Ben on The Fan today... said its time for a team meeting

[Ghost]

Being serious - is there any chance Haley has been given an edict from Ownership to establish the run at all costs? Like him or not, Haley's not mentally challenged. I don't believe for one second he doesn't see what he has in his RB corp. He may not have been the greatest coach ever but he was not completely inept at his last 2 stops. The play calling and player selection is downright bizarre. How many times in this last game did you say to yourself (or scream it out loud if no kids were around) "What in the F**K is going on right now?". It's head-scratching strange. He has to know he's coaching himself out of a job....unless he knows that he's not, because he's been commanded to run the ball and as long as he works at it, his position is safe.

I don't want to be all "tin-foil hat" but I'm at a total loss as to what is happening. All we heard from Ben and Haley this off season was how they were on the same page. Ben got input, terminology in the playbook was changed, they were looking forward to working together, etc. Then it's almost every time the O steps on the field. 3 awful runs to start the game. There just has to be more to it than that's what he willing chose to go with at the start.

[papillon]

Except under Haley's new scheme, in his 1st yr!, Ben was having a Superbowl-winning kind of season until he got hurt. I find it really hard to fit that into the "Haley is the devil incarnate" theories of what ails us. Much easier to point out our players suck.

I'm with you, but I guess what I'm saying is that the symptoms were still there, but the Steelers record was 6-2 prior to Ben's injury, so there wasn't much scrutiny. Once Ben was injured and he returned the losses mounted and the offense came under more scrutiny and the results weren't pretty.

3 of the 6 wins (1st half of season) were to teams whose best record was 6-10 and they lost to two teams whose best record was 6-10. I think the inconsistencies were there all along, but a couple good games against the Giants and Skins may have hid the problems. I don't know for sure, but the past 10 regular season games with Ben at quarterback have been pretty ugly.

Pappy

[papillon]

Being serious - is there any chance Haley has been given an edict from Ownership to establish the run at all costs? Like him or not, Haley's not mentally challenged. I don't believe for one second he doesn't see what he has in his RB corp. He may not have been the greatest coach ever but he was not completely inept at his last 2 stops. The play calling and player selection is downright bizarre. How many times in this last game did you say to yourself (or scream it out loud if no kids were around) "What in the F**K is going on right now?". It's head-scratching strange. He has to know he's coaching himself out of a job....unless he knows that he's not, because he's been commanded to run the ball and as long as he works at it, his position is safe.

I don't want to be all "tin-foil hat" but I'm at a total loss as to what is happening. All we heard from Ben and Haley this off season was how they were on the same page. Ben got input, terminology in the playbook was changed, they were looking forward to working together, etc. Then it's almost every time the O steps on the field. 3 awful runs to start the game. There just has to be more to it than that's what he willing chose to go with at the start.

I suppose anything is possible and lets assume that he was given the edict to run the ball at all costs. What Steeler running back would you have given the ball to against Cincinnati at least 20 times? You're probably going to say Felix Jones and, yet, he got exactly zero carriers in the second half. Had he duplicated his first half effort he would have ended with 74 yards on 20 carries, not great, but certainly better than what I watched.

And, you never know, if you feed it to Felix 20 times, he might catch a defender gasping for air and break a long one in the 2nd half, instead the Steelers only rush the ball 16 or 17 times in total.

If a team is going to mandate running the football then you have to run the football with attitude and that means, 1 back and 22-25 carries for that back, regardless of the results. Trying to integrate 2 or 3 backs even minimally will never result in a consistent running game. A running back needs to be in the flow of the game to be effective and none of the Steeler backs ever got into the flow of the game, IMO.

Pappy

[BlitzTo7]

Except under Haley's new scheme, in his 1st yr!, Ben was having a Superbowl-winning kind of season until he got hurt. I find it really hard to fit that into the "Haley is the devil incarnate" theories of what ails us. Much easier to point out our players suck.

