Is he a great coach? Clearly, he is articulate and always says exactly the right thing. He has a commanding presence, no doubt. And, it's plain to see that he is well liked by everyone around him. But, let's isolate coaching. The things that matter on the field. The leadership, coaching, preparation, and decision making that affects wins and losses.

The organization gave him some great talent to work with (and some not so great, to be fair). He also has Dick LeBeau. 

What do you think?

I think I have heard it all in the last few weeks as losses bring out worst in everybody.  Why, seems to be the most popular question.  Arians, Special Teams, Tomlin, and no Troy seem to be the most popular answers.  Well I have heard it all.  In my annual trip to the Burgh last week against Cincy I even heard some Steelers fans mutter “we should have put in Batch” as I left.  This is the reason why they were sitting in the seats and not standing on the sidelines.  Let’s look at some numbers.

Ninth in the NFL in total defense and 7th in the NFL in total offense; sound like a playoff team?  Nope, that’s an 8-8 2006 Steelers squad that was 28th in turnover differential.

This year we are 6th in total offense and number one overall in total defense.  Does that sound like a playoff team?  Well we are -5 in turnover differential which is good for 27th in the league.  The answer is No with that turnover diff.

Arians is not fumbling, Tomlin has not dropped any ints, Special Teams well?, and the D is number one overall without Troy.  I have heard Debo is not performing. He is third in the NFL in sacks!  2008’s team was 7-3 with an even TO diff through 11 weeks last season.  We closed +10 to finish the season which includes +6 in the playoffs.  Last year and this year’s teams both forced 14 takeaways through 11 weeks.

In the NFL the difference between winning and losing comes down to a few plays regardless of who is on the field.  A bad spot here and a missed tackle there can be costly, but nothing is more costly than the turnovers.  Luck played its role in last years championship. We were not perfect or an all time great.  You can look for all the solutions and anecdotes you would like to solve the problems.  It is simple to me, create turnovers and hold on to the ball we win, turn it over like we have and we lose!

Question:

1 Are Keenan Lewis and Joe Burnett getting any playing time in the nickel or dime packages?

2 How is their development coming along ?

I was hoping that they would be playing in the dime package by the end of the year.

I'm hoping they start playing real good by the time the playoffs start

(if we make the playoffs)

Has anyone noticed if any of them are atleast getting playing time in the Dime Package?

thanks

I love coach Tomlin...

But, this is on him. If we gave him credit for leading the Steelers to a Super Bowl victory last year, we have to look at him when the Steelers are stumbling.

Special Teams: The Steelers special teams seem to lack anything approaching heart. How many players started their careers by distinguishing themselves on special teams. Rocky Blier and James Harrison to name a couple. Who is distinguishing themselves this year? No one! This is an attitude problem.

Offense: Definately, coaching. This is squarely on Bruce Arian's shoulders. He as been allowed to under-perform a portion of every game. And sometimes, whole games. The Steelers have too much offensive talent to be struggling in the red zone. They have more talent than do the Hated Patriots, but continually enter games in a mental fog which is compounded by poor play calling. There seems to be a "We'll get it done eventually" type of attitude where the offense relies on the defense to keep the game close with the idea of picking it up in the end. Then, a poor play call or a mistake squashes the win. Bruce Arians needs to be held accountable and made to perform.

Defense: You can't tell me that Troy is all the difference. Not going for it any more. The defense demonstrated the same "We've got this" attitude yesterday in overtime, without actually covering or making the tackle. Mental toughness was lacking.

What do all these things have in common? Poor coaching, period. There is an attitude that is coming from the top which is leading to slacking off. Not all the time, but enough for a few plays to cost a very good team some wins. This started in training camp. Some of you may remember an article last summer about Ving Rhames visiting camp. In it, James Harrison walked away from practice and talked to the movie star for something like forty minutes. That type of attitude is haunting the Steelers now.

Sure, some of the Steelers veterans can regain their focus when they need it, but this is a bad precedent for the younger players. Also, practice is for every aspect of the game, including focus. If the coaches accept lapses in focus at training camp and at practice, there will be lapses in focus come game day.

