Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said that he would make “appropriate changes” to the team’s personnel.  I guess that mean that changing the offensive coordinator was not an “appropriate change” in Tomlin’s mind, because the Steelers have announced that offensive coordinator Bruce Arians will return for the 2010 season.

I know that many fans are going to be infuriated by this decision.  Fans have been calling for Arians to be fired all season.  I have also been hard on Arians all season long.  But, believe it or not, I think this was the right decision.

Firing someone is a decision that should be made very carefully.  It should not be done on a whim.  And the person who is being fired must DESERVE to be fired.

As much as I question Bruce Arians’ play calling at times, I can’t honestly say that Arians deserves to be fired.

Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians

Let’s look at this objectively.  Bruce Arians was the offensive coordinator when the Steelers won Super Bowl XLIII.  More importantly, it was Arians who implemented one of the most potent offenses in Steelers history.

The 2009 Steelers had a 1,000 yard rusher, two 1,000 yard receivers, and the team’s first 4,000 yard passer.  It would be illogical to say that the Steelers’ offense sucked this year.  It was actually pretty prolific.  One of the best in team history.  So how can you fire an offensive coordinator for having the most prolific offense the team has ever seen?

Be honest.  Why do you REALLY want to see Arians fired.  It’s not because he caused us to lose.  The defense was more responsible for most of the team’s losses than the offense.  Let’s face it, there was no lead too large for the defense to give away in the 4th quarter this year.  The Steelers defensive backs made average quarterbacks look like Hall-of-Famers.  Remember Bruce Gradkowski?  Tyler Thigpen?  Yet I don’t hear anyone calling for Dick LeBeau to be fired.  Why is that?  His unit performed much more poorly than Arians’ unit did.

Were there problems with the offense?  Certainly.  The offense struggled in 3rd down situations.  They also struggled in the red zone.  The Steelers kicked too many field goals, when they should have scored touchdowns.  Finally, the offensive line allowed Big Ben to get sacked too often.

Call me an optimist, but I believe that all of those problems can be fixed without firing the offensive coordinator.

The Steelers had a much bigger problem on special teams, and guess what?  They fired special teams coordinator Bob Ligashesky.  He needed to be fired.  He oversaw one of the worst special teams units in team history.  I don’t think anyone will question this decision.

Ex-Steelers coach Bob Ligashesky

The Steelers also fired offensive line coach Larry Zierlein.  He probably needed to go, too.  The Steelers just didn’t seem to know how to block effectively.  The offensive line is a HUGE part of why our 3rd down and red zone efficiency is so low.  Do you think that Bruce Arians wouldn’t like to be able to give the ball to his running back on 3rd and 1?  But the Steelers running attack has proven that it can’t be trusted in those situations.

In Zierlein’s defense, he didn’t have much to work with.  We all know that the Steelers’ offensive line has been inadequate for years.  Max Starks is too slow to be a left tackle (just ask Clay Matthews Jr.), Trai Essex got his position by default, and Willie Colon is a great run blocker, but he doesn’t seem to be able to pass block without holding.  I’ve always felt that the Steelers would be better off if they moved Starks back to right tackle, moved Colon to right guard (where is skills would be best utilized), and finally got a quality left tackle.  But instead, they continue to support Starks as a left tackle and Colon as a right tackle.

Even given the personnel problems, there was definitely something wrong with Zierlein’s pass blocking schemes.  Their blitz pick-up was terrible.  Does anyone else remember the 8 sacks that the team surrendered to the Cleveland Browns?  What was up with that?  Half of the Browns’ starters didn’t even play that game due to injury.  That performance alone was cause for Zierlein to be fired.

I don’t think that anyone in Steeler Nation believes that Big Ben is responsible for all of the sacks that he takes, despite the fact that he holds the ball waaaaaaaaaaaaay too long (Note to Ken Anderson’s replacement:  PLEASE force Ben to throw the ball away when he is under pressure).

So despite having sub-par personnel on the offensive line, Zierlein probably needed to go.

So Arians stays, and Ligashesky and Zierlien go.  Probably not what most fans wanted to hear, but still the right move.

Coach Tomlin will be called gutless for not firing Arians.  But the truth is, it took a lot of guts to keep Arians when the fans were calling for his ouster.

