U mad, bro?: Steelers fans react to Mike Tomlin's Super Bowl XLV comments; Penguins fans refocus on offseason

Many of our readers did NOT like my column regarding what Mike Tomlin said about the Super Bowl XLV loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Others are still upset about Chase Claypool’s recent comments. Some folks are fretting about the Penguins offseason.

And then there’s at least one of you that is looking at the bright side of Le’Veon Bell’s boxing career.

We address all these highly pressing matters in this week’s “U mad, bro?”

Jerome sent me this two-word response after I posted a column regarding Mike Tomlin’s recent conversation with former Steeler Ryan Clark on “The Pivot” podcast about the franchise’s Super Bowl loss to the Packers at the end of the 2010 season.

“Mendenhall fumbled.”

He did? I wasn’t aware. Oh, wait. I do seem to recall writing something about that.

Jerome, neither the column nor Tomlin’s conversation was a referendum about why — or how —the game was lost. This wasn’t about blame assignment. Tomlin’s comments were about what could have been for the players on that team who were on the cusp of winning a third Super Bowl ring. And my comments were about what has gone wrong for the Steelers in their fruitless attempts to get back to another Super Bowl ever since that defeat.

Mendenhall didn’t fumble away the Tim Tebow game or the home playoff losses to the Jaguars or Browns.

You can only blame the guy for so much.

Jock takes umbrage with how I recapped that Super Bowl defeat as well.

“(The) funny part to me is that you and most all Steeler fans only remember Mendenhall’s fumble, not Big Ben’s first half picks that left the Steelers down 21-3, essentially on life support against a good team with a great QB. But wait, a great defensive effort gets us back into the game and we get the ball back with two minutes of clock remaining, TD to win! Ben fails to get even a first down. Too bad for Mendenhall.”

Jock, quite recently, I did point out that the fumble by Mendenhall wasn’t the only reason why Pittsburgh lost. But stop acting like he is being unfairly blamed. He fumbled. It was a huge play. Period.

Secondly, are you intentionally ignoring that Ben Roethlisberger was hit as he was throwing one of those two picks?

Also, “a great defensive effort”? Are you serious? A great defense doesn’t allow 10 points in the fourth quarter. It doesn’t allow a 55-yard TD march right after the fumble. It doesn’t allow an 11-play field goal drive to the 5-yard line after the offense scored a TD (plus a two-point conversion). Also, if Green Bay doesn’t have half a dozen drops in that game, it’s not even close in the fourth quarter.

Oh, and the Steelers did get a first down on the first snap once they got the ball back with 2:07 left. Roethlisberger to Heath Miller for 15 yards. They started on the 13 because one of the players on that great defense (Keyaron Fox) took a dumb penalty on the kickoff.

It looks like you are the one with the selective memory here, Jock. Not me.

Walter wants to make it a hat trick of hate for that column.

“I usually enjoy reading your work, but I certainly didn’t appreciate your obvious back-handed slap at the conclusion of your recent article.

I am not always a big supporter of Tomlin, but for you to judge his emotions isn’t supported by your training. It was a great article (about) someone who experienced a significant loss and talked about it publicly. If I were to guess, he did that in the hope someone would benefit who had experienced something hurtful in their lives.”

I don’t understand your premise. What are you trying to say? I’m not allowed to comment on what he said because I’m not an NFL coach? Or because I’m not a mental health care worker with a degree in psychology?

Are you either of those things? Because you seem to feel empowered enough to attach meaning to his quotes by asserting he said what he did on the podcast “in the hope someone would benefit who had experienced something hurtful in their lives.”

I don’t. I just think he was talking about how hard it was to lose a big game. That’s it. The clip I heard sounded like pure football talk to me. I think you are trying to make it sound deeper than what it is.

Thom Sr. has some thoughts on Chase Claypool’s prediction that he will be a top-three to top-five receiver in the NFL this year.

“I am an absolute Chase Claypool fan. He has all the attributes to being a really big time NFL receiver. My suggestion to an immature Chase Claypool is as follows: Let your actions speak so loud we cannot hear what you say!”

Agreed, Thom. As I’ve previously stated, I appreciate athletes with confidence. But I roll my eyes at false bravado. Claypool’s comments check the second box, in my opinion.

However, my guess is, even if Claypool’s actions speak as loudly as you are suggesting, he’ll speak even louder about what he’s doing so that we will all hear him.

Bet on it.

Let’s get to a Penguins comment. Jim thinks we are talking about the wrong guys when it comes to moving certain Penguins off the roster.

If you want to improve the cap, you move Zucker and Carter. They are marginal players that are overpaid and should be easily replaced.

— Jim_Gardner (@JimGardner24) June 10, 2022

Not that I entirely disagree, Jim. But, because they are “overpaid,” it’s not a matter of them being “easily replaced.”

It’s that they can’t be easily moved. I don’t know who would want Jason Zucker’s contract.

But I do know at least one guy who wants Jeff Carter’s contract — Ron Hextall. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have signed him to an extension in the middle of last season. I’m not sure why that was such a priority for him to do given the circumstances.

Finally, this guy shares a thought about Le’Veon Bell beginning his boxing career by fighting fellow free-agent running back Adrian Peterson.

Can't believe Bell went to the carnival celebrity boxing route this quickly

Not surprised he'd do that, but he isn't with the likes of Horshack, Greg Brady or Bonaducci quite yet

— DeweyEye (@DeweyEye93446) June 28, 2022

Le’V versus Arnold Horshack in celebrity boxing? Oh, what a fight that would have been.

Sadly, Ron Palillo passed away 10 years ago. Maybe one of the other Sweathogs is available?

Lookin’ at you, Travolta!