Steelers Today – A Pittsburgh Steelers blog

Bruce Arians’ time as offensive coordinator for the Steelers was filled with exciting plays and baffling ones.  And it’s those baffling plays that made Arians a frequent target of angry Steelers fans.

The Steelers announced today that Arians will be retiring.  That means that Steelers fans won’t be able to blame Arians for the team’s losses anymore.

Arians’ days as offensive coordinator were a mixed bag.  He will always be remembered as the guy who unleashed Ben Roethlisberger.  Prior to Arians, Roethlisberger had been seen as more of a “game manager” than a franchise quarterback.  Bill Cowher and Ken Whisenhunt consciously worked to keep Big Ben’s pass attempts low.

But when Bruce Arians took over, he let Roethlisberger throw the ball early and often.  Roethlisberger broke most Steelers passing records, and his passing also led to the emergence of Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, Heath Miller, and Emmanuel Sanders.

But on the flip side, Arians seemed to eschew the running game.  He often called for pass plays when a running play would have been a safer option.  And when he did call for running plays, they were usually predictable, and almost always to the right side of the field.  If fans at home were able to predict where the ball was going, then the defense probably could too.

But perhaps the worst aspect of Arians’ play calling was his success (or lack thereof) in the red zone.  Arians’ offense seemed to be highly effective over most of the field, but once the Steelers got inside the 20 yard line, the offense came to a screeching halt.  Arians seemed to be content to settle for field goals when touchdowns should have been the goal.

This practice was particularly egregious to Steelers fans who had grown up watching Jerome Bettis successfully get the tough yards.  Fans couldn’t understand why the team often struggled to gain one yard, and then inevitably settle for a field goal.

After each of the past two seasons, the Rooney family has said that they wanted to see Arians (and Tomlin) re-emphasize the running game and improve the team’s effectiveness within the red zone.  And repeatedly the Steelers failed to do so.  So while this is being called a “retirement”, some believe that the Rooneys may have encouraged Arians to retire.  Even Ed Bouchette, the Steelers beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggested as much.

So while we’ll probably never know whether Arians’ retirement was completely voluntary, we do know that the Steelers will have a new offensive coordinator next season.

The off-season just got even more interesting.

Some of you are probably asking, “What the heck is “WWBAD”   Is it a word?  Is it an acronym?  Or has Donald been sniffing tartar sauce again?

The answers are “no”, “yes”, and “maybe”.

“WWBAD” is not a word.  It’s an acronym.  You’re probably familiar with those bracelets that some Christians wear that say “WWJD”, well this is the Steelers’ version of that.  For Christians, WWJD stands for “What would Jesus Do?”.    Similarly, WWBAD is an acronym for the question that is on the minds of Steeler Nation; “What Will Bruce Arians Do?”

Bruce Arians is the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  Thus he is the guy who calls the plays that make the Steelers’ offense tick.

Arians is faced with the task of trying to integrate Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers’ franchise quarterback, into a team that has gone 3-1 in his absence, primarily due to suffocating defense and a pounding running game.

There probably isn’t an offensive coordinator in the NFL who wouldn’t LOVE to have that “problem”.  But for Bruce Arians, things are a bit more complicated.

Steelers fans know that Bruce Arians seems to have an aversion to running the ball.  Actually, it’s more than an aversion.  It’s more like an allergy.  I believe that he becomes physically ill any time he calls a running play.  Or at least that’s the way it seems sometimes.

How else do you explain that game last season when Rashard Mendenhall was averaging 7 yards per carry in the first half, and Bruce Arians hardly gave him the ball during the entire second half?

Or how do you explain the countless times that the Steelers got into the red zone last year and couldn’t score.  Despite their lack of success in the red zone, Arians kept trying the same formula; Pass, pass, pass, bring in Jeff Reed to kick a field goal.

For Arians, there is apparently no situation that doesn’t call for a passing play.  If the Steelers have a first and goal at the 1 yard line, Arians will probably call for 3 passing plays. 

If the situation were 3rd down and inches to go, most coordinators would call for a running play or a quarterback sneak.  But to Bruce Arians, that is an ideal situation to call for a 20 yard pass into double coverage.

That’s why the simple question of how to integrate Big Ben back into the Steelers’ offense becomes much more complicated than it may seem.

My suggestion would be to continue doing what the Steelers have been doing.  After all, Rashard Mendenhall is averaging 4.6 yards per carry.  And that has been against defenses that were stacking the line because they knew that the Steelers were not a passing threat.

With Ben Roethlisberger back in the line-up, that is no longer the case.  The Steelers ARE a passing threat.  So defenses can’t keep 8 or 9 men in the box.  That will open things up significantly for Mendenhall.

But just as Ben’s presence will open things up for Mendenhall, Mendy’s running will also open things up for Ben.  When a defense has to respect the offense’s running game, they become more vulnerable to the pass.

Fortunately for the Steelers, they have a potent running game, and they are now adding a quarterback who threw for over 4,000 yards last season back into the mix.  Do you think that is going to give opposing defensive coordinators ulcers?  Yeah, so do I.

The Steelers offense just has too many weapons.  We’ve already talked about Mendenhall.  But with Roethlisberger back, Hines Ward will become a threat once again.  Ward has been the invisible man during the Steelers’ first 4 games.  Ward had 95 catches last season for 1,167 yards.  This season, he has 12 catches for 165 yards.  Do you think he’s happy to have Big Ben back?  I do too.

And when Ward is covered, Big Ben can always go to his dependable tight end, Heath Miller.  I’ve long argued that Miller is one of the best tight ends in the NFL. 

And let’s not forget Roethlisberger’s latest toy; speedster Mike Wallace.  Wallace is a 40+ yard touchdown waiting to happen (assuming Ben doesn’t under-throw the ball like he usually does).