I can support this decision for now.  But if the team doesn’t improve it’s 3rd down and red zone efficiency, I expect to see this decision revisited next year.  After all, what good is it to gain 1 billion yards, if you can’t put the ball into the endzone?

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I guess the season is officially over for your team when the league announces in what position they will draft.  Playoff teams still don’t know their draft order.

Being a non-playoff team, the NFL announced that the Pittsburgh Steelers will have the 18th pick in the 2010 draft.  The Steelers were given the best pick of all of the teams that ended up tied with a 9-7 record.  That means the league thinks we were the worst of the five 9-7 teams.  I guess something good came out of all of those losses to weak opponents.

Since 2005, the Steelers have drafted 30th, 25th, 15th, 23rd, and 32nd.  So as you can see, the Steelers don’t draft this early very often.

Here are some of the players who have been drafted at the 18th pick or later in the 1st round of recent NFL drafts.

2006 – Antonio Cromartie, Nick Mangold, DeAngelo Williams

2007 – Leon Hall, Joe Staley, Jon Beason

2008 – Joe Flacco, Chris Johnson, Felix Jones

2009 – Alex Mack, Percy Harvin, Michael Oher

As you can see, the Steelers should have an opportunity to draft a very good player.  Some positions such as left tackle, quarterback, and cornerback tend to go very high in the draft.  Thus, the best players at those positions will probably be gone before the Steelers make their first pick.  However, the Steelers may be able to get the top safety, guard, or center in this year’s draft, should they choose to select any of those positions.

Of course we won’t know what players are going to be available in the draft, or what other teams’ needs are for a while.  However, this gives us something positive to think about now that the Steelers are no longer playing.

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Well, the 2009 season is a wrap for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Despite beating the Miami Dolphins 30-24, the Steelers didn’t get the help that they needed from other teams in order to get into the playoffs.  So the team goes into the off-season with lots of questions to answer.

But before we get to that, let’s review the game.  Several players had especially good performances that are worth noting.  Firstly, LaMarr Woodley had his coming out party in 2009.  With Troy Polamalu on the sideline, Woodley became the most dominant member of the defense.  Woodley showed no mercy to Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne, despite the fact that they were college teammates at Michigan.  Woodley sacked Henne twice, and pressured him many more times.

Willie Parker also had a very good game.  Despite not being utilized very much this season, Parker rushed for 91 yards on 12 carries against the Dolphins.  That was a nice final performance as he enters free agency.  Good luck next year, Willie.  You won’t be playing for the Steelers.

Big Ben also had a very good game.  He threw 3 touchdowns without an interception.  2009 was a great year for Big Ben.

Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger

The Steelers’ cornerbacks finally got an interception.  Both Ike Taylor and Deshea Townsend got interceptions against the Dolphins.  It’s too bad they also made Dolphins 3rd string QB Tyler Thigpen look like Dan Marino.

Mike Wallace also had a good game.  He caught another long touchdown pass.  I knew this kid was going to be good.  I could see it back in training camp.  I even wrote about it here.

Rookie WR Mike Wallace

Finally, offensive coordinator Bruce Arians called a pretty good game.  I’ve been pretty tough on Arians this season, so I owe it to him to point out when he calls a good game.  Bruce actually called a pretty balanced game.  He used his running backs 32 times, and called pass plays 28 times.  You can’t get much more balanced than that.  Moreover, Ben had a great game while the backs rushed for almost 200 yards.  See, you CAN run the ball and pass it too.  Of course Arians did call for that asinine pass by Santonio Holmes.  But I’m going to ignore that, and focus on the positive.  Good game, Bruce.

But despite their victory over the Dolphins, Sunday was not a happy day for the Steelers.  The bad news started early, and just kept on coming.

The bad news started when the Houston Texans beat the New England Patriots.  The Steelers needed the Texans to lose more than any other team.   Once the Texans won, the Steelers needed the Oakland Raiders to beat the Baltimore Ravens.

