1) D-lineman in a 3-4 are not supposed to ‘get to the QB quickly’…their primary responsibility is to tie-up o-linemen in order to let the LB’s run free.

2) Aaron Smith was not injured for most of last year…that was the year before last, and even then, it wasn’t for most of the year.

3) Gary Russell was released before the draft, and therefore Tomlin is no longer calling him our power back.

4) Ike Taylor is anything but small.

Back to the drawing board, NickM. If you would like to enlighten us, please do so with accurate info.

A lot of holes in this post.

In my opinion, it’s more a mental game now than it is a technical one. This group of players have shown they can dominate whoever they play, on a regular basis. The team i) cannot be complacent ii) cannot let the vets lose a step. I can see the passing game being improved this year with Shaun being the #3, he could be a valuable asset. Sweed wants to prove people wrong, and thats always good motivation for young players. The OLine has a better year coming in my opinion, even though I agree its our only ‘poor’ component in this team.

As Weegie said, you cant cut the cheese wherever you please!

THE NEED OFFENSIVE HELP THE MOST. CONCENTRATING ON THE O LINE. THEY HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO BOUNCE BACK BUT MAY NOT BE AS EASY THIS TIME WITHOUT O LINE HELP.

Just check your facts.This is a great site because it provides you a really good background if you are a Steelers Junkie like the rest of us. Also FYI, on Ike Taylor not being able to keep up with receivers his size, the guy is the fastest player on the team. Last August, the Beaver County Times did an article where the players were asked who were the fastest five players in order. Even Fast Willie said Ike was the fastest. Here’s the link:
http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2008/08/20/sports/steelers/doc48acedf7241e2360757236.txt

We have to see big improvement from the Offense. We can’t expect Ben to pull off Q4 miracles like he did last year. Our running game has to improve. That falls on our (do ya love ‘em or do ya hate ’em) OC, Bruce Arians firstly and then the players (starting with the O-line.) We must admit, when we rarely run a two back offense and then you see a fullback line up in the backfield, the defense gets the hint. I bet we ran 95% of the time from that set. Too few screens, too few draws made it obvious. A better combined effort of play calling and execution is needed to win without so much drama in ’09-’10.

You know what bothered me a lot last year? After seeing too many sacks-yeah, that’s a problem; but it seemed like every game Willie Colon was getting called for being off side. It just seemed like a lot of penalties. I think he needs to work on his game time concentration. He may be a good blocker, but those penalties can hurt. Not only in terms of yardage lost, but in morale as well. I was an offensive lineman in high school many years ago and can appreciate the importance of the position (and the lack of recognition and appreciation that goes with it). I suspect Willie is good enough to be a starter on this team, but I sure wish he’d work on his concentration and reflexes. Okay, maybe that doesn’t solve the sack problem, but it should help the O-line get their job done.

I’m impressed with the length of the title of this post. There are posts that have less information inside them then the title of this does.

While I gotta agree with a lot you, we have the basic components to be a powerhouse dynasty NOW. Additional tweaking is needed (at the worst an offensive coordinator change). First…we’ve gotta get the running game going. That is priority #1 in my book. Above all else, this needs to improve. The easiest way to do this, is to improve the Oline of course. Having a consistent running game does three main things.
1. It keeps your QB healthy – We all know how important #7 is to this team and its title runs

2. It limits turnovers. You get the occasional fumble, but for the most part, keeping the ball on the ground limits turnovers and keeps the ball in the offense’s hands.

3. And most important It gives us the ability to control the tempo of a game, in particular, the END OF THE GAME! How many times last year did I see us nearly lose a game because we went 3 & out while trying to get parker to run through the tackles in the last minutes of a game. Maybe rush to the outside and take advantage of his speed? NO NO NO! Crazy talk! By getting our running game going we will take a lead, keep the lead, and let our defense tee-off on the opposing offense.

That’s just my opinion, but all three of these things could be remedied with better guard, tackle, and center play. Hopefully, the extra time this offseason in preparation will make them “gell”. Just so many things that bugged me about last year’s offense. I thought for sure they’d be one and done in the playoffs and waste the best defense this league has seen in decades.

Agreed. OLine and Running Game will help us dominate this season. Our record last year doesn’t reflect how close many of those games were! How many times did our defense pull us out of the fire? If not for them, some of those close games may have swung the other way, especially Baltimore which would have led to us scraping for a wild card instead of winning the division. I love Ben’s ability to bring us back in the 4Q as well, but I’d rather have a little more breathing room from an offense that dominates.

We need to get back to power running to control the clock. We need some more creative play calling at the goal line. I don’t know how many times I yelled at the tv last season, “Run to the corner!” You’d think that our lack of ability to punch it up the middle from the one yard line would key in BA that we should shake it up. Hopefully the Tank fixes some of that for us this year.

I’d also like to see us run the hurry up a little more often this year. Ben’s very comfortable in that no huddle approach from his college days and that package gives us an edge, especially against the defenses with less depth. It keeps them on the field without subbing and we roll down the field.

God I can’t wait for the season to start!!!