Offensive problem revealed

These last two weeks have confirmed a suspicion I have had about our offense - it is poor. And not only this year, but for the last several years. Only Ben's ability to make something out of nothing has kept the offense alive. The running game more often than not gets stuffed- the backs run up the gut into a wall of humanity, either because there is no hole where it is supposed to be, or they don't hit the hole quick enough. Remember Fast Willie Parker? Mostly no gain, but an occasional long run. Now we rarely get the long runs. The passing game is hit or miss. Only Brown and Heath seem to be able to get open where they are supposed to be. The rest often are covered close and require a pinpoint pass. The biggest plays seem not to be by design, but are busted plays that Ben's ability has made possible. Without Ben, there was nothing there the last two weeks, in running or passing.

I often recall a comment of Cowher's at some press conference when asked about Ben's scrambling ability. His response was that he wished the play as had been called had worked. Wouldn't that be nice.

I had bought into the hype that we had talent - "Young Money", promising RBs, but now I think that it is Heath, Ben, and Brown, and the rest are below average. And when Ben and Brown are hurt and Heath is needed to block, we don't ave much left. And the game plan and play calling are below average, too. Haley needs to step up his game calling.

Could be pessimism after two bad weeks, but this has been a trend for a while.

 

This team needs to do their homework when it comes to back up QB's. We have an injury prone Ben, with 2 injury prone old farts for back ups. SF' 49ers have a young backup and they haven't lost a step.

 

You do realize that the Steelers are down to their 3rd QB, right? A far different situation than the 49ers.

 

yes give haley time to reassemble the arian /tomlin mess, he was starting with ben now he will have to find his backup , not helping wallace quit to play after ben went down . i wonder who said that lefty and batch were good enough to stay (ben ?)

 

I doubt it I don't think they listen to ben much....if so arians would still be here

 

Times like these are where Ben makes his money.

Make or Break game coming up.

 

#2 sucked as well. Also, the rats won a SB with Dilfer. So that excuse doesn't hold water. Many of our backups are sub standard and couldn't make another NFL team.

 

you mean that coach that has them ahead of us in the WC standings? the one with the rookie qb? that's sad.

 

Definitely.

 

Most backups in the league are sub standard (it's why they are backups). When you see those QBs play they couldn't make another NFL team either. Sub standard players stick around because there simply are not enough quality QB's/players to go around. There is a reason why the NFL is doing everything in it's power to protect QB's.

 

The Offensive has lost it's swagger no vet leadership no fire. Wallace going through the motion but, a non factor. Only Heath and Sanders coming to play each game. Spinning Hall, Redman turning into busts. Dywer lacks break away speed. Rain man just to small for what off. cord. calling. Get Baron back off practice squad... HC Tomlin needs to check himself into Coaching 101 stop being a cheerleader and Start chewing BUTT... Amen to the D...Woodley is overrated this season Timmons and Harrison and Clark are stars...Big Snack has go and bad starts.

 

O-line. i'm tired of watching other teams show their o-linemen without guts hanging over their belts. alex boone yesterday at the presser, with defined mucles in his arms, lean strong and big and mobile. he was a tackle playing guard now. why is it other teams can do this.

we draft gilbert. a reach to say the least. soft, immobile, just big. max, colon, foster, all the same build. fat and slow. legursky, try hard, undersized but just not talented enough to be anything more than just a center backup. adams. playing OK, but still not that wow guy thats going to be much if any upgrade at LT or RT for that matter. weak, again just big.

we need pouncey's and decastros' across the board. we need a good guard that can play center as the BU. they have added a couple but still subpar by any other teams standards.
bottom line is if we had a good o-line, we would not have to have the feelings we do so often after games the last few years. there is to much talent that they bring down.

i'd still draft a top end LT or get one in free agency this offseason. i'd draft or pickup the best guard/center out there as the starter at RG. i'd move DD to LG. i'd keep adams at RT and put him on a diet and stregnth training program. i'd also draft another guy that could play LT/RT as our swing BU. i'd keep beachum and bulk him up some as a utility BU. i'd bring Lee back in a hurry.

we have to fix the problem not add more problem after bad. we have a long way to go to fix this still. i'm done now.

 

I really don't think the offense would have looked that bad if the running backs valued holding onto the ball. It still wouldn't have been pretty, but we pretty much took a shotgun to our foot.

 

Only problem is, we dont have a headcoach that was an NFL quarterback for 15 years to coach up a rook, harbaugh made a difference in turning Alex Smiths career around and he will stay on top of Kaepernick to make sure he has plays that makes him comfortable and will work on his techniques to make sure he doesnt try to play beyond his skills while bringing him along, most rookie QBs dont have the luxury of an experienced headcoach who played QB for 15 years, Harbaugh turned Andrew Luck into an NFL quarterback, say what you want about Harbaugh, he can coach up quarterbacks when most teams coaches wont spend the time to bring a rookie along....