This all starts with Coach Tomlin. While I believe he is a good coach, I think it is his failure to send the proper message. While he is a good speaker, he is dropping the ball when it comes to action. Everyone has their favorite coach Tomlin one-liners, now let's look for our favorite Coach Tomlin actions to improve the Steelers and get them further than a one-and-out in the playoffs.

While I'm mad as hell at this loss, and now have some very serious doubts about the Steelers season, I know that they have huge talent and the ability to win another world championship. I'm not without optimism. But something has to be done for the Steelers to get back to championship attitude. With that attitude will come wins. The person most responsible for that attitude is Coach Tomlin.

Hi All,

Fist i'm not out of the wagon, i want to put this clear, but there are a few things really wrong with this team and nobody is doing nothing, we are breaking records with the returns and the play calling is getting worst. Since last year we learn that we win games and a SB, when the no-huddle offense was active and we all know that Ben is the one calling the plays in those situations, Bruce is the one who desing the plays and in that context he remain with the team. but 2 games with 40+ passing plays and 2 games lost, when we have a balance offense we win, so why don't balance the offense? maybe arians want to make of Ben a Manning or Warner, but you don't win championships with out a balance game(i promise to post one with statistics in the near future). Now we all love tomlin and the way he manages the team but in the same way that he put a stop with the players, he has tu show the exit to this 2 coaches. What is the wort that canhappend? we are the worst ST unit inthe NFL.

I felt so sick to my stomach yesterday after the game. Now we were looking at two back-to-back losses, and we'd just lost to the now 3-7 Kansas City Freaking Chiefs!?!

There was some consolidation at the end of the day, however. The Bengals also lost yesterday to the hapless Oakland Raiders, and we're still in the thick of things for a playoff spot even if we don't win the division.

The Broncos lost their fourth in a row and are now 6-4. We hold the tie-breaker over them since we beat them on Monday Night Football.

The Dolphins are a game behind us at 5-5. That will be an important match-up against them at the end of the season for the Steelers. That may decide whether we make the playoffs or not.

Baltimore, fortunately, fell to 5-5 with a loss to the Colts. We face them next week in prime-time.  That will be a HUGE game for both teams, and you know that the Ravens will come out with a fury on both sides of the ball.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are 6-4 like us and fighting for a fifth or sixth seed since there's little chance that the Colts will lose the division now at 10-0. 

Right now, San Diego leads the AFC West at 7-3 with a win over the Broncos. The good thing there, is that if the Broncos reclaim the lead, and the Chargers fall later in the season, we also hold a tie-breaker against them. I would rather see the Chargers keep winning though, especially in their Week-15 game against the Bengals. The Broncos still have a very tough schedule ahead (They play the Giants, Colts and Eagles through the next six weeks), and could very well miss the playoffs after staring the season 6-0. I'm sure there is turmoil in that locker room.

I still like the Steelers chances at winning a playoff spot, but they certainly didn't help themselves with a loss to the Chiefs. With a win, they might have still been able to win the division. Mathematically, it's not out of the question, yet, but still unlikely.

For more discussion, please visit my blog: Lord's Day, Game Day.

Well, here we are with a week 11 football hangover worse than the hangover induced by post loss "sorrow drowning" I participated in last night.  About last mid-week last night I was talking with a Chiefs fan and I said I would not be surprised if the Steelers gave up a KO return early.  He says to me "Our ST is really bad."  "Our ST coverage is worse," I retorted.

So after allowing a shockingly horrible 3 KO returns this year, what does the team do?  We drop one player and activate a PS guy.  Small moves will give you small results.  It's about time we try making a big move for big results on our ST coverage team.  Maybe some defensive starters should be put out there to fire up some of those guys and show them the attitude it takes to make big plays.  I don't know the answer, but something a bit more drastic needs to be done.

Continue reading this post »

Steelers QB Charlie Batch, who would have been the starter if Ben Roethlisberger is unable to play this Sunday after taking a hit to the head, has a wrist injury that requires surgery and will sideline him for six weeks, a source close to the situation told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

Batch was injured after he entered Sunday's overtime loss at Kansas City.