That's a myth and everyone knows it. Ben was having his MVP-like season because of his incredible QB rating on third downs, not because of Haley. The play calling on the first two downs generally sucked.

[feltdizz]

I think it's happening tomorrow. He talked about bringing out the Lombardi's and pic's of the HOF'ers and saying, "this is the standard that we expect here." It's not like Ben, Clark, Keisel, etc haven't been on SB winning teams before. They feel that the talent is there and Ben was just saying that they need to find a way to bring it out.

One thing he said that I like was about pointing thumbs, not fingers. Fingers point to others and what they are/aren't doing. Thumbs point to yourself and what you need to do to be better.

Thanks!!

I didn't catch the whole interview and I was working so I had to turn down the sound a few times because I was working with video. I forgot about bringing the trophies in but didn't hear the finger vs thumb line.

[Slapstick]

I disagree.

Now, the reason Felix Jones ran better is his experience behind the stretch zone blocking the Steelers are currently using...

Redman has done okay behind man blocking in short yardage and even produced a few good games as a starter...those games are, unfortunately, few and far between...

Le'Veon Bell has some experience running behind this scheme...hence, the high hopes...

[feltdizz]

Ben made the point a few times saying it includes & starts with him as well.

One thing--he doesn't throw his teammates under the bus like some of the other QBs do.



Kindle

well.... how has that worked for him the last 15 or so games?

I don't see anything wrong with QB's putting players on blast in interviews if it's an honest assessment.

Ben loving a bad OL in public isn't good leadership IMO.

[feltdizz]

Thanks!!

I didn't catch the whole interview and I was working so I had to turn down the sound a few times because I was working with video. I forgot about bringing the trophies in but didn't hear the finger vs thumb line.

Except under Haley's new scheme, in his 1st yr!, Ben was having a Superbowl-winning kind of season until he got hurt. I find it really hard to fit that into the "Haley is the devil incarnate" theories of what ails us. Much easier to point out our players suck.

6-2 against .500 competition isn't super bowl winning.. it's just 6-2. I'm sick of hearing about that 6-2 mark.

We beat a bunch of bums outside of Cincinnati... and barely beat most of them.

Jets Stank
Philly fired their coach...
Giants stank and still do...
Washington dropped 10 passes
barely beat KC and you know what happened in that game.

Cincinnati was the only decent team we beat and that isn't anything to write home about given our usual history with them.

It wasn't superbowlish or MVPish.. we weren't carving teams up. 6-2 ain't nothing to write home about and shows how far we've fallen as Steeler fans.

[feltdizz]

I disagree.

Now, the reason Felix Jones ran better is his experience behind the stretch zone blocking the Steelers are currently using...

Redman has done okay behind man blocking in short yardage and even produced a few good games as a starter...those games are, unfortunately, few and far between...

Le'Veon Bell has some experience running behind this scheme...hence, the high hopes...

I disagree too... because I have no idea where this fits in the convo.... lol.

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

6-2 against .500 competition isn't super bowl winning.. it's just 6-2. I'm sick of hearing about that 6-2 mark.

We beat a bunch of bums outside of Cincinnati... and barely beat most of them.

Jets Stank
Philly fired their coach...
Giants stank and still do...
Washington dropped 10 passes
barely beat KC and you know what happened in that game.

Cincinnati was the only decent team we beat and that isn't anything to write home about given our usual history with them.

It wasn't superbowlish or MVPish.. we weren't carving teams up. 6-2 ain't nothing to write home about and shows how far we've fallen as Steeler fans.

We can only beat the teams that line up across from us! Like saying we really didn't play that well against the Cards in that game, except for 1 lucky pic at the end of the half and a lucky catch at the end of 4th qrtr.

Ben was having his best year ever, or at least close to it, by stats. "It is what it is. We accept that".

Besides, you lost me when you used the word "Stank". Are you talking about Stankowski, the left guard?