The difference between the Bills and the Steelers

[ghz in pittsburgh]

You can point to the owners, you can point to the coaches. To me it's simple: the draft. A micro-view of the last 5 drafts - 1st round, both had 5 first round choices. In 3of the 5 years the Steelers were drafting behind the Bills.
The Bills had
Clements - I rate him as near pro-ball level
Williams - a bust
McGahee - a starter
Evans - a starter
Losman - inadequate so far

The Steelers have
Casey Hampton - pro baller, top 2 NTs in NFL
Kandall Simmons - Pro ball guard
Polomalu - pro ball superstar in the making
Roethlisberger - superstar in the making
Heath Miller - a starter, already making waves (6TD, 459 yards, 39 rec in rookie year, and the Bills's top 2005 TD catcher is Evans's 7TD)

What does this tell you? Draft, draft, and draft.

And don't tell me we can get these kind of players from free agency. Let alone how much you have to pay for the services of these players, they may not be available period. And the Steelers enjoy these players coming into their prime and on the cheap, too.

Draft is what makes or breaks a team. That is the truth.

On 1st round alone, since Donahoe left the Steelers, they drafted Plexco Burress plus those guys in the first round and Plexco is a solid starter borderline star as well. Now look at the 6 first round picks before that - when Donahoe was calling shots in Pittsburgh, they had Charles Johnson, Mark Bruener, Jamain Stephens, Chad Scott, Alan Faneca, and Troy Edwards. That's where I see similarities to our Bills draft the last 5 years, one or two hits, dotted with misses and busts. No wonder the Steelers would miss playoffs 3 years in a row by the end of that time. After Donahoe's exit, they got 6 years in a row of hits, and they are superbowl champs!

This is really we Bills fans should be hoping for, not FAs, bad calls, etc.: we want good drafts, we want consecutive good drafts. And Levy should be judged as such.

[Mr. Pink]

We won't mention that the Steelers are a RUN first team apparently and where have all their running backs come from? Free agency and trade. Willie Parker-FA Duce Staley-FA Jerome Bettis-Trade with the Rams.

Point is, they drafted NONE of these guys and are a team based around the running game. Yet they've built mainly through the draft? RIGHT!

[The King]

Great Post ghz

[feelthepain]

You can point to the owners, you can point to the coaches. To me it's simple: the draft. A micro-view of the last 5 drafts - 1st round, both had 5 first round choices. In 3of the 5 years the Steelers were drafting behind the Bills.
The Bills had
Clements - I rate him as near pro-ball level
Williams - a bust
McGahee - a starter
Evans - a starter
Losman - inadequate so far

The Steelers have
Casey Hampton - pro baller, top 2 NTs in NFL
Kandall Simmons - Pro ball guard
Polomalu - pro ball superstar in the making
Roethlisberger - superstar in the making
Heath Miller - a starter, already making waves (6TD, 459 yards, 39 rec in rookie year, and the Bills's top 2005 TD catcher is Evans's 7TD)

What does this tell you? Draft, draft, and draft.

And don't tell me we can get these kind of players from free agency. Let alone how much you have to pay for the services of these players, they may not be available period. And the Steelers enjoy these players coming into their prime and on the cheap, too.

Draft is what makes or breaks a team. That is the truth.

On 1st round alone, since Donahoe left the Steelers, they drafted Plexco Burress plus those guys in the first round and Plexco is a solid starter borderline star as well. Now look at the 6 first round picks before that - when Donahoe was calling shots in Pittsburgh, they had Charles Johnson, Mark Bruener, Jamain Stephens, Chad Scott, Alan Faneca, and Troy Edwards. That's where I see similarities to our Bills draft the last 5 years, one or two hits, dotted with misses and busts. No wonder the Steelers would miss playoffs 3 years in a row by the end of that time. After Donahoe's exit, they got 6 years in a row of hits, and they are superbowl champs!

This is really we Bills fans should be hoping for, not FAs, bad calls, etc.: we want good drafts, we want consecutive good drafts. And Levy should be judged as such.


Good drafts don't seem to help the Texans,Browns, or Chargers or several others. It is important to have good drafts, but it's more then drafting. It's FA signing's and coaching and chemistry and luck. The Steelers were very lucky in a couple of playoff games last year and the coaching is excellent plus the FA's they picked up to fill needed area's. It's the whole package.

[Dicknoze69]

We won't mention that the Steelers are a RUN first team apparently and where have all their running backs come from? Free agency and trade. Willie Parker-FA Duce Staley-FA Jerome Bettis-Trade with the Rams.

Point is, they drafted NONE of these guys and are a team based around the running game. Yet they've built mainly through the draft? RIGHT!

Parker, who is their starter, was an undrafted free agent. Therefore, he's been with the Steelers since he entered the NFL. They might as well have drafted him.

[patmoran2006]

EVERY good team in the NFL has to do BOTH well.. Sign a few KEY role FA's AND draft well..

NO TEAM is going to be consistently good without doing BOTH.

[Devin]

I think a lot of it is our coaching. I agree drafting is important, but we have had solid players via draft. We havent had an adequate coach since Phillips.

We are on our 4th coach since Levy, while the Steelers have had the same guy since what 92 or 93?

Consistancy is key imo. The Steelers arent a "revolving door team" they keep the same guys year after year. Couple that with competant management and a young, long-time coach and almost any team will succeed.

[HAMMER]

EVERY good team in the NFL has to do BOTH well.. Sign a few KEY role FA's AND draft well..

