Good news, bad news - does Sundays win further entrench Arians?

Yea I know I know, but this was a typical Arians game. Great game plan to begin with but no adjustments to continue success after halftime. We had 3 field goals before bens magical last drive. Thats the problem with Arians after awhile he bogs down into the same thing and fails to get the ball into the endzone. That is what cost us games sometimes because while our defense is letting other teams score TDs, we get FGs and the other team catches up.

In the hurry-up offense, Ben is doing all the play calling then. Its crazy how we score when Ben is calling the plays. We need more TD production out of our base offense. Arians can get us yards but thats not what wins games. I thought that all Arians needed was better line play but when you design plays to take 5-7 secs, that is asking a lot from the lines. Arians isn’t a good game adjusting coordinator, he has a game plan from the beginning of the game that he sticks to no matter what.

I think Tomlin is done with Arians, we still don’t know much about him because he was basically handed his coordinators. But I get the feeling that he isn’t going down with them. If push comes to shove he will get rid of his coordinators before he gets canned. It would take another Super Bowl for Arians to keep his job. If Troy comes back he might just get it.

designed for quick releases, quich runs, FB and some long passes..look at philly..

i am trying to illustrate that a west coast can work in cold weather..

keep BB healthy!

They won the SuperBowl last year. Plus, BB loves him (apparently), so what does that spell? One more year at least. Can’t imagine that Tomlin or the FO will let him go. That 500 yard performance should certainly seal the deal.

Now, I may not like the guy’s playcalling but that doesn’t add up to much. I believe the FO will convey their concerns and criticims to Tomlin and then Arians but it’s too soon to expect a change.. no matter how much we may all want it.

I would agree with the original post that the running games woes are largely to do with the O Line. Watch what happens on any short yardage play – the Steelers line gets very little push. 4th and 1 has become a 50/50 proposition at best. This is as basic as it gets and our O Line isn’t very good at moving bodies, not with any consistency.

the offence run by OC Bruce Arians

Maybe someone will take him off our hands, and take the decision out of the team’s hands.

1.The argument that BA needs to adjust because the defense has given up 21 pts in the 4th qtr in a number of games is weak. That’s a defensive issue, not BA’s fault. Yes, controlling the clock helps to keep the opposition from scoring but so does not letting the opposing team pick up 30+ yds at a clip. We have a defensive problem on our hands, specifically a porous secondary which may or may not be a result of Troy’s absence. Regardless, to put the blame on BA for defensive collapses is to have a “blind spot” to the real problem, the defense.

2. I’ve watched games and yelled at BA for what appears to be a lack of creative playcalling but isn’t it possible that the inability to run the ball is more related to the players who are executing (o-line) than the guy who simply calls the plays? Does anyone think that if the running game was executing at the level of the passing game BA would avoid it? Honestly, I sometimes just wish he would stick with what works instead of forcing a non-existent running game to pick up yards.

3. Many agree that the o-line was a train-wreck for most of the year last year, improved late in the year and was making strides throughout this year. Most people also understand that it “all starts with the line”. Is it possible that BA has actually taken lemons and made lemonade? They’ve pieced together a B-string line and turned out a pretty successful offense despite glaring weaknesses. That seems to be a pretty solid point in his favor.

Just trying to look at it from an angle other than “BA sucks and needs to go” because reality is that he probably isn’t going anywhere.

Early in the year, when it was warm outside, their spread-offense was unstoppable. They even blew us out and we had a top 3 defense.

But when it started to get colder outside they began to look a little rusty. The bad conditions made it tougher on the receivers to run good routes. The colder it got the less the Pats scored. It’s due to the weather.

Unless you play in a dome you must be able to run successfully when the weather turns bad.

Run blocking is more physical, more aggressive. You double team, trap and angle block on run plays. Pass blocking is more passive. The defenders get tired aerobically when they are forced to pass rush unsuccessfully down after down. Defenders get beat up physically and mentally when you run on them. imposing your will sounds like a mental thing but it is a physical act.

You are what you do. You play like you practice. The Steelers are a different team by philosophy and practice. They are not the Cowher Steelers for better or for worse. We still don’t know exactly what Tomlin envisions when he dreams of his ideal team. He is a defensive guy with a defensive guru for a DC. He utilized BA because he was ready-made for him when he got to Pittsburgh. The next couple of years will show what he believes in philosophically. Where the FO stops and he begins is another huge question mark.

I’m not sure if anyone else on this site has mentioned it (if they have, I haven’t seen it), but apparently Mike Tomlin has found out Arians was talking shit behind his back to his friends and other coaches.

I can’t find a free article to read about it, but if you pay for extra on post gazette, I think this link works:
http://plus.sites.post-gazette.com/i…=58&Itemid=155

From what I know about it (without reading an official article.. just chatter) is that Jay Glazer is friends with Tomlin and Jay Glazer heard from around the way that Arians was badmouthing Tomlin, and Glazer told Tomlin. Hopefully Arians is gone no matter what

I probably should have noticed this sooner but up here in the Great White North we use the British English “offence” whereas yinz down there all use the American English “offense”.

So I refer to the Steelers ‘offence’ and everyone else writes ‘offense’. And since our American neighbour (or as you would write ‘neighbor’) is so much bigger and casts such a big cultural shadow over all of North America, you will see canucks who use “offense” too, but I guess I’m a traditionalist.

The same goes for “defence” and “defense”. So I love the Steelers “defence” (except for recent 4th quarter troubles of course). Hal Gill plays “defence” for the Canadiens, but used to play “defense” for the Pens.

And in school you’re probably not taught anything about the War of 1812 and we’re taught that we kicked your butts……

I finally got to watch a game with my dad this sunday and it was fun to hear what he was saying. When we ran the first empty back set by the goal line and BB got sacked I turned to my dad and said nearly every negative play we get will come from that formation. Sure enough it happened again and again and again. Yes, there were some postives. My dad says doesn’t Arians ever learn. When we lined up in the empty back set he would just laugh and look at me like jeest BA is an idiot, he’s like a small child who steals candy from a grocery store gets punished by his mom and then does it again and again and again. My dad doesn’t get to watch every game since we don’t live close to Pittsburgh and doesn’t have NFL ticket or go to the bars to watch so he watches the primetime games and the few local broadcasts we get. My guess is he has watched 5 games this year and he noticed BA continually doing what generally doesn’t work and commented on it. He even mentioned it is up to Tomlin to make a change and let BA know he has to slow down with the empty back sets. So it begs a question does Tomlin not see it doesn’t work the majority of the time or does he not want to pipe up and say something?

We know that we don’t have to be three yards and a cloud of dust! We are all about winning – we know Tomlin doesn’t walk by six rushing titles, he walks by six Lombardi trophies yada yada. So just win this Sunday, doing whatever it takes.

Maybe Townsend will turn back the clock and have a great game at corner, maybe Arians will call the kind of game we would all call if we had the reins, maybe Tyrone Carter will learn the meaning of “pursuit angle”, maybe someone will cover Rice out of the backfield, maybe we will still be in the playoff race at 4:30 pm Sunday. Let’s hope so.

Here’s the link to the article from today’s PG http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09358/1023303-66.stm

(And I remember the 2004 game like it was yesterday, and I’m with you tobiathan. I spent the whole game thinking how could that defender be there, how did they stop that play, and that one, and the next one, and how could every play they called work so well. It was definitely uncanny – and now we know why. Oh well…..)

BUT, on 3rd and 1…we should be able to pick that up more often than not..