Power struggle in the Burgh?

Interesting article by Joe Starkey of the PTR. I didn't realize that Tomlin was so abrupt when asked whether or not Ben would have any say in whether or not the Steelers retained BA. What do you think? Are the Steelers trying to send Ben a message? Is Rooney still a little ticked over Ben's bad behavior which put a chink in the armor of one of the most respected franchises in all of sport? Was Rooney tired of all the chumminess Ben and BA had in the off-season which seemed to carry over in the way BA related to Ben (anything you want, Ben) during the season? Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 81267.html

 

Not sure if you should read too much into this. Tomlin has a way of being abrupt when asked certain questions, especially by certain reporters. Also abruptness has a way of expressing clarity, ending speculation, and not having to answer the same questions over/over again.

Are the Rooney's trying to send a msg to Ben? Lord, I don't know why. If Art II is still ticked over Ben's bad behavior he needs to get over it. It's been nearly two years and Ben has kept his nose clean and has played well. What more does he want the guy to do? If that stuff still bothers him, then trade the guy.

If Art II didn't like the chuminess between BA and Ben, he should have addressed it sooner. I'm sure they were chummy two years ago, and last year, but Art II kept BA on the payroll. In any case, no need to take it out on Ben anymore.

 

Media sensationalism or not, the media rarely pull something out of nothing. There's almost always a hint of truth in every rumour. The reality of the situation is that teams change coordinators all the time and it's barely a blip in the media. Even the top teams in the league change coordinators, it's a reality of the league. For some reason, when we change a coordinator, it's a huge deal. Part of the reason may very well be sensationalism, but part of it is also Ben. He has said some things that he shouldn't have said, and he keeps pushing far too hard for us to keep the same offensive system, a system which hasn't been overly successful. He should be publicly embracing this change, even if deep down he wishes we kept BA.

 

I don't understand why anyone would tihnk Ben would be consulted about coaching staff. In fact, just about the only player I could see being consulted about their teams coaches would be Peyton Manning.

The reporter has a certain point about the change in OCs being a bit strange, but I disagree that they got rid of Arians in "the most insulting way possible" - announcing that you've retired is slightly nicer than saying sacked, isn't it? And Ben saying that he was "shocked" over BA's departure isn't all that - the man is surprised every time a defense recognises the bubble screen.

This off-season just gets longer and longer...

 

Agree with Tomlin_Era... The Pgh media really need to stop this. They're creating a "rift" that isn't even necessarily there.

I think they must have liked BA.

 

Not sure why some of my fellow message boarders have a problem with articles like this. It's the off season, we just canned an OC and hired a new one. It's interesting stuff to discuss, especially with a couple "alpha males" involved like Ben & TH, and if you want to throw in Art II, that's a third alpha male. Why do we need to "let it go"? Nobody's trashing anyone here, it's just speculation - no harm done, imo. Now on a more positive note, I thought this was a good line from the article: " For now, Roethlisberger and Haley will apparently spend some time marking their territory." Have an mental image of both guys circling around looking for places to lift their leg. It's a good analogy I suppose. Can't wait for training camp!

 

LOL, had the same mental picture. I guess it doesn't take much to amuse us, huh?

 

No power struggle, Rooney has the power. If Ben or Tomlin didn't this know before, they do now. Why shouldn't the power reside with the owner, anyone else in the organization will only have the power to make any decision because they were granted that power from Rooney.

 

Just my 2 cents here:

1. Nowhere in the article do I see any HINT that they are making Ben uncomfortable due to his indiscretion in behavior 2 summers ago. This is about Ben's play, not his off field behavior.

2. Haley and Ben will have their run-ins. Either Haley wins the battle or this team is sunk...period. The OC calls the plays and the scheme, not the QB. The only place that is remotely different is in Indy. In that case they work together to come up with a gameplan. (Of Note: Arians is gonna look like a genius. He designs the gameplan to what the QB wants to do. Peyton will make him look great)

3. I still think had it not been for the strike this offseason we would have made a change before THIS PAST YEAR. I think Rooney wanted him gone, but Tomlin and Ben both went to him and basically said, with the lack of mini camp etc. we needed the stability. I think they probably were right. Why they went through the "retired" thing, I just don't understand. They could simply have said, not renewed contract and accomplished the same thing. It bothers me because I don't feel like anyone wanted to stand behind that decision. What does that mean? It means everyone was scared to piss Ben off.

4. Tomlin....he confuses me. He doesn't appear publicly to care one way or another about his coordinators gameplans. He doesn't appear to care what we are doing period. I want him to do more than make gameday decisions. Maybe I see more than their is, but I just don't know how much of this is his team and how much of this is a team he is a figurehead for with the OCs doing what they want.

