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Thread: Insightful Comments by Arians about sacks

  1. #1
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    Insightful Comments by Arians about sacks

    Extracted this from Insider. Good comments by Arians. I expect the OL to do better this season, particularly since they seem committed to settle of the starting 5 early.

    "In the meantime, Pittsburgh has plenty to be excited about. The team will feature the highest paid backup in the league, tackle Max Starks, but at least four of the starting five are set. A year ago, the o-line was a mess, center Jeff Hartings had just retired, and LarryZierlein was hired to shore up a unit that surrendered 49 sacks in 2006. The good news: Roethlisberger only went down 47 times a year ago, but, yeah, it's still FORTY-SEVEN. Pittsburgh still hasn't settled on a center, but Marvel Smith, Chris Kemoeatu, Kendall Simmons and Willie Colon are all penciled in atop the depth chart. Swap out Kemoeatu for Alan Faneca and it's the same cast of characters responsible for the carnage we were forced to watch the last two seasons. But at the start of camp, offensive coordinator Bruce Arians made an interesting admission about the offensive line:

    Offensive line was responsible for probably 30 sacks, and I’m just throwing that out as a round number. There might’ve been 15 where the quarterback was trying to create plays. And I’m not going to stop that. But there were four or five by running backs, four or five by tight ends. It’s a blocking unit. It’s a receiver missing a hot or a quarterback missing a hot.

    We've heard variations of this explanations from various sources, but never Arians and never with such specificity. I think most of us are willing to put up with Roethlisberger taking a few sacks if it means a lot more big plays. Assuming Big Ben is responsible for 15 to 20 sacks a season, it's up to everybody else -- o-line, running backs, tight ends, wide receivers -- to do their part. Is it insane to think the Steelers could surrender something less than 35 sacks? (That would've been good for 16th in the league in '07; I don't think it's asking too much to be just mediocre. We'll see.) The next few weeks are just as much about finding the five best fat guys to protect Roethlisberger as it is making sure every other offensive player knows their situational responsibilities. Head coach Mike Tomlin likes to eschew all the high-level pontificating for keeping things simple. This seems like the perfect example: know your job and execute."
    "My team, may they always be right, but right or wrong...MY TEAM!"

  2. #2
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    Re: Insightful Comments by Arians about sacks

    Quote Originally Posted by Oviedo
    Offensive line was responsible for probably 30 sacks, and I’m just throwing that out as a round number. There might’ve been 15 where the quarterback was trying to create plays. And I’m not going to stop that. But there were four or five by running backs, four or five by tight ends. It’s a blocking unit. It’s a receiver missing a hot or a quarterback missing a hot.


    I remember in that infamous play last season against the Ravens when the defender was in the backfield in what seemed like less than a second, the RB stayed back to block but didn't do crap.

    It was still Mahan's fault but the RB could have helped out. Instead he went to help block one of the 3 defensive linemen that were actually being blocked.

    The line is still the main problem but there are plenty of other things that can be done to bring down that sack total a decent amount...

  3. #3
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    Re: Insightful Comments by Arians about sacks

    Quote Originally Posted by Jom112
    Quote Originally Posted by Oviedo
    Offensive line was responsible for probably 30 sacks, and I’m just throwing that out as a round number. There might’ve been 15 where the quarterback was trying to create plays. And I’m not going to stop that. But there were four or five by running backs, four or five by tight ends. It’s a blocking unit. It’s a receiver missing a hot or a quarterback missing a hot.


    I remember in that infamous play last season against the Ravens when the defender was in the backfield in what seemed like less than a second, the RB stayed back to block but didn't do crap.

    It was still Mahan's fault but the RB could have helped out. Instead he went to help block one of the 3 defensive linemen that were actually being blocked.

