Dick LeBeau: "We coulda be da Ravens!"

Right now the Steelers are in dire straights per sey. They are almost $14,000,000 over the cap and have some serious decisions to make. It is cut and slice and dice time in Pittsburgh just to get under the cap.

Truth.

Maybe I should be like the Pats fans who say we can't win a Lombardi if we have to play them in the postseason. The same can be said for the Ravens. "Well, you didn't have to come to Pittsburgh, so of course you had a shot." 


Ludicrous. Our team wasn't good, LeBeau knows it, but he said what he thought was the right thing at the time. Dumb comment, but he has enough equity with me to get by with a couple of bad decisions. (The decision to play NO pass defense vs. Tebow last year is by far his worst transgression in his tenure.) All in all, tell me one team who wouldn't have liked to have LeBeau as their DC for his career, and I will show you a liar. 

Maybe I should be like the Pats fans who say we can't win a Lombardi if we have to play them in the postseason. The same can be said for the Ravens. "Well, you didn't have to come to Pittsburgh, so of course you had a shot." 


Ludicrous. Our team wasn't good, LeBeau knows it, but he said what he thought was the right thing at the time. Dumb comment, but he has enough equity with me to get by with a couple of bad decisions. (The decision to play NO pass defense vs. Tebow last year is by far his worst transgression in his tenure.) All in all, tell me one team who wouldn't have liked to have LeBeau as their DC for his career, and I will show you a liar.

LeBeau is not going to live forever. Wasn't he talking about retirement a year or so ago? Isn't this supposed to be his last year coaching? If so....what then? Who takes the reigns? Who fills his shoes?

To be honest, THAT'S the thought that scares the hell out of me. Who takes over for LeBeau? So much of what we do in Pittsburgh comes off the defense. When LeBeau leaves will Mike Tomlin try to switch us to a Tampa 2 or will he leave it a 3-4?

To be honest, THAT'S the thought that scares the hell out of me. Who takes over for LeBeau? So much of what we do in Pittsburgh comes off the defense. When LeBeau leaves will Mike Tomlin try to switch us to a Tampa 2 or will he leave it a 3-4?

This is where Tomlin has to prove he can make the big decisions.  When the Ravens had to move away from a defense heavy team and began to focus on building the offense it wasn't without problems.  They've been through 3 DCs and an OC to get it right - so to speak.

The Steelers have an established QB, but their OC is still suspect.  Bad news is they need offensive talent and will have to get vicious with cuts for cap space.  Good news is that they need to do this anyway and should've been actively managing this better in the last 2 years.  

This offseason is pivitol for them and in particular Tomlin.  If he doesn't go in a new direction and they struggle in 2013 again he'll lose cred.  If he does and makes a poor choice he'll lose cred.  It's not a good spot for him to be in, but this was coming sooner of later.

I hope he rights the ship because this affects the best rivalry in the game today. 

That and we're about to find out just how good our draft picks have been the last few years.

Eh, you're gonna need a few more.

If Bill Callahan or Jerry Jones or someone affiliatied with Dallas would have said the same thing, you'd have been all over him like a cheap suit.

Prove that.

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Pretty difficult to prove a hypothetical; but I'm going off the rather strong background knowledge I have of you (and Alf) and your never-ending desire to trash Dallas when the opportunity presents itself.

But if a statment like mine can't be made, then I don't want to hear hypotheticals from any of you, either (i.e., Ben Roethlisberger would have made the playoffs and had more success if he was Dallas' QB and not Romo).

Can't be proven, so out the window it goes.

 Ben Roethlisberger would have made the playoffs and had more success if he was Dallas' QB and not Romo).

And Dick LeBeau could've had a SB Ring this year if he "coulda be a Ravens"!

We're saying that because luck plays a part in ALL teams winning....

You're absolutely right.  I mean, every time Rottenberger flees from the collapsing pocket, runs around to avoid the D-linemen, and manages to complete a pass to a WR improvising a route is all luck.

To be honest, THAT'S the thought that scares the hell out of me. Who takes over for LeBeau? So much of what we do in Pittsburgh comes off the defense. When LeBeau leaves will Mike Tomlin try to switch us to a Tampa 2 or will he leave it a 3-4?

I would never deny that LeBeau is a great defensive coach, but like anyone else on earth, he is not irreplaceable.  As is always the case, someone will step in do the job.  Maybe he will end up being better than LeBeau, who knows?

It's happened in Baltimore.  Everyone was ready to predict doom and gloom for the defense when Marvin Lewis (a LeBeau disciple) left, but the coaches they've had since have handled the job very well.  Mike Nolan did a great job and Rex Ryan after him proved to be more than capable, maybe better than Lewis or Nolan.

The point is that no matter who comes next, he'll either sink or swim based largely on the talent he has to work with, the same as any coach.

I think a great coach makes a good team great, a good coach makes a mediocre team good and a bad coach is fired in 4 years.
But there isn't a coach out there that can make a team with little talent better.
 

But if a statment like mine can't be made, then I don't want to hear hypotheticals from any of you, either (i.e., Ben Roethlisberger would have made the playoffs and had more success if he was Dallas' QB and not Romo).

I haven't read through this entire thread but I hope nobody actually said this hypothetical.  Dallas' highest ranking defense since Ben came into the league was 8th best.  We all know that Ben Roethlisberger can NOT make the playoffs without a top 4 defense.  He's missed the post season with the #5 and #8 defenses already.


  

But if a statment like mine can't be made, then I don't want to hear hypotheticals from any of you, either (i.e., Ben Roethlisberger would have made the playoffs and had more success if he was Dallas' QB and not Romo).

I haven't read through this entire thread but I hope nobody actually said this hypothetical. 

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At least ONE Steeler's fan here has said as much.