Arians 'retirement"

[feltdizz]

The reason I hated Arians is the timing of plays ran, not the plays themselves. On more then one occasion he would rutm from inside the 5 on three consecutive plays. I would then lead the charge asking for his head.

Also, he was not worried about protecting Ben long term, which really wasn't his job, but if he had a better success rate it wouldn't have been a big deal. Arians defenders also like to place blame on Ben for holding onto the ball too long, but for the plays Arians called he had no choice.

Haley hasn't had the consistency Arians had with our Defense. Also, Haley has improved every year as our OC, something Arians didn't do. Truth is, stats wise, Haley has had better luck with the O then Arians.

Yeah.. those RUTM on the GL were frustrating but our RZ offense was garbage under Haley until late in the season this year.

Ben still holds onto the ball too long and sometimes it leads to injuries in this new offense that was supposed to keep him clean. The difference though was under Arians I think the risk vs reward was higher. We saw more sacks but we also saw more big plays that won games.

The offense improved under Haley but did the results? We needed the defense and Porter to save us vs the Bengals in the playoffs.

Also remember we had Sean Mahan at center for our SB victory. Thats impressive in itself.

[Art Rooney II]

Ben was fine...even better, now...but, we aren't talking about him...

How can my former franchise QB be better, when the production is WORSE, in a more "offensive friendly league"?

Either my quarterback is not getting the job done, or my offensive coordinator needs to change.

[Captain Lemming]

Like the AZ superbowl drive or scoring 23 points vs a Denver team with Tebow and still losing due to the D being paper champs.

Now be fair. You and I BOTH know and have said running QBs are DLs cryptonite. He overcommits to stopping the run and they look like Montana against us. I like him but it is my ONE biggest criticism of him.

[SteelCrazy]

Sports Illustrated's Peter King praises Steelers' offense

After spending more than 30 years (and counting) covering the NFL, it's hard to impress Sports Illustrated's Peter King. That being said, King was quite impressed when discussing what the Steelers offense was able to accomplish in 2015.

In an interview with Steelers.com, King praised Pittsburgh's offense for their dominance last season despite the barrage of injuries and suspensions that would have crushed weaker, less talented units.

"When they lost Le'Veon Bell, I think we all thought that it's just not gonna work because the Steelers have to be able to run the ball," King said. "I think one of the things that really surprised me, when we got to the end of the year, they (still) averaged 4.4 (yards) a carry as a team. To me, I just think that that says so much about their mindset, and their ability basically to say, 'Look, we've got a quarterback who we'd rather have than any quarterback in this league. Yet we're not living and dying with Ben Roethlisberger, and we're not gonna put everything on his shoulders."

King praised offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who consistently adjusted his game plan in order to keep Pittsburgh's offense moving despite losing Big Ben for an entire month, as well as losing Bell for the second half of the season. The team also played five games without receiver Martavis Bryant, who has been suspended for the 2016 season. Despite the constant changes, Haley continued to find a game plan that kept defenses at bay.

"I remember there was one period last year where the Steelers played the game so differently almost week by week by week," Kind said, "because if you look at how they would play call as the season went on, they started running the ball fewer and fewer times, but when they needed to run the ball, they ran it over 30 times five or six times over the course of the year.

"When you play the Steelers, you have to do know--whether it's (DeAngleo) Williams or Bell, whether it's one of the three of four receiving deep threats--that's one of the great things about the Pittsburgh offense right now. If you take away something from it, you know that they're still gonna be able to do something else. And even with the suspensions, the losses, the guys missing, I just think that one of the things they've done is built really good depth on the offensive side of the ball, so that nothing really kills them."

Despite losing some key parts of that depth--losing Bryant for the year and Heath Miller to retirement--the Steelers added some new pieces in tight end Ladarius Green and rookie receiver Demarcus Ayers. The team also acquired tackle Ryan Harris, and is getting back All-Pro center Maurkice Pouncey, who missed the entire 2015 with a broken fibula suffered in the preseason.

Last season, Pittsburgh was third in the league in total offense and fourth in scoring, averaging 26.4 points per game. In 2016, the Steelers offense will look to be even better, as they look to become the best unit in the entire NFL this season.

[url]http://pit.247sports.com/Bolt/Sports-Illustrateds-Peter-King-praises-Steelers-offense-46016989[/url]

[Slapstick]

How can my former franchise QB be better, when the production is WORSE, in a more "offensive friendly league"?

