Why Does Steelers Offense Stink?

[flippy]

I guess you could say we've improved under Haley. We've gone from scoring 20 points/game and ranking 22nd under BA to scoring 21 points/game and ranking 21st under Haley.

2/3 of the league has better offensive performance. Including perennial offensive juggernauts Buffalo, Minnesota, Chicago. Teams with rookie QBs are scoring more points than we are - Washington, Seattle, Indy.

What is wrong? We can't pass block. We can't run block. We can't hold on to the ball. We don't get help and easy field position from our ST or D via turnovers.

Why is this and why can't Haley fix it? It's starting to look like BA really did just get a bad rap and was the scapegoat in Pittsburgh.

[Oviedo]

Injuries to the OL and the starting QB missing three games. That pretty well sums it up. We all thought we turned the corner on the OL when in relaity it appears we peeked around the corner and haven't made that turn yet. I'll continue to say what I have said for the past three years, until we really fix the OL you can't fairly evaluate any offensive performance.

Yes...BA was never as bad as his haters want to portray him as. His offense had potential but he didn't have an OL that could execute it. His biggest fault was not realizing that and adjusting with more quick throws to TEs and RBs to help keep Ben upright.

Big article in today's USA Today about what a great job Arians is doing.

[msp26505]

This year it is injuries..particularly to Ben. The O was starting to click right before Ben got injured and then we had a four-game period (so far) where they have looked like garbage since. Hopefully, they start to round back into shape this week.

But the "Steeler way" is to emphasize defense and not try to score 50 points a game on offense. Though I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it sometimes, I can't imagine the Steelers trying to score the way NE does.

I bet if all facets of the Steelers were clicking (O, D, and ST), this organization would be completely comfortable with an offensive ranking in the 10-15 range.

[Oviedo]

But the "Steeler way" is to emphasize defense and not try to score 50 points a game on offense. Though I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it sometimes, I can't imagine the Steelers trying to score the way NE does.

The "Steelers way" is not in touch with the current NFL. We are the #1 ranked defense and have 6 losses. Big whoop for the rankings. The reality is this defense may have a meaningless ranking but they are not an "impact" defense--can't sack the QB and can't get INTs.

I wish the Steelers would try to score how NE does because then we probably wouldn't be losing to teams with losing records.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

The attitude problems don't help either. You have a Mike Wallace who says he "loses concentration" because he isn't getting the ball thrown his way all the time... you have a Rashard Mendenhall who decides that just because he isn't going to dress for a game, he won't show up for the game... and probably a lot more problems with those two than we know about... those kind of things can negatively affect the rest of the offense. Might be a case of addition by subtraction this offseason.

[DBR96A]

In the nine-and-a-half games the Steelers have played with Ben Roethlisberger at QB, they've averaged 23.7 points per game, and they've committed no more than two turnovers in any game that he's played. In fact, they've averaged 1.1 turnovers per game with him, which would amount to 18 turnovers over 16 games.

[feltdizz]

This year it is injuries..particularly to Ben. The O was starting to click right before Ben got injured and then we had a four-game period (so far) where they have looked like garbage since. Hopefully, they start to round back into shape this week.

But the "Steeler way" is to emphasize defense and not try to score 50 points a game on offense. Though I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it sometimes, I can't imagine the Steelers trying to score the way NE does.

I bet if all facets of the Steelers were clicking (O, D, and ST), this organization would be completely comfortable with an offensive ranking in the 10-15 range.

BA's offense had injuries... we didn't have Ben for 4 games last year and well, every year Ben gets hurt so it's not a good excuse IMO.

I agree we are content with being 15th on offense but I swear... when I go to a sports bar to watch the Steelers our offense looks awful compared to the other games that are on TV. It's probably THE worst offense in football when you look at the talent we have at skill positions.

The only thing keeping us afloat is our D and our gritty play by the QB.... but it ain't pretty or fun to watch most games... the only good thing about our team is our ability to make every game into a nail biter and TV stations love us for it.

[Slapstick]

Ben played in 15 games last year...

It was 2010 when he missed the four games from suspension...

[feltdizz]

Ben played in 15 games last year...

It was 2010 when he missed the four games from suspension...

thanks... but they stunk last year too.

[Keyplay1]

This would be in response to the Offense is not getting any help from Turnovers.

Dulac: Todays PG

The Steelers swiped nine passes in the 11-game 1940 season that stands as their low-water mark, according to research by Steelers Digest. Unless they come up with two more over the next three games -- a big order for them the past two seasons -- they will go down in history as the worst team in the 80 years of the franchise at picking off passes.

nfl.com interception stats

20

[URL="http://www.nfl.com/teams/pittsburghsteelers/profile?team=PIT"]Steelers[/URL]

13

20.3

264

896

620

276

27.0

0

76

11

1

105

43T

18

14

2

Dulac same article:

They're not doing much better recovering fumbles. They have five, one on a muffed punt, giving them just 12 forced turnovers. They've lost three games by three points and another by six, and the reason could be they also have lost their once innate ability to turn the ball over to their offense.

