"Steeler Football" is about to change as we know it...

[BlitzburghRockCity]

Smash Mouth, 3 yards and cloud of dust , run it down their throats, all these and many more used to be the catch phrase when it comes to talking about the Success of the Steelers. When we were winning games and being dominant on the field it meant that we were running the ball the majority of the time and imposing our will on the defense. It meant that the QB was mixing in the pass amongst the run, playing not to mess up and lose the game. The offense would run the ball, the defense would just flat out bring it and by the 2nd half the opposing offense would be so frustrated that they'd be making mistakes and just be ready to go home.

All that is about to change in 2007. A new regime with Tomlin at the helm and a promise to simplify the playbook and bet back to basics. The offense looks to open it up with multiple WR & TE sets, the chances to run out of a 1 back set, use the TE to their potential, all this and so much more while still keeping the tough & physical style of play that you need to win. Be tougher than your opponent and execute soundly every play and good things will happen. Yes there's a lot to look forward too in the future with a new look to our team, a renewed sense of hope, the chance to get more championships with a quality group of guys, and the chance to put the fear back into the NFL when they play the Steelers.

There are many question marks too that will be answered in the coming months. As a fan this is both an uneasy time but also an exciting time to see what the future holds. After a subpar 2006 season when everything went wrong including our coach, 2007 is a chance redeem ourselves and set the tone for many successful years to come !

[Black@Gold Forever32]

I think looking at the fact that Willie Parker is the starting RB that the Steelers offense should change to fit his style more. He isn't the power RB the Steelers have had throughout the years like John Henry Johnson, Franco Harris, Barry Foster and Jerome Bettis.


Plus you don't draft a QB in the first round just to throw 17-20 passes a game. So its time to find out how good Big Ben really is and to find out if he is worthy to be resigned to a long term deal down the road.

I love the power running game on offense more then anyone but Bill Cowher finally won it all with a speed RB like Willie Parker as the starter. Its just hard to win it all in todays NFL by just ramming the ball down throat of every team you face. Especially with a HC like Belichick who always take away your strength and forces you to beat the Pats with your weakness.

[K Train]

cowher tried to make willie into jermone, just kinda plugging him in there and it didnt work that often...thats why we were shut down but teams with a half decent run defense and put up 200 yards against the browns. This offesne is much more "willie friendly" if you ask me

[TEEMONT]

I think looking at the fact that Willie Parker is the starting RB that the Steelers offense should change to fit his style more. He isn't the power RB the Steelers have had throughout the years like John Henry Johnson, Franco Harris, Barry Foster and Jerome Bettis.


Plus you don't draft a QB in the first round just to throw 17-20 passes a game. So its time to find out how good Big Ben really is and to find out if he is worthy to be resigned to a long term deal down the road.

I love the power running game on offense more then anyone but Bill Cowher finally won it all with a speed RB like Willie Parker as the starter. Its just hard to win it all in todays NFL by just ramming the ball down throat of every team you face. Especially with a HC like Belichick who always take away your strength and forces you to beat the Pats with your weakness.

I love the power game too....but not only did we win with a speed RB....there is nothing like seeing Willie take the **** off on an 80 yard run.

[AZ_Steeler]

I'm getting really excited about this new system. This is going to open up so many doors for the offense and really allow the Steelers to unleash Wilie's speed! The only thing that really concerns me is if they start scoring to fast and the defense can't shutdown the opponent then we get into these high scoring affairs. We'll find out though...

[Blitzburghpete]

hang on a minute....
As exciting 80 yard runs in superbowls are FWP won't do them often enough to make the difference. It could be argued that becuase Parker gets his carries in 1,2 or 80 yard runs, BECAUSE he's not a power runner it's putting us into too many 3rd and longs that our passing offence can't adiquatly deal with as we're not a great passing team, hence we have a sub par year.

Also was i the only one to notice but have a look at the rushing stats for the postseason when we won the superbowl parker did nothing when it mattered apart from 1 run. Fortunately for the postseason Ben bailed us out but we can't rely on him to do that all the time

WE NEED the power game for the meat and drink of most of the season to win games the ugly boring way. Don't get me wrong i'm so happy Parker is a a Steeler, and think he has phenominal talent, just we need a workhorse and we need to establish a power running game for everything else in the organization to click.

