So, do WE still want to run Arians outta town?

[Mel Blount's G]

Okay, first off, I admit to being on the arian-hater bandwagon. I have criticized him for his alleged poor playcalling, specifically, for lacking any imagination.

Has Arians improved throughout this year? Or has the players execution, especially, the oline, improved? Or should we not be too excited about moving the ball on a charger D that isn't really all that? What say you about the play calling today? Personally, I LOVED the pooch punt and have been looking for it for a while now.

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

This is a hard question. I wouldn't run him out of town THIS week. Beyond that, no commitments. Maybe the Cowboys want him!

[johnstownsteel]

i'm really afraid to answer that cause next week my foot could very well be hitting the screen. that being said, ben kicks left footed?

[AngryAsian]

IMO, the only way Arians saves his job if he helps Tomlin hoist a Lombardi Trophy.

[Steel Life]

Yes - Ben seems like he may have regressed, the O-Line continues to be a problem, the WR's aren't feared & the running game is hit-or-miss. Bruce - thank you but we need something better & Ben is more important to me than you are.

[Steelgal]

I was thinking there was a statement by Tomlin in his presser this week that made me believe HE was more involved in the plays for this week. I'm not sure how much of the better playcalling was BA on his own or Tomlin's added input????

Either way, it was a whole lot better.

[SteelTorch]

Um...yes, I still want him gone. One game is not enough to save his career.

[Flasteel]

Bye.

[Jom112]

Handing Willie Parker the ball 20+ times will make any O-Coordinator look intelligent in Pittsburgh. Unless the opponent is Baltimore. That game should be close and should either prove or disprove if Arians can gameplan/adjust a gameplan...

[Mel Blount's G]

I pretty much agree but I must admit that it would look foolish if we were to go on and win the big one. Mind you, we're still a long way off from that. It goes to show how critical steeler fans are when our team is playing the afcc at home yet we're calling for our OC's head. And I don't mean that in a bad way either.

The other implication is that this defense is SO dominant that it beats down both our opponent AND Arians sh!tty playcalling consistently. I wonder if B.L. Lebeau gameplans against Arians predictably crappy playcalling? I was lofting this D pretty high on my all time favs today in several moments of bliss

[BURGH86STEEL]

Okay, first off, I admit to being on the arian-hater bandwagon. I have criticized him for his alleged poor playcalling, specifically, for lacking any imagination.

Has Arians improved throughout this year? Or has the players execution, especially, the oline, improved? Or should we not be too excited about moving the ball on a charger D that isn't really all that? What say you about the play calling today? Personally, I LOVED the pooch punt and have been looking for it for a while now.

Execution, execution, and execution. People will always question the play calling. Coaches will make questionable decisions. We see it happen with the best coaches. If the players execute like they are supposed too, coaches look like geniuses. To me it is really that simple.

[Flasteel]

Okay, first off, I admit to being on the arian-hater bandwagon. I have criticized him for his alleged poor playcalling, specifically, for lacking any imagination.

Has Arians improved throughout this year? Or has the players execution, especially, the oline, improved? Or should we not be too excited about moving the ball on a charger D that isn't really all that? What say you about the play calling today? Personally, I LOVED the pooch punt and have been looking for it for a while now.

Execution, execution, and execution. People will always question the play calling. Coaches will make questionable decisions. We see it happen with the best coaches. If the players execute like they are supposed too, coaches look like geniuses. To me it is really that simple.

You can't excuse the obviously pathetic game-planning and play-calling of Bruce Arians for so long due to our players executing at a high level. There have been far too many situations where what he does defies logic and sound football fundementals. I know we've gone round and round with this Burgh, but he does and always will suck big, giant monkey balls.

[Steel Life]

You can't excuse the obviously pathetic game-planning and play-calling of Bruce Arians for so long due to our players executing at a high level. There have been far too many situations where what he does defies logic and sound football fundementals. I know we've gone round and round with this Burgh, but he does and always will suck big, giant monkey balls.
Absolutely right FLA & there were plenty of examples of his logic-defying today...who gives the ball to Carey Davis on the goal-line on 4th down? Honestly?!? :HeadBanger

[BURGH86STEEL]

Okay, first off, I admit to being on the arian-hater bandwagon. I have criticized him for his alleged poor playcalling, specifically, for lacking any imagination.

