he was trying to pull a whis w/ a WR that has never played QB (unlike randel el who was a QB in college)...and it failed miserably...we had the INT, good field position, with a chance to go up big...instead, he tries that stupid ass play, and what happens? INTOriginally Posted by TOP GUN
i'm ready to come home from work, turn on NFL network, and see that arians was fired
The Defense is equally to blame here but let's not put the majority of it on them. All 3 phases have failed this team in the 2nd half. The defense can't stop anybody; but the offense goes into this protective shell of run up the middle and fall down, and then they into obvious passing situations and everybody is ready for it so they blitz us and sack Ben or he tosses and INT, or whatever the case may be so pick your poison. They don't have that killer instinct that you need, and nobody seems to know why, including Tomlin. If the head coach can't explain what's going on then there's a serious issue. Put as much blame as you want on the players too, they deserve criticism as well here for not doing their job, but the play calling is just abysmal in key situations.
Let's face, nobody cares how good you are in the first half, it's the 2nd half that counts and there's more than enough obvious reason that we're in this position; not the least of which is play calling.
I don't understand the Santonio Holmes throwing the ball play at all. You have a 1000 yard rusher, two 1000+ yard receivers and one of best TE's in the NFL, so you have Holmes throw the ball?
^and with a wide reciever that's never thrown the ball at that. Trying to re-create the superbowl play I gues..except in a worse way.
I know what you are saying TG, the special teams especially with all the returns, but still...the defense has really been abysmal in key situations alot more than the O. Case in point...the Raiders game, the 1st Bengals game, the KC game, the Bears game, Ravens loss, etc. Protect any one of those leads, the Steelers are in the playoffs, protect all five of those leads, the Steelers are 14-2 and a bye week.
And this is AFTER we've a;ready been lighting them up offensively with regular ole' passing and rushing, no trickery at all. He really is the worse, it's like his gameplan isn't to put the team in the best position to win, his gameplan is just always auditioning, trying to impress, and stat padding.
If Arians is the offensive coordinator next season and we have another season like this, not only does Arians need to be fired but so does Tomlin.
"TROY POLOMALU WAS A GENETIC EXPERIMENT TO CREATE THE ULTIMATE SAFETY, THE EXPERIMENT WENT HORRIBLY WRONG, FOR 31 NFL TEAMS"
Exactly. Browns 13 - Steelers 6 .... Fire Him Fast!
His Firing is better for the steelers than the #1 draft pick.
Featured Columnist
PIttsburgh Steelers Offense: Something's Missing by Brian Lutz
Brian Lutz
Featured Columnist
It’s going to be a surreal and depressing weekend for Steeler fans all over. Amazingly, the team still has a playoff pulse after two shaky-at-best wins at home in the past two weeks.
Their fate will be decided this weekend, when the 2009 defending champs will either be put out of their misery or miraculously entered into the postseason as a #6 seed.
Should the latter happen, the Steelers will be the crystal-clear “No one wants to play these guys!” and “Watch out for these guys!” team. But it’s an unlikely path that promises for a strange Sunday.
First, the Steelers must win in Miami, which is glossed over as a given in all the “this and this must happen” playoff scenarios. The Dolphins are a solid team, easily the best of all the 7-8 teams, and will be playing for a .500 season—no small feat considering they long ago lost their starting QB and running back to season-ending injuries.
Next, Steeler fans must cheer for two teams we consistently and almost universally dislike—New England and Cincinnati—to win. We must hope that two teams we are generally indifferent towards—the Texans and the Jets—to lose.
We must also hope that two crappy teams that already beat the Steelers (Oakland and Kansas City) can somehow prevail against two teams that the Steelers already beat (Baltimore and Denver). As if that weren’t enough, nothing will be decided until after the Sunday night prime time game is over, because the Jets control their own destiny. Sunday, bloody Sunday.
But since Pittsburgh’s season will likely be over by that time, I’d like to switch gears here and talk for a minute about the offense.
You know, that diverse and dynamic, run-n-gun, shoot-‘em-up offense with the 4,000 passer and the 1,000 yard rusher, flanked by the two 1,000-yard receivers and the wildly underrated tight end. The offense with the third round pick whose putting up numbers comparable to Percy Harvin.
Would you believe the offense isn’t good enough?
Yes, I know the stats say otherwise. I know Roethlisberger laughs when people criticize the offense. And I know that it was productive enough that the team would finish somewhere in the neighborhood of 11-5, if not for the defensive collapses.
I know when you’re handing out blame for the Steelers lost season, the order goes like this: 1) defense, 2) special teams, 3) coaching, and finally, 4) offense. But offensive coordinator Bruce Arians is still sitting on a hot seat, and there’s good reason for that.
Somehow, the offense is inconsistent and predictable at the same time. Not predictable in a “run right, run left” sort of way, but predictable in that certain players and formations basically give away things.