The Raiders were actually beating the Ravens, but then their quarterback got hurt and they had to call on JaMarcus Russell.  The moment JaMarcus Russell came into the game for the Raiders, any hope the Steelers might have had went out the window.  Russell is probably the worst quarterback in the NFL.  Having to depend on him to win a game is like depending on Whitney Houston to say “no” to crack; it’s just not going to happen.  So the Raiders lost, and the Ravens were in the playoffs.  Then, to toss salt in the wound, the Cincinnati Bengals completely shut it down against the New York Jets.  Not that it mattered at that point, but I’m sure the Bengals enjoyed knowing that they did absolutely nothing to help the Steelers’ chances.

So the Steelers now head into the off-season with a long list of questions.  Will Casey Hampton be signed to a new contract?  Will Ryan Clark be with the team next year?  Will Troy Polamalu’s knee heal completely?  Will Willie Gay get burned for touchdowns even when the Steelers aren’t playing?  Will Bruce Arians return as offensive coordinator?  Will the Steelers hire a new special teams coach?  Will Jeff Reed be back for another season with the Steelers, or will he get arrested first and force the Steelers to let him go?

The Steelers won’t be in the playoffs, but the off-season is still going to be very exciting for Steeler Nation.  The team has lots of questions to answer.  I expect this team to make significant changes in the months to come.  Stay tuned.

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The Steelers take on the Miami Dolphins this Sunday.  Steeler Nation’s attention will be focused on the outcome of a bunch of other games to see if the Steelers will luck out and make the playoffs.

That’s all fine and good, but the reality is that the most important game to pay attention to is the Steelers-Dolphins game.  If the Steelers don’t win, then the outcome of all of the other games becomes moot.

The Steelers MUST beat the Dolphins.  Period.  End of story.

If the Steeler lose, it’s a wrap.  The Steelers won’t make the playoffs, regardless of what anyone else does.  So beating the Dolphins is the only thing that anyone should be worried about.  Everything else is out of our control.

So let’s take a look at the Dolphins.  What do the Steelers need to do to beat this team?

The Steelers have won 4 of the past 5 games against the Dolphins, including their last meeting which was the muddy mess of a game in 2007 that the Steelers won 3-0.

The Dolphins are 7-8 going into the game.  The Dolphins were primarily a run-oriented team.  They average 142.1 yards per game on the ground.  Much of their ground yardage came from their wildcat offense.  Fortunately, the Dolphins’ running game has been hampered by injuries.  The Dolphins lost Ronnie Brown in November due to a foot injury, and Ricky Williams was hurt last week and is unlikely to play on Sunday.  So the Dolphins’ running game is basically screwed.

If the Dolphins can’t run the ball (which they shouldn’t be able to do against the Steelers’ defense), then they’ll have to rely on quarterback Chad Henne.  Henne’s role in the offense increased drastically after Ronnie Brown was lost for the season.  Henne has averaged over 40 passes per game the past 6 games.  That’s a lot of passing.

This is Henne’s first year as a starter for the Dolphins.  His results have been mediocre at best.  His quarterback rating is 74.4.  He’s completed 59.9% of his passes, and has thrown for 11 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, while being sacked 24 times.

Unless things go in a way that is totally unexpected, the Steelers should have no problem stopping the Dolphins’ offense.  The Dolphins’ defense, on the other hand, might be another matter.

The Dolphins defense is a fairly blitz-happy bunch.  They’re 5th in the NFL with 41 sacks.  That’s only 3 fewer than the Steelers have.  The Dolphins are led by a guy named Joey Porter.  The name sounds slightly familiar, but I can’t quite remember where I’ve heard it before.  Porter leads the team with 8 sacks.  Jason Taylor is Porter’s partner in the Miami sack parade.  Taylor has 7 sacks.  The Steelers offensive line is going to have to work overtime to keep these two off of Big Ben.

Fortunately, the Dolphins’ secondary is even weaker than the Steelers’ (if that’s even possible).  The Dolphins’ secondary gives up more yards per pass than any other team in the NFL.  If the offensive line can buy Ben a little time, he should be able to pass for even more yardage against the Dolphins than he did against the Packers.  How does 600 yards sound?

For once, I might even be able to forgive Bruce Arians for having Roethlisberger pass the ball 50 times.  Okay, maybe not.  Brucie isn’t getting off that easily.

If they play up to their ability, the Steelers should beat the Dolphins.  Everything else is out of their control.  Steeler Nation will just have to pray that the football gods smile upon the them and make things fall into place the way we all hope that they will.

