o-line thoughts

by baltimore A-Train on Dec 25, 2008 2:30 PM EST Comment 10 comments

First and foremost season greetings and peace and blessings to the entire steeler nation. I have been reading the posts the last few days about the o-line and I have posted before some of my thoughts but I have been thinking about this for a while so here goes. Maybe our problem goes way deeper than just this year's version of the o-line,maybe we have a problem that goes much deeper, that our talent on the line has not been good for a while now. In 2006, BB injury seson we were 8-8, I don't know how many sacks we had that year, but I know I was at the ravens 27-0 game and they sacked him 9 times. In 2007 fwp was leading the league in rushing until he broke his leg, (huh) but BB was sacked 40 something times, my point is those 2 years we had smith fanacea, simmons and starks,, last year we had 2 new members in colon and maham. I can think of 2 reasons for this, maybe our talent was not as good as we thought, or the coaching is all wrong. This year we can't run the ball or pass protect. Nation, we have many problems, do we wait another year to give this out fit another year of seasoning? Is it possible that the backs we have now just can't run between the tackles? Is Mendy the answer to that? Has he shown enough to be able to do it?

In my opinion, these guys are linemen, they should be able to do something fairly well. Is that pulling? is that trapping? Is that counters? Is that pancaking guys? Is that power blocking? One of the main problems is that we have not been able to find out what these guys do well and focus on that. If they can't do those things, then divise some plays to take advantage of their STRENGH. This falls squarely on the shoulders of BA and LZ. They are not creative THINKERS, and this may go down as wasting one of the best defensive teams in our history. The only guys that seem to hold their own is max, justin, and stapleton. It's to late in the season to start changing and experimenting with players. WE are best when we are able to play-action, if no team is worried about our rush, then we become one -dimenisional. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see us making a long run in the big dance until we can run the ball. Please find a way.

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Mendy won't make much difference

We have more than enough capable backs to run the ball. Problem is there’s no hole in opposing defenses to run through. Using the biggest, toughest RB possible would help, but I’m pretty sure everyone at BTSC agrees that our run game is in neutral.

Whether its the line or the coaching or both seems to be the question of the hour. Hopefully Tomlin will answer that in the off-season, because we’ve got a Superbowl to concentrate on now.

by betelgeuse on Dec 25, 2008 4:48 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Good Post

and I tend to lean towards the idea that this is more of a coaching problem than a talent issue. The best example I can give is that we KNOW what kind of defense we are, so we draft guys that fit into our scheme. Can someone tell me what our offensive scheme is? If BA wants to pass 50 times a game, then it would make sense to go out and get the best pass blocking lineman he can find. I know that is an oversimplification, and that there is quite a bit more involved in the equation. I just think that it’s a good place to start. To further that point, isn’t possible that BA and Z are asking the guys to do things they are: a.) good at and/or b.)uncomfortable with? I mean technique and scheme wise….we obviously know they can’t run block very well…the question is, why not?

"Whaddya' mean all the beer is gone..?

by OhioYinzer on Dec 25, 2008 5:24 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Its still some of both

While I will agree some of our guys are better at some things than others, some just lack skill/experience.

You cant coach Willie Colon into being on the LOS properly or getting a false start every game or commiting some other foolish penalty.

You cant coach Kemo into not whiffing on everybody.

by Mechem on Dec 25, 2008 10:16 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Right on A-Train!!

Hey A-Train,

I got your e-mail, hope you received my reply…as I shared with you in my e-mail, the O-Line is worse than it was last year, but I also give Big Ben 50% of the blame for holding onto the ball too long in the pocket and not moving out of the pocket, which he is always been much better at doing, even when the Steelers had a much better O-Line. This is my number one frustration with Ben and the offense. Ben is costing the team games when he doesn’t have to by taking sacks and causing turnovers, and if he or the offense doesn’t change, no matter how well the defense plays, the defense will eventually get tired, and the Steelers won’t win any more games this season, including the game this upcoming weekend against the Browns.

