Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
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2023 Pittsburgh Steelers. Banged up team loses to Buffalo. Looking ahead to 2024 now (4 Viewers)
- Thread starter Godsbrother
- Start date
Godsbrother
Footballguy
Yes that's what is being reported but those are pretty significant issues that you would have thought would have been worked out long ago for a negotiation that was to believed to have been "very close".
If they don't have the guaranteed money worked out they aren't close at all.
steelers1080
Footballguy
Nooooo, we almost did it. We almost had a drama free offseason. If they don't find a way to get this deal done, and Watt ends up not being a Steeler long term, that's almost inexcusable by the front office. They have self-imposed rules about contract negotiations, ok, but you don't let the best defensive player in the league walk away.
5-ish Finkle
Footballguy
Same junk happened with Polamalu (although I don't recall for sure if he was skipping practicing/games back then). They kept negotiating up until the team boarded the plane to go play the Ravens week 1, or some ish like that. The whole "we won't negotiate with terrorists" junk is just that.....junk. Maybe they'd lord it over the third stingers, but they aren't going to stop talking to Watt's agent because of some silly soundbite stuff they tell John Steigerwald (that guy is still alive, right?). Didn't they extend Heyward super late just last year too?
The bigger deal would be the rumors about not having guaranteed money agreed to. Or rather, how far apart is the gap between what each side is looking for?
"Hot Take"!: Watt signs Friday, plays Sunday, everyone tearing off their clothes about it puts their Steelers hat back on right-side out and says they "knew they'd get it done all along!"
The bigger deal would be the rumors about not having guaranteed money agreed to. Or rather, how far apart is the gap between what each side is looking for?
"Hot Take"!: Watt signs Friday, plays Sunday, everyone tearing off their clothes about it puts their Steelers hat back on right-side out and says they "knew they'd get it done all along!"
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Bracie Smathers
Footballguy
They will never go into the season without signing Watt. I would expect it before Friday. Are Steeler fans actually concerned?5-ish Finkle said:
Godsbrother
Footballguy
Because the Steelers have set policies about not negotiating once the season begins and not guaranteeing money beyond the first year of a contract I could definitely see the two sides reaching an impasse.
If they do not agree to a deal before Sunday I think it will get ugly pretty fast: the Steelers will pull whatever offer is on the table off and Watt will report mid-season and play as many games necessary to fulfill the final year of the contract.
Next spring the Steelers will slap the franchise tag on him, Watt gets upset, and then the REAL fun begins.
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
Tomlin seems pretty confident that Watt will be practicing in full on Wednesday.
Godsbrother
Footballguy
Admittedly I did not hear the press conference today but the quote I read seemed to be coach-speak:
"I remain optimistic something will get done from a deal perspective. I'm expecting him to work tomorrow. I'm proceeding with the assumption he's going to work tomorrow."
I suppose you could read this and think that Tomlin knows that a deal will be coming by tonight or that Watt will practice regardless, but I am not sure that is what he was saying.
Bracie Smathers
Footballguy
The Tomlin PC was puppies/lollypops/sunshine about TJ being in uniform Sunday. Everything Tomlin says is coach speak but TJ should get paid, has to get paid, saw a tweet a few weeks back about how much cap space the Steelers have.
He is without question the best player on the team. They don't get er done the domino effect takes place where Highsmith is double teamed and Ingram starts instead of coming fresh off the bench and he would have been perfect in that role.
The entire defense is built on the concept of getting to the QB before that secondary is exposed.
If they dig their heels in on this one then Ben's last season and one of the four Najee years, and probably the last with Ju-Ju are wasted.
Insanity.
steelers1080
Footballguy
Yes. I can confirm that at least 1 Steelers fan is concerned. I think that Watt seems to be more sensible than Bell or Brown, so I don't think he'll blow things up in the same way, but if the Steelers pull their offer when the season begins I don't see Watt staying a Steeler, which is my biggest concern. You don't let one of the top defensive players in football at one of the most valuable positions get away, even if it means breaking unwritten rules that you arbitrarily set for yourself.
If a deal gets done between today and Sunday I won't say I told you so, I'll just breathe a sigh of relief.
As someone who thinks the Steelers have some tough years ahead after Big Ben retires, I was holding onto the hope that at least our defense would be fun to watch.
Franchise him 2 years in a row and then he can make a deal w/ the Jets at age 28.
