Will Allen on the Steelers problems in 2012

2009-9-7- WOW YOU GUYS LOOK HOW HIGH WE RANKED!!! WOO HOO!!! Also they got to watch EVERY playoff game that year since they were at home during them.
2007- A first round loss to the Jags- WOO HOO YOU GUYS!!! But Ben had a great year statistically. If I remember correctly he threw for 32 tds and 11 picks.
2008- We were 22nd- So it's ALMOST like BFT was right when he said our Defense carried the load for us- Thanks BA for making our D look so good!
Thank you for proving my point that ranking means nothing. Notice the year we were ranked the lowest what happened? Hopefully next year we don't make the Super Bowl but our ranking goes up that way you'll be happy. LOL.

 

i'd say check out the O-lines they put in front of ben. you want to keep your qb upright, fix the line. fact max starks may have given up a couple less sacks last year but he was responsible for 3 times the qb pressures of the year before. i blame colbert and only colbert for the amount of times ben got sacked over the years. i can't remember the last time we had a really good steeler line. this has hurt both OC's more then anything. our defense has saved alot of seasons.

 

I'd say in 05 or 06 was the last time we had a good line. I don't think our line has seen a hole like Willie Parker ran through in Super Bowl 40 since Super Bowl 40.

 

Wow, BFT, you're on a roll! I would add to your previous couple of posts, but all I can say is...ditto.

 

At least 50% of those sacks were on Ben and Ben alone. His penchant for doing pump fakes and hanging onto the football gets him creamed more than anything else. Making a claim that we wouldn't have won without play x is complete and utter bs and certainly has nothing to do with fact as you claim. Unless you've actually found a working crystal ball and if so I'm sure we would all appreciate sharing where you found it.

However, if you want to talk about stupid offenses you don't have to look any further than Todd freaking Haley. THe strength of the Steelers for the last few years is with our QB and small fast wide receivers. To utilize that strength you get the ball to them in space as opposed to tossing repeated one yard passes and hoping they can break tackles. People love to point to how our offense was clicking before Ben got hurt, but the simple fact is the only thing clicking was Ben bailing Haley's ass out repeatedly on 3rd downs.

You ***** and moan about going empty set on 3rd down, but ignore Haley doing the same thing.Bubble screens? Haley ran even more of them. Arian's offense definitely had more of stretch the field aspect to it, but it was also far more complex than anything we've seen from the golfer. At least Arian's recognized the strengths of this team as opposed to Haley's Ben please bail me out offensive system. You call Haley a genius/hero whatever and I'll call him what he is, a career sub 500 coach.

 

You know why Ben was constantly holding on to the ball? Because BA was a "players coach" and didn't correct things that needed correcting. You know why guys like "players coaches"? Because they don't hold them accountable. If Ben pulls that crap under Haley he'll get his butt chewed and I will stand and cheer. I love Ben dude. I named my kid after him. But he needs to quit being a crybaby about this. I showed you why we lost games this year and you won't accept it. I can't help that. In this league it is simple. If you turn the ball over you lose no matter WHO your OC is. Haley is not perfect. He is not even CLOSE to perfect and I have complete confidence that if the Rooney's are convinced he's not getting it done then they will send him the way of BA and I'm totally cool with that.

 

Well I appreciate it but I think they're making it pretty easy for me. LOL. Even a pitcher can knock a softball out of the park ya know?

 

I was one of the biggest BA apologists around. Theres no way the guy should have been fired. He was a good OC hamstrung by a sh*tty and too often injured O line.

That being said, Im not going to pin the Steelers 2012 offensive woes on Todd Haley, nor am I going to suggest his dismissal. The guy was too hamstrung by a decimated O line. He deserves a few more seasons at least.

 

I can totally understand your position. I don't care that people miss BA. That's fine. It's just the fact that people act like it's all Haley's fault that's annoying. Also the apparent short term or selective memory is quite the rub as well.

 

1. I am not sure anyone can conclude that Haley was a problem. In fact, we could go back in time and look at all of the posts praising Haley's offense after the Giants win. At that point, things were clicking. The offense was playing pretty well. They were putting up the same basic #s and pts as Arians, but with one big difference: TOP. Then, after Ben got hurt, the roof caved in. Look at the turnovers. 8 TOs in the first half of the season, 22 in the second half. I wouldn't fault Haley completely for this. When Ben came back, it wasn't the same offense. Perhaps we can fault Haley for some play calling and what seemed like giving Ben the reigns. Furthermore, there aren't any haley apologists, just Haley realists.

2. Haley inherited a 2-14 Chiefs team and within two years had them in the playoffs. That's an accomplishment.

3. You mention that haley had a great group to work with...well, when most of those parts were actually on the field, the Steelers' offense was more efficient than in 2011.

 

I think part of it is just some payback and some "ha ha, I told you so..." regarding BA.

 

Hmmm. Haley had success in Arizona and KC. You're arguing that BA has now had success after leaving Pittsburgh. Let's assume that both men are pretty good. So, then...what is the issue in Pittsburgh? How about we start dealing with the fact that we have a very talented QB who's stubborn and lazy, and a head coach who can't assert himself and has ZERO plan?

