but I was rolling when I saw your screen name? Did you pull that from Long Duck Dong?

Great Question, I really have no idea who is out there, but I am really eager to hear what Offensive Cordinator and Offensive Line coaches could be brought in.

There are plenty of candidates out there. Not sure who will come available as the season ends, but like my job or your job there are others that could fill the role admirably.

Just taking last year for example (as I was off the BA & Z bandwagon early) I was debating with those on this site that the Steelers could talk to either Cam Cameron (who was available and is now coaching one of the league leading Offenses in Baltimore) and Steve Sarkasian (USC innovative OC) who was just hired at UW (I think) as HC.

I am sure at years end there will be plenty of offensive, innovative imaginative coaches that could ably replace BA. Just to throw out a name, Brian Billick is currently available. He did a nice job at Minnesota before becoming HC and could fill us in on many tendencies of our main competition in the AFCN, the BrownRavens.

With the exception of a handful of guys like Grimm (who has been an assistant head coach for years) OL coaches don’t get a lot of attention. I don’t know where they’ll look if Z gets canned, but I’m sure there’re some guys in the college ranks waiting for a job like this one. I don’t think OL coach is the big problem with our offense, or even our offensive line, though.

The first step to fixing the problems on OL are 1, getting an OC with a specific vision for the offense, and 2, finding the personnel to fit that vision. Our OL sucks because there is no vision for the offense, and our personnel is a hodgepodge. We have 2 viable options for our offensive identity in the future:

1. We could embrace the passing game by spreading the field. In this offense, the run is still very important, but the passing game is what makes it go. If the defense knows you’re running, they usually can stop it. To run this scheme, we need smart, athletic linemen who can run a zone blocking scheme and are good at pass blocking.

2. The other option is to go back to our roots. Get a good fullback, gets some big ugly linemen who can open holes in the running game against anyone. When the defense starts to favor the run, all the sudden Ben burns them with PA and bootlegs.

Both offenses have advantages and disadvantages. We have the skill players to run offense #1: Ben is a great QB, and not very many teams have a QB like him. We also have the depth and variety at WR, TE, and RB to run this offense effectively. Mendenhall in particular is better suited for this type of offense. If we get it to work, we could have one of the best offenses in the league to complement our defense. If our defense has a down year, the offense could still keep us in contention. Right now the Ravens’ future is looking pretty bright, but their defense is more susceptible to the pass than the run. However, it has some risks. We can’t be sure how Ben would do in an offense like this until we see him do it. At the very least he’d need an able offensive coordinator, and OC’s lifespans aren’t usually more than 2-4 years. Also, Pittsburgh isn’t exactly the nicest place to run a spread offense in the winter. I don’t want us to start every year 10-0 then fizzle like the Colts and Cowboys. If we think our defense can maintain it’s standing, maybe we need a safer offense than a great one.

Offense #2 pros and con: we know Ben can run it, even though paying a guy $15M/yr to hand the ball off seems kind of expensive. However, if we can build a successful running game, we know that we have a weapon in Ben that can bust out some amazing stretches when we need him to. It’s worth $15M/yr to have a guy who can take us over the top when it matters. This is the type of offense that works in the playoffs, especially when it’s complemented by a good defense. Even when this offense doesn’t work well or even if we don’t have a great OC, it doesn’t put the defense in bad situations. The main problem with this type of offense is our current personnel. Parker may not be with the team past 2009, and Mendenhall grew up in the spread/zone offense. Cary Davis and Darnell Stapleton are useless in this offense. Kemo would be good in it, but he might be too big of a liability in the passing game to start. We would need a FB and probably a big power back in addition to an OL overhaul.

I think both options could work for us, but we need to choose one, develop an identity, and build our personnel around it. Right now we’re trying to establish the RUN first with a ZONE BLOCKING scheme; unless you cut block (Broncos style) you can’t be a run first zone team. Kemo is possibly the worst zone blocking guard in the league. Starks and Colon’s aren’t very good either. We’re so bad in the zone that we couldn’t even run on the Colts’ 265lb DT’s in cover-2. Our passing game is not scaring anyone, and Ben’s injuries have further hampered it. In addition to being indecisive, Arians is terrible at playcalling, which has gotten Ben killed. Our OL isn’t good at pass blocking and Ben holds the ball too long, but there are WAY too many times where no one is open. We constantly RUN out of 2 and 3 TE formations when our TE’s are clearly better at catching than blocking. We contantly pass out of close bunch formations where blitzing CB’s have a much shorter path the the QB.

These are the reasons our offense is so bad. Individual performances haven’t been great, but when your plan on offense is terrible, you need incredible performances to make it work. With the exception of Ben (who made the offense work last year by himself) we just don’t have the talent on offense to do that. We have a slightly below average OL that can’t compensate for a lousy plan. Larry Zierlein hasn’t necessarily impressed me, but the offense is so fatally flawed, it makes it very difficult to see if the OL has progressed or regressed under his watch. I think it’s likely that he’ll get replaced this offseason, but that’s not the big move that needs to be made.

How bout the Raiders Coach if he is not retained at the end of the year?

Raiders seemed to run the ball well in 2007 (with zero quality linemen) and was OLC for ATL in 2006 (Led NFL in rushing).

Just a thought