(No we likely won't do that - but 31 mil vs 30 mil looks like pretty stupid when 2 prime years are on the table)
I would blame his agent. It is his job to make sure this does not happen. We have new players all over the team and he missed the entire pre-season aside from doing jumping jacks. So we are already eating into this year.
(No we likely won't do that - but 31 mil vs 30 mil looks like pretty stupid when 2 prime years are on the table)
I would blame his agent. It is his job to make sure this does not happen. We have new players all over the team and he missed the entire pre-season aside from doing jumping jacks. So we are already eating into this year.
Godsbrother
Footballguy
Without knowing the details it is impossible to know which, if either, side is being unreasonable.
An organization that says pay our star players whatever they want, especially a non franchise QB, is a team that will soon be in trouble.
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
Watt was a full participant in practice today.
JoeSteeler
Footballguy
Assuming he signs before Sunday, it will be interesting to see how many snaps he plays this week
Godsbrother
Footballguy
From what I understand Watt has been working out with the team all summer camp/preseason (not practicing though) and has been attending all team meetings. With a full week of practice I would assume he'll play near his normal amount of snaps.
irish eyes
Footballguy
Does anyone envision Watt playing if he isn't signed this week? Without him & Tuitt, they are in for a looooong day sunday.
JoeSteeler
Footballguy
Rappaport on Twitter
Sources: The #Steelers and star pass-rusher TJ Watt have a mega-deal. He’s going to sign a 4-year extension worth more than $112M — $28.003M average per year — with $80M fully guaranteed at signing. The highest paid defensive player in football.
Sources: The #Steelers and star pass-rusher TJ Watt have a mega-deal. He’s going to sign a 4-year extension worth more than $112M — $28.003M average per year — with $80M fully guaranteed at signing. The highest paid defensive player in football.
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Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
The question is whether all of that guaranteed money is signing bonus and year 1 or did the Steelers cave
steelers1080
Footballguy
Thank goodness. Wish it was a 5 year extension instead of 4, but I'll take what I can get. It will be interesting to see if Minkah resets the market too next year.
Godsbrother
Footballguy
Yeah this is a relief. A 4 year extension is essentially a 5 year deal. I wonder how much, if any, cap space will be saved for this season...steelers1080 said:
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
The cap hit this season is now $8MM instead of $10MM.
His first three years of base salary are guaranteed ($1MM, $24MM, $20MM) with a $35MM signing bonus. His cap hit next year is $31MM; Then $27MM $28MM, $28MM.
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Godsbrother
Footballguy
Well that should quell all of the fans that were calling the Steelers cheap for not signing Watt.
5-ish Finkle
Footballguy
Well, hey, lookit that. TJ signed before Sunday and will totally be playing against the Bills. Hoping no one burned any jerseys.
Bracie Smathers
Footballguy
Signed before Friday.
Not signing TJ wasn't a legit option. It was going to happen.
Frenchy Fuqua
Footballguy
Interested to see how Big Dan Moore holds up in his first game. Rookie 4th rounders aren't supposed to start, especially at a key position like LT for Steelers. He impressed in the preseason games hopefully he's an anchor there for the next decade.
Godsbrother
Footballguy
The Steelers inexperienced offensive line is the big question mark going into this season.
We are going to need a couple of these guys to be overachievers.
Godsbrother
Footballguy
Yeah last year’s offensive line was historically bad, especially the run blocking so in that department I think this year can only be an upgrade.
They weren’t terrible pass blocking but then again Ben was getting rid of the ball in 2 seconds most of the time so they didn’t really have to protect very long
in any case the Steelers defense is solid and the offense has weapons at all skill positions so it will likely come down to this very young o-line and good luck with injuries as to whether or not the Steelers make a playoff run
Bracie Smathers
Footballguy
Five rookies (one a punter) to start the opener. Seems a lot.
Bound to be a few hiccups.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will have five rookies starting for them in their season opener
Bound to be a few hiccups.
The Pittsburgh Steelers will have five rookies starting for them in their season opener
I think the defense has a chance to be historically good this year. Solid is maybe below their floor.
ATB
Footballguy
ThT was a pretty bad missed block
JoeSteeler
Footballguy
belljr
Footballguy
steelers1080
Footballguy
Holy smokes! I hoped for a win, but definitely didn't expect it on the road. Our offense looked horrible the first half, but decent the 2nd half, and our D was very solid.
