on the injury reports from the respective teams and it is even more ridiculous. There is no excuse for losing even if they play conservative, "don't lose" football.

49-40. .551

Or IOW better than Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers or Sean Payton/Drew Brees.

I'm not even sure Noll and Bradshaw were better than that.

Would be nice to be up 31-3 going into 4th and pull everyone to get ready for Thursday

We still lost to the Bears with Glennon throwing under 100 and the Jags with Bortles at home throwing under 100. And that one was an ass kicking.

I don’t care if the Jags are “good” (which they aren’t), those are two bad losses to two teams. So no, this shouldn’t be designated a trap game. The 2017 Steelers are a jumbled hodgepodge of can beat anyone and can lose to anyone. The coach and the players need to get that through their heads.

They were undefeated under Tomlin after the bye week prior to those last three games, I believe.

So your interpretation is wrong.

Gibert just putting everyone On Notice IMO. I expect this game to be a win with decidedly good numbers.

Jax is the 4th best team in the NFL by DVOA. So yes...they are good.

As I said on the podcast: Jax pass defense is twice as good as the next best pass D, and almost 4 times as effective as the Steelers pass D, adjusted for opponent and viewed on a play by play basis.

In fact, going back to 1986, '17 Jax has the 3rd best pass D in all that time, only trailing the '96 Eagles and the incredible 2002 Tampa Bay D. '17 Jax is on pace to be better than peak Denver's no-fly zone, peak Steelers '08, peak NE, peak NYG w Lawrence Taylor, peak Rod Woodson/Greg Lloyd Steelers, peak NYJ w Revis Island.

If you don't think that's good, I don't know what to tell you.

The loss to the Bears and Jags point to the similarities of all our trap losses going back to 2004.

Ben throws more than one Int
Special teams gaff
Turnover in the scoring zone (usually Ben)
Missed FG
Opposing Offense can run the ball effectively

Raiders game in Oakland, Dallas game in Dallas, both Baltimore games a couple years ago, it goes on and on. Colts are a beaten horse right now and if this team jumps on them early and avoids most of the above then hopefully we will see some backups by the fourth. If this defense can get this young QB off his safe throws it can put up a few scores of their own and make this a scrimmage game for the backups by the middle of the third

Regular season numbers starting in 2008 (Harbaugh's first year):

Tomlin: 54 - 21, Harbaugh: 56 - 20

Tomlin on road: 45 - 32, Harbaugh on road: 34 - 43

In other words, Mentally Lazy Tomlin has been winning over a game more a year on the road than the Great White Harbaugh since 2008. Why that kind of performance could cost you a bye! Please note that Baltimore has been slightly better than us at home, so this is all about losing games you should win on the road.

Tomlin on road as favorite: 30 - 17, .638
Harbaugh on road as favorite: 18 - 14, .563

Tomlin is favored on the road 50% more than Harbaugh, as he should be because Tomlin also has a substantially better winning percentage on the road as a favorite.

Whoever Curt Popejoy is, he's full of shit.

Don’t you know we don’t like facts on this board that don’t fit our preconceived narratives…….. good grief man, get with the program and start bashing our coach, coordinators, front office, QB, skill players, offense, defense and everyone else associated with the team…..that’s how you can fit in here

Seriously though, the problem is that we view these losses in a vacuum since our main focus is on the Steelers. In truth every team has bad losses and most have more of them than the Steelers do. Love him or hate him, Tomlin’s record is better than most of his peers.

What is Tomlins record as a favorite on the road in say, the last 4 years?


Because even though it seems like it, they haven't been laying eggs on the road against bad teams for all that long. Just the last few years.


2017 @Chicago

2016 @Philly @Miami

2015 @KC

2014 @ Cleveland @Jets

2013 @Cincy @Minnesota @ Oakland

2012 @Oak @Tenn @Cleveland @Dallas

2011 @Houston @San Fran


2012 through 2014 had some bad bad road losses. That's where it all started

losing to both cleveland and Oakland on the road twice in 3 years was bad. They were damn near the two worst teams in the league at that time.

It's interesting how this discussion has spread onto other sites. For example BTSC did some fact checks and came up with some numbers. Some pretty good analysis. BTSC goes on to create a full chart table and explain just how impressive Tomlin led Steelers actually have been/are.


Note: We used to have analysis like this in here.

Needing a win on the road against a bad Ravens team to make the playoffs, led by Ryan Mallet we.......

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F0AeAHPi1GI

Since 2014, 12 - 6.

Just for comparison, Harbaugh is 5 - 6.

If we checked New England, of course, we would get ridiculously better numbers than Pittsburgh (or anyone else).

Losing to Cleveland and Oak on the road twice in a 3 year span was what started it all