Arians Went Against Grain to Get Steelers to the Super Bowl

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Re: Arians Went Against Grain to Get Steelers to the Super Bowl

Are you all STILL BA fans now??

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Re: Arians Went Against Grain to Get Steelers to the Super Bowl

Steelers' Bruce Arians remembered at University of Alabama for one play

From The Tuscaloosa News
By Tommy Deas Executive Sports Editor on February 6, 2011


Around the National Football League, Bruce Arians is known as the coach who tutored a young Peyton Manning, as the offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers and as a man who already has two Super Bowl rings.

Ask University of Alabama football fans of a certain age and you'll find they remember Arians for one play. More precisely, for one ill-fated play call.

The man who will be calling plays for the Steelers today in Super Bowl XLV was, a little more than 13 years ago, at the end of what would turn out to be a one-year tenure as offensive coordinator for the Crimson Tide.

And one of the last plays he ever called still resonates with UA supporters.

“I would say it's in the top five worst calls in Alabama history,” said Chris Hinkle, a 46-year-old Tide fan who resides in Madison, Miss. “Bad decision.”

The situation was this on the evening of Nov. 22, 1997, at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn: Alabama led its cross-state rival 17-15, facing third-and-eight from its own 36-yard line with the clock ticking down.

A hand-off up the middle would have resulted in Auburn calling its final timeout and, after a punt, getting the ball back on its side of the field with a little over half a minute to go.

Arians instead called a screen pass to fullback Ed Scissum, who hadn't caught a pass all year. He caught the ball and fumbled when he was hammered by an Auburn defender. The Tigers recovered with 42 seconds to go and kicked a field goal in the final moments for an 18-17 Iron Bowl win.

Arians wants you to know he'd do it all over, just the same way.

“I'd call that same play again,” he said.

Why?

“You play to kneel down, not to put your defense back out there.”

To Arians, it's as simple as that.

Two weeks ago, in fact, he called similar plays twice in the final minutes of the AFC Championship Game against the New York Jets, passing for first downs rather than trying to run down the clock on the ground.

Those passes allowed Pittsburgh to retain possession and advance to today's game against the Green Bay Packers.

The call against Auburn had a different result. Four days later, Arians was fired in the aftermath of a 4-7 record in Mike DuBose's first year as head coach.

Was it because of the call? You make the call: Shortly before the Auburn game, Arians had moved his family into a house on Lake Tuscaloosa after getting assurance from DuBose that his job was secure.

“I thought at the time I'd be in college coaching the rest of my career,” Arians said.

Instead, he moved on to his next coaching stop as quarterbacks coach with the Indianapolis Colts. His task was to mentor a rookie named Manning who would quickly embark on a path to all-time greatness.

“Of course, they plugged Peyton in (as a starter) from the day they drafted him,” said Archie Manning, the quarterback's father. “Bruce was great for Peyton when he first went in there.”

Archie Manning knows the game. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and passed for almost 24,000 yards in his 13-year NFL career. He knows Arians knows his stuff.

“Bruce really knows football, offensive football,” the elder Manning said. “Bruce was the guy who really worked day to day with Peyton, not only that adjustment to the NFL, but the mechanics, all the things.

“Bruce is an excellent quarterback coach. He's just a good football coach. He's been at Pittsburgh a long time and done a great job there.”

Those three years coaching Manning set Arians on his way to where he is now. He moved on to a three-year stint with the Cleveland Browns in his first gig as an NFL offensive coordinator. That job ended when embattled head coach Butch Davis fired him.

From there he landed at Pittsburgh, where Arians won his first Super Bowl ring in 2006 as receivers coach before being promoted to his current position in charge of the Steelers' offense. His second ring came two years ago, and he was calling the plays for Pittsburgh.

Looking at what has happened since, getting fired at Alabama might have been a blessing for Arians.

“I don't know if anything in this profession is ever fair,” Arians said. “Mike (DuBose) decided he wanted to go in a different direction. I have no hard feelings.”

Some, of course, still do. Mention Arians and Alabama supporters still remember only one thing.

“The ball should not leave the quarterback's hand in the air with you up two in that situation,” Hinkle said. “Why are you throwing a screen pass with 50 seconds left? I'm wondering why we're not running out the clock.”

Freddie Kitchens, the quarterback who threw the pass, remembers Arians as the coach who took him from throwing 14 touchdowns and 14 interceptions as a junior, under a different coordinator, to throwing the same number of touchdowns with just four interceptions in his senior season.

“Two of those interceptions were tipped balls,” Kitchens said, “and one was a Hail Mary.

“I finished my career with 100-plus consecutive passes without an interception. I'd have liked to have seen how many in a row I could have completed, but it was all over after that Auburn game.”

The credit, Kitchens said, goes to Arians.

“The biggest thing he did for me was the improvement of my decision-making,” Kitchens said. “He taught me so many things I hadn't been taught. I think he did his job well.”

And the call? Kitchens, now tight ends coach for the Arizona Cardinals of the NFL, says you don't know the whole story.

“If our guard had got out there and made the block he was supposed to make and the linebacker gets blocked, there's no fumble,” the quarterback said. “I think (Arians) got caught up in taking the blame.

“He made a decision to try to win the game. Who would have known we would have missed the block and we would have fumbled?”

Those who judge Arians by the call, Kitchens believes, need to look at what he has accomplished since.

And they need to get over it.

“I guess that's what he's known for,” Kitchens said. “I don't know what's wrong with throwing a screen on third-and-eight. They should be pissed off at the execution, not the call.

“You look at his longevity in this league and the success that he's had. He's definitely one of the best I've been around, and I know for a fact he's one of the best in this league.”

For his part, Arians doesn't look back at his time at Alabama with regret. His daughter and son-in-law both graduated from UA.

The call isn't something he dwells on, but Arians surely remembers it.

“That one play call doesn't dampen it at all,” he said. “We completed it. It's a shame we fumbled it.”

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Re: Arians Went Against Grain to Get Steelers to the Super Bowl

Arians is a master at calling plays that end with fumbles and INT's