Building up my hope and expectations for the season, which is definitely dangerous.
Building up my hope and expectations for the season, which is definitely dangerous.
JoeSteeler
Footballguy
Huge win! Couldn’t watch the 2nd half. Really surprised they won!
just watched the highlights….looked like they dominated the 2nd half
surprised there aren’t more posts in this thread.
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Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
Defense is elite.
Ben tried to temper expectations for the offense during the week. They still need to learn the offense, each other, and knock some rust off. But I think they will be Ok. The D will have this team in every game.
Ben tried to temper expectations for the offense during the week. They still need to learn the offense, each other, and knock some rust off. But I think they will be Ok. The D will have this team in every game.
fred_1_15301
Footballguy
Please, please just let this D stay healthy. What an unexpected, impressive win. Allen missed quite a few easy throws that helped us but still great to see.
Still no existence of a running game though
Still no existence of a running game though
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Godsbrother
Footballguy
Great win. In Disney World with grandkids so couldn’t watch but will be at Heinz next week.
steelers1080
Footballguy
I'd argue that the offense is still a work in progress but that it looked much more open than last year. There were actually passes more than 4 yards down field. They started Dan Moore, Kendrick Green, Najee Harris, and Pat Freiermuth. Most of them looked pretty good.
Najee didn't explode, but he had some really solid runs in the 2nd half. Moore and Green looked pretty good for rookies, there was a Claypool end around where he could have gotten a TD but Green missed the block down field. I think his running in front of Claypool got us an extra 5-10 yards, but if he had gotten hands on the defender then it would have been a TD.
Pat looked incredible. Not many catches, but some really key blocks.
steelers1080
Footballguy
I'd argue that most of the throws Allen missed he was under pressure, so it wasn't just fluke bad QB play. A QB like Brady might still make the throw, but with Heyward in your face and Watt and Ingram closing in, many QBs would miss.
And yeah, our running game in the 1st half was horrific, but it improved some in the 2nd half. Chuks is still a big liability on the right side. He got blown up by that D-line. Though the Bills do have a good D-line.
steelers1080
Footballguy
Biggest takeaways for me during the game:
- Special teams is still a liability during the return game. Giving up those free points to start the game was infuriating, just kick it out of the endzone and take the touchback. The block later was amazing, but the two aren't related.
- Rookies played very well for rookies, if they keep improving our draft class will be awesome.
- Pierre showed up big during big moments.
- Watt and Ingram and Highsmith are going to be a fearsome rotation. The Ingram signing appears to be an excellent one.
- The offensive line is very much a work in progress. They got blown up on a semi-regular basis by the good Bills D-line. Ben got hit a fair amount, and our running game was 0 in the first half. They did better in the 2nd half, hopefully they'll keep improving.
- Our front 4 was wrecking the Bills, we barely blitzed. If we can get Tuitt back healthy, that would be awesome.
- I didn't hear Devin Bush's name all game. No positive mentions or negative. But I did see him out of position on the Singletary runs late in the game, he overran the play and got trapped by an O-lineman instead of being in the gap. I'm hopeful that it's a case of he was usually where he needed to be, and was just overshadowed by Watt and Heyward.
- Edmunds made a few nice tackles, and Minkah had excellent wide ranging coverage. He was close to a few picks on tipped balls.
- We won the turnover differential even though we missed out on a few fumbles and picks, if we can keep this up we'll be in good position.
- We're tied for 1st in the AFC North!!! ... With the Bengals?! The Browns lost and the Ravens have yet to play, but lost their top 3 RBs and top Corner. Things might not be as bad as they felt just a few weeks ago, but I'm reserving my optimism until after next week. The Raiders should be easier than the Bills, but I just want to make sure our Offense can perform.
JoeSteeler
Footballguy
Steelers only blitzed on one passing play (saw this on ESPN)
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
The speculation is that Tuitt had surgery for a meniscus tear and won't be back before Week 6.
steelers1080
Footballguy
Why blitz when Heyward/Ingram/Watt/Highsmith/Alualu combo is getting pressure on most plays? If this defense can stay healthy it will be so fun to see this year.
Read that from 1 source when he was put on IR, has any more info come out?
steelers1080
Footballguy
Power rankings jump the Steelers from 14-18 to 5-8, I feel like they're more optimistic than the average Steeler fan. I'm at around top 10 for now, lets see 2-3 more weeks first and then judge this offense/team.
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