NO TEAM is going to be consistently good without doing BOTH.

I agree but they don't have to be marquee free agents to make it work. Find the gold in the ore.

[patmoran2006]

I think a lot of it is our coaching. I agree drafting is important, but we have had solid players via draft. We havent had an adequate coach since Phillips.

We are on our 4th coach since Levy, while the Steelers have had the same guy since what 92 or 93?

Consistancy is key imo. The Steelers arent a "revolving door team" they keep the same guys year after year. Couple that with competant management and a young, long-time coach and almost any team will succeed.

One of the better points I've heard in a long time.

[patmoran2006]

I agree but they don't have to be marquee free agents to make it work. Find the gold in the ore.

Your right.. Here's the thing though.

For ALL MY WHINING, I have NEVER clamored for us to go out and get a bunch of big name players.. NEVER.

I wanted TWO players from DAY ONE of FA, anything else was a bonus to me..

I wanted the tough proven pro bowl tackle Runyan here to man tackle for 3 years while we develop a rookie, and I wanted Stephen Neal to play guard.

I'm not sure either of them are marquee players.. Perhaps.. But those are NEEDED players.

Personally I woulda kept Adams but that's hindsight.. The rest of the players I didnt care about : Bentley, Schaffer, Archuleta (who's ridiculously overated) El, all of them..

[Saratoga Slim]

Your right.. Here's the thing though.

For ALL MY WHINING, I have NEVER clamored for us to go out and get a bunch of big name players.. NEVER.

I wanted TWO players from DAY ONE of FA, anything else was a bonus to me..

I wanted the tough proven pro bowl tackle Runyan here to man tackle for 3 years while we develop a rookie, and I wanted Stephen Neal to play guard.

I'm not sure either of them are marquee players.. Perhaps.. But those are NEEDED players.

Personally I woulda kept Adams but that's hindsight.. The rest of the players I didnt care about : Bentley, Schaffer, Archuleta (who's ridiculously overated) El, all of them..

Neal and Runyon are reaonable requests. I agree that we "need" at least one solid free agent on the OL to feel better going into the draft. Not sure if I think Neal is the guy, but options are limited. Who knows what kind of contract Neal is looking for, he might be looking for a whole lot more than he, as a "good" 30-year old player deserves. He kind of feels like the Mark Campbell of guards.

I lived in Philly for a while, watch a lot of Eagles games, and Runyon is a tough SOB. he'd be a fantastic 3-year stopgap IF he was willing to leave the jersey corridor for anything approaching a reasonable contract, which I don't think he will. I think he'd need a real fat paycheck to come here.

which I feel leaves us where we are. its slim pickins this year.

[justasportsfan]

I wanted the tough proven pro bowl tackle Runyan here to man tackle for 3 years while we develop a rookie, and I wanted Stephen Neal to play guard.

Didn't Runyan say" write a contract and I'll visit" ? Why didn't the Pats keep Neal? I'm sure you'll tell us how wrong BB is in doing so.

[patmoran2006]

Didn't Runyan say" write a contract and I'll visit" ? Why didn't the Pats keep Neal? I'm sure you'll tell us how wrong BB is in doing so.

Runyan, you heard this fact from where?

Neal, if you havent figured it out, NE is F'd with the salary cap, kind of ironic for a team that builds so much through the draft, isnt it??

And for the record, they are about to resign Neal anyway.

[justasportsfan]

Runyan, you heard this fact from where?

Neal, if you havent figured it out, NE is F'd with the salary cap, kind of ironic for a team that builds so much through the draft, isnt it??

And for the record, they are about to resign Neal anyway.See the question mark? I was asking a question. I'm not sure if it was Runyan or Bentley who said that.

As for Neal, if it's true that the pats are resigning him, why didn't the fins sign him after his visit? Saban must be as stupid as Marv or the rest of the league as well for not grabbing him.

Right now I'll go with NE39 opinion over yours when it come to Neal.

[patmoran2006]

I never said I was stephen Neal's personal adviser but it doesnt take Peter King to know that he's a big upgrade over Anderson. NE probably has a lot more OL options than we do , hence why they've been more patient to see what Neal does before now.

Miami might have not signed him in part due to the fact they are desperately trying to get Lavar Arrington to play there after losing out on Peterson and couldnt afford both.

And I dont know how the hell that Runyan rumor started, I sure as hell never said he said anything like that. Until proven otherwise, that's a very stupid rumor.

[SABURZFAN]

the only difference that i saw was pittsburgh got better when they got rid of Donna Ho and we got worse when we got him.

[patmoran2006]

90% of the mistakes made in this organization has been with who Wilson has hired as GM, post-Polian, who in turn hire a string of bum coaches, we will have to see if the trend stops continuing.

That's why I get a good chuckle when I see these Pitt/Den/NE "pattern your team after" threads. I would gladly do it.. Just gimme BB, Shanahan or Cowher.. Or any coach that will last for more than three years for that matter.

Anyone going to keep a straight face and tell me this organization will be led by levy/jauron for the next 10-12 years, as is the case with those three other teams?

[AndreReed83]

I won't say 10-12 years, because that's extremely rare. Shanahan and Cowher have both had seasons that put them in danger of losing their jobs, that probably would have gotten them fired with other owners. I don't know about Levy but I could see Levy/Jauron around 4-5 years and then new GM/Jauron around for a while more. We really don't know, we should probably wait and see how the play on the field goes before we decide how long they'll have their jobs.