 

I would say that's true of veteran backup QBs, but not rookie ones. They usually just need a chance to show what they can do when the starting QB can't play. Of course not all rookies pan out, but more often than not they do. Point being, we need to draft a QB that can learn behind Ben and eventually be his replacement. Ben will be 31 in March and hopefully has a few more years in him, but with the way he plays we can't be sure.

 

I think most have known for some time now that the offensive line is not an elite group. Their run blocking leaves a whole lot to be desired against most opponents. I will give them some credit though--this year the pass protection has been significantly better than in recent years.

As far as backup quarterbacks go, which team's backups would we rather have? I think Lefty and Batch are pretty solid and I can't think of a team with a better set of backup qbs. That being said, I can't say that they have looked good these last two games--they left a lot to be desired. But...we were in both of those games and could have easily won them. I don't think that's too bad, honestly.

 

i thought thats what haley could do? maybe we need to be firing some position coaches? wr's not giving effort and dropping balls, not blocking well downfield, fumbling. rb's putting the ball on the ground alot. O-line still not good. TE's i have to say are playing better then any other unit. backup qb's not prepaired. we have a qb's coach too you know. defensive and offensive assistant coaches that prepare our team for what other teams do, and gather their tendencies. << ( i know they are young.) maybe to young. our d-line lacking pressure and not stopping the run well enough. LB'ers that rarely see the field when the others play the full game. tells me they are not being coached up very well. ST's still not good enough.

lot's of our troubles could be deeper than this player or that player just sucks. this is MT's department. they are his coaches.

 

I might have agreed with you two years ago. Now, the fossil Batch is even older and weaker and the windmill statue Lefty is even more fragile and still slow and even more out of shape. I wanted to believe the posts on here that we had decent backups but the product on the field was definitely substandard. Our backup QB's stink and we are on a hope and a prayer at this point without Rottenbooger.

 

Yeah, they did a great job with Dixon and Johnson didnt they, doesnt say much for our QB coaching, all the position coaches need to be evaluated, most notibly the running back coach after that mess yesterday, Mendenhall had two fumbles luckily we got one back, but that says a lot about him in my opinion, mostly overated....

 

3 weeks ago, I thought our Backups were good. Now, I don't. I still think Charlie is better than Byron. Injuries have definitely impacted this season. Sad thing is, it's not just old and broke guys, it is also young guys. So shedding old guys next year doesn't necessarily keep us from this situation next year. But I still have hope that we can get some of these guys healthy (Ben, AB, Troy, DD, Adams, Gilbert, Colon, Woodley, and so on) and put together a run.

 

Most young QB's get a chance to show what they can do. Once they fail as starters they become back ups.
More often then not, rookie QB's don't pan out. Here is a list of the QB's drafted since the 1980's.
http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/QB-1980-now.htm

Which rookie QB in the up coming draft do you think will be a good candidate to sit and learn behind Ben for 3 or 4 years and take over for him without missing a beat? Good luck with that because the people that evaluate players for a living fail at their jobs a high percentage of the time.

 

Harbaugh drafted Kapernick to be his starter at some point, maybe not this soon, but it is clear Harbaugh wants him starting. He was drafted in the 2nd round for that reason. Are we supposed to waste a second round pick on a backup that has no chance of starting for 5-6 years, unless Ben is hurt?

 

Heh, Rottenbooger??

I agree that without Ben, we are very unlikely to do much in the playoffs (or even make them, perhaps). But, again, which team has better backups than we have? I honestly can't think of one. SF looks pretty set with either Kaepernick or Smith as a backup and Philly has either Foles or Vick, but other than that I can't think of any--and those are just single backups. We have 2 decent-to-solid backup qbs, in my opinion.

Now can they lead this team deep in the playoffs? Probably not. But how many teams could actually boast that?

 

i'm saying,why does he have to be the designated guy to replace ben? why can't we find that out in years 1 thru 4? maybe we draft a better guy when we know ben is retiring and this guy to stay as a good # 2 and pay him as such? allowing him a shot at the starting spot when that time comes. i'd take a colin klien. one thing i would like in a backup is the ability to use his legs to get himself out of trouble. that's a good quality to have with good passing skills. it gives him a chance to keep a drive alive. we don't have that. a #3 qb should be a possibility for the future. if it works out you hit a homerun. if it doesn't but you at least end up with a good backup, thats a plus too. who knows he may be the next ben?

 

They went that route with a couple of QB's since Ben was drafted. Those players couldn't play well enough to stick around. Any QB drafted high would be looked at as the eventual successor to Ben. The financial investment and draft status would make it so.

Wouldn't all teams love a QB with the mind of a Peyton Manning, the ability to extend plays like Rothelisberger, the arm strength or Aaron Rodgers, and the speed of an RGIII. It's easy said the done when it comes when it comes to the position of QB.

At the end of the day, the Steelers thought they were in good shape with the backups they had. I guess they didn't feel the need to invest a draft pick in a QB that wouldn't do any better then the QB's that they have on the team. Injuries have made it necessary for the organization to bring in another QB.