Either my quarterback is not getting the job done, or my offensive coordinator needs to change.

Yeah, okay. Still, no one is talking about Ben...

[Art Rooney II]

My offense scored 20 points or less on offense in five of their first eight contests. That's half the regular season.

If that's rolling I would like to see what Mr. King considers not rolling.

[Art Rooney II]

Yeah, okay. Still, no one is talking about Ben...

We are talking about the guy I hired to run the offense.

8 of 18 contests were 20 or less on offense in 2015 and 17 of their last 35 overall in an alleged "offensive friendly" league.

That's not acceptable in the real NFL world with all of this alleged talent at my hand picked OC's disposal.

[SteelCrazy]

Study: Breaking Down The Efficiency Of A Todd Haley Offense

Ever since the hiring of Todd Haley in 2012, the Steelers’ offense has undoubtedly evolved. There has been a much more focused effort on utilizing running backs within a system that holds one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. And as Big Ben has aged, we’ve seen the play book open wider and wider as he manifested a comfort within the offense (on top of his raw ability). And with a high number of expectations being put on this 2016 squad, I thought it’d be nice to take a look at how this offense had progressed, or regressed in terms of efficiency throughout Haley’s tenure with the ‘Burgh.

So obviously there are a number of things to look at when trying to gauge an offense’s efficiency, but I’ve narrowed them down a few stat lines I find to be most representative. Those stats being: 3rd down conversions, red zone efficiency, time of possession, and total points scored.

3rd down conversions

This is the one statistic of the group that saw a variety of change over the past 4 seasons. Here’s a breakdown.

Year 3rd Down % League Rank
2015 40% 17th
2014 45% 5th
2013 38% 14th
2012 42% 10th

This has definitely been a focus of the Steelers for a number of years. You will often hear Haley and Tomlin mention 3rd downs as being crucial elements to their offense. Now I’m sure we’ll have a bunch of people saying, “Well maybe it would have been a higher percentage if they actually ran the ball on 3rd and short instead of airing it out.” And you know what? You may be right.

But keep that in mind every time you cheer on the offense when they turn a 3rd and 1 into a 40 yard play. And still, through all the injuries and inconsistency of personnel at times, they’ve still remained in the top half of the league and can likely get back into the top 10 next year.

Time of Possession

This one was a little more tricky considering that one does not have to necessarily possess the ball longer to be deemed efficient. If a team scores within the first set of downs on every drive, more power to them! Hell, I’d say they may be the most efficient team of all time. However we know, typically, that teams want their offense on the field rather than the defense (unless you’re the 2002 Buccaneers or the 2000 Ravens, but I digress).

Statistics for time of possession usually focus on minutes per game, so that’s what is being provided here. Ironically enough, time of possession has actually decreased throughout Haley’s time in Pittsburgh (minus the 2014 season). In 2012, the Steelers out possessed their opponent by nearly 5 minutes. In 2013, they had the ball just over 30 minutes per game. 2014 was their highest margin of possession where they recorded roughly 33 minutes per game. Last year proved to be a low point in the 4 year range, as they Steelers had the ball for around 29 minutes per game.

Certainly last year proved to be one of constant adversity. The offense at times appeared to struggle with chemistry, mainly with the absence of Ben Roethlisberger. Overall, though, Haley’s Steelers have done a good job of keeping the ball in their hands and out of the opponent’s. Even though the margins may appear small, one minute can make a big difference. With the majority of the pieces coming back together in this offense, I’d say it’s safe to assume they will be back to tiring defenses out in 2016.

Red Zone Efficiency

These statistics may actually be some of the hardest to find. But the website Footballoutsiders.com has been publishing in-depth statistics like these for quite some time, and I have found them to be reliable methods. I will be referencing their statistics when it comes to red zone efficiency, primarily addressing points scored per red zone trip and also percentage of red zone trips resulting in touchdowns.

Year Points Per RZ Trip TD %
2015 5.27 60.7%
2014 4.56 52.7%
2013 4.89 52.8%
2012 4.96 55.1%

And we all know their wildly successful attempts on 2-point conversions. The red zone is another point of emphasis for Haley; that’s why the team practices this almost religiously. If they can maintain this momentum, 2016 should be a year full of points.