Has Arians improved throughout this year? Or has the players execution, especially, the oline, improved? Or should we not be too excited about moving the ball on a charger D that isn't really all that? What say you about the play calling today? Personally, I LOVED the pooch punt and have been looking for it for a while now.

Execution, execution, and execution. People will always question the play calling. Coaches will make questionable decisions. We see it happen with the best coaches. If the players execute like they are supposed too, coaches look like geniuses. To me it is really that simple.

You can't excuse the obviously pathetic game-planning and play-calling of Bruce Arians for so long due to our players executing at a high level. There have been far too many situations where what he does defies logic and sound football fundementals. I know we've gone round and round with this Burgh, but he does and always will suck big, giant monkey balls.

There were several games this season where the game plan appeared to be sound. At one point, Steelers were one of the best red zone teams in the league. Player's mistakes/lack of execution ruined a lot of opportunities. Even the best coaches makes questionable calls/decisions. One other thing that has to be taken into consideration is we've face some good defensive units this season. Like I wrote, when the players execute to their potential, coaches look like geniuses.

I guess he did not suck big, giant monkey balls tonight. We saw what happened when the Oline opened up holes in the middle of the line for Parker to run through. When the holes are not there, that is lack of execution. They can go out and get the best most imaginative OC in the league. It will not matter if the players fail to execute.

Who do you think the best OC in the league is right now?

[BURGH86STEEL]

You can't excuse the obviously pathetic game-planning and play-calling of Bruce Arians for so long due to our players executing at a high level. There have been far too many situations where what he does defies logic and sound football fundementals. I know we've gone round and round with this Burgh, but he does and always will suck big, giant monkey balls.
Absolutely right FLA & there were plenty of examples of his logic-defying today...who gives the ball to Carey Davis on the goal-line on 4th down? Honestly?!? :HeadBanger

When they try something a little different, people question it. If they give it to Russel, people question it. If they pass it on 4th and 1, people question it. If they take the FG, people question why they did not go for it.

My point, people will always question calls when they do not work or are not executed properly.

[papillon]

JFC this is the Steelers, the team owned and operated by the Rooneys and you don't realize that they don't make knee jerk reactions. You may not like Arians (and, I've given my share of criticism this year) or you may like him, but, unless, he becomes a felon over the next few weeks he will be the Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator next year.

Pappy

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

Just to throw in my 2cents worth, I agree that execution is the most important thing, but I think maybe BA is calling the wrong plays for these players ... he sometimes seems not smart enough to figure out what tools he has in the toolbox.

Having said that, tonight's results made him look pretty sharp. I guess if he has success with this O-line that lets us hoist L6, well, it's hard to argue with that!

[NorthCoast]

Okay, first off, I admit to being on the arian-hater bandwagon. I have criticized him for his alleged poor playcalling, specifically, for lacking any imagination.

Has Arians improved throughout this year? Or has the players execution, especially, the oline, improved? Or should we not be too excited about moving the ball on a charger D that isn't really all that? What say you about the play calling today? Personally, I LOVED the pooch punt and have been looking for it for a while now.

Execution, execution, and execution. People will always question the play calling. Coaches will make questionable decisions. We see it happen with the best coaches. If the players execute like they are supposed too, coaches look like geniuses. To me it is really that simple.

We have heard this statement before but I am not a believer that it is simply execution. Let's take it to the extreme and say that we only have 5 offensive plays in our book. You are telling me that they will be successful if they only execute correctly? Defenses are called so that the odds of executing a particular play on offense are extremely low. Catch a D in the wrong call and the probability of executing the offensive play improve. So it is as much about calling the right O-play as it is about calling the right D-play. On top of that, if your talent is only average then playcalling becomes even MORE important in giving that slight edge to making the play work.

[BURGH86STEEL]

Okay, first off, I admit to being on the arian-hater bandwagon. I have criticized him for his alleged poor playcalling, specifically, for lacking any imagination.