    The line is still the main problem but there are plenty of other things that can be done to bring down that sack total a decent amount...
    Hey Jom that was '06 against the Ravens not last year, so it couldn't have been Mahan's fault. Believe me it was all Parker's fault on that play. He was responsible for the outside rush and got stuck too far in on the OL. If I remember correctly that was Bart Scott!
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  4. #4
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    Re: Insightful Comments by Arians about sacks

    Quote Originally Posted by AkronSteel
    Quote Originally Posted by Jom112
    Quote Originally Posted by Oviedo
    Offensive line was responsible for probably 30 sacks, and I’m just throwing that out as a round number. There might’ve been 15 where the quarterback was trying to create plays. And I’m not going to stop that. But there were four or five by running backs, four or five by tight ends. It’s a blocking unit. It’s a receiver missing a hot or a quarterback missing a hot.


    I remember in that infamous play last season against the Ravens when the defender was in the backfield in what seemed like less than a second, the RB stayed back to block but didn't do crap.

    It was still Mahan's fault but the RB could have helped out. Instead he went to help block one of the 3 defensive linemen that were actually being blocked.

    The line is still the main problem but there are plenty of other things that can be done to bring down that sack total a decent amount...
    Hey Jom that was '06 against the Ravens not last year, so it couldn't have been Mahan's fault. Believe me it was all Parker's fault on that play. He was responsible for the outside rush and got stuck too far in on the OL. If I remember correctly that was Bart Scott!
    That could have been another play. This is the one I was talking about:

    [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWX2sRAA1tc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWX2sRAA1tc[/url]

    About 50 seconds in.

    Ben does a good job of avoiding the rush but if the main weakness of the line last season (in terms of passing blocking) was Mahan and Faneca than Davenport should have helped out there in that situation...

  5. #5
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    Re: Insightful Comments by Arians about sacks

    Quote Originally Posted by Oviedo
    Good comments by Arians.
    Arians had good comments throughout the season last year. He continually said the right things even during the losses later in the season, but didn't act on them... You know that I don't care for him nor think he has the ability to take this team beyond the Wildcard round (just as he couldn't in Cleveland), because we've bantered this subject before.... I just want to see some proof of him being able to adapt late in the games with the play calling, is all I'm sayin'.... I'll wait and see (and pray). Just my opinion....

  6. #6
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    Re: Insightful Comments by Arians about sacks

    The actual number of sacks given up is not the problem. The problem is that it is very rare that Ben is actually given a pocket in which to survey the field and pick a receiver.

    We are always hearing how many sacks Ben is responsible for, but how many is he also responsible for preventing? How many times is he wrapped up, but still manages to escape because of his strength? How many times is he able to use his scrambling ability to move away from the pressure? While another QB might have prevented 15 or so sacks by throwing the ball away, I'm sure there would have been 15 or so times when he was dropped on first contact, or couldn't roll out to escape.

    Let the line start giving him real time, like Brady and Manning get, and Ben won't be forced to try to make every play himself.

  7. #7
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    Re: Insightful Comments by Arians about sacks

    Quote Originally Posted by steeler_fan_in_t.o.
    The actual number of sacks given up is not the problem. The problem is that it is very rare that Ben is actually given a pocket in which to survey the field and pick a receiver.

    We are always hearing how many sacks Ben is responsible for, but how many is he also responsible for preventing? How many times is he wrapped up, but still manages to escape because of his strength? How many times is he able to use his scrambling ability to move away from the pressure? While another QB might have prevented 15 or so sacks by throwing the ball away, I'm sure there would have been 15 or so times when he was dropped on first contact, or couldn't roll out to escape.

    Let the line start giving him real time, like Brady and Manning get, and Ben won't be forced to try to make every play himself.
    There are times when Ben's not had and had time in the pocket. Most times when Ben gets wrapped up he is going down. Sometimes I think it is deadly for him to try and extend plays when all he needs to do is take the sack, throw it to a RB if open, or throw the ball away. Live to play another play. He has gotten injured in the past and will continue to get injured with this style of play. Better to have him than not to have him.

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