The jumbled mess, which is what that nfl.com usually is disagrees with Dulac.
On that line I opened the 11 is supposedly the 2012 Int number for TS. The 18 is the Forced Fumbles and the 14 is the recovered fumbles. Some large disagreement there. And no, I am not going to go through all the Official nfl gamebooks to see WTF is going on here. But frankly, I do think Dulac watches TS games and is probably correct. I keep saying that Goodell has hired too many of his nitwit relatives because so much of that site is screwed up. But no one ever seems to agree. I mean like its is already week 13 of the season and when you go to the stat site the opening page is still 2011. You then have to change that to 2012 change it to regular season stats then change the page to 2012 regular season, then change it to the stat you are interested in then etc etc. Give me a break. What nitwit set that up?

nfl.com again: this is the Total Defense stat line for TS.

32

[URL="http://www.nfl.com/teams/pittsburghsteelers/profile?team=PIT"]Steelers[/URL]

13

20.3

264

762

262.4

4.5

16.6

62

170

36

7

8

88

76

687

27:18

14

5

the last # is 5 that is under Lost the 14 is under forced fumbles. I think I see what happened in the other stats. the 18 is the end of the TOP stat. Are they not real -------/Now again the line from the INT page.

Never mind. The 1st one is what was on the 2012 page. BUT: On a hunch I took a look at TS Offensive Pass Stats. You guessed it. TS have thrown 11 INTs. Hmm!. Am I now supposed to believe that TS have intercepted Big Ben Eleven times.

[SidSmythe]

Ben's Injury, O-Line injuries and Antonio Brown's injury is a good place to start. Throw in all the missed opportunities from Mike Wallace and not having a #1 RB w/ endurance doesn't help.

[Keyplay1]

The attitude problems don't help either. You have a Mike Wallace who says he "loses concentration" because he isn't getting the ball thrown his way all the time... you have a Rashard Mendenhall who decides that just because he isn't going to dress for a game, he won't show up for the game... and probably a lot more problems with those two than we know about... those kind of things can negatively affect the rest of the offense. Might be a case of addition by subtraction this offseason.

Yeah, this is another real good one. He sure picked a bad time to bring this up. But what is really puzzling about this is it may not be true.

I am not sure of this except that I did hear it on a radio talk show and it was not a caller it was the host. He said that actually Wallace has been targeted more times this year than in 2011. He also said something about his production was not really down that much.

But the reason the fans are so down on Wallace is, while his overall production may in fact not be that much down from 2011, it seems that many of his misses came at critical times in games. A few of them definitely came early in games and seemed to destroy offensive continuity and certainly changed momentum. That could just have been a coincidence I suppose, but still?

Anyone know if that is true that he is really not being overlooked as a target at all. Is that only in his head too?

[flippy]

Anyone know if that is true that he is really not being overlooked as a target at all. Is that only in his head too?

Wally's being targeted more:

2012 - 104 targets in 13 games

2011 - 114 targets in 16 games

So he's getting a about 1 more target per game. But his average per catch, his YAC, his 1st downs, are all going south. And his hands are getting worse.

He's got 8 TDs this year - same as last year.

But his attitude is a cancer. That's the biggest problem. He's been in a slump/funk for a year and a half now.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

The "Steelers way" is not in touch with the current NFL. We are the #1 ranked defense and have 6 losses. Big whoop for the rankings. The reality is this defense may have a meaningless ranking but they are not an "impact" defense--can't sack the QB and can't get INTs.

I wish the Steelers would try to score how NE does because then we probably wouldn't be losing to teams with losing records.

This. As soon as we get up by 10 we shut down the offense until the other team scores. We rarely put up over 30 points and I can't think of the last time we put up 40. For the big bad Pittsburgh Steelers we play not to lose on both sides of the ball. That's why after being burnt for a TD on one long pass play last week against the Chargers you saw our CB's giving 10 yard cushions on 3rd and 2 allowing Rivers to easily complete short passes. Reminded me of Lebeau being terrified of Tom Brady's long ball so he had Willie Williams giving a 10 yard cushion all AFCCG long in 2004 only to have Brady complete about a dozen short passes right in front of Williams.

The Steelers are a very conservative team and it hurts them.

[Keyplay1]

Wally's being targeted more:

2012 - 104 targets in 13 games

2011 - 114 targets in 16 games

So he's getting a about 1 more target per game. But his average per catch, his YAC, his 1st downs, are all going south. And his hands are getting worse.

He's got 8 TDs this year - same as last year.

But his attitude is a cancer. That's the biggest problem. He's been in a slump/funk for a year and a half now.

Then I was not hearing things. You are so right about the attitude thing.

Not to get off the subject, but since this thread is going to get a lot of action I have a couple questions.

1. How do you get a section of a post with who said it. For example:

Originally Posted by Keyplay1 [URL="http://www.planetsteelers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=538006#post538006"][/URL]


Anyone know if that is true that he is really not being overlooked as a target at all. Is that only in his head too?

2. Anybody familiar with Clete Blakeman? He is going to ref the game Sunday. He is not on my Steeler killer list so maybe for a change we get a half decent road game from the zebras. It is getting tiresome getting ripped off on the road this year.