KSpan

2010 was hands-down worse, just zero hope of winning. I'll entertain this offense being 2nd worst ever though, as the team in 2001 was at least competitive and just invented fun and inventive ways to lose.

I don't recall ever seeing a QB get batted down like Baker this year. It's almost surreal.

Only rockstar OCs get hired in Carolina.

Brees lost his arm around 2013/2014 and they didn't have the oomph to capitalize in the playoffs after that point IMO in large part, though hardly exclusively, due to that reason. As much as I dislike Payton I'd be curious to see what he could do with a mid-tier QB that can put it over the top and a decent defense.

"He's so good, I always hope he's going to break something open and pad the stats I like to cherry-pick when defending me and my staff during these press conferences."

Foreman isn't all that good and never has been. Had a decent stretch last year when Tennessee was firing on all cylinders but he's hardly the only player in the NFL to randomly look good for a brief period. Some folks' expectations are/were wayyyy too high when he signed here.

Yeah, no. We were not 'all' feeling Rhule and Darnold... plenty saw through the mirage. That said, this play is pretty funny.

Yup, against those powerhouses in Cleveland and New York. Very encouraging.

And even if this team had achieved a 3-0 record, which we actually saw last year before they finished 5-12, it would still be completely outweighed by the two years prior. It takes time to confidently discern changes in trends and Rhule has 2 years of empirical suckitude to fight against; 3 games scraping by against the bottom of the NFL barrel does little to move the objective or subjective needle in the face of that. I will again say that reviewing the data constitutes neither 'doom and gloom' nor that negativity is an emotional response... that's an absurd premise. For the millionth time, drawing a conclusion from the body of data out there does not constitute an active decision to be negative. The reality is that Rhule and his teams have sucked and this year's iteration appears to have the same weaknesses as those teams; this is based on what's actually being put on the field, not on any 'emotional response.' Estimation (either positive or negative) of future performance is speculation and the 36 games he's already coached point in a pretty clear direction. The benefit of the doubt is gone, so unless/until he (or any other coach/player in a similar situation) gets a substantial body of work rivaling the performance showing a different trend, there's nothing to suggest the future will be any different and expectations can be set accordingly. It really is that simple.

How often do you see a Steelers coach display the incompetence that Rhule has, particularly considering there are no 'good years' to counterbalance?

At this point, 11-25 and the declining performance the past 2 years absolutely leads to an objectively negative overall outlook. In the barest, most mathematical terms the trend has been negative and the offense still objectively sucks. That's the reality, and a single win over the Saints doesn't change that either subjectively or objectively.

Same thing I always say to comments like this - objectivity is not the same as negativity.

After an n of 35 with Rhule to date, one middling win against a team with a broken QB ain't it. Also, being objective does not equate to being miserable.

Being precisely average is something to celebrate?

Tepper, is that you?

Because defensive TDs are fluky no matter what. They can't be relied upon. And I'm not saying that we have to ignore it entirely - it was a good play by Luvu. I'm saying that the offense wasn't good enough to win without said fluky play, just like years past. Nothing has changed. No argument there that Jameis tried to gift several picks that Carolina didn't reel in. Dude just can't help himself.

It took a fluky (great play, but fluky) defensive scoring play to beat a poor Saints team even with 3 awesome receivers, a great running back, a good defense, and a good special teams (in your words). If you don't see the red flag in that then we can't help you.

Then the team's record would be an another incredibly weak mirage at 2-1 like 3-0 was last year.

Oh look, Chinn making another play at the LOS. Huh.

"Matt Rhule looks perplexed" Lolz.

Oh look, Chinn making a play at the LOS. Who could have guessed.

Norwell, Turner, Obada, Mayo... the anders collected a bunch of Panthers castoffs over there.