Concerns about the game from a Steelers fan

[Steel74]

iam not much into football technique but i think this new OC of yours is the wild card for the pats. I always thought that as long as cowher was there he would run the ball on 1st and 2nd and then pass which made you guys predictable. The fact that bruce arians has introduced the passing game more makes them more dangerous IMO. And lets not forget, the steelers won in the playoffs and the SB because they started passing on 1st down. Had they stuck with the old cowher plan against indy they wouldve gotten stuffed and gone nowhere. I maybe wrong but the change in approach by the steelers makes them more of threat than the old run run run approach.

Actually, the most common anguished cry this year on Steelers game threads has been "Run, Run, Pass, Punt!" It's not the ratio of run to pass that's the issue, it's whether (or in Bruce Arians' case, not) a coordinator has a good FEEL for the game.

No plan, as Clauswitz said, survives contact with the enemy, but do you have the ability to adjust, to improvise? These qualities are essential to good coaching, and Arians, unless I'm really wrong, doesn't have them.

The best coaches have always been pragmatists. They fight with the army they have, not the one they want. They might think twice, for example, as Arians did not, about throwing the ball around against a Denver defense that was dead last in the league against the run.

Do you think New England throws the football like 65-70 percent of the time because Belichik and McDaniels are creating a religion? They throw they football because, well, with that offense why the **** wouldn't you?

 

[Steel74]

i heard belichick was asked by the pittsburgh media about your oline..this was his response..


so i think it really isnt as bad as an oline as much as it could be missed assignments by the skill players or bad route running.

Sounds more like damning with faint praise to me. Belichik knows what's right and wrong with our line, and he'll test some things out. The Steelers have to be ready to counter the Patriots' rush schemes.

 

[Steel74]

They could do that with Ben in manageable doses, and as long as he accepted that it worked. Neither Cowher or Whisenhut were willing to turn the offense over to Ben full time, with good reason. That is what he loves about his new OC and HC - they were, only now they are starting to take some of that back because they have seen how Ben is prone to mismanagement when left to his own devices. PS - Ben almost single handedly lost that Superbowl for the Steelers. If not for some creative officiating, he would have.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem. Excuse me. I've discussed your football team without bringing up Spygate, so your crack about "creative officiating" in Super Bowl XL is making me question my good will.

 

[Steel74]

This is all very true and I agree for the most part when it comes to pass protection. Some of the pas sprotection comes down to our left guard kendall Simmons as well( he is awful). I was more so referring to our run game. We get no push. Sometimes we fail due to defensive blitzes etc and sometimes just fail to move people.

You mean right guard. maybe you're projecting, WISHING Simmons played like Alan Faneca.

 

[patpatriot]

This is going to sound kind of weird but Roth reminds me of a Drew Bledsoe but one who is mobile. Surely that is a good thing one would think no? But Bledsoe had a kind of fatal flaw. It was like he didn't understand that the object of the game is to win it even if it is only by a single point. He seemed to long to be "the Hero-who-wins-it" instead of the "Ball-Distribution-Mechanism". This flaw often led to him trying to make the Big Play when something smaller was what was needed...maybe I'm off-base here. Time will tell.

I think that the Pats gameplan should be to put 8 in the box to stop the run and contain Roth and make him beat them with his arm. If he can't get ouside to create, look for him to toss a couple of TDs and a couple of INTs. As long as the Pats get the ball enough, they'll score more points than Pitt.

Anyone have any idea where their ST rank?

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

This is going to sound kind of weird but Roth reminds me of a Drew Bledsoe but one who is mobile. Surely that is a good thing one would think no? But Bledsoe had a kind of fatal flaw. It was like he didn't understand that the object of the game is to win it even if it is only by a single point. He seemed to long to be "the Hero-who-wins-it" instead of the "Ball-Distribution-Mechanism". This flaw often led to him trying to make the Big Play when something smaller was what was needed...maybe I'm off-base here. Time will tell.

I think that the Pats gameplan should be to put 8 in the box to stop the run and contain Roth and make him beat them with his arm. If he can't get ouside to create, look for him to toss a couple of TDs and a couple of INTs. As long as the Pats get the ball enough, they'll score more points than Pitt.

