Pitt fans bitter about Blount

Times were simpler in this forumn when we could just mock Steelers fans and make Blount jokes

Re: Afailius Thomas: the Pats literally couldn't cut him in 2009 because of clauses in the soon-to-expire CBA.

Thomas was smart enough to figure that out, but not smart enough to realize that his act would cost him his career entirely.

lillloyd said:

I'm not sure TBH. One thing lost in all of this was his actual on-the-field performance -- outside of some garbage carries against a deflated, beaten CAR team in week 2, he was averaging less than 3 yards a carry, and was coming up small in situational/short yardage situations. Bell was having the game of his career, and Bell is such a terrific all-around back (not just running but catching and pass pro as well) that the coaches may have been reluctant to take him out, particularly when he was getting close to a significant milestone (200 yards).

A couple of telling signs that Blount's final act was 'the straw that broke the camel's back' rather than some sort of isolated incident: first, the swiftness of the release (at a NEED position no less - remember, the Steelers knew they needed depth there, it's why they signed Blount in the first place), and secondly the reports that came pouring out from Steelers beat writers that this had been going on for a month or more. It seemed like he was already in the doghouse well before he walked out on the team.

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I wonder if it annoys Blount that teams insist on trying to use him as a short yardage back? Without fail people always seem to view him as a plodding big back and it's just not his way of running at all

meatface said:

I wonder if it annoys Blount that teams insist on trying to use him as a short yardage back? Without fail people always seem to view him as a plodding big back and it's just not his way of running at all[

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lillloyd said:

LOL. Hopefully for everyone's sakes this will be out of the news cycle by mid-week.

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So...that was definitely NOT the case. Wow. When this story first broke, I thought it would be remembered as a bit of trivia that lasted a day or two in the news.

If you guys get a chance to read the Banks article in SI (concerning "controversy fatigue"), that pretty much wraps up how I feel about this (and probably how a lot of fans, who don't have a dog in this fight, feel). Sure, I think if the Pats are proven to have deliberately manipulated footballs, I suppose they should be punished. (And I expect if that's the case, they'll get a relatively harsh punishment, which as many have noted will have as much to do with the NFL's current post-Ray Rice climate--plus Goodell's history with BB--as the underlying issue).

But all 3 major news networks led off with this story yesterday; that's gotta be a sign of the apocalypse, right?!

The news networks are a kind of mirror, just feeding back what we want to see...so something's very wrong with us. I personally don't subscribe to the notion that there are any anti-Patriots conspiracies afoot, or that teams and/or journalists are somehow ganging up on NE, as frankly I think that gives way too much credit to these guys. I'm not sure if it's the media stoking the fires of the mob, or the media simply following an already-existing mob mentality, but either way they're just following the latest shiny object, like a dog chasing a car bumper. It's certainly not limited to the Pats, or sports for that matter.

I'm annoyed mostly at the league at this point for dragging this out -- make a decision already. This is a great SB matchup--deal out the punishment (or don't), so we can move on and talk football.

meatface said:

I wonder if it annoys Blount that teams insist on trying to use him as a short yardage back? Without fail people always seem to view him as a plodding big back and it's just not his way of running at all

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LOL so true. In short yardage this year there were a couple of plays where was dancing around like a 180lb scatback...and lost like 8 yards.

While Blount might be annoyed, I'm sure teams are annoyed as well that he can't shelve his fantastic footwork (and he DOES have great feet for such a big back!) and just drive the pile when it's 3rd and 1.

I am hoping Blount has a great SB but he is the most inconsistent RB in the NFL I am happy his a pat but he will go from having a 15 att 100 game to a 10 att 12 yard game so I am not shocked that pitt cut him cause they had a elite stating RB just bad luck that he got hurt before the playoffs