What if coaches are not as dumb as we think . . .

I have a hard time thinking coaches that have been in football all their life and made it to the top of the NFL are as stupid as we tend to think they are. They have to know what the issues are, and are flumoxed for an answer. If that is true that they aren't stupid, there is some disturbing realization. They see players practice all week, watch film, and know the squad's strengths and weaknesses, many of which are not made public - all we see is game day. So maybe -

• It is true Ben has a noodle arm and has lost accuracy. And may have a knee issue. Still has the strength (early in the season he overthrew long balls), but his accuracy has degraded. Even on the slants, receivers are often catching balls behind them. Overthrows and underthrows a lot of passes. Not sure what can be done about that.
• Our O-line actually cannot run block. They have gotten old and have no more push. Are not fast enough to pull. Not sue what can be done about that.
• Conner cannot see holes, so he dances. Also injury prone. Not sure what can be done about that.
• Receivers have some speed, but because of Ben's limitations, run the same routes and are predictable. Jet sweeps were a good ploy, but have been figured out.
• Good pass rush, but secondary is sub-par. Injuries have hurt this. If the pass rush doesn't get there, pickings get pretty easy.

So if you see this in practice and know this to be true, what type of scheme do you dial up to play to your strengths? Short slants to get the ball into playmakers' hands; jet sweeps; feeble attempts at a running game. On defense, pressure and blitz and hope you get there. That is what they have done.

With the current talent, not sure what adjustments would work, even in mid-game. Ideas?

I still think there are bone-headed decision in game that make no sense. But I also think the options are limited due to the age and deterioration of the skill level of some.

Still good to be 11-2.

 

part of me thinks that this offense is designed to mask Ben's physical limitations that he now has. There is no other reason he's throwing it 3-4 yards beyond the LOS almost exclusively now. When he does go deep it's usually not connecting. Ben is done most likely. If it was one or two games fine. But they're rolling out this same garbage offense every week and i think it's because Ben is at Peyton manning's last season level of decline almost

 

Fichtner is a moron.

 

Yeah Ben refuses to throw to middle of the field? Highly, Highly curious.

They could clearly run Vance out there just like Heath Miller and sit in a zone in the middle in the field ... they don't do it. Why?

 

Totally agree with OP, in fact we can give the coaching staff props for hiding their weaknesses this long when the eyes of the world were on their undefeated record.

 

Because...You make adjustments...Run more motion, misdirection...Play action and go deep, freeze the Linebackers...I have no problem with " the type " of Offense we run, BUT.. When the Defense dares you to do something ELSE, You do something else...That's the Chess part of Football!

If you run an occasional deep middle, post route, jet sweeps, halfback pass, out and up...You CAN preform your REGULAR Offense...

But when EVERY pass is a 1 yard slant or screen... Anyone on this board could design a Defense to stop it!

 

certainly coach's can only bring so much to the table, but how they coach and scheme can make players with limited ability seem much better. It can also be just the opposite, players who are very gifted can look subpar if not developed and placed in the right system.

Your observations about the O are likely more correct than we want to believe. but let's look at the O line and many pleading for the return of Munchak. From asked and answered Dec 15th Bob Labriola laid out these facts. During his 5 years here (14-18) the Steelers ranked 16,16,14,20,31 in rushing. So was it Coaching, players, or scheme that made us so mediocre?

Fact is the Steelers have not been really good at running the ball for years, at least not in terms of how we remember. The D's in some of those years were horrible and Ben's passing was the reason we won, This years D (including the secondary) is pretty damn good, we have not really been blown out in any game, run on a couple of games, but scoring D held up well. The breakdown for the D I believe comes from fatigue, injuries which really limit the adjustments that can be made due to inexperience and lack of depth (in certain positions pushed to the brink due to injury).

 

I agree, but because of our limitations those things you mention will likely have little affect. The opposing D in the back of runners and receivers almost immediately, the jet sweeps are read instantly, play action would have little success because our run games stinks and no one fears it. I think the things you mentioned Could work, but I wonder if you can get the ones that need to make it work on the same page.

 

I agree with the OP in general.

