Wolfley identifies primary factor in regression of Steelers' OL

Wolfley identifies primary factor in regression of Steelers' OL

By CRAIG WOLFLEY

“You either get better, or you get worse. You never stay the same.”

How many times I’ve heard Chuck Noll utter those words. He might have been addressing us as a team, dropped into our positional meetings as an offensive line, or delivered those very words to me personally, and privately.

But it’s a truism. Coach never spared feelings, or spread comfort, when it came to performance. He was very Yoda-like in his observations.

“Do, or do not. There is no trying.”

Coach Noll was bottom-line in assessing whether or not you got the job done. And he wanted to make sure you knew it, and owned it - as a group, and as an individual.

But he also understood a down year was not necessarily a ticket out of town. The process of becoming a starter and staying a starter has its ups and downs.

The offensive line that has been the Hemi-engine under the hood of Ben Roethlisberger’s offense for the last several years, took a hit this year, no doubt about it. But before we start firing people left and right, let’s take a step back, get under the hood, check the oil, and kick the tires.

Job One is to get something straight: Shaun Sarrett is NOT the problem.

to read rest of article:

https://247sports.com/nfl/pittsburg...layer-says-former-OL-Craig-Wolfley-141889781/

 

Get rid of Foster...Got the money and ballooned over 400 pounds, and sucked...The last game against Baltimore against 2nd and 3rd stringers, he got embarrassed... Couldn't even get out of his stance...

Do you really want a guy on your team like that?

 

Wolfley has been around the Steelers for years as a player and radio personality. He knows a lot more than I do about the OL situation so what he is saying is probably right.

 

I remember the one trap play where Foster was pulling to his right, he was so slow leading the back that the whole play was blown up in the backfield for a loss.

 

Shaun Sarrett doesnt call the horrible offensive plays. He has relay to the oline in how to block for these plays ...right? Because, you can't convince me that they practice during the week ... lol

 

Love the Wolfe Man!

 

Now I gotta click a link? Where’s the whole damn article....

 

The OL as a whole seemed to regress. But, how much of it was just do to subpar play. An OL is only as strong as its weakest players, and really the whole left side of the line was below average this year. Villanueva had a down year, we've already talked about Foster, and Pouncey had his worst year as a pro IMHO. When the center can't even snap the ball efficiently, I have to say it's a player problem. The guy didn't suddenly forget how to do it, maybe his skills have deteriorated.

 

finney decastro, plug and play a RT, draft a LG and maybe LT. left side was very weak, would love some strong bully tackles. not sure how long DD can play at his level

 

Agree regarding Sarrett. It is still too early to say whether or not he is a bust as an Offensive Line Coach. In addition, his Offensive Line sans David DeCastro is ancient by NFL Standards.



Acquiring young talent or flipping Matt Feiler inside to Left Guard and have Chuks and Zach duke it out for the top spot at Right Tackle should be on the table to see if Sarrett can deliever. People tend to forget that Mike Munchak had this current core in their mid to late 20s. That is not the case anymore.



As stated before, age can affect performance; doubly so if said performance is at a high or elite level. If the aforementioned suggestions are not taken, then the issue will not be resolved but worsen. This is not even accounting for the fact that Ben will be returning the same.




Regarding Fichtner?! 100% disagree. Fichtner wanted to implement the "Big Ben" Offense with every Quarterback as opposed to actually using a power run game; only doing so on occasion. Fichtner coming back is not going to solve much of anything in terms of establishing the run UNLESS Benny Snell Jr or whomever the Running Back that is starting is that good of a back.

 

I tried to point out something similar a few weeks ago.

If you go to the NFL NextGen stats you'll see that Ben has been very good at getting rid of the ball quickly, always between 2.5-2.6 seconds on average the last several seasons. In 2018 he and Carr were tied for shortest time to throw at 2.55 seconds. This year Mason Rudolph was at 2.8 seconds. That doesn't sound like a big difference but that puts him decidedly middle of the pack and a lot of the QBs with longer time to throw are very good scrambling or running QBs that can extend plays better than Rudolph or Hodges.

In short, the O-lines' pass blocking effectiveness probably looked better than it was with Ben and looked worse than it was with Rudolph or Hodges, so I'm not sure at all that O-line play has dropped off as much as we may think.

 

Opinions differ and my take is more excuses for poor play by aging millionaires. This isn't a high school pity party explaining why our players were flat out beaten off the line of scrimmage. DL were hitting Duck/Mason almost before he caught the ball. The question is how long would Ben have lasted after getting hit so many times. Dribbling a ball back to the center has nothing to do with Ben not being back there. OL coach should have pulled him out and have him sit for a while watching how others can do it. I mean it wasn't just one game he did this several games. I read above that Foster had a hard time just getting out his stance. In my view, its a combination of both situational issues and just poor play. What I don't like is to just say " well, these poor guys just had it tough". Players are paid millions to execute their assignments as well as coaches to call plays that work for the personnel on the field. We need fresh players for the OL. 2019 was a wake up call. .

