U mad, bro? Steelers fans lash back at criticism of draft strategy, JuJu Smith-Schuster - TribLIVE

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The black and gold pom-poms are out in force for “U mad, bro?” this week.

Mark Madden and I get an earful from Steelers fans. And the message is clear: “Yinz shalt not be critical of ‘dem Stillers, n’at!”

Nary a discouraging word is allowed to be uttered within the boundaries of these three rivers!

Well, until they lose their first game of the season. Maybe even the preseason. Then all bets are off. At least, that’s how it usually works.

Fan responses tend to look mighty different from March to September.

Nonetheless, it’s only May. So the floor is yours, Steelers Nation. Defend the wall!

Nolan thinks the Steelers are immune from any criticism when it comes to the NFL Draft.

Or, anything else, apparently.

I think I’ll trust the management/ownership group that has 6 Super Bowls over some bum that works for the Trib. If you’re so good why don’t you go make millions working for an NFL front office?

— nolan hindman (@nolanhindman) April 26, 2020

Pfft! You say that like I don’t make millions as it is. In fact, I’m not even writing this response right now. I have people typing it for me as I dictate the text. It takes a little longer than I’d like sometimes, though, because as I’m fanned and fed grapes, my mouth gets full. And my assistant can’t properly understand me.

But I see you working, Nolan. I know you wrote “management/ownership” so you could make it sound like this year’s draft was somehow connected to the one in 1974 or something. After all, the Rooney family still owns the team.

You’re stretching awfully hard. Don’t strain a muscle reaching for your keyboard.

Were Mike Tomlin and Kevin Colbert in charge for the first five Super Bowls? If so, that’s news to me. And probably to the them, too. Especially considering that Colbert was still in high school when the Steelers won their first Super Bowl and Tomlin was two years old.

By the way, you do realize they haven’t won a playoff game the last three years, don’t you? That has failed to happen seven of the last nine seasons overall.

What’s more relevant? That reality? Or Super Bowl IX?

More grapes, please!

One of our “First Call” items this week was about DraftKings’ odds for NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Tampa Bay tight end Rob Gronkowski is favored, after sitting out a year in retirement following his time with the New England Patriots.

Gronk is at +200. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is next on the board at +350.

Craig thinks Gronk should be withheld from consideration.

“Maybe it’s just me, but Gronk shouldn’t be considered for comeback player. That should be for players who are coming back from injury, not retirement.”

Craig, Mario Lemieux and Michael Jordan would like a word.

I got an email about the podcast I did with Mark Madden on Monday. During the conversation we talked about the future of the Steelers quarterback position. He suggested Mitch Trubisky as a potential replacement for Roethlisberger in a few years after potentially coming on board as a reserve next year.

I got an email about it from Dana who hates that idea.

“Mitch Trubisky (stinks)! I sadly watch him in Chicago.

“He is NOT a fan favorite. Can’t read defenses. Locks in on his receiver. He has poor judgement.

“Duck Hodges would look like a Pro Bowler in comparison to Trubisky.”

Well, Dana, I agree with a lot of that critique of Trubisky. But I won’t use his status of not being a “fan favorite” as part of my analysis.

In Pittsburgh, if we went by “fan favorite” status to determine an athlete’s worth, Terry Bradshaw would’ve been benched forever. Also, Marc-Andre Fleury would’ve been traded in the summer of 2012, and Dave Parker’s name would’ve been erased from the 1979 World Series roster long before he left the team.

That said, agreed. At best, Trubisky is a back-up.

At best.

Speaking of our podcasts, “JJ COLD” emailed after last week’s episode. During our chat, Mark Madden said that JuJu Smith-Schuster wouldn’t be back in 2021.

“Why the hell wouldn’t the Steelers bring back JuJu?! That’s like saying ‘Don’t bring back Big Ben.’”

No. It isn’t. It’s not like saying that at all.

Saying, “don’t bring back” a quarterback who has been excellent in two of his first three seasons is insanity. In fact, that was exactly the case with Roethlisberger. He was great for his first two years. Then rocky in his third season.

But there’s a difference between a team having one quarterback throwing the ball, as opposed to four or five options vying to catch that ball.

Roethlisberger rebounded in his fourth year. If Smith-Schuster does, too, then maybe the Steelers will reconsider.

But based on how they just spent their top draft choice on a wide receiver and how Smith-Schuster is likely to ask for top-receiver money even though he has failed to show that kind of production so far, it’s not ridiculous to suggest they might move on from him next spring.

In fact, it’s entirely possible.

Rene didn’t like my column about how the Steelers draft sent certain messages to individual players on defense who are currently on the roster. The response was posted on comments section.

“In case the sportswriter forgot, training camp is not next week. There will be additional free agents that will get cut. I expect the Steelers to pick up another player that will give them depth at certain positions.”

Shoot. The sportswriter did forget. The sportswriter was under the impression that no additional roster moves could ever be made. And because of the pandemic, the sportswriter assumed the NFL actually thought it was a good idea to move training camp UP to May.

The sportswriter appreciates the Facebook commenter’s cogent, insightful and not at all passive-aggressive response. Not to mention the extremely useful feedback.

Ron also thought my column was a master stroke of sports journalism and creativity.

“Too negative, no insight or respect to the coaching staff’s strategy. Too many intangibles not noticed by this malcontent writer. He really dislikes the Steelers.”

No, Ron. I like the Steelers a great deal. I just hate the comments section.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

Categories: Sports | Steelers/NFL | Breakfast With Benz