Sweed Hurt; Timmons reinjures ankle

[PghSteel-43]

Sweed is a tool.

He's done in my opinion.  He already lost the third spot from a rookie and rightfully so in my opinion.  I'll take Wallace and McDonald.  It will be interesting to see how many looks he get's on Sunday night.  

Tomlin basically stated that McDonald is getting the bump up and IF Sweed get's the chance again he better make that play.  Can't wait to see how that works out if he does.   :rolleyes:

[Big Virgil]

Sweed is dead to me!!!!!!

[Preacherman0]

Why not?

You know damn well why not.  steelsouth.wordpress. com

Yeah, I know.  I'm shameless.

I hear what Finny, Jonzr, et al are saying.  But I also have to believe that Sweed and Mendy are not showing a lot of focus and commitment in practice, or they would be getting more shots.  Hard to put guys out there who aren't giving the effort every day.

Still, I have a hard time giving up on a guy who has the ability to blow by defensive backs like that.

[give'emthaboot]

I've seen enough to say this.  How do we expect Sweed to ever develop consistency when he never gets any looks... until, that is, critical EZ receptions?  "OK, we're NEVER going to throw to you, but when we do, it will be with all the pressure in the world to make critical TD catches!"  That said, Sweed needs to hang the fuck onto the ball.  That's your job, dildo.  So I'll put this evenly on the backs of the guy who can't hang onto the ball, and the coaches who are putting him in a shitty situation.

See also, Mendenhall, Rashard.

I was going to post pretty much this exact same thing in the Gameday thread, but didn't want to be burned at the stake for defending Sweed (who has apparently become the devil around here lately).  Kudos to your bravery, sir.

There's obviously no excuse for dropping a perfectly thrown ball, but he NEVER sees the field except for big plays they call just for him.  He's unable to get in the flow of the game and probably isn't all that in sync with Ben.  I know Wallace has been great and all, but how about use Sweed on 10-15 snaps a game and slowly work him into the offense instead of having him stand around on the sidelines all day and then throwing him to the fire and expecting him to make the big play.  Ignoring him and putting him in the proverbial "doghouse" isn't going to work with Sweed, they tried that last year.  Why not take a different approach and allow the kid to build some confidence?

I know that play on Sunday would have probably been the difference, but this team has much bigger issues right now than Limas fucking Sweed.  And it starts with the coaching staff.

[give'emthaboot]

Sweed is a tool.

He's done in my opinion.  He already lost the third spot from a rookie and rightfully so in my opinion.  I'll take Wallace and McDonald.  It will be interesting to see how many looks he get's on Sunday night.  

Tomlin basically stated that McDonald is getting the bump up and IF Sweed get's the chance again he better make that play.  Can't wait to see how that works out if he does.   :rolleyes:

McDonald is Ced Wilson 2.0.  He's a body, and insurance policy in case Ward or Holmes goes down.  He won't make a meaningful catch all season.

Like it or not folks, Sweed is the future of this receiving corps, and Tomlin is absolutely going about his development the wrong way.  I completely agree with Finny all the way on this.  Sweed is a 2nd year player and he shouldn't have to feel like every ball thrown his way could be his last.  It's ridiculous.  Obviously, he's brought a lot of this on himself, but you can't just hang him out to dry and let him rot on the roster until his rookie contract expires.  You have to make do with what you have and help him get over this mental block.

If Sweed and/or Mendy bust out, the coaching staff has no one to blame but themselves.

[PghSteel-43]

What Tomlin and Sweed's own teammate for that matter had to say yesterday...

The competition for the No. 3 spot at wide receiver is over.

And the loser of the battle that had been waged since the start of training camp may not even be in the Steelers' immediate plans.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that Limas Sweed could be dropped from the rotation at wide receiver because of hands that can make concrete look soft by comparison.

Sweed couldn't hang onto what would have been a 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the third quarter of Sunday's 23-20 loss to the Bengals.

Drops have plagued the second-year wide receiver, and Tomlin is admittedly concerned about the miscues having a lingering effect on Sweed.

"He's quite frankly not catching the football when he's deep down the field, and he's got some tape that shows that," Tomlin said at his weekly news conference. "If and when he gets the next opportunity to make a similar play, he better make it."

Sweed, a second-round draft pick in 2008, may not get an opportunity to redeem himself Sunday against San Diego.

Tomlin said he will consider putting sure-handed veteran Shaun McDonald ahead of Sweed on the depth chart<"At the end of the day, I can't go out there and make plays for him," Ward said when asked what he can do to help Sweed. "His playmaking ability has got to turn on. We've got to keep working and tell Limas he's got to take advantage of the opportunities you get and keep it moving."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_645615.html

[aj_law]

Like it or not folks, Sweed is the future of this receiving corps, and Tomlin is absolutely going about his development the wrong way.  I completely agree with Finny all the way on this.  Sweed is a 2nd year player and he shouldn't have to feel like every ball thrown his way could be his last.  It's ridiculous.  Obviously, he's brought a lot of this on himself, but you can't just hang him out to dry and let him rot on the roster until his rookie contract expires.  You have to make do with what you have and help him get over this mental block.

If Sweed and/or Mendy bust out, the coaching staff has no one to blame but themselves.

Wow.  Um, wow.  I couldn't disagree more.

To me, Sweed has shown nothing

[Preacherman0]

	Logged

We have traded Christ for the religion of Christianity.

[Finnegans Wake]

In the Bears game, Mendy had THREE fucking carries.  I seriously doubt it's the swollen ego syndrome. 

As for Sweed, I've said before and will say again, the SITUATIONS we use him in are all wrong.  Want him to be the big RZ threat?  Fine.  But get him the ball in low-pressure situations first, get him acclimated to catching the rock at game speed, over the middle, short outs, whatever.  Then let him go for the spotlight grabs again.  Right now, he's 100% pass/fail, and it's too damned much.  If the tables were flipped, and we had Wallace ONLY back to catch the big EZ TD, he might have the yips as well.  And Sweed might be the guy with 7 for 100+ in a game.  I put this on Arians, and on Tomlin.  But of course, Sweed can't keep dropping the fucking ball, either.  He's got to show it, NOW.

[vinman3]

I have been thinking about your utilization of Sweed theory Finny. I have to respectfully disagree with the current use of him, I think the coaching staff are putting him in good situations. In those situations where he is shitting himself, he is wide the f open. What kind of pressure is that? The catch he dropped in the end zone against Cincy, they had the lead. Where is the pressure of catching a ball when he is wide open, and in the lead? He has got to catch that ball, especially if he wants more opportunities to play. He is a receiver, his has only two jobs on pass plays, get open and catch the ball. He has great skill at getting open, but has hands like Ike Taylor. If he cannot catch the ball, he shouldn't be given more opportunities to not catch the ball. Maybe it is a concentration thing, probably is. Maybe if he was more involved he would concentrate more. Maybe. We don't know how he is in practice, all we know is that when his is wide open, he cannot finish. He has shown that over and over. I want him to succeed, I want him to be great, but until he shows some kind of consistency, I don't want him in the game dropping balls that my 13 year old nephew can catch when that open.

Now the Mendenhall thing, he definitely needs more than three carries a game to see what he can actually do, no question. He hasn't had the opportunity to show whether or not he is a bust. I think is is slow to the hole (when there is one), but I think more reps could help that. Now if he starts putting the ball on the ground on a regular basis, then my opinion will change on his utilization. Maybe the benching Tomlin gave him wil be the fire he needs to prove himself. Hope so. I think Tomlin did what he had to do though with that situation though. I like how he handles this team, and think he will help them get out of the funk.