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Monday Madden: Steelers needn't seek offensive balance
By: Mark Madden Beaver County Times
Sunday November 28, 2010 11:48 PM
The 151 yards gained by Rashard Mendenhall (among 206 total posted by the Steelers’ rushing attack) will be hailed as a true renaissance of the team’s ground game.
By fools, that is.
The Steelers’ offensive game plan should be scribbled in crayon on old-fashioned brown-paper shopping bags. Child’s play or insanity, take your pick.
Invoke The Bus all you want. Franco and Rocky, too. John Henry Johnson, if you’d like to jump in the Wayback Machine. The Steelers are minimizing their primary offensive weapon, Ben Roethlisberger, for the sake of doing things granddaddy’s way.
The Steelers ran the ball on 54 percent of their offensive plays during yesterday’s 19-16 overtime win at Buffalo. They passed for 220 yards, rushed for 206.
Balance, right?
Yeah. But at what price?
The big explosion on the ground came against the NFL’s worst rushing defense.
The Steelers possessed the ball for almost 25 minutes of the first half, but had only a 13-0 lead to show for it. There’s a fine line between grinding clock and wasting time.
That’s just not the way football is anymore. Simply isn’t.
If it took nearly 73 minutes to make the Bills 2-9, what will the same approach do against an elite team in the playoffs? Against a team with a quarterback like Tom Brady who needs only minimal possession time to pick you apart and put up points?
The Steelers don’t have a defense worth handing the game over to anymore. A 13-0 halftime lead wasted, two fourth-quarter leads blown. The defense fades as each game grows old, but the Steelers’ strategy refuses to acknowledge that.
The Steelers got lucky yesterday. Buffalo receiver Stevie Johnson had the victory in his hands in overtime, but let an easy touchdown catch slip through his grasp.
This is no win to be proud of. Flags hurt the Steelers again as they were penalized 10 times for 107 yards. As was the case against Oakland, several calls seemed ludicrous. NFL games are being badly over-officiated. That hurts the Steelers more than most.
Roethlisberger found a way to impact the game. No team can totally stop him. Not the opposition, not the Steelers.
Roethlisberger was sacked five times and enjoyed minimal protection. Chris Kemoeatu should carry a red cape and yell, “Ole!”
But Roethlisberger threw no interceptions, completed some smart passes, displayed outstanding elusiveness despite the sack total and manufactured an epic 18-yard scramble on third-and-17 to prolong a fourth-quarter drive that culminated in a Shaun Suisham field goal.
Speaking of Suisham, what a debut. Four-for-four, including a 41-yarder in OT. He’ll be the toast of Sheetz men’s rooms everywhere. This week.
There’s no denying 8-3. But there’s also no denying the Steelers were somewhat shy of competitive in losses to New England and New Orleans. There’s also no denying the road to playoff success often goes through elite quarterbacks.
The Steelers won’t beat elite teams/quarterbacks with the game plan they choose to exercise. If it boils down to the running game and the defense against, say, Brady, you have to rely on Brady having a bad day. Not very likely.
Roethlisberger could beat Brady or Brees in a shootout. He might not, but he could. Roethlisberger would overwhelm Mark Sanchez if a game against the New York Jets turned high-scoring. Any way it’s sliced, Roethlisberger is the Steelers’ best bet.
But philosophically, the Steelers prefer to play low stakes. Prefer to think slow and steady wins the race when that’s never been less true in NFL history.
It’s hard to believe this is what offensive coordinator Bruce Arians wants. It’s hard to believe this is what Roethlisberger wants. It’s just hard to believe, period.
Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).
[url="http://www.timesonline.com/sports/sports_details/article/1424/2010/november/28/monday-madden-steelers-neednt-seek-offensive-balance.html"]http://www.timesonline.com/sports/sport ... lance.html[/url]
By: Mark Madden Beaver County Times
Sunday November 28, 2010 11:48 PM
The 151 yards gained by Rashard Mendenhall (among 206 total posted by the Steelers’ rushing attack) will be hailed as a true renaissance of the team’s ground game.
By fools, that is.
The Steelers’ offensive game plan should be scribbled in crayon on old-fashioned brown-paper shopping bags. Child’s play or insanity, take your pick.
Invoke The Bus all you want. Franco and Rocky, too. John Henry Johnson, if you’d like to jump in the Wayback Machine. The Steelers are minimizing their primary offensive weapon, Ben Roethlisberger, for the sake of doing things granddaddy’s way.
The Steelers ran the ball on 54 percent of their offensive plays during yesterday’s 19-16 overtime win at Buffalo. They passed for 220 yards, rushed for 206.
Balance, right?
Yeah. But at what price?
The big explosion on the ground came against the NFL’s worst rushing defense.
The Steelers possessed the ball for almost 25 minutes of the first half, but had only a 13-0 lead to show for it. There’s a fine line between grinding clock and wasting time.
That’s just not the way football is anymore. Simply isn’t.
If it took nearly 73 minutes to make the Bills 2-9, what will the same approach do against an elite team in the playoffs? Against a team with a quarterback like Tom Brady who needs only minimal possession time to pick you apart and put up points?
The Steelers don’t have a defense worth handing the game over to anymore. A 13-0 halftime lead wasted, two fourth-quarter leads blown. The defense fades as each game grows old, but the Steelers’ strategy refuses to acknowledge that.
The Steelers got lucky yesterday. Buffalo receiver Stevie Johnson had the victory in his hands in overtime, but let an easy touchdown catch slip through his grasp.
This is no win to be proud of. Flags hurt the Steelers again as they were penalized 10 times for 107 yards. As was the case against Oakland, several calls seemed ludicrous. NFL games are being badly over-officiated. That hurts the Steelers more than most.
Roethlisberger found a way to impact the game. No team can totally stop him. Not the opposition, not the Steelers.
Roethlisberger was sacked five times and enjoyed minimal protection. Chris Kemoeatu should carry a red cape and yell, “Ole!”
But Roethlisberger threw no interceptions, completed some smart passes, displayed outstanding elusiveness despite the sack total and manufactured an epic 18-yard scramble on third-and-17 to prolong a fourth-quarter drive that culminated in a Shaun Suisham field goal.
Speaking of Suisham, what a debut. Four-for-four, including a 41-yarder in OT. He’ll be the toast of Sheetz men’s rooms everywhere. This week.
There’s no denying 8-3. But there’s also no denying the Steelers were somewhat shy of competitive in losses to New England and New Orleans. There’s also no denying the road to playoff success often goes through elite quarterbacks.
The Steelers won’t beat elite teams/quarterbacks with the game plan they choose to exercise. If it boils down to the running game and the defense against, say, Brady, you have to rely on Brady having a bad day. Not very likely.
Roethlisberger could beat Brady or Brees in a shootout. He might not, but he could. Roethlisberger would overwhelm Mark Sanchez if a game against the New York Jets turned high-scoring. Any way it’s sliced, Roethlisberger is the Steelers’ best bet.
But philosophically, the Steelers prefer to play low stakes. Prefer to think slow and steady wins the race when that’s never been less true in NFL history.
It’s hard to believe this is what offensive coordinator Bruce Arians wants. It’s hard to believe this is what Roethlisberger wants. It’s just hard to believe, period.
Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).
[url="http://www.timesonline.com/sports/sports_details/article/1424/2010/november/28/monday-madden-steelers-neednt-seek-offensive-balance.html"]http://www.timesonline.com/sports/sport ... lance.html[/url]
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