5. What TWEAK do they want in Ben's game and in the offense? I don't think it is run/pass ratio. I think it is what is being called and what expectations are placed on the player. Arians I think basically waited for Ben to do something great in street ball to win him games. In other words, you 4 guys go long and try to get open, I'll scramble until we can make something happen. At times this is what our offense looked like. The powers that be were tired of it. I still wonder how many plays we ran actually had a primary read with a particular route associated with it. If the team ran blitz and we were supposed to do a hot route, how many times did you see our guys in the exact same place or running the exact route? They want Ben to make better and faster decisions and they want the offense to have a plan in place to attack any D for what the D is giving them. No more, run plays X, Y, and Z the whole game when they were perfectly defended the first 4-5 times we ran them already. No more RB standing in the flat with NO ONE around them because they know we will never throw it to them. No more RBs who are good in space running behind the tackles. No more possessions where we line up in nothing but the shotgun even on 2nd and 1 on the first drive of the game.

Let me say this....I HATED BA as a play caller and a coordinator. I hated what he has done to Ben's game and how I believe he has limited his growth. BA didn't win and go to Super Bowls because he was a great OC. We went despite him, not because of him.

 

That is the one thing I dont miss about the Burgh, the lousy reporting. Smizik, Bouchette, Cook and others, they all love to trash the home team. I dont know why they want to turn this into a negative when the offense was clearly not performing. Obviously we arnt going to fire our Franchise Qb, nor our head coach who just had a 12-4 season. Someone had to take the blame and BA was the guy. I understand everyone has different opinions on the matter, but the job of a beat reporter should not be to bash the home team especially when its clear as to why the change was made. In my opinion, BA's fate was sealed during the Cleveland game when he ran Mendenhall 4 times from the 1 and couldnt score. Redman would have scored in my opinion and Rooney made it clear 2 years ago that they have run the ball better. Personnel usage is a key contributor to more effective running. BA just didnt understand and Rooney grew tired of it. It was a good decision, whether it pans out is yet to be determined, but it had to be done.

 

I don't think there is going to be any struggle, everyone is a professional coaches and players a like. Haley will be in 7th heaven because he has never had the talent level like this on offense, if we can get some what average line play, the Steelers will be in the top 5 scoring offenses in the NFL in 2012.

 

I hope you're right, but Ben has feuded with coaches before because they didn't let him do whatever he wanted. Ben hasn't shown an ability to be a professional or to put the team first. Hopefully he has changed, but based on his comments so far, I'm not overly optimistic. I think there's going to be some serious headbutting going on, and I think that would happen with any OC that didn't let Ben do whatever he wanted.

 

I will be concerned when players start to come out against Ben!! I do not like Big Ben's off field stuff and the latest interviews about the OC position but until a rift appears in the locker room this story is just that, a story!!

 

i think if there is a power struggle of any type with ben and art, we would bring in a qb that would at least have some promise of getting some playing time if they decided to send a message to ben about getting with the program of haley. we don't have that behind ben. noll used hanraty, when he wanted to send a message to TB. i don't think this is that type of setup. there is not one guy here to push ben. he and haley can butt heads all they want but then who would haley use as leverage? just like NE, tom brady has been through alot of OC's and yea this last one can yell at tom all he wanted to and put on a show , but in the end tom runs the offense and he danm well knows it. are they going to bench him? are we going to bench ben because haley wants to be the alpha male? i don't think so.

 

It's one thing to talk about how their relationship might work and whatnot, and another to act like the two hate each other. I think the next few months are going to be extremely important as to the future of our offense. For this to work the two of them are going to have to work together.

I think the media portraying things as some big standoff between any combo of the Rooneys, Ben, Haley and Tomlin, could only potentially create friction that wouldn't otherwise be there.

 

Eh, there's nothing really going on right now and the news of a new OC hiring has the reporters chomping at the bit for a story. We're going to be hearing more conflicting reports on matters like this for the next few weeks. Until someone from the team comes out and contradicts what these reports are writing they're going to run with stories like this.

Let's remember, the Steelers like to keep things "in house" and rightfully so. We don't need a circus within the organization. That's stuff for the papers and blogs. I'm fairly confident things are under control in the Burgh. raying:

 

I don't think I would say that Haley has never had this talent. The trio of Fitzgerald, Boldin, and Breaston were very very good, and Warner as we know can throw it.

2008 Arizona vs. 2011 Steelers

Pass Attempts: 630 vs. 539
Runs: 340 vs. 434
Passing Yards: 4674 vs. 4333
Rushing Yards: 1178 vs. 1903
Pts scored: 427 (3rd) vs. 325 (tied 21st)

The thing is, if you look at the KC Chiefs you see different stats.

 

If it involves Ben, then yes it will likely be a soap opera. Talent aside, he's proven himself to be a walking (er, I mean limping) drama queen. Name another QB who comes close with the possible exception of sanchez.

 

I don't think their's a power struggle in the Burgh? The Rooneys are the Owner and Tomlin is the Coach.Tomlin got trumped and I feel it had to be done.BA had to go.Not being able to score in the Redzone with our weapons is inexcusable.JMO