 

Enjoyable article and I don’t disagree with any of it. We had better pray that Ben can return from injury and produce. Hopefully he can depend on a good defence to put him in a position to win without having to be superman and throw for 300 yards and 4tds every game.

 

The most pressure came up the middle. The bad snaps all year. I don't care who is at qb the line folder in the middle namely Pounce y and foster. Just because it was a different qb doesn't mean you get run over, run past and pushed back into him that often. These are wolf's buddies. There is no excuse for that pocket to fold in his face immediately after the snap on way too many occasions. I'm thinking it was more giving up on the season and going through the motions but it happened in the first game and a half too. We had Ben then so what's that excuse? His elbow hurt so I can't block? Really? It's time to move some people or Ben won't make another game and a half. This is a veteran squad that had Mike Munchak coaching them for years and that's our excuse? Give me a break. Don't think they don't have bens back either. We can't let the kid look to good or they might not bring Ben back. It wouldn't surprise me one bit. Ben said it they got rid of them he would retire. It goes both ways. You just don't go from best to the toilet like that. remember fanecas comment when Ben was stepping in? Flame away boys and girls.

 

Both Tunch and Wolf never criticize coaches to a fault.

 

Hey pjgruden.

I do not think you and I ever chatted before. Anyway, good to converse with you.

In part, I buy the regression factor(s) that go along with age and physical conditioning. However, the OL was basically playing extremely well just one season ago which in time equates to less than one year. My theory, at least as a "possible partial" explanation, is that when Ben went down, maybe, the "air" was taken out of the O-Line's sails. Maybe the O-Line, or some of them, felt that the season was going to be a lost cause without Ben back there.

When the Captain (Ben) of the ship went down the Sailors (O-Line) may have just thrown in the towel? I would hope not. Remember, Ben's rookie year when Tommy Maddox went down? When Alan Faneca was asked how he felt about Ben taking over at the QB spot, he made some very negative comment that was not encouraging at all. Fortunately, Faneca was wrong and probably should have kept his opinion to himself and not shared it with the media. Hey, I like Faneca but that was very unprofessional on top of the fact that he ended up with egg on his face.


STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid

 

Your theory takes a hit because the O-Line was just as bad the first 2 games of the season with Ben; although I didn't notice Pouncey's bad snaps during the first 2 games.

I think the lack of coaching really hurt, as it seemed like our OL never made adjustments to the opponents they were playing.

The only game they tried to switch it up was when Foster was out and they moved Felier to guard and Chuck played tackle; and I was scratching my head all week as to why are they not playing Finney at Guard? (Because of Cap problems; I think this will be our starting O-Line next year)

I still blame most of the Line problems on the offensive play calling from Fitchner. Sarrett seemed that he was just never able to make adjustments. Any play that called for Foster to pull the Offensive Line coach should immediately thrown his challenge flag at the offensive coordinator.

To me the problems started at training camp as the offensive line looked slow and old for the entire season. They were basically the healthiest unit this year.

 

They would rather bite off their own bag than say that somebody sucks. They're such homers.

 

sufficient qb play will help ease everything. not sure what bens contract is against the cap but a quality vet at qb is a must. not old laundry, someone solid and proven. draft a te and some youth on the oline .

 

Hey Brice.

Fair enough. Yes, I agree the O-Line did not look like their old selves right out of the gate (first two games with Ben). Once again, it was just a theory. I just cannot get on board that everything went "south" so fast just less than one calendar year removed from the previous season in which the O-Line was performing at a much higher level.

In one way, I guess I cannot totally dismiss the idea that age, definitely conditioning, injuries and other more tangible factors could have contributed to their sub-par performances, as some folks have suggested here. Those things I just mentioned can creep up on a player very quickly. Hey, just look at Ben. All of a sudden his elbow "blows-out". I remember the one, and only, TD he had in preseason to JuJu. It was a great pass and catch. Next thing you know, a few weeks later, Ben is out for the season just like that.

Another thought that just occurred to me as I am writing this. How about the removal of Brown and more "O-Line related", Bell, possibly affecting the O-Line play. Switching from blocking for Bell vs. Conner is totally different given each one's running style. Just another thought.

In addition, as you mentioned: was the changing of the coaching staff from Munchak to Sarrett a factor? Was Fichtner's working relationship with Sarrett an issue? Did these two not have the same chemistry as Munchak and Fichtner? Chemistry does not have to be limited to player-player as we all know. For all we know, they may never been on the same "working page" since training camp. Just kicking around ideas.


STEELWINDS AKA The East Side Kid

 

Banner, finney, feiler all will have to be signed this year. This will take a few million. I still think trading Hawkins last year was a mistake. That was the best I have seen him play in preseason.

Risnor is sort of a Swiss army knife type and could be the new finney as a backup. Gray needs a shot as well this year. See what we have.

 

Fred Johnson is the one I think they missed on, As soon as the cut him ( I think it was for one of the many receivers ) He got scooped up, and started at LT for the Bungles...


I know it's the Bungles but, LG is his natural position, and he's a mauler...That one was a head scratcher... Especially with all the praise he was getting in the preseason

 

we did keep our draft pick though and he can play g or t as well. I agree though we let some guys slip away at times. Morris as well.