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Since last week’s win against the Baltimore Ravens, Steeler Nation has been obsessing over the various scenarios that will result in the Steelers making the playoffs.

The purpose of this article is not to discuss the chain of events that needs to happen in order for the Steelers to make the playoffs.  There are plenty of articles out there that do that.  Just Google the words “Steelers playoff scenarios”, and thousands of articles will pop up that outline the myriad playoff scenarios.

The purpose of this article is slightly different.  In this article, I want to answer a different question.  Rather than focus on what needs to happen for the Steelers to make the playoffs, I want to answer the question “Do the Steelers deserve to make the playoffs?”

This year’s Steelers team is unlike any that I can remember.  For the first time, I find myself feeling embarrassed about the Steelers.

When I look at the Steelers special teams, I see a unit that is the worst in the entire NFL.  They seem to enjoy watching their opponents celebrate touchdowns.  Perhaps that’s why they’ve given up so many of them. 

When I look at the Steelers’ defensive backs, I see a unit that doesn’t seem to be able to stop even the most meager  passing attack.  The cornerbacks can’t catch a cold.  It’s hard to see this unit as being playoff worthy.

The Steelers’ offensive line doesn’t seem to be able to get an adequate push to allow the running game to operate effectively.  That’s part of the reason why head coach Mike Tomin seems content to allow the offense to throw the ball 90% of the time.  He doesn’t have confidence in the Steelers’ ability to run it effectively.

Kicker Jeff Reed couldn’t make a kickoff reach the endzone if his life depended on it.  His lack of distance further exacerbates the problems the Steelers have with their special teams.  It’s a good thing Reed is able to kick field goals accurately at Heinz Field (which isn’t easy to do), otherwise the Steelers would probably have gotten rid of him years ago.

Steelers kicker Jeff Reed

Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians doesn’t believe in traditional smash-mouth Steelers football.  He doesn’t believe in using a fullback.  He shows no commitment to running the ball.  Nope, Bruce loves to throw the ball.  In fact, I’d be willing to bet that Bruce Arians will be the first NFL offensive coordinator to utilize a 9 wide receiver set.  Or perhaps 5 wide receivers and 4 tight ends.  Either option would probably give Arians the orgasm of a lifetime.

The majority of Steeler Nation would probably like to see Arians executed, rather than just fired.  Is execution legal in Pittsburgh?

I’ve been a Steelers fan for a long time.  I can remember some terrible Steelers.  Cliff Stoudt.  John Reinstra.  Jamaine Stephens.  Tim Worley.  Delton Hall.  Sean Mahan.  Huey Richardson.  Troy Edwards.  Tom Ricketts.  Limas Sweed.  You get the picture.  Yet I can barely remember an entire Steelers team that was as flawed as this one.  O-line, D-backs, special teams, coaching, etc.  That’s a lot of  flaws.

This Steelers team is just barely over .500.  Two weeks ago, they were below .500.

The 2009 Steelers have managed to play down to the level of their opponents, no matter how bad the opponent may have been.  The Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, and Cleveland Browns were the worst of those opponents, and the Steelers lost to all three of them. 

So, does a team that has struggled to stay above .500, and that has lost to several of the worst teams in the NFL deserve to make the playoffs?  Surprisingly, I believe the answer is “yes”.

Despite their many shortcomings, the 2009 Steelers have just as much chance to win it all as any team in the playoffs.  I guess that’s NFL parity for you.

If the playoffs were to start today, the Steelers would not be in them.  However, they will have played 5 of the teams that would make the playoffs.  Moreover, they’ve beaten 4 of them (San Diego Chargers, Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, and Green Bay Packers).  The Cincinnati Bengals would be the only playoff team that has beaten the Steelers this season.

Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that the Steelers have lost to the 3 worst teams in the AFC.  But if they do get into the playoffs, winning is actually a possibility.

Some fans probably hope that the Steelers don’t make the playoffs.  That way, they’ll get a better draft pick and can begin fixing their woeful offensive line and defensive backfield.  I can understand that line of thinking.  However, if the Steelers DO make the playoffs, they can actually win some games.  Just so long as the Chiefs, Raiders, or Browns aren’t in the playoffs.  Then the Steelers wouldn’t have a chance.

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