U mad, bro? Readers skeptical of too much Steelers praise. Angry with Pirates, Pitt, too.

Some Steelers fans want us to pump the brakes on all this happy talk after a 6-0 start. Other readers are mad at the Pitt football team. For various reasons.

And still others made the mistake of watching the World Series. Which plunged them further into depression about being Pirates fans.

So enjoy a pre-Halloween grab bag of “U mad, bro?” tricks … and treats … this week.

With the Steelers being 6-0, people need to look hard for something to complain about. Well, George found it.

After their victory Sunday, I complimented Bud Dupree and T.J. Watt for how they penned in Tennessee Titans star running back Derrick Henry on the edges of the defense.

According to George’s email, I shouldn’t have done that. At least not in Dupree’s case.

“Time to stop the fawning over Bud Dupree. Bud ended up on the stat sheet with zero tackles and zero assists. Fifteen-million dollars just doesn’t buy what it used to. Looking forward to the real stud (Alex) Highsmith taking over next season.”

Well, George, what that $15 million player has gotten you is 16.5 sacks, 83 tackles, and five forced fumbles in the last 22 games playing in one of the two most important positions on the best defense in football over that stretch.

Dupree has been really good. Let it go. If you think Dupree hasn’t done enough these last two years, it’s because you have it made up in your mind that he didn’t do enough in his first four. And you were just waiting for his first “quiet” game to jump on his back.

Highsmith may be good someday. Suggesting that he’ll step right in for Dupree next season and improve the production at right outside linebacker is highly optimistic.

Someone named “Burgh Liberal” posted in the comments section when I wrote about how that win in Tennessee changed my view of the Steelers’ chances this year.

“I’m still not convinced this team is a contender for the division or a Super Bowl. Or good enough to beat Baltimore even once in two games. They’ve had two games now where they nearly blew big leads, and in fact would have lost if not for mistakes or failures by the opponent at the end.

They could easily be 4-2.”

They could. And they could have easily been a 10-win team with Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges at quarterback, too, if they had held off the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets last December.

But the final scores are what they are.

Look, I’m not thrilled with how they played late against the Titans or Denver Broncos, either. And, at some point this year, that kind of second-half effort will bite them. Games like those are why teams almost never go unbeaten, or even 15-1, in the regular season.

And I wouldn’t bet the mortgage that they can get a split against the Ravens. But I think their chances of doing so are better than getting swept.

If that happens, that’s seven wins for them and two losses for the Ravens. Plus (likely) three victories in between the Ravens games (Dallas, Jacksonville and Cincinnati).

That should be 10 wins and one loss. Going 2-3 in the remaining five games — minimally — gets you to 12-4. And even if the Ravens end up winning their other 14 games, that’s still “contending for the division.”

The Steelers are plenty capable of bottoming out in the second half of a season. They did so as recently as 2018. But I expect this team to be the highest-seeded wild card at worst.

Terry sent me a well-written, in-depth email about the World Series. His general thesis was that, even though a lot of people in Pittsburgh were rooting for the small market Tampa Bay Rays to win, it was actually better that the big-market, high-spending Los Angeles Dodgers won the crown.

“While it is possible for a small market or team in the bottom 25% payroll to compete, as the Rays have done, it’s not likely over the long haul for a bottom tier small market team to remain competitive.

I am glad the Dodgers won. A Rays win would have given Pirates management an excuse for the next 10 years of why not to spend money on payroll.”

I get your point, Terry. But the Dodgers do two other things better than Pirates, besides spending. They draft and develop well.

Of course, the Dodgers’ deep pockets allow them to keep whatever players they want. And ditch whatever players they want. Not to mention, acquire a guy like Mookie Betts for 12 years and $365 million.

If you looked at the roster assembled in the National League Championship Series, 14 of 28 Los Angeles players were originally signed or drafted by L.A.

That includes drafted pitchers such as Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Tony Gonsolin. And position players such as Cody Bellinger, Corey Seager and Joc Pederson.

When the Pirates get better at identifying and acquiring young talent in the first place, I’ll get more invested in how they build around it.

After Notre Dame pounded Pitt 45-3, Tom R. decided he is fed up with Panthers coach Pat Narduzzi.

“He is not a head coach and is terrible at getting his players prepared for a game. I am not a PSU fan and never like(d) Paterno but he was a master at team player preparation.”

You are right about Narduzzi. He is an over-slotted coordinator posing as a head coach. The only part I’m going to disagree with is you saying that you aren’t a Penn State fan.

In my experience, most people who throw dirt on Pitt as they preemptively pay a compliment to Penn State, while insisting they aren’t Penn State fans … usually end up being Penn State fans.

It doesn’t make you wrong. It just makes you a Penn State fan.

And, on that topic, how well prepared was Penn State for Indiana last week?

Lastly, and most importantly, Tom G. hated the uniforms Pitt wore against Notre Dame.

“Am I the only fan screaming ‘Burn those depressing ugly uniforms’?!”

No, Tom, you were not. A “nod to the history of the steel industry” or not, they appear to have missed the mark. At least during a nationally televised game against a traditional rival such as Notre Dame.

The Pitt special uniforms are pathetic.

— Middle Man (@LiesTbe) October 26, 2020

Pitt is blue and gold. The fan base fought for decades for the athletic department to switch back to royal blue and yellow. In Year 2 of the rebrand the school plays 1/3 of their home games in black and gray uniforms. Just when you think the school understands its identity #H2P

— Jake Nelko (@oh_hey_jake) October 26, 2020

Wait why is Pitt wearing these uniforms??

— Bob Greenburg (@BobGreenburg) October 24, 2020

I saw that. Pitt has one of the greatest uniforms in college football. No need to mess with them.

— Marcia Herold (@marciaherold) October 26, 2020

I thought the Pitt helmet was kinda cool, but as a whole those uniforms were ugly

— PaddyMcBrewer (@paddymcbrewer) October 26, 2020

“Burning the depressingly ugly uniforms” may be a bit extreme. Burning that depressingly ugly game film, however, is a good idea.