Has Arians improved throughout this year? Or has the players execution, especially, the oline, improved? Or should we not be too excited about moving the ball on a charger D that isn't really all that? What say you about the play calling today? Personally, I LOVED the pooch punt and have been looking for it for a while now.

Execution, execution, and execution. People will always question the play calling. Coaches will make questionable decisions. We see it happen with the best coaches. If the players execute like they are supposed too, coaches look like geniuses. To me it is really that simple.

We have heard this statement before but I am not a believer that it is simply execution. Let's take it to the extreme and say that we only have 5 offensive plays in our book. You are telling me that they will be successful if they only execute correctly? Defenses are called so that the odds of executing a particular play on offense are extremely low. Catch a D in the wrong call and the probability of executing the offensive play improve. So it is as much about calling the right O-play as it is about calling the right D-play. On top of that, if your talent is only average then playcalling becomes even MORE important in giving that slight edge to making the play work.

It may not be simply execution. No one can sit here and say what is going on with the play calling. Maybe Ben is not always running what is called? Playing good defenses has an impact.

A large majority of it is the execution on the field. You've witnessed it yourself. Dropped passes, poorly thrown balls, holding, poor blocking, and the list goes on. Injuries had an impact on things as well. People act like Arians has never called good games. They want to force most of the blame on him when we've all witnessed a lot of mistakes by the players this season.

Considering most fans fell as though we need improvements on the Oline, why continue to attack Arians if he does not have all the tools to make things function well on a consistent basis? Look, we all saw today what happens when the players execute the plays call. We've seen it throughout the history of the league. Even when teams know who will get the ball, those teams succeeded because they executed. There are only so many plays that can be practiced. There are only so many plays in the play book.

People can continue to attack Arians. If they continue to have the same problems with a new OC that is the best in the league, what will people say then? How good did Kevin Gilbride look today when the Giants did not execute what was called today?

[Steelhere10]

let's see 1st and goal Willie up the middle for 5yds. 2nd down Willie goes out the game, and they play fake from the 1 yard line, 3rd down at the 1 you fake to Russell ( who earlier pick up short yardage ) and hand off to C Davis ( who seems to never pick up the first down ). = H#LL YES I COULD GO ON AND ON!!! but just is happy for the win.

[Starlifter]

the execution was terrific today but does our offense strike anyone as clever, sneaky, innovative? those are words we apply to our defense. arians and the offense are predictable and pedestrian. of course if they execute, they can win but they never do it by outcoaching the defense.

[SteelerOfDeVille]

IMO, the only way Arians saves his job if he helps Tomlin hoist a Lombardi Trophy.
been saying the same thing... if they win it all, you can't fire him. you can only hope he finds a job somewhere else...

[kennyes]

If we win the sixth then I firmly believe you don't fix what's not broken. Regardless the Steelers need to resign a couple FA and draft on both sides of the line period.

[Djfan]

He has been suspect for two seasons. Even with the Lombardi win this year, I hope Tomlin is looking at alternatives. If there are no good ones, then keep him, but on a short leash.

If there is a good alternative, the pull the trigger.

Someone on this board said a while back that if the OC is the victim of bad execution, and not a problem with philosophy, then Dick LeBeau can be replaced by anyone. That is silly, so the opposite is also.

I hope he's gone.

[Discipline of Steel]

The main problem that I see with him is that he is not a true Steeler. How can we have a Steeler offense without a power rushing attack? Im not necessarily saying gear the entire offense in that way but at least have the personel on hand if you need to run something out of it. That means a real FB and we hope that Mendenhall turns out to be the power runner we envision him to be. If that happens, I will be satisfied with Bruce staying...that and SB#6 of course.

[Northern_Blitz]

Ariens had a good day. I don't think we'll fire our OC after a successfull season. He's not the best out there to be sure, but I think there are many worse. The next game (or two) might decide his fate.

My favorite play call of the day was the PA pass on Miller's TD. Faking the sweep with Parker after we'd scored on it the last time was brilliant! It was a great second half for the O. Hopefully, we can score at least half as many points this weekend.

[Oviedo]

Okay, first off, I admit to being on the arian-hater bandwagon. I have criticized him for his alleged poor playcalling, specifically, for lacking any imagination.

