The first “U mad, bro?” of 2021 starts with Steelers fans in Pittsburgh. Then it hits Philadelphia, New York, Washington and Miami along the way.
We’ve got tight ends turning into running backs. A cure-all for NFL officiating. And dismay over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Oh, and a lesson in grammar.
Yeah. It’s humdinger. We are kicking off the new year with a high bar around here.
Jake has an … um …”out of the box” idea to fix the Steelers sagging run game.
“The Steelers need to consider taking a look at turning a couple tight end candidates into running backs. Why not? Tight ends are bigger, have good hands, are adept at running short pass routes, and are trained in blocking.
Someone like Lance McDonald could make a great candidate next year. It would be great to have a guy like that to pick up blitzers in pass blocking, or who could be a great third down receiver, and who would be better able to pick up crucial first downs on short yardage situations merely because of his size and power. McDonald punishes tacklers.”
OK. Lots to unpack here, Jake.
First of all, just because, say, Derrick Henry is built like a tight end, that doesn’t mean every tight end can be Derrick Henry.
Sure. Every now and then, you have a guy like Rod Bernstine who made that switch from tight end to running back with the Chargers back in the 1990s. However, he was only two pounds heavier (235) than James Conner (233).
But I have to pull that example from way back then because I can’t think of too many others who have done it well since. Especially if we don’t count fullbacks.
And there’s a reason for that. They are entirely different skill sets and positions. Especially in today’s game. There is a difference between blocking an edge rusher at the line of scrimmage and picking up a blitzing middle linebacker or safety.
I mean, you’ve seen Eric Ebron block, right? And you want that dude closer to Ben Roethlisberger? While he is attempting to recognize who to pick up? And from where? As opposed to knowing who he is supposed to hit immediately after the snap?
No thanks!
And your buddy “Lance” McDonald is 267 pounds. Not 247 like Henry. I kinda have a hard time seeing “Lance” stretching a run play off-tackle and busting one for distance around the edge.
“Lance” and Ebron are pretty deep into their careers to make such a drastic position switch, don’t you think?
How ‘bout the Steelers — and I’m only spitballing here — just draft or sign better running backs?
Is that something you might be interested in?
Like me, John is incensed over the amount of missed penalties that went unflagged in the Steelers-Browns game.
“I don’t think I have ever seen such inconsistent (and poor) officiating as is the case this year. And, believe me, that’s saying a lot.
I almost think there should be 11 officials on the field, 1 responsible for each player on offense. They would then be responsible for the defensive player matched up. It wouldn’t fix an officials ineptitude but might eliminate the missed calls.
It honestly makes it very hard to watch a game anymore.”
True, John. But what makes the game even harder to watch is an excessive number of flags. Especially from officials who were looking to throw them just to keep up with their 10 other peers in stripes on the field — in your scenario.
Further cluttering an already crowded playing surface with four more guys who simply aren’t very good at what they do is not the answer.
Demanding a blanket statement of more or fewer infractions won’t fix your level of anger. It’ll just change what you are angry about.
What needs to happen is more consistency of the calls themselves. Let’s come up with a steadier threshold for holding, pass interference and roughing the quarterback. And stand by it.
Don’t call a ticky-tack hold in the first quarter so that you can meet some sort of imaginary “quota” because — technically — you were right for whistling an offensive lineman on a rush. But then ignore a blatant call that materially impacts a big gain.
That’s the issue NFL officials are dealing with right now.
Thomas is less than pleased with the state of the local baseball team.
“Over my lifetime, the Pirates have had some truly bad teams, but in the old days they at least had a few top shelf players. Now, it seems the organization is happy to play the role of a farm team lucky enough to be in MLB.”
When you say “old days,” what exactly do you mean? Like, in the 1970s when they had Willie Stargell, Dave Parker and Roberto Clemente?
Or the 1990s when they had Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke and Doug Drabek?
Or 2013-15 when they had Gerrit Cole, Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker?
Regardless, all of those teams feel so much like the “old days” in my mind, I picture all of them playing in Exposition Park.
Mike is bent out of shape after the childish reaction from New York in the wake of the Philadelphia Eagles tanki… oops … hmmm …”
That loss sealed the NFC East for Washington and eliminated the 6-10 Giants from a division title.
6 wins and still had a chance to make the playoffs on the very last snap of the regular season . And they got a gift from the refs in their own game today.
— Mike Ross (@IronCity_Mike) January 4, 2021
I agree, Mike. And I can’t help but think of what it must’ve been like to be a Miami Dolphins fan Sunday night, scrolling through all the New York sanctimony and gnashing of teeth on Twitter.
I mean, at 6-10, should Giants fans really be proselytizing about “how the game should be played” just so their team could back-in as the worst division winner in NFL history?
Meanwhile, if you are a Miami fan, your team had a surprisingly strong turnaround season. But they got left out of the playoffs at 10-6 because the AFC is so deep and their division had a 13-win champion in Buffalo.
But Giants fans want to throw themselves a pity party after they couldn’t catch 7-9 Washington in their own division or the 8-8 Bears as the last wild card?
What a joke!
Finally, I got a citation from the grammar police, specifically “Officer Beau.”
“You never start a sentence with BUT!!!!!!! If you start a sentence with So, there must be a comma after SO!!!! Dear god man…”
First of all, Beau, your points aren’t entirely true by the letter of the law. And, as a sports columnist, I’m not beholden to the letter of the law anyway. Be that grammar 101 law or AP style.
I adhere to both as much as possible. BUT the goal is to be conversational more than it is to write in accordance to what would get me an A+ on my third grade report card.
Also, I’m pretty sure 10 exclamation points for two words breaks a rule. As does ending that sentence with an ellipsis. As does lifting a standalone word as a reference point example without quotes around it like you did with “so” and “but.”
Furthermore, we can quibble about whether or not your use of “god” should be capitalized and followed with a comma there.
BUT, why bother? My hunch is there are bigger issues in the world to debate right now.
SO, essentially what I’m saying, Beau, is that you can kiss my … (fill in the ellipsis).
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
Categories: Sports | Steelers/NFL | Breakfast With Benz
https://ift.tt/3q145US
Sports
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "U mad, bro?: Steelers fans lash out about position changes, refs, crying New Yorkers - TribLIVE"
Post a Comment