Steel Balls

It’s very popular among fans these days to question the Steelers ownership and their “old fashioned” philosophies. Yet, no other team has enjoyed their durable, long-standing success. Although there have been periods of disappointment, there have been fewer such periods than for any other team.

Here is a chart showing which NFL teams have amassed the most wins over the past 75 years:

Some other interesting charts:

• • Most wins since 1950
  • Most wins since 1960
  • Most wins since 1970
  • Most wins since 1980
  • Most wins since 1990
  • Most wins since 2000
  • Most wins since 2010

For most of us here, the 1980’s were the worst period. Even then, the Steelers eked out a winning record and finished in the middle of the pack. Not very satisfying, but other teams experience much worse low points. We may be headed for another 80’s style decade of mediocrity, but hope springs eternal. Keep the faith, Ballers.

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You bet your sweet bippy! We are pleased to announce the 2021 Baller Prognosticator of the Year. Although this strange and stressful season is not yet over, we know that playoff results cannot change the outcome of our competition, so we can announce the winner now.

First, here is the chart of “wins”, actual versus predictions. A half-win is awarded for the tie:

And here is the “delta” chart which shows the difference between actual and predictions. Lower values are better:

Both MWalsh26 and EstimatedProphet came closest to guessing the Steelers result, missing only by a half game. (If we were not counting the tie as a half win, EstimatedProphet would be the winner on this question). So, participation trophies go to Walsh and EP, but they went on to whiff badly regarding the rest of the division.

And let’s face it – we all whiffed on the Bengals. We knew that they had the best young QB in the division but we just didn’t trust the Bengals organization to be able to get the job done, and we were wrong. Sure, the Bengals had the easiest schedule, but they also beat the tar out of the Steelers twice, and won a number of other impressive games, so we give credit where it is due.

In the end, copanut and Tuskegee_Brown tied with the best overall result of 11.5. Both of them predicted the Steelers will win a single playoff game before being bounced from the tourney,  so copanut and TB would remain tied regardless of playoff outcome.

We need to go to tie breakers to determine the winner. Because TB predicted the Steelers would get into the playoffs as a wild card team, whereas copanut predicted they would be division winners, the tie breaker goes to TB. As icing on the cake, TB had a closer guess in Steeler wins.

All hail the new champion, Tuskegee_Brown!

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Make your 2021 season predictions below. Same rules as previous seasons. Entries must be submitted by midnight before the season opening game.

Please include (1) W/L predictions for each Steelers game, (2) season records for each team in the division, and (3) number of playoff wins. Any other predictions will be taken into consideration as tie breakers.

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Round 1 Pick No. 24: Najee Harris, RB, Alabama

Round 2 Pick No. 55: Pat Freiermuth, TE, Penn State

Round 3 Pick No. 87: Quinn Meinerz. C, Wisconsin–Whitewater

Round 4 Pick No. 129: Asante Samuel Jr., CB, Florida St.

Round 4 Pick No. 140: Myron Cunningham, T, Arkansas

Round 6 Pick No. 216: Tarron Jackson, EDGE, Coastal Carolina

Round 7 Pick No. 246: Khyiris Tonga, DT, BYU

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Yes, it was a strange season with very high highs and very low lows, but one good thing came out of it: the Ballers’ Trophy comes back home to where it belongs. 
Here were the guesses on number of wins:

Although we were all rooting for JAMESH to get the win (and it looked promising for 11 weeks) it just was not to be.

Here is the final tally of results, which is the difference between estimated and actual results. Low score wins:

As you can see, copanut tied ESPN for the best prognostication. Although ESPN is the only entry that was exactly correct on the Steelers, copanut was closer with the Stains. Other differences cancelled out. MWalsh26 and tennbob were close behind with a score of 9. The dirty hippie might have won but failed to give guesses across the division and thus lost out. I gave him the courtesy of a guess for the Rats at 12 wins since he predicted they would finish ahead of the Steelers, but even that was not enough.

Better luck to all of us, in every way, for 2021.

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Each preseason, we run 20,000 simulations of the entire slate with ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI), our projection system.
Here it is

STEELERS @ GIANTS           41–17
STEELERS vs. BRONCOS     27–24
STEELERS vs. TEXANS        33–20
STEELERS @ TITANS           31–21
STEELERS vs. EAGLES         15–10
STEELERS vs. BROWNS      27–10
RATS vs. STEELERS             30–10
Bye
STEELERS @ COWBOYS    13–10
STEELERS vs. BENGALS    27–23
STEELERS @ JAGUARS     37–23
RAVENS @ STEELERS       33–14
STEELERS vs. WASH          38–10
STEELERS @ BILLS            35–31
BENGALS vs. STEELERS   23–20
STEELERS vs. COLTS         22–20
BROWNS vs. STEELERS    23–10

NORTH           W    L     T
RAVENS          12    4     0
STEELERS      12    4     0
BENGALS         7     9     0
BROWNS          7     9     0

Of interest:
All 4 Steelers losses are to AFC North (Rats 2X)
1 and done AGAIN in the playoffs.

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From The Athletic

My vote was for: Lemieux, Clemente, Greene, and Palmer. Monument to be erected on the backs of Honus Wagner, Josh Gibson, and The Chief, and a statue of Crosby gazing up. While we’re at it, maybe one of Troy Polamalu leaping over top of the whole lot of them, glorious mane flying in the wind…

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