Dennis Dixon will move to No. 2.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4682002

In the wake of an ugly loss, there inevitably will be a bunch of crazies calling for lineup changes, coach firings, and other various and sundry personnel moves.  One idea that is not so crazy is reducing Lawrence Timmons' field time.  Not because Timmons is so poor that he should not start on an NFL team (he is starting material), but because his backup is better. 

LT looked like the real LT (the one named Taylor) for one play, the sack/strip of Matt Cassel.  That was a great individual effort and I don't want to detract from that.  But one play does not a game make.  In fact, on two bigger plays, LT was out of position and flat footed.  On the tying TD late in the game, LT, along with his partner in crime James Farrior, bit hard on the play action and were beat for a TD.  Granted, the play was Farrior's to make and it would have been asking a little much of LT to make a play on the ball.  However, if LT reads the play correctly, he does possess the physical attributes to make a stop there.  Instead, he bit on the fake and let the ref pick him.

On the Chris "Enter the 36" Chambers catch and run to seal the game, you will see Timmons creep up to the line of scrimmage as Cassel drops back to pass.  Why?  I don't think even he could tell you today.  Neither RB released from the backfield and Chambers crossied the field right into Timmons' zone.  Yet Timmons crept up to the line, allowing Cassel to drop a pass right where Timmons should have been.  On 3rd and 6, there is no reason for a LB playing a spy or short zone to stand at the line of scrimmage.  Keep the short receiver in front of you and short of the 6 yard mark, try and make a tackle.  But it was not to be, and that was all she wrote.

So here's the point: of the Steelers four losses, Timmons played a majority of snaps in all of them.  These losses do not fall on Timmons, at all, especially since another defensive star missed several of those games.  Overall, Timmons has played satisfactory football.  But K. Fox has played outstanding when given the chance.  In the three games where Fox has played a majority of defensive snaps, his line looks like this: 17 tackles, 7 assists, 1 FumRec, 1 Pass Def, 1 Int, 1 TD.  It seems to me that Fox is playing better in every facet except rushing the QB (although in fairness to Fox, he is sent on blitzes far less than LT). 

Again, this isn't a cut LT post, or even a bench LT post.  You want LT's pass rushing skills on 3rd and long.  Other than that, Fox is the better ILB right now.

Now, I'm not here to get anywhere near the idea of losing coach Tomlin, but man, look at these stats:

Turnovers: 3
Penalties: 8 for 85 yds
Chiefs points from run backs, turnovers: 17

At this point I can't put the blame anywhere else but on the coaches. When a team has this many costly penalties and mental errors, it's indicative of them not being mentally ready, and that's the coaches' job. It becomes like a virus. Case in point: our defense dominated most of the game, but after watching the other two squads basically screw the pooch all day long, it's no wonder they collapsed at the end of the game. Last week we had a run back and some bad penalties, especially in the red zone; this week it's a sad repeat. BB has now had 2 interceptions in the red zone in the last 2 weeks, after not having thrown any red zone INTs since 2007.

And don't give me the big numbers put up by the offense. Too many mistakes, period. Too many good drives resulting in zero points. This team is listless and there need to be drastic actions taken (Special Teams coach? Buh-bye. O-line coach? Ass chewing time). There is going to be serious acrimony in the Steelers house from the defensive side if they basically demolish the opponent all day just to see that opponent still with a chance to win in the 4th quarter. There's no way we should have the top defense in the league (because we do as it stands now) and HAVE LOST THE 2 GAMES THAT ACTUALLY GOT US THERE.

Tomlin needs to light a fire under these guys asses, probably most importantly the coaches, or this season is toast. One other complaint - I don't know what Reed's range is, but seriously - you're on the road, your defense is clearly fading at the end of the game - why not attempt the 55 yard FG? Or just go for it on 4th and 5? That punt did more to say 'no confidence' than just about any call I've seen all year. Besides, Sepulveda wasn't actually doing well to place the ball inside the 20 all day.

Rant over.