That’s a lot of weapons to try to defend.  Particularly when you have a quarterback who can extend a play the way Ben Roethlisberger can.

If the Steelers vary the play calling and give the opposition a good mix of passing and running plays, they should be virtually unstoppable.  But if they become one dimensional and rely almost exclusively on the passing game, then they will be much easier for defenses to stop.

This logic seems fairly self-evident to most of us.  But history has shown that it sometimes escapes Bruce Arians.  Which brings us back to our original question;  WWBAD?

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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.

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.

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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February 18, 2009
By Donald Starver

Here at Steelers Today, we are not content to sit back and speculate on what the Steelers are going to do during the off-season.  Instead, we prefer to take a more proactive approach.

We’ve hacked into Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s PDA, and we were able to locate his “to do” list.   Here it is, exclusively on Steelers Today.

Mike Tomlin’s “to do” list

1. Convince Dick LeBeau that it’s not appropriate for me to call him “dad”.
2. Find more ways to use the word “men” at press conferences.
3. Sucker Ken Whisenhunt into signing Chris Kemoeatu.
4. Make James Harrison run more 100 yard dashes.
5. Convince Bruce Arians that “fullback” is not a bad word.
6. Send Terrell Owens a free agent contract on April Fool’s Day.
7. Pretend to respect the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals.
8. Sucker Ken Whisenhunt into signing Willie Colon.
9. Teach Ben Roethlisberger the difference between a broken toenail and a broken leg.
10. Send 50 cases of rice cakes to Casey Hampton’s house.
11. Explain to Limas Sweed that wide receivers are supposed to CATCH the ball.
12. Place Jeff Reed under house arrest to avoid more “incidents”.
13. Mandatory drug tests for Santonio.
14. Get fitted for ring.
15. Sign contract extension.

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On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers travel to Baltimore, MD to take on their AFC North rivals, the Baltimore Ravens.  Last week, the Steelers beat the Dallas Cowboys 20-13, while the Ravens defeated the Washington Redskins 24-10.

The Steelers and Ravens are locked in a race to the finish for the AFC North crown.  The Steelers stand at 10-3, and have a one game lead over the 9-4 Ravens.  If the Ravens win on Sunday, the two teams will be deadlocked at 10-4.  If this should occur, it actually favors the Ravens, who have a slightly easier schedule the rest of the way.

In week 16, the Steelers have to travel to Tennessee to take on the 12-1 Tennessee Titans.  The Titans have the best record in the NFL, and are the only AFC team that has already clinched their division.  The Ravens, on the other hand will be traveling to Dallas to take on the 8-5 Dallas Cowboys.  The Cowboys are locked in the midst of T.O. drama (no surprise there), and seem to be intent upon imploding as the season draws to a close.

In week 17, both teams will conclude their season with home games.  The Steelers will play the 4-9 Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field, while the Ravens will play the 4-9 Jacksonville Jaguars at M&T Stadium.

The Steelers’ remaining opponents have a combined record of 16-10, while the Ravens’ opponents are 12-14.  That is why winning this week is so important for the Steelers.

As we look at the two teams, we see teams that are very similar.  Both are defensive powerhouses, with mediocre offenses.  The Steelers’ defense comes into the game ranked #1 in the NFL.  The Ravens’ defense is right behind them, ranked #2 in the NFL.  Contrarily, the Ravens’ offense is ranked #19 in the NFL, while the Steelers offense is ranked #25.  Neither offense is going to keep the opposing defensive coordinator awake at night.  The defenses on the other hand…….  Let’s just say that both offensive coordinators have probably been drinking Maalox as though it were orange juice this week.

Looking at the two defenses, we see defenses with slightly different strengths.  The Steelers are very good at getting pressure on the quarterback.  They have generated 45 sacks as opposed to only 28 by the Ravens.  The difference is primarily attributable to the Steelers dynamic duo of outside linebackers, James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley.  Harrison and Woodley have combined for almost as many sacks (26.5) as the entire Ravens defense (28).   The pressure that the Steelers are likely to apply to Ravens’ quarterback Joe Flacco has likely been the focus of Ravens’ offensive coordinator Cam Cameron.  He has likely had his running backs and tight ends practicing blocking schemes to support the offensive linemen.  Everyone’s primary responsibility will be to keep Joe Flacco on his feet instead of on his butt.

The Ravens defense poses a slightly different challenge.  What Bruce Arians has been focusing on is probably how to deal with the Ravens tremendous ability to generate turnovers.  Unlike the Steelers, the Ravens don’t dominate teams by sacking their quarterback.  Instead, the Ravens’ strength is in their secondary.  They are exceptional at generating interceptions.  In fact, as a unit, the Ravens lead the NFL in interceptions.  Troy Polamalu may be the individual interception leader, but the Ravens lead as a unit.  Moreover, they are very good at turning those interceptions into scores. 

Bruce Arians has probably spent a lot of time this week with Ben Roethlisberger coaching him on being careful with his passes and making sure that he doesn’t try to force passes into coverage or to throw passes when he is under pressure.  Untimely interceptions can be devastating when playing a team like Baltimore.  The Steelers’ defense can probably control the Ravens’ offense, but a pick six or two by Big Ben could prove to be disastrous.

When the #1 defense in the NFL squares off against the #2 defense, it’s not likely to be a high scoring affair.  A final score of 6-3 is not out of the question.  3-2 might even be possible.  We don’t think it will be that bad, but 49-42 is highly unlikely.

If When the Steelers win this weekend, they will break a 5 year drought in Baltimore.  We predict the Steelers will begin a winning streak in Baltimore on Sunday with a 17-7 victory.

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