Evaluating Todd Haley’s offense after 2 games
Steelers fans had a love hate relationship with former offensive coordinator Bruce Arians for the 5 years that he roamed the Steelers’ sideline. Arians’ offense generated lots of passing yards for Big Ben, and lot’s of receiving yards for the wide receivers. But it also seemed to be incapable of scoring from the red zone, and Arians didn’t seem to understand that NFL teams ARE allowed to run to the left.
So Arians retired got fired. And now it’s Todd Haley’s turn to run the Steelers’ offense.
It’s still very early in Haley’s tenure, but after 2 games, let’s take a look at what we’ve seen so far.
Clock control
The first thing that I notice about Haley’s offense is that it’s capable of eating up the clock. In the first game against the Denver Broncos, the Steelers held the ball for a full 10 minutes more than the Broncos did. In the 3rd quarter, Denver only had the ball for 36 seconds. That’s right, 36 seconds!
In the second game against the Jets, the Steelers held the ball for even longer. They had the ball for 13 minutes more than the Jets did. That’s almost a full quarter.
When an offense controls the clock like that, there’s a very high probability that they’re going to win the game. It also helps to keep the defense fresh, which is obviously a good thing.
Offensive coordinator Todd Haley
Fewer long bombs
Another thing that was noticeable in the preseason, and has continued during the regular season is a noticeable lack of long throws down the field. Big Ben heaving long bombs waaaaaaaay downfield to Mike Wallace was a staple of Bruce Arians’ offense. But Todd Haley doesn’t seem to be as fond of the long pass. In fact, we’ve hardly seen any of them.
Instead, Haley seems to favor the short, quick pass. Short routes to the wide receivers and tight ends, or dump off passes to the running backs seem to be regular items on Haley’s menu.
With all of these short passes, Roethlisberger may end up throwing 25% more passes than he did in 2011, yet passing for 25% fewer yards.
Questionable running game
The primary thing that Haley was supposed to do was supercharge the running game. But that hasn’t happened…….yet. In fact, the running game seems to have taken a step backwards.
There could be many reasons for the futility in the running game. Injuries on the offensive line, and the lack of Rashard Mendenhall are the obvious suspects.
But regardless of the reason, the current productivity (or lack thereof) in the running game is completely unacceptable.
Against the Broncos, the Steelers gained only 75 yards rushing, and their leading rusher (Jonathan Dwyer) had only 43 yards. Against the Jets, things got even worse. The Steelers had only 66 yards on the ground, and their leading rusher (again Jonathan Dwyer) had only 28 yards.
It’s too early for fans to hit the panic button, but the deficiencies in the running game are definitely a cause for a concern. Todd Haley has to figure out a way for the offense to run the ball consistently.
Despite the problems the team is having running the ball, overall I’m please with Todd Haley’s new offense. I would like to see more 40 yard passes from Big Ben to Mike Wallace. After watching those two hook up repeatedly under Bruce Arians, Steelers fans know that Wallace is capable of outrunning just about any cornerback in the NFL. So why not let him do it?
But other than that one small complaint, I’m content with what I’ve seen so far from Todd Haley.
The Steelers face the Oakland Raiders this week, and hopefully they’ll be able to rush for more than 70 yards. But even if they don’t, I’m confident that Haley’s offense will be able to eat up the clock and generate a win.
Go Steelers!
With the running game the wholes going straight ahead dont seem to be there like last year but alot of times there seems to be a cutback lane kinda like in zone blocking schemes so I think mendy would favor this situation. Other then that it looks pretty good. Yes the offense could have done better in denver but the defense wasnt clicking at all and it was the first game. Plus the running game didnt look bad when foster was in the game but when legursky got it things seem to go wrong quickly. Mike adams didnt look bad at all but legursky was horrid. I say lets see how things look by week 6-7-8 before we hit the panic button.
1DP,
I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m certainly not hitting the panic button yet.
According to recent reports, Rashard Mendenhall is getting close to coming back. We may see him as early as right after our bye week. That should help the running game quite a bit. He’s definitely faster than Dwyer or Redman.
The one thing that I forgot to mention was that I’d definitely like to see more of Chris Rainey. He looked good in the preseason, but has barely been used in the first two games.
2Tomlin said he did not think his backs are hitting the holes but against the Jets running backs were dumped in the backfield repeatedly just after hand-off.
Another feature of the new offense is greater use of Heath in the redzone, a greater variety of targets, frequent use of two backs even on passing plays and more screen plays to pick up yards and slow down the pass rush.
3Plus and minus, but way more plus.
The overall prospects sure look good to me!
Two games in Ben looks fit and determined, like an experienced field commander.
Seems like Ben and Haley are in tune early.
The truly outstanding time of possession, made possible by the most crucial aspect of all; execution, is impressive.
Sure, mistakes are made and expected to be made but so far team progress, despite the terrible bad luck of injuries, is strong.
It takes a real TEAM effort to employ such high caliber play and no one can accuse the Steelers of being anything less than high caliber.
4I’ve been very happy the offense so far. A different approach then Ariens (whom I alone apparently liked), but good. And if Ben gets hit less, then that is only good.
We’ve played a couple of stout front sevens the first two weeks. Let’s see how the running does against weaker fronts.
Off topic, but here’s a joke (too many Browns fans to say it where I live):
5Why did Steelers minority owner Jimmy Haslam buy the Browns? He got tired of owning them for only 2 weeks a year. Heh.
Jim,
Actually, you’re not the only one who liked Bruce Arians. I liked the fact that he brought the Steelers into the modern era. I get tired of hearing Steelers fans constantly say that they want to see the Steelers stop throwing the ball so much and return to a smashmouth running game. I’m sorry to be the one to tell them, but the NFL is now a passing league. Arians understood that.
The problem that I had with Arians was that he repeatedly failed to score from the red zone. But I loved what he did with Big Ben, Mike Wallace, and Antonio Brown.
BTW Jim, if you don’t mind, I’m going to share that joke on the Steelers Today Facebook page. That was hilarious.
6@Admin-
Yes, I agree, the knocks I had on Arians was a lack in the redzone (which is a big problem), and the amount of punishment Ben took. If you QB is hurt, your offense is diminished. And all you have to do is look at last season to see what happens.
Go ahead! I’m glad you liked it.
BTW, if Weedon and Holmes are ever on the same team…. I will laugh myself silly.
7I think Mendenhall being healthy will help our running game. Redman just isn’t fast enough to be a feature back, and Dwyer just isn’t as good as Mendenhall. Rainey is more of a McCluster-like player, I’d like to see him utilized a little more than sweep plays that everyone can see coming.
I love that FINALLY the Steelers are utilizing the short passing game. I’d like to see a few more long bombs too, but I get the feeling that we’ll see more of them later in the season, as Wallace gets in a groove.
Just no more OL injuries, please.
8Dan,
Great points! I agree with every one of them. Especially your point about the offensive line. No more injuries…..PLEASE!
I know that we have lots of Steelers fans who are not fans of Rashard Mendenhall. But the reality is that Mendenhall brings a great mix of power AND speed. Neither Dwyer or Redman have Mendy’s speed. I just hope that Mendy has eliminated that stupid spin move from his repertoire. I hate it when he starts spinning like a top. Boo!!!!
9