(and surprised for all those that harped on that we weren’t as good as our record didn’t give more props to the coaching... I’ll just step away from that though)

This is the point where execution becomes key. You can’t establish anything if you’re not picking up first downs due to dropping catchable passes.

Not just that, but somewhere in the season Ben stopped playing percentages. We’ve seen him overlook open receivers and go for riskier deep passes instead. Part of that is how he’s always been, but you’d hope the coaches were on to him about reads.

 

Too many drops is not the problem of the OC or QB. We are looking at 12-14 balls that Ben put right on these guys and they dropped. That alone makes the play call and the QB look a lot different then what we are talking about.

We lost Foster and Feiler essentially because Feiler moved from RT and he is not a very mobile guard if you notice. Foster even as he declined could hurt some people at the point of attack in the run game. We ran better with Dotson in the game. I think moving Feiler was a huge mistake for our run game. Chuks is a finesse blocker and more attuned to the LT spot. Personally I'd have done some shuffling of the linemen weeks ago when they were healthy.

 

Maybe they can realize are OL are soft.

 

I cannot speak for all of your comment but I have been discussing Bens effectiveness for the last few weeks .. In my opinion his arm is not good right now. Makes sense when you consider he is making more throws then ever after pretty serious injury and surgery.

 

My opinion is they are afraid of turnovers due to his strength/accuracy. It seemed our game plan was play safe and wait for the defense to give short fields. Worked for the most part until our defense got hurt

 

If that is the case we need to start looking for a new QB, as much as I hate to say it.

 

I am convinced it isn't the elbow. It is the knee. He's not stepping into his throws. Poor mechanics in the lower body can lead to inconsistent accuracy and not getting enough on some throws. We saw both of those issues on both interceptions against the Bills, for example.

 

I do too, except for Randy.

 

This is why you bring in outside assistance if you, the head coach don't have the answer. Having a strong supporting staff is vital to the guy up top. If you have a top franchise like we do then you better bring in top flight talent to coach it. This is one of my biggest problems with Tomlin (and maybe ownership who knows). Too much I'm friends with this guy we go back to college coaching crap going on. Rotate your staff every now and then!

The fact that no other team considers our assistants for HC positions speaks volumes.

 

I groan the thought, but yea. So many cheesy articles on who the next QB here will be, most are just writers trying to fill space, even one this week with a pic of Aaron Rodgers..yea right. No doubt we will trying different avenues, and hey even Malone and Brister took the team to AFC championship games, but Oh the pain of those years, lol.

 

That would be fine vs relatively poor opposition but you can’t go in to the playoffs with that strategy, other teams are too good for that to work.

I think our troubles are due to a combination of the OLine regressing, Ben being either injured or done, and the defence being hurt. The loss of Bud on defence in particular is just detrimental to what they wanted to do.

 

What if they're even dumber then we think?

 

Reality is opposing teams figured this one dimensional offense out.

 

The defense did the same thing over and over vs the bills and the offense did the same garbage 3 games in a row. This has Tomlin written all over it. He's all about repeating until it works, thats how stubborn and lazy he is. Thats how the 1-11 teams play, not the at the time 11-1.

 

I also think that Ben is done and anyone that thinks that he can carry us to #7 is just wishful thinking. When watching that Ravens-Browns game...45-42 final score...I couldn’t help but be in awe of those two young quarterbacks, Jackson and Mayfield. The QB position has changed greatly and the new standard is a MOBILE guy that adds another dimension to his offense. How many of you remember Fran Tarkenton? Known for his awesome scrambling ability. (And yes, Steelers absolutely shut him down in first SB win; that’s beside the point). It pains me to see Ben trying to “scramble” when no one’s open. He’s never been known for his running and Father Time has caught up with him. Ben has given us so many spectacular moments over the years...not that long ago that he had consecutive SIX passing touchdown games (2014). No, that DOES seem a long time ago. A distant memory, in fact. He may still have the mental sharpness to be a winner, but his physical skills have eroded to what we’ve seen from him lately. Much as I hate to say it...DONE.

 

good call on the snopes link fact check, I remembered that instance from a few years ago but never followed up, guess i'm the moron for that one

 

where is all the Matt Canada innovation we heard so much about?