As noted by others Pit fans have a right to be pissed at Blount. After all, BLOUNT is the one who forced their hand and it would suck to see him BENEFIT from not being a team player.
I think we all would feel slighted and full of bitterness if we saw Adalius Thomas going to the Super Bowl in 2009 (and playing a key role).
(edit: message is the same, just cleaning up the typos)
Thank you for this extremely sensible post
I would just add, I think there's a healthy percentage of Steeler fans that' aren't so much 'bitter' about this as they're just shaking their heads at the stupidity of it... I said this in another thread, in ANY job in America, if you generally act like a knucklehead, underperform, and literally *walk off the job* when things don't go your way, you're gonna get canned.
I keep seeing the same argument running through these threads, that Blount pouting and acting extremely immaturely in the face of a bit of adversity -- to the point where he walked out on his own team -- is somehow an indictment of Steelers management. But Blount didn't act immaturely because of mismanagement -- he acted immaturely because he's just not a particularly mature guy. This is something he's shown repeatedly -- from his time at Oregon, through his five different NFL teams in five years. If you're gonna ding Pittsburgh, you'd be better served dinging them for signing him in the first place, with all of his red flags.
Your locker room is the best in the biz, and it doesn't surprise me you can get him to tow the line...but remember he's getting lead dog carries there. Maybe if a Le'Veon Bell-type had emerged as your lead back, relegating Blount to mopup duty, you'd have problems with Blount as well. And I don't think anyone would argue that if he committed the same act for New England -- walking out on his team -- he'd be cut...like, immediately. (And Patriot Nation would probably fully support such an action!)
Ironically enough my FF playoff team might win me a lot of money if Blount has another good game. (What a weird, torturous position for a Pitt fan to be in
)
FWIW I think you guys are going to absolutely smoke Seattle. I was on target in saying here that the Baltimore game would stay within the spread (but sheesh, not in a 35-31 shootout...THAT was surprising) But with Seattle, IMHO they just don't match up particularly well. Their offense seems punchless, and it's hard to imagine them keeping up with NE's scoring ...plus their pass rush simply isn't getting much push this year. That's a bad combination against NE. So, calling my shot: 38-17 Pats.
- lillloyd