The title “My Worthless 2 Cents” that I came up with isn’t one I feel I can take full credit for, but is a story in itself, so here it is. I was in the 8th grade at the time, and found myself tagging along with my older sister (a senior in high school), as she was a part of the high school theatre group who would work as ushers for local community theatre productions. Working as an usher at a production of “Harvey”, the dad for one of my baseball friends came up to me at intermission and handed me two pennies and asked me to go back to the dressing area and find the lead actor in the play. I was to give him the pennies and tell him “this is from the guy with the big nostrils, giving you his two cents worth”. I thought this was funny so I agreed to do it, especially since I knew the two were friends. I go to the dressing room and deliver the message and the “gift”. The response I was given was even better. The actor told me to return the pennies and I was to “tell the guy with the big nostrils to take his worthless 2 cents and shove them right up his big nostrils”. So that’s it. This is my 2 cents after sitting on the latest Steelers game for a bit. This is quite the opposite of my Knee Jerk Reaction article, so I get to bring everything full circle. You might tell me to take my worthless two cents and shove them up my nostrils, and that’s okay, because we are friends and I don’t look at it as personal.

I am going to break things down into three categories: One, something I feel stronger about. Two, something I have softened on a bit. Three, something that didn’t really change.

SOMETHING I FEEL STRONGER ABOUT

Terry Austin does not get enough credit as a coach. He has continued to improve upon this defense every year he has been the coordinator. He keeps accumulating good talent and he has learned the things he needs to do with that talent to make this defense elite. Of course it never hurts to have the best defensive player in the world on your side in TJ Watt, but Austin has continued to get the most out of his players, and he puts them in good positions to play to their strengths. Does he still have work to do? Of course he does, but he has continued to grow this defense every year he has been in charge. Of course there are people who will say that Mike Tomlin has his fingerprints all over this defense, and that could be true to an extent but don’t believe for one minute that Terrell Austin’s fingerprints aren’t all over this defense as well.

SOMETHING I’VE SOFTENED ON

Arthur Smith is definitely gaining my trust. I have been hopeful yet skeptical about the Steelers offense going into the season. Game one did not do a whole lot to quell some of my fears, but it didn’t embellish them either. Game two was an improvement on game one, and game three was an improvement on game two. That’s what I want to see. I want to see the offense continue to develop and continue trending in the right direction. Could this unit see a setback on any given week? They could. But every week that they can continue trending forward makes me feel better and better about the offense and the job that Arthur Smith is doing to develop this offense.

SOMETHING THAT HASN’T CHANGED

There are a lot of folks in the national media that are Steeler haters at heart. The Steelers have started out 3-0, and some of the national talking heads want to use their platform to diminish the Steelers and what they have accomplished so far this season. Anyone that knows anything about the game and has watched some of the film on the team can clearly see that there have been a lot of improvements made. I do not wear the type of black and gold lenses that have me thinking the Steelers will just waltz their way into the super bowl, but they are a lot better than a lot of people in the national media give them credit for. In the end I try not to let it bother me that much. I know what I see in the Pittsburgh Steelers and I know that Steelers fans see a lot of those same things, so I am willing to be patient and just let the season play out.

There you have it. My worthless 2 cents. Maybe you liked it, maybe you didn’t. Maybe you want to tell me to shove my worthless two cents up my big nostrils. Maybe you have your own worthless 2 cents you would like to share. If so please feel free to share it in the comments below, I might look at it and tell you to shove it up your big nostrils…but that’s okay, because we are still friends.