Anyone have any idea where their ST rank?

I think that is a fair analogy, although I doubt that Steelers fans would.

I also believe that Ben, much like Bledsoe, will fade away eventually and not be remembered with any particular distinction outside of Pitt.

 

[Steel74]

Ditto on that. Steeler74 has made good points and, most importantly, BACKED THEM UP. That's old-time patsfans.com right there. Please stay and stick around as a regular after the game. We always like having informative posters here, no matter the stripe.

Thanks, man. I will. After that one guy retracts his statements about the officiating in Super Bowl 40. [grin]

Bottom line is I just LOVE football, and I'll talk about it with the wall. It's better to talk football with serious fans, of course. And even though I was born into the breadbasket of Steelers Country during the 70s, when Pittsburgh was absloutely dominant, I grew up in the 80s (when our starting QB said we should punt on 3rd down to get better field position), and consequently I never taunt enemy fans. The pendulum ALWAYS swings both ways, and karma is a *****.

The flaming and trolling that pollutes a lot of these boards has never made sense to me. Why talk all that **** when you could be talking about football?

 

[SVN]

Actually, the most common anguished cry this year on Steelers game threads has been "Run, Run, Pass, Punt!" It's not the ratio of run to pass that's the issue, it's whether (or in Bruce Arians' case, not) a coordinator has a good FEEL for the game.

No plan, as Clauswitz said, survives contact with the enemy, but do you have the ability to adjust, to improvise? These qualities are essential to good coaching, and Arians, unless I'm really wrong, doesn't have them.

The best coaches have always been pragmatists. They fight with the army they have, not the one they want. They might think twice, for example, as Arians did not, about throwing the ball around against a Denver defense that was dead last in the league against the run.

Do you think New England throws the football like 65-70 percent of the time because Belichik and McDaniels are creating a religion? They throw they football because, well, with that offense why the **** wouldn't you?

to be fair BB and mcdaniels pass or run more depending on the opponent. The ravens and eagles had a decent run D so BB really doesnt believe in butting their heads against the wall. Iam sure it will be the same this week against the steelers who have a very good rush D. in fact i was surprised we came out with maroney in the backfield against the ravens instead of opening with a no huddle . i expect the pats to play that way and take their chances against the secondary contingent on the weather.

 

[BradyFTW!]

The weak point on that defense are the linebackers, and I think the Steelers will try to neutralize Thomas and get Miller and Ward in man coverage with Bruschi and Seau and Brown, draw the secondary in, and then go downtown with Holmes, who is our only deep threat.

Bingo. That worries the hell out of me, and if the Steelers dedicate themselves to it, I think that they can do it. The LBs are definitely the weak spot on our defense, and Pittsburgh does have the means to exploit it with Miller and Ward. Brown, Seau, and Bruschi are a murderer's row of old, not-terribly-mobile guys. Belichick does very well at disguising their weaknesses while capitalizing on their considerable strengths, but lack of mobility can be exploited pretty thoroughly if you attack it hard.

 

[Steel74]

I agree with much of what you've posted, and I think Ben is a great quarterback. But do you agree that the passing game is not the real strength of this team, given that they are 24th in YPG passing, and 31st in attempts?

I would agree, although ironically. Arians is a doctrinaire passing guy from way back. The irony is that a doctrinaire passing guy who fields "passing" sets, with four and five receivers, ends up with a crappy passing game, and not because of personnel.

It's because in his zeal to be Ben's buddy, and not his coach, and their combined zeal to field really cool-looking four and five man spread-wide sets, they neglected that little aspect of the game called blocking.

How are the Patriots able to throw 65-70 percent of the time? Because they BLOCK. It's crazy that I have to write some **** on an online message board regarding an offensive coordinator in the NFL and a concept so basic to football I learned it in football camp when I was eight years old.

And again, New England throws the ball a lot because of their personnel, not because the coaching staff wants to create some sort of movement. In the NFL, coaches who try to prove how smart they are always wind up proving the opposite.