Personally i am a 3 yards and dust and think we could argue the toss whats better, but all i'll say to this is

When we lead the league in time of possesion, with a rookie QB and a POWER running game and a defense that was kept fresh because the offence kept the ball for ages and kept the other teams offence off the field and threw the opposition off their game plan cos we had 8-10 minutes drives for TD's
our record was 15 and 1...... !!!!

I think that says it all. It wasn't pretty or flash but it was damm effective and the model i think we should get back to.

[Black@Gold Forever32]

Pete you're missing the point most of us are making in this post. The Steelers are going more to offense that fits Willie's strengths then weaknesses. I don't understand why you would run a power type offense with a speed RB. I think the power offense let Willie become a better overall RB. But he needs a offense like a spread offense to fit his talents. The NFL is more of adjust on the fly type league anymore since teams can watch so much film and study teams. Thats why Bill Cowher failed in the play-offs most years since he was so stubborn to adjust.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

hang on a minute....
As exciting 80 yard runs in superbowls are FWP won't do them often enough to make the difference. It could be argued that becuase Parker gets his carries in 1,2 or 80 yard runs, BECAUSE he's not a power runner it's putting us into too many 3rd and longs that our passing offence can't adiquatly deal with as we're not a great passing team, hence we have a sub par year.

Also was i the only one to notice but have a look at the rushing stats for the postseason when we won the superbowl parker did nothing when it mattered apart from 1 run. Fortunately for the postseason Ben bailed us out but we can't rely on him to do that all the time

WE NEED the power game for the meat and drink of most of the season to win games the ugly boring way. Don't get me wrong i'm so happy Parker is a a Steeler, and think he has phenominal talent, just we need a workhorse and we need to establish a power running game for everything else in the organization to click.

Personally i am a 3 yards and dust and think we could argue the toss whats better, but all i'll say to this is

When we lead the league in time of possesion, with a rookie QB and a POWER running game and a defense that was kept fresh because the offence kept the ball for ages and kept the other teams offence off the field and threw the opposition off their game plan cos we had 8-10 minutes drives for TD's
our record was 15 and 1...... !!!!

I think that says it all. It wasn't pretty or flash but it was damm effective and the model i think we should get back to.

When we won the SB, Willie was still new to our system for the most and really this was still Jerome's team the smash mouth type of offense. Willie was effective when he had to be and he did a good job but when push came to shove we relied on Jerome to pull out the game for us in every playoff game. Willie did his part for sure and we needed every one of his yards but by in large we had a Jerome type of offense.

The way Arians and Tomlin are talking is that we are going to be running an offense that only allows Ben and his WR's to make plays, and the TE's too, but also it should really open up things for Willie to shine. His size alone doesn't mean he can't do the job but the system he was in up until this year wasn't suited to his talents to the degree that this one appears to be. We shall see....

I do agree that we need a power back, a guy that can run up and drag tacklers for a few yards when you need them. Maybe that guy is Najeh, maybe not but either way this is Willie's team now so lets see how he does...

[Black@Gold Forever32]

When we won the SB, Willie was still new to our system for the most and really this was still Jerome's team the smash mouth type of offense. Willie was effective when he had to be and he did a good job but when push came to shove we relied on Jerome to pull out the game for us in every playoff game. Willie did his part for sure and we needed every one of his yards but by in large we had a Jerome type of offense.

The way Arians and Tomlin are talking is that we are going to be running an offense that only allows Ben and his WR's to make plays, and the TE's too, but also it should really open up things for Willie to shine. His size alone doesn't mean he can't do the job but the system he was in up until this year wasn't suited to his talents to the degree that this one appears to be. We shall see....

I do agree that we need a power back, a guy that can run up and drag tacklers for a few yards when you need them. Maybe that guy is Najeh, maybe not but either way this is Willie's team now so lets see how he does...

Nice post brother....I do agree we still need that power element in our offense. But the Steelers just can't be a power offense with a speed RB. But you're right certain game situations were going to need that power running game and hopefully Davenport, Barlow, Russell or any of the other RB's can fill that role.

[okiesteeler]

We definently need to free Willie more and let him gallop down the field and unleash bens arm and get our TE's and Ward and company lots of receptions