As far as running backs, Mewelde has shown that he can run the ball, so I’m not convinced the Steelers can’t run the ball. I am convinced that either Bruce Arians, Ben or both think that the Steelers are a good passing team, and I can’t for the life of me figure out where they are getting that idea from. The last time the Steelers thought they were a good passing team was when Tommy Maddox was the quarterback, and I think we all know the results of that experiment. I realize teams that play the Steelers typically look to take away the running game first, so the Steelers do need somewhat of a passing game. What about using screens and gadget plays? Use the talent that is sitting on the bench right now, i.e. Limas Sweed, Dennis Dixon. Stop doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

by RogerG on Dec 25, 2008 11:59 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I'm sorry

Did you just say we won’t win against the browns? Are you kidding me? What have you been smoking? Last time I check the Browns just got shutout by the Bengals. SHUT OUT!!!! No points, none. And you think that this team will beat Pitt? Even after they are going to their 4th different QB of the season who obviously isn’t better than their 3rd QB because if he was then he would have been the 3rd. So there will be an even more of a drop off at the QB position. I’ll be surprise if this team scores in this game. I heard of being pessimistic but man you need some anti-depressants. This isn’t the same browns team from last year, this isn’t the same browns team from the beginning of this year. They have called it in for the season, all the expectations they had this season and they are were they are. They just want this season over. Come on I can see u saying we won’t win in the playoffs. But against the browns? I think we’ll managed with a messed up O-line. BTW we will be 12-4 this season with a jacked up O-line winning 5 straight games againts san diego, bengals, pats, cowboys,and ravens. I know i’m making it sound easy but all we have to do is win one home game and one road game (maybe) and we get to go to the superbowl. I think as long as ben doesn’t have a game where the team gives up more than 1 turnover we’ll be fine.

by tannofsteel84 on Dec 28, 2008 6:25 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Good Posts

I will be shocked (happy though) if we go to or win the SB. This offense is not strong enough and RogerG you are correct that Ben is not close to a Peyton or Brady. He can’t win it by passing all over the place. I love his toughness but he needs a strong run game. Look no further than Eli. He went from bum to good at the same time his run game became strong.

by Steelers fan in Boston on Dec 26, 2008 12:07 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Somewhere there is a mathematical formula for our issues with offensive consistency. Whatever that formula is it is composed of variabes that we’re all mentioning: o-line talent, waiting too long to snap the ball, holding on to the ball too long post snap, forced throws/wrong routes run, dropped passes, run-shy offense, improper scheme for personel, predictability, slow developing plays, etc…

There’s no one element that is causing the letdown on the offensive side of the ball in my opinion. I think that all of the variables are combining to jolt the offense here or there and produce the type of performances we have seen this year. The thing that gets me concerned is that the OC is supposed to look at all of these variables and make it better. The OC should be able to diagnose these issues and work with the materials at hand to produce a more consitent positive result. Instead we have an OC that holds on to the same tendencies/schemes like a cherished old car – sometime she starts and sometimes she leaves you stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Now the team is on the verge of a twelve win season, so many might think that there’s no reason to worry. The truth is that there have been moments and drives that surely had the offense working perfectly and opposing teams lacking answers, but these times of effectiveness have been peppered in-between the three and outs, stalled drives, turnovers, and field goals for most of the time. We have the personel to be great on offense – we really do, but we need someone who can put these elements into the proper alignment and timing and maybe change a few rusty parts. We don’t have that now.

by SCSteeler on Dec 28, 2008 9:36 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

The formula:

1 + 1 = 3

You read it here, first.

by Varmint on Dec 28, 2008 4:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That might be Arians’ formula alright.

by SCSteeler on Dec 29, 2008 7:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

SCSteeler/ Right On

Couldn’t agree with you more. All those things you mentioned are happening it seems because our OC doesn’t have confidence in our players, or doesn’t have confidence in himself. This late in the season where is our INDENITY? Are we are passing team or a running team(LOL) You are 100% right it’s the OC job to find out the right system or scheme to put his players in and to take advantage of their strenghts. We really don’t know what we can do well, and the sad part is I think we have the talent to be very effective on offense. Something has happened since last year with our offense, (missing or kidnapped) we need Sherlock Holomes to find out. In another post I will have some numbers from last year, and we were pretty effective. Our offense needs some Confidence.

by baltimore A-Train on Dec 28, 2008 11:28 AM EST reply actions 0 recs