Old Men in Sweats! TM
By: Tommy T. & Barry D.
Volume 24
LeVeon Bell contract means Steelers are in serious trouble in 2018! | Terrible Steel!
The Steelers can’t seem to get much right these days. A football team with as much or more talent on their roster than anybody in the NFL keeps stumbling, fumbling, and bumbling as they navigate the ever-changing NFL landscape.
Last year the Steelers struggled with the confusion over the National Anthem more than any other team. After Trump injected himself into the middle of the issue, the NFL had to respond. Many teams came out en masse to show a solidarity against Roger Gooddell and their President. The Steelers botched that show of solidarity like no other team. With giant tackle Alejandro Villanueva coming out of the tunnel and standing for the Anthem… by himself. Alone. No teammate around. Talk about a team coming apart at the seams. Ex-army ranger Villanueva couldn’t diss the flag or the anthem. He just couldn’t do it. We all understood. But the fallout from the incident showed the fractured nature of the Steelers team in the middle of the season. Big Ben Roethlisberger will talk trash about any of his teammates and coaches (constantly ripping ex-OC Todd Haley) at any moment. And he immediately followed with his usual foot-in-mouth comments. The Steelers never really recovered from the Anthem issue.
They had lots of other issues last season. The oft-suspended Martavis Bryant complaining about “touches.” The long-tenured James Harrsion complaining about playing time. Eventually sleeping through meetings and arriving late for games. Yes… ARRIVING LATE FOR GAMES. Harrison was cut by season’s end. But nothing was as complicated as the ongoing saga of Leveon Bell’s contract situation.
The Steelers had a chance to get it right this summer. Having until July 15 to FINALLY come to a longterm agreement with Bell. After hitting the star RB with the franchise tag for the 2nd year in a row the Steelers desperately wanted to avoid the semi-circus of last year’s training camp. With the entire team sweating it out in Pennsylvania while Bell worked out with personal trainers in…. Miami? No team benefits from their star players training on their own during training camp. So GM Kevin Colbert and the Steelers front office needed to fix it this off-season.
But for some reason they couldn’t get it done. Bell will earn $14.5 million on a 2nd year franchise tag while the Steelers reportedly offered 5 years, $70 million with $30 million guaranteed. Bell turned it down and immediately called Penn & Teller to let the shenanigans begin. Bell clearly wanted to be the highest paid player on the team NOT named Big Ben. He clearly wanted more than the $30 million guarantee since he’ll almost certainly make that amount in the next two seasons combined. The Stellers lowballed LeVeon, then they “leaked” their offer to the media to turn public perception against their very own star. The NFL is great about turning the fans against their own players. You’ll never see the NBA, led by the common sensical Adam Silver and an extremely pragmatic ownership group, hanging out one of their own like the Steelers did with Bell.
Roger Goodell and the owners never seem to get it right with their players. How else can you explain the league office almost maniacally pursuing an Ezekiel Elliott suspension for over 18 months while the police sought no charges at all agianst the star RB? Yet Goodell ignored his own chief investigator’s claims that Elliott’s accuser wasn’t even remotely reliable in her claims that she was victimized. Goodell basically insisted Elliott was a problem and told the entire NFL world as much. Goodell did it again with the Brady deflate-gate. The most ridiculous claim of unfair advantage ever. Like every QB in the NFL didn’t “mess” with the ball. But Goodell continually trashes his stars unnecessarily. Only getting away with it because his bosses, the owners, are telling him to do it.
The NFL views their star players as merely pains in the neck. Any time a player gains a little leverage over their teams and owners, the NFL has a way of painting such players in the worst light. Star WRs Odell Beckham Jr and Julio Jones are both unhappy with their current contract situations. Beckham is still on his rookie deal and he’s trying to negotiate an extension before it’s time. Jones has a big contract but simply wants more. Nothing unusual about a man who wants to get paid more money. I don’t have a problem with getting paid more money. Do you? But we’re supposed to despise OBJ and Julio. That’s the way Goodell and his owners set it all up. They make each player’s contract situation a very public debate hoping the majority of us turn against the young, loud, over-confident player.
The Steelers head into training camp this month with the same problems they had last season. In fact, maybe even a little worse. Now Bell might not show up until days before game 1 in September. Big Mouth Ben will surely be dropping little backhanded gems to the media every chance he gets, while Antonio Brown isn’t exactly Steve Largent quiet. The Steelers are a crazy talented team. Even after trading Bryant to the Raiders they still have a WR named JuJu and a bunch of other top notch pass catchers. They even have a couple very able replacements for Bell. They have lots of top draft picks all over the defense. JJ Watt’s little brother TJ (of course) is primed for a breakout year, even after revealing his 8,000 calorie per day diet. And they have the greatest home field advantage in the league. No team has a wider disparity of numbers between home and away than the Steelers. And above all else the Steelers get to play in the worst division in the NFL. Come on, any division with the Clowns and the Bungles has to be at the bottom. The Steelers get four free wins a year.
But they screwed it up again with their best player. You can be sure Bell will be missing games here and there with minor groin/hamstring/calf injuries. They won’t be real injuries, but Bell will not risk it all for a team that won’t pay him what he’s worth. Once Bell starts begging out of games Big Ben will start with the comments. Maybe even suggesting his own retirement like he does after every time he has a poor performance. Yup, these are not your daddy’s Steelers. These Steelers are a damn As The World Turns episodic. The Rooney family are “old” money. Therefore, they are one of the old regime of owners in the NFL. The Hunts, Maras, Rooneys, Adams, Bidwells, Irsays. The owners who have had the NFL in their families for generations. Those owners don’t care about the players. That’s why the Krafts, Luries, Allens, and Bowlens have won more Super Bowls over the last ten years.
-OMIS
OMIS: “PREACHING SPORTS KNOWLEDGE FOR A LIFETIME!”