Steelers at Falcons

[den-the-coach]

I do hoping the Steelers start strong this year, though, as they open against the Whiners.

Be one of the few times I will be rooting for the Steelers. Hope they kick the 49ers ass and twice on Sunday.

 

[Tano]

Naw... We were defending Super Bowl Champs with fans like me calling for a repeat. Whether those dreams were realistic or not doesn't matter, seeing our team getting crushed as well as any real hope for the season in the first game was the worst. The capper was seeing one of our Super Bowl stars. Von Miller, celebrating a sack over his Super Bowl teammate was as bad as it gets for me. My love for Von went 180 degrees that day.

After that game - I still had hope. If not for injuries to 4/5 of the OL and playing Evans, I think we go to the playoffs. That destroyed us not the first game.

Not 2009. I knew we were going to be bad and had absolutely zero chance of going to the playoffs.

 

[AZRams]

Opening day against the Eagles back in 2009 or so was the most devastating.

However, I had to laugh at the Rams that game they were so horribly bad.

Especially when the two secondary guys collided not once but TWICE on deep throws that game.

2011.

Steven Jackson had a long TD run on the opening drive (I believe or maybe the second possession) and the whole fucking season was downhill from there...

 

[WestCoastRam]

Preseason is a mixed bag, there's probably certain things that it's not really useful for but having lineman play where they're hitting with pads is probably the most valuable use of it. Probably more useful these days than in the past when you could hit more in camp.

Wish we ran the kinda camp the Chief's do, Reid has what's considered the hardest camp in the NFL... but look at their success.

 

[Tano]

2011.

Steven Jackson had a long TD run on the opening drive (I believe or maybe the second possession) and the whole fucking season was downhill from there...

He got hurt on that TD run too

You're right - it was 2011

However, 2009 had imho an even worse year

1-15 and lost to Seattle 28-0 in the opening game

Those were some awful years

 

[Jacobarch]

Totally disagree. The Rams approach of not playing your first team together for at least a quarter or two during preseason means the team is not prepared to start the season.

Especially in the case of a team with 1/3 ofvthe team never having played together in meaningful games.

Yet McVay has been in the playoffs 4 out of the 6 years he's been HC and to 2 Super bowls and 1 SB victory. All while not playing his starters during the preseason. Sorry but I'll take his approach over a fans. Don't quit your day job.

 

[PhillyRam]

Yet McVay has been in the playoffs 4 out of the 6 years he's been HC and to 2 Super bowls and 1 SB victory. All while not playing his starters during the preseason. Sorry but I'll take his approach over a fans. Don't quit your day job.

Not to mention that in 2018 they got off to an 8-0 start I believe. In 21' they were 7-1. In fact last yr was the first time McVay was ever under 0.500 at any point in the season. They won every opener until last yr and never were even 1-2 or 3-4 etc... always 0.500 or better.

 

[Jacobarch]

Not to mention that in 2018 they got off to an 8-0 start I believe. In 21' they were 7-1. In fact last yr was the first time McVay was ever under 0.500 at any point in the season. They won every opener until last yr and never were even 1-2 or 3-4 etc... always 0.500 or better.

Exactly. Game 1 in 2018 was against the Colts I think the final score was 46 - 9 Rams.

 

[dang]

Totally disagree. The Rams approach of not playing your first team together for at least a quarter or two during preseason means the team is not prepared to start the season.

Especially in the case of a team with 1/3 ofvthe team never having played together in meaningful games.

Totally disagree. With a 17 game season probably going to 18 - so what if starters are a little rusty the first regular season game. Don’t mix our starters against their scrubs only to have some ding dong roll around the ground and snapping Donald or Staffords ligaments. Also save the wear and tear for the regular season. Again it’s a lllloooonnnnggggggggggg regular/playoff season.

 

[Ram65]

This seems to be the theme for the NFL. It's hard not be play it safe with the starters.

As soon as I think of 1-2 series for the starters I think about a potential injury.

 

[AZRams]

He got hurt on that TD run too

You're right - it was 2011

However, 2009 had imho an even worse year

1-15 and lost to Seattle 28-0 in the opening game

Those were some awful years

They both sucked, 2011 only slightly less so. After all, they had the overall #1 in '10 and #2 in'12.

That opening game was absurd. Jackson went down, Amendola went down and they were off to the injury races...

 

[blackbart]

Yet McVay has been in the playoffs 4 out of the 6 years he's been HC and to 2 Super bowls and 1 SB victory. All while not playing his starters during the preseason. Sorry but I'll take his approach over a fans. Don't quit your day job.

Yes because every team is comprised ofvthe same players and can be treated exactly the same each year.

 

[blackbart]

Guess the niners didn’t get the message about preseason games should only be used to decide who makes the cut and it’s too dangerous to play 1’s.

 

[Angry Ram]

There are reasons that for decades all of the teams in the league followed a pattern of getting starters built up in game time during preseason. They can’t do it in practice and they can’t just flip a switch to turn it on on e the season starts.

Yeah and there are reasons that in modern times more and more coaches aren't playing them. This isn't 1970 anymore. This is 2023.

They actually can and do flip a switch. We've already seen it in the past in Sean McVay's time.

Now the money involved and players not wanting to play in preseason is sll about their ridiculous contracts.

I don't care about money. Not sure what this has to do with anything.

Being afraid to have someone hurt is the reason they don’t play, eluded to it yourself.

I didn't allude to anything. I straight out pointed out that a potential injury in a worthless preseason game gonna fuck a team more than this so called "tune up" from a couple basic series.

It waters down the product and Kupp’s hamstring is a dumb comparison. He tweaked that in practice, I guess they shouldn’t do that either.

Preaseason games are watered down product dude. And did you not see the rest of what I typed? If that happened in a meaningless preseason game....why even risk it? What's even the point? Even if they didn't get hurt the plays they run sure as hell ain't gonna be the same they do in the regular season. Teams don't bust out their playbooks in August for the world to see.

Yes because every team is comprised ofvthe same players and can be treated exactly the same each year.

It's not like the 2017 and 2018 teams were the same as the 2020 and 2021 teams.

 

[blackbart]

I don't care about money. Not sure what this has to do with anything.

You’re naive if you don’t think money is the reason they treat the players differently than they did in the early years of the league.

Yeah and there are reasons that in modern times more and more coaches aren't playing them. This isn't 1970 anymore. This is 2023.

Steelers, Carolina, NE, Titans, Colts and niners all started their starting QB and other starters this week.

BTW thanks for telling me what year it is. You’re being a dickhead.

 

[blackbart]