 

For all you posters dogging on Allen, ...we were 8-8.

Anyway, what was really that wrong about what he said?

 

YOu might want to go watch the Chiefs game again, because the only reason ben was hurt yet once again was because he was holding onto the ball. It was something like 6 seconds into the play and he was still holding the ball.


For whoever made the false claim that our time of possession was better under Haley is flat out wrong.

2012-

32:11​

2011-

32:33
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2010-

32:24
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2009-

2007-​

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22​

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33:28
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That's absolutely true that Ben held the ball for too long on that play. Also 12to88 was right about the TOP under Haley until Ben got hurt we were 2nd in the league behind only the Texans by like about 30 seconds or so. So basically we were right at the top of the league in that aspect. What's the highest we ever got under BA? If we didn't get to number one then we didn't do better under BA in that regard.

 

I agree.

 

One thing about the success BA had this year is that you could probably make the case that he did that with Pagano's team. Here you could make the case he did it with Tomlin's team. Let's see how BA does when he's at the helm during the draft process and when he gets "his" players and then we'll be able to honestly and fully evaluate BA. We know he has a proven commodity in AZ with Fitz but other than that I really don't know who they have. He's apparently been talking to Carson Palmer but they're saying they're not gonna pay too much for him and Palmer is on record saying he wants to play for a contender. Maybe BA will wind up using Hoyer and doing good. Maybe he will draft a qb. He's obviously a qb guy so that wouldn't surprise me.

 

Unfortunately for you we don't play half a season. THe highest we got under BA was just under 34 minutes per game, Haley doesn't even come close.

Just an FYI king haley's TOP with chiefs in his miraculous season that you all like to point to was worse than Arians worse. Arians wins the AFC north 3 times, 2 AFC championships, 1 superbowl in 5 years and people complain. It's quite possibly the most idiotic thing I've ever seen.

 

I understand that. That's why if you look at my original post I said that this is the tale of two seasons. Once the injuries started pouring in but ESPECIALLY Ben's injury we looked like a different team. There is no possible way that we can honestly evaluate Haley given that he didn't have all his horses to work with this year. Given that Wallace played for Wallace. Mendy just literally didn't show up at one point. Dwyer couldn't take more than 2 snaps without needing a breathing treatment. AB couldn't hold the ball. The o line was recruiting people off the streets from down at the homeless mission to block for Ben. We played the toughest stretch of our schedule with backups. These were all contributing factors to what happened this year.

 

Someone help me out here. So while 1 and 2nd down are on Haley but the impressive third down conversation rate is all Ben and Ben converting them and "bailing" Haley out? So yeah how do you guys know this? I mean the ineffective first and second down plays had nothing to do with Ben they were all bonehead plays called by Haley but the savior of the team was Ben making it up as he went along on third down and Haley had zero plays called for those third down situations? I am glad that we have some team insiders here to clue us in on this otherwise I wouldn't know how bad Haley was and great Ben is.

 

We've got plenty to evaluate him on HE'S A CAREER SUB 500 COACH! His one claim to fame is based on the talents of Warner and Fitzgerald. Even then he didn't start calling the offensive plays until half way through a 9-7 season. You call it a tale of two seasons. Our offense was relied on Ben working magic on 3rd down. Once that wasn't an option anymore the roof caved in. Did Ben's injury play a part in it? Absolutely, but it doesn't change the fact the system Haley put in place was bound to fail when it relied on Ben's 3rd and long success. To put it simply injury or no injury it was just a matter of time. Before the season started people on this board(haley fanboys) talked about how he would utilize the strengths of our players. I don't care how you spin that isn't what we saw by any stretch of the imagination. Even before Ben's injury Haley was running Redman east-west. Is that one of Redman's strengths?


Mendy didn't show up for a game he wasn't even dressed for which pretty much makes your point moot. For the love of GOD the running back rotation(dwyer tapping out) is all on Haley he did the same stupid thing in KC.

 

Ask Heath Miller if he thought Haley was able to get the most out of his talents. He had his best statistical season ever. You can't just make a non-factual blanket statement like that, strummerfan. Heath was the player I had in mind when Haley was hired, especially when Haley mentioned him in his press conference. BA was too much of an idiot to utilize Heath properly and continued to allow Ben to fling it 40 yards downfield to a double covered Wallace when the best TE in football was roaming free for first downs ALL DAY LONG!

 

Heath had 71 receptions in 2012 and has a career high of 76. You people love to point to how BA didn't use Heath, but conveniently forget how much he was used to help a decimated offensive line. But one players production doesn't change my statement at all. Heath is a great weapon, but Wallace, Brown, and Sanders are far more explosive when used properly. You know getting the ball to small fast guys in stride instead of asking them to catch a one yard pass and break tackles when there are 8-9 men in the box in order to stop them. Yet once again the proof is in the pudding he's a career sub 500 coach that has never won anything. Go right ahead and put your boy on a pedestal and I'll stay here grounded in reality.

 

How many TDs did Heath have in 2012? You conveniently left that stat out.