For instance, if either a) Heath Miller is off the line of scrimmage, or b) Mewelde Moore is in the game, it is 99 percent likely to be a pass play (unless Dennis Dixon is at quarterback).
How about when the fullback (when there is a fullback actually in there) does the double-back motion (where he motions one way and “slides” back to the side where he started)? You better believe they’re running it that way. Even my sisters can see that play coming.
It’s also unclear if the words “play” and “action” are seen side by side the Steelers’ playbook, because I think I could count on two hands the number of times a fake handoff has been executed in the past month. What’s wrong with faking a give to Mendenhall after he’s been ripping off six- and seven-yard runs for 2 ½ quarters? This needs to be a bigger part of the offense.
The bottom line is the offense is feast or famine. It worked well last year because the defense was good enough to create turnovers and shut teams down on the other side. This season, thanks to age and injuries, the defense has slipped, and the offense has been exposed a little.
For every great play the offense makes, there’s another 3rd-and-1 shotgun play that goes nowhere. For every pinpoint pass, there are dropped balls and underthrown balls and balls that are fumbled.
For every big hole the line opens up, there’s another obvious missed block. How many guys have gotten to Roethlisberger untouched this season?
That’s another point—everyone always raves about how great Roethlisberger is at escaping the pass rush, and it’s absolutely correct. And he has still been sacked 47 times! Imagine if this line had to block for a statue like Tommy Maddox or Neil O’Donnell—records could be broken.
Turning to another facet of the offense, the running game puzzles me. Mendenhall has had a terrific season and everything, but he’s also had several glaring missed blocks, some crucial fumbles, and a couple of key dropped passes.
On the other hand, I don’t think he ever gets nearly enough carries. Only against San Diego did he get enough touches, and, not coincidentally, the Steelers put up a season-high 38 points and 177 rush yards.
The offense struggles when facing good defenses. Cincinnati shut down Pittsburgh twice (although Limas Sweed takes a big share of the blame for the first one). The offense had trouble producing against Minnesota, Chicago, Tennessee, and Baltimore.
Even against bad teams like the Chiefs, Raiders, and Lions, the offense didn’t dominate like it was capable of and settled for too many field goals in the red zone. Things culminated in the loss at Cleveland, when the offense scored only six points against what was probably the league’s worst defense. The fate of Bruce Arians may have been sealed on that night.
There are also some personnel issues that need to be resolved. What does Max Starks have to do to get benched, or at least moved? Why isn’t Willie Parker—who’s looked very good over the past few weeks—playing more? Why have two fullbacks on the roster if the position isn’t being used properly?
Look, there’s no doubt the Steelers have a very good offense. Roethlisberger has never had this collection of talent and this many weapons in his career, and he’s made the most of it.
But something needs to change for this offense to make the transition from good to great. Maybe Ken Anderson should be calling the plays. Maybe the fullback was more important than we thought. Maybe there should be more trick plays, like the Wisenhunt days.
Maybe they should just go into a permanent two-minute drill, because they are generally unstoppable in this mode.
In some way, shape or form, this offense must look different in 2010. 4,000 yards passing is a great accomplishment. But when it comes with an 8-8 record, that’s nothing to laugh about.
no excuses for the offense at all, none, zipp, nadda, big fat zero. Injuries?
to who?
Kemo?, flashes occasional brilliance in the run game, but what we need is consistancy!
Foster has come in, and is by far a better pass protector than Kemo ever will be and that's judging on a few games.
The defense has been to blame for a few losses, but there are excuses, please don't make me go over them again!!!
THIS OFFENSE, YES THIS IS CAPITALS, IS NO BETTER THAN LAST SEASON, LAST SEASON WE WON A SUPERBOWL, A SUPERBOWL WE WON WITH A LOT, A HECK OF A LOT OF HELP FROM OUR NUMBER ONE, INJURY FREE DEFENSE!!
The defense has issues, did the Offfense step up to the plate and help our our defense
this year?, sporadically, maybe? Now and again, GENERALLY NO!
Disagree? Can you put your finger on that moment?
What deplted, injury hit unit beat the Vikes?
What deplteted, injury hit unit kept us in the game against the Browns a few weeks back?
OFFENSIVE GAMPLANNING, airhead, SCREWED OUR SEASON.
Holmes injured? No. Ward injured? Barely? Ben injured? One game. Heath injured? No. Parker injured? No. Wallace injured? No. Mendy Injured? No. O'line injured, rarely!
NO EXCUSES! AIRHEAD MUST GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT A PRICK, SACK OF SHIT!!!
"Give me a 6 pack, half hour of rest and lets go play them again....We can beat them."
--Jack Lambert
"They say that when you're the champs, everybody will try to beat you. Well, I'm glad we're the champs, so bring 'em on, bring 'em all on. If we die, we ain't gonna die running. It's gonna be a fight."
--Joe Greene
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks