hawaiiansteel
New member
About that Steelers' offense . . .
MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2010 06:30 AM WRITTEN BY BOB SMIZIK
It’s not easy to possess the ball for more than 34 minutes against the woebegone Cincinnati Bengals and not score an offensive touchdown. But the Steelers managed that ignominious feat yesterday and it became front and center in any discussion about the team -- more so than the 23-7 victory, the 10-3 record and the superb defense.
The conventional wisdom is the offense is going to keep this team out of the Super Bowl. That could well be true.
There is no question the offense is the Steelers' weakness. The team is in the bottom quarter of the conference in offensive touchdowns and is markedly inept in the red zone.
It goes without saying that the blame for these woes is place by many, if not most, with the offensive coordinator, the widely maligned Bruce Arians. Pittsburgh fans in general and Steelers fan in particular are tough on offensive coordinators. From Tom Moore to Joe Walton to Kevin Gilbride to Arians, the Steelers offensive coordinator has been portrayed as a bumbling fool who never seems to call the right play.
I pay almost no attention to play-calling criticism. I simply do not have enough information in front of me to determine, in most cases, whether the call is the correct one or not. Many fans, however, don’t need any information to make a determination. If the play doesn’t work, they reason, it’s the fault of the offensive coordinator. They never seem to take into consideration there are 11 professional players on the other side of the ball and it takes more than the right play call to defeat them.
No matter, that the play might have been the perfect call, but a failure to execute, possibly by just one player, blew it up. No matter, that the call might have been the right one but on this particular down the defense executed better than the offense. Nope, if the play doesn’t work, the coordinator is an idiot. It’s that simple.
For a minute, let’s remove the offensive coordinator from the conversation and discuss the offensive personnel of the Steelers. If the AFC Pro Bowl team were selected tomorrow, I feel pretty safe in saying no Steelers would be on it. The only ones to even be considered would be quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receivers Hines Ward and Mike Wallace.
Roethlisberger would have a chance of making the team, but would rank behind Tom Brady and Phillip Rivers and in a category -- based on performance this season, which is how these things are decided -- with Matt Cassel, David Garard and Matt Schaub. At wide receiver, Ward is 21st in the conference in receptions and Wallace is 27th in receptions, first in yards per catch and sixth in yards per game. Neither would likely make it.
When you add to this what is looking more and more like an average running back in Rashard Mendenhall -- he's eighth in the league in rushing but third in rushing attempts and with a mediocre 3.9 yard average -- and a line that is substantially below standard and that should explain a lot of the inability of the offense to score.
However, In evaluating the offense and in evaluating Arians, few seem to take these highly relevant facts into account.
All that being said, the buck stops with Arians. The offense in not producing points and that is the clear bottom line for a coordinator.
There’s a chance, perhaps a good one, that Tomlin will choose to remove Arians after this season, unless there is an unexpected upswing in touchdowns.
If that’s the case, the fans won’t have Arians to kick around any more.
Not to worry: The next guy will do just as well.
http://communityvoices.sites.post-gazet ... s-offense-
MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2010 06:30 AM WRITTEN BY BOB SMIZIK
It’s not easy to possess the ball for more than 34 minutes against the woebegone Cincinnati Bengals and not score an offensive touchdown. But the Steelers managed that ignominious feat yesterday and it became front and center in any discussion about the team -- more so than the 23-7 victory, the 10-3 record and the superb defense.
The conventional wisdom is the offense is going to keep this team out of the Super Bowl. That could well be true.
There is no question the offense is the Steelers' weakness. The team is in the bottom quarter of the conference in offensive touchdowns and is markedly inept in the red zone.
It goes without saying that the blame for these woes is place by many, if not most, with the offensive coordinator, the widely maligned Bruce Arians. Pittsburgh fans in general and Steelers fan in particular are tough on offensive coordinators. From Tom Moore to Joe Walton to Kevin Gilbride to Arians, the Steelers offensive coordinator has been portrayed as a bumbling fool who never seems to call the right play.
I pay almost no attention to play-calling criticism. I simply do not have enough information in front of me to determine, in most cases, whether the call is the correct one or not. Many fans, however, don’t need any information to make a determination. If the play doesn’t work, they reason, it’s the fault of the offensive coordinator. They never seem to take into consideration there are 11 professional players on the other side of the ball and it takes more than the right play call to defeat them.
No matter, that the play might have been the perfect call, but a failure to execute, possibly by just one player, blew it up. No matter, that the call might have been the right one but on this particular down the defense executed better than the offense. Nope, if the play doesn’t work, the coordinator is an idiot. It’s that simple.
For a minute, let’s remove the offensive coordinator from the conversation and discuss the offensive personnel of the Steelers. If the AFC Pro Bowl team were selected tomorrow, I feel pretty safe in saying no Steelers would be on it. The only ones to even be considered would be quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receivers Hines Ward and Mike Wallace.
Roethlisberger would have a chance of making the team, but would rank behind Tom Brady and Phillip Rivers and in a category -- based on performance this season, which is how these things are decided -- with Matt Cassel, David Garard and Matt Schaub. At wide receiver, Ward is 21st in the conference in receptions and Wallace is 27th in receptions, first in yards per catch and sixth in yards per game. Neither would likely make it.
When you add to this what is looking more and more like an average running back in Rashard Mendenhall -- he's eighth in the league in rushing but third in rushing attempts and with a mediocre 3.9 yard average -- and a line that is substantially below standard and that should explain a lot of the inability of the offense to score.
However, In evaluating the offense and in evaluating Arians, few seem to take these highly relevant facts into account.
All that being said, the buck stops with Arians. The offense in not producing points and that is the clear bottom line for a coordinator.
There’s a chance, perhaps a good one, that Tomlin will choose to remove Arians after this season, unless there is an unexpected upswing in touchdowns.
If that’s the case, the fans won’t have Arians to kick around any more.
Not to worry: The next guy will do just as well.
http://communityvoices.sites.post-gazet ... s-offense-