Total Points

And now to the most consistently increasing category! Every single year since Haley came to town, the Steelers have scored more points than the previous season. And they’ve climbed the ladder to becoming the most lethal threat to defenses across the league.

Year Total Points League Rank
2015 423 T-4th
2014 436 7th
2013 379 16th
2012 336 22nd
Hopefully that dial keeps moving up and up.

Looking at all of these, it’s clear there are some areas for improvement. But it also shows that, by and large, this team is moving in the right direction. Consider one final point: Pittsburgh scored on over 40% of their drives last year trailing only to the: Cardinals, Seahawks, Panthers, and Patriots.

I think we can all agree that’s some good company there. And scoring that often always puts your team in a better position throughout the game. By those numbers alone, the Steelers should beat nearly every opponent they play based on the sheer probability of them scoring more often. But as we all know, there’s much more to the equation than just one stat line, and we’ve seen how injuries can throw much of that out the window. So this analysis is far from binding.

But after seeing some of these thing, let’s hope that the 3rd down conversions become more and more likely and maybe this team can become the league’s leading scorer by the end of 2016. For now, I’ll trust the process with Haley at the helm.

[url]http://www.steelersdepot.com/2016/06/study-breaking-efficiency-todd-haley-offense/[/url]

[Slapstick]

We are talking about the guy I hired to run the offense.

8 of 18 contests were 20 or less on offense in 2015 and 17 of their last 35 overall in an alleged "offensive friendly" league.

That's not acceptable in the real NFL world with all of this alleged talent at my hand picked OC's disposal.

Then, you, Art, can make sure the guy you hired to run the offense will suffer the same fate of the last guy you hired to run the offense. But, as long as you, Art, are making the decisions and not some overinflated message board wannabe, the Steelers will continue to do well.

[Art Rooney II]

Twenty or or less on offense in 17 of their past 35 games, that includes THREE PLAYOFF GAMES of under 20.

In 2 years when my alleged HOF QB is supposedly playing his "best football".

[Captain Lemming]

While we are talking about the Denver loss......
That was one dominant defense.
Pats scored 18, Panthers 10.
We scored 16 with the most INJURED offense in the playoffs.

To beat the Donks we needed to score more than BOTH either of those EXPLOSIVE teams did WITHOUT our best offensive weapons.

Haters answer me this:
Who was the LAST TEAM to beat the champs?
Who is THE ONLY TEAM to score more than thirty on the Donks ALL SEASON?

The difference?
Brown had 9 catches, 189 yards, and TWO scores.
We scored MORE THAN ANY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE against the Bronco when we had a little health.

You trying to tell me we dont have a better offensive showing with a guy who showed he was unstoppable against them.

[Art Rooney II]

Then, you, Art, can make sure the guy you hired to run the offense will suffer the same fate of the last guy you hired to run the offense. But, as long as you, Art, are making the decisions and not some overinflated message board wannabe, the Steelers will continue to do well.

The last guy I hired to run the offense went to two Super Bowls, broke team records, sent my former HOF bound quarterback to two Pro Bowls in two different seasons when we didn't go to the Super Bowl.

I wish I would have appreciated those days more.

Now we've regressed. As an offense, as an organization.

I'm sorry.

[Captain Lemming]

Twenty or or less on offense in 17 of their past 35 games, that includes THREE PLAYOFF GAMES of under 20.

In 2 years when my alleged HOF QB is supposedly playing his "best football".

We had two WINS with 20 or less on offense on the way to a championship. Haley cant help it if the defense doesn't score his point for him like they did with BA.

[SteelCrazy]

The last guy I hired to run the offense went to two Super Bowls, broke team records, sent my former HOF bound quarterback to two Pro Bowls in two different seasons when we didn't go to the Super Bowl.

I wish I would have appreciated those days more.

Now we've regressed. As an offense, as an organization.

I'm sorry.

you're nuts and after this season youll appreciate haley and all he brought to your team

[Art Rooney II]

We scored MORE THAN ANY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE against the Bronco when we had a little health.

But the Broncos were not healthy in the secondary during the first contest. You can't use injuries on your team in the second game while ignoring injuries of the opponent in the first game.

Mr. Bryant was healthy during the second game, and my hand picked genius removed him from the contest on a key 4th down play for a player who had one catch and three yards during the previous month.

Injuries had nothing to do with that decision.

The lack of brains did.

I'm sorry.