U mad, bro? Readers vent about Steelers coaching, NFL officiating, Minkah Fitzpatrick doubters

Even in the wake of a good Steelers win over the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, it appears there’s plenty of venting to be done.

And this is the place to do it.

Every week.

“U mad, bro?” today zeroes in on NFL officials, Steelers coaches, and anyone who has anything short of wild, unbridled optimism for the Black and Gold.

“Kako Mo” would like to disagree with my take on the officiating in the Steelers win.

Calm your jets there big dog. The refs are the reason the Steelers won today.

Keep that in mind....

— Kako Mo (@Kako13473885) November 3, 2019

I’m sure T.J. Watt, Steven Nelson, Mike Tomlin, and his challenge flags would disagree….

…. “Big Dog.”

Ralph emailed from Ohio. He wasn’t pleased with the results on Sunday even though the Steelers beat the Colts.

“We were lucky, very lucky to win. This is just not a Steeler team that I have been fortunate to watch for 50 years. They need a coaching change. Either Mike Tomlin or the OC & DC. Or all three. I always respected Tomlin before. But I’m starting to believe that he is just the absolute best press conference head coach ever and not too much more especially on game day. The OC and DC to me are just not nearly consistent enough for winning football.”

Ralph, regarding the coaching complaints, I see where you are coming from based on last year’s results. Or other years where the team had better health and a more accomplished roster.

But this year, you’re screaming into the void. They are 4-4 in a season where they have played without their injured quarterback, running back and star defensive lineman. Their starting tight end and left guard have also been injured.

It’s hard to complain about Keith Butler’s defense, given the way that unit has played. And they won’t fire Tomlin or Randy Fichtner when they have to work with a quarterback the front office may have over-drafted in the first place.

Demanding a coaching change was a hill worth fighting for this offseason. Unless they really fall off the tracks in the second half of the 2019 season, though, you are wasting your breath.

Jamie has a complaint about Mike Tomlin’s challenge-flag skills.

Or lack thereof.

“Did you think it was foolish of Tomlin to not challenge the Samuels’ touchdown just before our first field goal? I thought the replay showed that the knee of Samuels was on top of the defender as the ball reached the plane.”

Maybe. It was 50-50. More like 40-60. Against.

And Tomlin loses almost every close challenge.

That’s why I don’t think he should’ve bothered challenging the pass interference plays.

To me, those decisions were the bigger problem.

Stan is upset at those of us who doubted the wisdom of dealing a first-round pick to the Miami Dolphins for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.

“One thing that really has me confused are these nay-sayers regarding the Steelers giving up a first round pick to Miami for Fitzpatrick. The Steelers needed help in the defensive backfield so they got a proven player that was taken in the 2017 draft in the first round at pick number 11. All the Steelers did was move the 2020 draft up by 6-7 months to get their number one guy. I’m very glad we have him and he isn’t a rental player. Keep up the good work.”

Well, Stan. It looks like I’m going to have to walk that back with a lot of other people.

If the Steelers keep winning, that is. At least half of their last eight games.

So long as the Steelers don’t bottom out — and Fitzpatrick appears to be a big reason why they won’t — then the pick will be worthwhile.

I never doubted how good Fitzpatrick would be. The risk I pointed out was that the Steelers could have been so bad without Ben Roethlisberger that they may have passed up a top-ten selection to — in your words — draft a safety seven months early.

However, it appears a flukishly bad slate of NFL teams won’t let that happen. And Fitzpatrick is rendering moot my concerns about the price of his acquisition.

Nate seems to think I was a little too critical in the wake of the Steelers win against the Colts.

Listening to Pittsburgh sports talk radio must be a horrible, horrible experience.

— Nate Pigott (@npigott) November 4, 2019

Eh, no worse than going into my interactions from fans on Twitter.