Has Arians improved throughout this year? Or has the players execution, especially, the oline, improved? Or should we not be too excited about moving the ball on a charger D that isn't really all that? What say you about the play calling today? Personally, I LOVED the pooch punt and have been looking for it for a while now.

Execution, execution, and execution. People will always question the play calling. Coaches will make questionable decisions. We see it happen with the best coaches. If the players execute like they are supposed too, coaches look like geniuses. To me it is really that simple.

Someone gets it. When players execute it looks great.

As I have said a million times anyone who criticizes playcalling has no idea what play was actually called versus what Ben changed the play to. The only thing you can legitimately criticize Arians about is the scheme has has implemented, e.g. no FB, multiple TEs, etc. The reality is that the scheme he has tried to put in place is not much different than what the Pats have been very successful with and most importnat takes fuller advanatage of the NFL rules that grossly favor passing the ball than the old Cowher approach of pounding the ball into the center of the line.

We'll see where this goes but if you want to hate Arians get it right and hate his scheme but don't pretend to know you know what plays are being called.

[MeetJoeGreene]

If it were the world according to MJG, I would still get rid of BA, regardless of the outcome of this season.

[MaxAMillion]

the execution was terrific today but does our offense strike anyone as clever, sneaky, innovative? those are words we apply to our defense. arians and the offense are predictable and pedestrian. of course if they execute, they can win but they never do it by outcoaching the defense.

The Cowboy offense was not clever during the 90's. They had the best OL in the game so they gave the ball to Smith 25 times per game. They used play action and threw square in patterns and skinny post to Irvin. The offense was not complicated (Aikman has admitted as much) but they executed so well that teams could not stop them.

Arians looked better because his OL played well and they ran the football. Yesterday looked closer to last season's offense. You can win the Super Bowl with the way the offense played against the Chargers.

Arians was the agreed upon OC once Whisenhunt left (Rooney agreed to this). You are not going to be able to fire him if the Steelers make it to the Super Bowl. Might as well focus on upgrading the OL.

[Slapstick]

Get rid of him when he's finally starting to do well?

If they make it to the SB and Ben likes him, I'm good with him staying...

I'm sure I won't always agree with him, but if the offense can put out two more games this year like yesterday, he's cool with me...

[BURGH86STEEL]

Okay, first off, I admit to being on the arian-hater bandwagon. I have criticized him for his alleged poor playcalling, specifically, for lacking any imagination.

Has Arians improved throughout this year? Or has the players execution, especially, the oline, improved? Or should we not be too excited about moving the ball on a charger D that isn't really all that? What say you about the play calling today? Personally, I LOVED the pooch punt and have been looking for it for a while now.

Execution, execution, and execution. People will always question the play calling. Coaches will make questionable decisions. We see it happen with the best coaches. If the players execute like they are supposed too, coaches look like geniuses. To me it is really that simple.

Someone gets it. When players execute it looks great.

As I have said a million times anyone who criticizes playcalling has no idea what play was actually called versus what Ben changed the play to. The only thing you can legitimately criticize Arians about is the scheme has has implemented, e.g. no FB, multiple TEs, etc. The reality is that the scheme he has tried to put in place is not much different than what the Pats have been very successful with and most importnat takes fuller advanatage of the NFL rules that grossly favor passing the ball than the old Cowher approach of pounding the ball into the center of the line.

We'll see where this goes but if you want to hate Arians get it right and hate his scheme but don't pretend to know you know what plays are being called.

I see it every week. Very good coaches make questionable calls after the fact. No one really knows why they make those calls.

I will give you an example. Some people want to attack Arians for Davis getting passes thrown to him in that game. Ben was the one that made the decision to throw it to Davis. Arians gave him the check down option. It was probably the last option for Ben. No one knows if it was by design or last resort. Maybe the Steelers saw something on film and thought the Chargers would leave the FB open? Ben probably made the right decision if he did not see anything open down field. Have to give the Chargers defense credit for making the stop.

People attack Arians for running Parker inside. I've seen Parker run inside with success his whole career in Pittsburgh. Even if they are not having much success running it inside they still have to try. Parker is a tough inside runner but people refuse too see it. I think the coaches recognize that he can run inside.

