Interesting: 2nd year in a row the worst running team ...

[steelnavy]

... worst running team in the league makes it to the Superbowl - Cards last year/Colts this year.

Hmmm, can this be true? I heard it about the Colts this year, but can't confirm. They just said this about the Cards last year on the XLIII replay.

Says something about "gotta run to win". I guess it's, "Can you get a 1st and 1 when you need it" that's important, more than overall ranking?

You may want to send this note over to the owner (who apparently feels like going back to the Bill Cowher offense). We didn't win a single Super Bowl with a run first offense. In fact, the one Super Bowl we made before Ben got here under Cowher was when the Steelers were running a wide open offense with 3 and 4 wide receivers.

I am afraid next year's offense will operate on Rooney's directive to run it more and that will only make things worse. Ben is the best player on the offense. The ball should be in his hand most of the time. I can't imagine Irsay going to Caldwell and telling him to run it more rather than have Manning throw the ball. Meanwhile there is silence from ownership regarding all the fourth quarter collapses we witnessed last year. The Steelers would have won the division with this offense if the defense could figure out how to stop the pass late in the game. Even some of the games the Steelers won last year required watching the defense look pathetic in the fourth quarter (Lions, Chargers, Dolphins).

If you are going to complain about Cowher's offensive strategy, don't forget to note the QUALITY OF THE QUARTERBACKS. With Ben, Cowher would have had a few more rings. Thats what bothers me about Arians. If he had Kordell, Tommy Maddox or KENT GRAHAM to work with, we would have been lucky to have a winning record the last couple of years. Pretty much everyone is in agreement that Ben consistantly SAVES PLAYS AND MAKES GOOD THINGS HAPPEN.

[fezziwig]

As soon as a team has success at something everyone jumps on it. Things go in cycles in my opinion.

[NorthCoast]

Doesn't matter how you get there but once in the red zone you have to do something. Saints were #2 in the NFL with 2.6 red zone scores per game. Indy was #4 with 2.2. In fact 9 of the top 10 in this category were play-off teams.

Sadly, the Steelers ranked #12 at 1.7.

[feltdizz]

... worst running team in the league makes it to the Superbowl - Cards last year/Colts this year.

Hmmm, can this be true? I heard it about the Colts this year, but can't confirm. They just said this about the Cards last year on the XLIII replay.

Says something about "gotta run to win". I guess it's, "Can you get a 1st and 1 when you need it" that's important, more than overall ranking?

You may want to send this note over to the owner (who apparently feels like going back to the Bill Cowher offense). We didn't win a single Super Bowl with a run first offense. In fact, the one Super Bowl we made before Ben got here under Cowher was when the Steelers were running a wide open offense with 3 and 4 wide receivers.

I am afraid next year's offense will operate on Rooney's directive to run it more and that will only make things worse. Ben is the best player on the offense. The ball should be in his hand most of the time. I can't imagine Irsay going to Caldwell and telling him to run it more rather than have Manning throw the ball. Meanwhile there is silence from ownership regarding all the fourth quarter collapses we witnessed last year. The Steelers would have won the division with this offense if the defense could figure out how to stop the pass late in the game. Even some of the games the Steelers won last year required watching the defense look pathetic in the fourth quarter (Lions, Chargers, Dolphins).

If you are going to complain about Cowher's offensive strategy, don't forget to note the QUALITY OF THE QUARTERBACKS. With Ben, Cowher would have had a few more rings. Thats what bothers me about Arians. If he had Kordell, Tommy Maddox or KENT GRAHAM to work with, we would have been lucky to have a winning record the last couple of years. Pretty much everyone is in agreement that Ben consistantly SAVES PLAYS AND MAKES GOOD THINGS HAPPEN.

that makes zero sense... don't make things up to bash Arians. When Dixon was the QB Arians called a pretty good game. Arians isn't a genius but he is no dummy either... lol. Ben is the best player on our offense so we pass more. Meendenhall had 1100 yards and he only played in 11 or 12 games.

Pap does a great job reminding people how ignorant they can be regarding the Saints. I also thought they were a pass happy team.... They just do it so well we ignore the run. Our team is the same way but the Cleveland game morphed into everygame. Mend averages over 4 yards a pop.. that is good but our slump turned our positive into negatives.

If we had a few more bounces on D during our slide I bet you everyone would be screaming about our stats and balance. Since our D layer down in the fourth all of a sudden we need Bettis and Cowher back.

I think the bigger issue with Cowherd teams is the terrible QB play.. Why the hell was Kent Graham or Tommy Gun QB's... we should have upgraded our QB situation instead of using terrible QB's c

[msp26505]

We didn't win a single Super Bowl with a run first offense.

How old are you?

SB's IX and X.

I know, I know...different era, but still...

Also, SB's XIII and XIV were fairly balanced, though they came right after the rules changes, so DB's were at a distinct disadvantage.

There were big pass plays in X, XIII, and XIV, but I would hardly call the '78 and '79 Steelers finesse teams.