I am not saying Arians is perfect. I think he's done a decent job. He can do better. He is not as bad as a lot of people make him out to be. Especially since everybody knows the Oline needs to be addressed. A lot of people admit the mistakes by the players on the field and attack Arians for those mistakes. It will be interesting to see what this offense can do with upgrades and more consistency from the Oline.

[flippy]

Okay, first off, I admit to being on the arian-hater bandwagon. I have criticized him for his alleged poor playcalling, specifically, for lacking any imagination.

Has Arians improved throughout this year? Or has the players execution, especially, the oline, improved? Or should we not be too excited about moving the ball on a charger D that isn't really all that? What say you about the play calling today? Personally, I LOVED the pooch punt and have been looking for it for a while now.

Maybe Arians and Ben both need a running game.

[pfelix73]

Without a doubt. BA needs to go. Their ineptitude on the goal line yesterday was his fault. That formation with the FB that close to the LOS where he can't get a head of steam to score is wrong.

Everyone in the stands was yelling at his stupidity and his lack of ingenious down there. People were yelling to put in Harrison back there in the FB position, and that might not be a bad idea.

Ben seemed to be much more at ease when they ran the no huddle and then regressed again back when they slowed it down...... The lack of a competent FB is obvious.

McHugh sucks back there.

[feltdizz]

as long as we put the FB in the mix why would you fire Arians?

We have seen flashes of how good this O can be when the OL gels and Ben doesn't throw INT's... sure the WR's drop passes and we have frustrating penalties but look where we are at.. we have sacrificed OL for D the past few drafts and it has served us well...

you would be an idiot to fire Arians....

[feltdizz]

Okay, first off, I admit to being on the arian-hater bandwagon. I have criticized him for his alleged poor playcalling, specifically, for lacking any imagination.

Has Arians improved throughout this year? Or has the players execution, especially, the oline, improved? Or should we not be too excited about moving the ball on a charger D that isn't really all that? What say you about the play calling today? Personally, I LOVED the pooch punt and have been looking for it for a while now.

Execution, execution, and execution. People will always question the play calling. Coaches will make questionable decisions. We see it happen with the best coaches. If the players execute like they are supposed too, coaches look like geniuses. To me it is really that simple.

Someone gets it. When players execute it looks great.

As I have said a million times anyone who criticizes playcalling has no idea what play was actually called versus what Ben changed the play to. The only thing you can legitimately criticize Arians about is the scheme has has implemented, e.g. no FB, multiple TEs, etc. The reality is that the scheme he has tried to put in place is not much different than what the Pats have been very successful with and most importnat takes fuller advanatage of the NFL rules that grossly favor passing the ball than the old Cowher approach of pounding the ball into the center of the line.

We'll see where this goes but if you want to hate Arians get it right and hate his scheme but don't pretend to know you know what plays are being called.

I see it every week. Very good coaches make questionable calls after the fact. No one really knows why they make those calls.

I will give you an example. Some people want to attack Arians for Davis getting passes thrown to him in that game. Ben was the one that made the decision to throw it to Davis. Arians gave him the check down option. It was probably the last option for Ben. No one knows if it was by design or last resort. Maybe the Steelers saw something on film and thought the Chargers would leave the FB open? Ben probably made the right decision if he did not see anything open down field. Have to give the Chargers defense credit for making the stop.

People attack Arians for running Parker inside. I've seen Parker run inside with success his whole career in Pittsburgh. Even if they are not having much success running it inside they still have to try. Parker is a tough inside runner but people refuse too see it. I think the coaches recognize that he can run inside.

I am not saying Arians is perfect. I think he's done a decent job. He can do better. He is not as bad as a lot of people make him out to be. Especially since everybody knows the Oline needs to be addressed. A lot of people admit the mistakes by the players on the field and attack Arians for those mistakes. It will be interesting to see what this offense can do with upgrades and more consistency from the Oline.

people forget how many drive killing penalties we have had this year.. yet those same people scream about Harrison's lack of holding calls...

money post.. I don't particular like BA but why fire him? When are O clicks we see how explosive it is.. the protection was amazing.. it's like we put a new OL scheme for the playoffs..

Our QB protection looked like Lebeau sat in on a few meetings..