Peter King sees BA's flaws

Nothing we don't already know, but Peter King's MMQB is my favorite read of the week, and this is from this "things I didn't like about this week" section:

"The Steelers' play-calling on their goal-line offensive series in the second half against Cleveland that resulted in zero points, four times calling Mendenhall's number between the tackles with a combined one yard gained. They could have at least once put Ben Roethlisberger in the shotgun and spread the field with quick receivers and a physical one, Hines Ward."

 

I was there at the game and they ran the exact same play twice on 2nd and 4th down If I remember correctly. Same formation same man in motion doing the same thing.

I wouldn't show your hand by going shotgun. I would have at least faked the handoff and thrown to the TE.

Its all about the elementof surprise. That's one thing I hate about this offense. They don't care if the other team know what their intent is. They will go empty backfield and not think twice. I always thought Ben was a better playaction guy rather than just dropping back and slinging it.

 

Those 4 play alls were about the most unimaginative, uncreative play calls I've ever seen.

Imagine how much the fans at the Stadium would have gone wild had they lined up Big Snack as Fullback (ala the Fridge) in front of Redman when they had 2nd and goal at the 1 and handed him the ball. Anybody think it would have been stopped?

Or how bout having Polamalu leap over the top like he was begging to do in the SB?

Something more than just handing it off in a single backfield formation tight set to Mendenhall when the whole world knew what was coming.

BA is completely stuck in his ways and really hurts this team sometimes.

 

BA doesn't believe in the "element of surprise". That's why he calls the same two running plays and same three passing plays ( one of which is the bubble screen) over and over every single game. We are the easiest team in the NFL to game plan against. The only thing our opponents can't know for sure is how & when Ben extends the play. It's the only reason, aside from our D, that we're 10 - 3.

 

NO WAY would i do that with Polamalu! why risk his head on a dumb trick play?

 

You guys don't understand BA at all. He has mastered the art of believing that he is so predictable that the other team can't imagine that he would, or any coach for that matter, be that predictable causing the other coach to second guess his first guess, there by confusing himself to the point that he will have to roll into the fetal position and cry...or something like this.

 

so your saying he is Coach Fronz from the WaterBoy? lol

 

I was thinking , The Battle of Wits with the Sicilian boss Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) from "The Princess Bride." - Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!

 

Well Ben's as creative as BA then becasue BA had a pass called on 3rd down and Ben checked out of it (based on his own admission) to the same run they used on 1st and 2nd down. As for the poster who talked about play action the problem was Ben could barely turn around on one leg let alone fake a hand-off and drop back to pass. If Ben's not gimping around I'm sure we wouldn't have seen that series of plays at all.

 

thats my girl favorite movie lol iv seen it WAY to many times he needs to be more like Dread Pirate Roberts! lol PS Goodell must be the evil Prince! LOL

 

If he was good enough to hand the ball off he could have done it. Or they could have at least done a shotgun fake handoff.

 

Shhhh.

Stop making sense. Its annoying.

 

He was BARELY good enough to hand the ball off. Did you see the earlier series where he almost botched the handoff becuase he couldn't even get to the back to make the exchange. His condition was limiting their options big time. At that point I get the feeling they were just thinking survival versus creative. In hindsight it's easy to come up with a hundred different things they could have done there.

 

at the time I wanted to go for it too...but looking back at it we should have kicked the FG

 

But that's the thing, coaches are paid good money to make the right decisions when they need to be made. Ariens rarely does that. There are other running plays that could have been called but weren't. Why not have the FB go right and have Mendy go left. Or have the FB go right and pitch it out to Mendy. Or hand it directly to the FB and have him smash it in...oh wait, we don't have a true FB that can carry the ball because our idiot offensive coordinator refuses to use one.

 

Again all I have to say is welcome to BA's world! Aren't you people tired of it already?

He is terrible!

 

While I agree with the sentiment - had Arians put us in the shotgun and spread the field, and had it not worked, you can bet there would be umpteen posts about how Arians doesn't want to run etc. calls foolish spread offenses on short yardage situations etc.

 

LOL! Exactly. Like I said in hindsight it's pretty easy to call out the 50 things they could have / should have done there. I was in the camp calling for the FG

 

I actually liked the call to go for it on 4th down. And I liked calling the 4 running plays in a row. Although, not the SAME running plays 4 times in a row. I believe that our short yardage back should have been in there and I would have like to see a sweep considering that we had our BU center and two G's that are below average. Put the big TE's out there to block on the edge and let the RB run around the outside. But that has already been discussed/analyzed/dissected ad nauseum.

Anyhoo... even though that series was extremely frustrating for us fans, I believe there are some good things that have come out of that sequence. First, MT and BA know enequivocably that RM and that OL can't punch it from 2 yds out between the Tackles against the worst run D in the league. So, that should light a fire under their butts to either come up with some plays that WILL work in that scenario and light a fire under the OL and OL coach to work on short yardage blocking. Secondly, It reinforces once again how important BR is to this team and highlight the need for the OL to protect him. After BR came back in the 2nd half, he remained virtually unscathed except for dumkopf Kemo falling on Ben. A healthy BR would have called his own number in that situation and likely would have crossed the GL. Third, that sequence should light a serious fire under the OL as they should be ashamed and embarrassed that they couldn't push the worst run D in the NFL 2 yards on four plays and they darned near got their starting RB's head removed - although that was mostly RM's fault for running straight upright. If that doesn't light a fire under the behinds of the OL, then I don't know what will. Fourth, it is even more clear now that our BU QB situation is bleak and we are screwed without BR - so this should be a wakeup call for Colbert and Tomlin that fragile Methusalah Batch needs to retire and DD needs to be cut/traded/waived and we need to get a good young BU in here, who could potentially be BR's successor - Ben's career is being shortened quickly and the time to prepare for the future is now - not when BR is finally broken for good and out of it, re: Peyton Manning.

I think against a better team, MT takes the FG. But the Browns are so bad, that it was worth taking the chance because our D did their thing and the benefits of the learnings that our coaches and players got out of that situation, I believe will pay dividends in the post-season.

I'm not going to take this opportunity to bash BA. I actually think that he made the right adjustments at the half considering what happened in the 1st half against the brownies. I believe that it was progress that BA and the O ran 4 straight running plays on 1st and goal from the 2 yd line. There is clearly work to do with the type of run play, but I was happy that we didn't see an empty backfield with 5 WR on 3rd and goal, or that we didn't see that maddening delayed draw to mini-memo in that situation. And I'm not going to bash MT for going for it on 4th down because the consequences of not getting in on 4th and not getting any points, was not bad because it was the Browns. If we were in that situation against the rats, I believe MT kicks the FG. And now our coaches should know a lot more and should be designing and practicing plays to get it done in that scenario as we get into post season. All is not lost Steelers fan bretheren.

 

BA's flaws could fill an encyclopedia :godell:

 

Haha! After re-reading the post, I guess I did reference fires a lot! It seems like a good time to light one to motivate the offense... or least to burn BA at the stake. LOL

 

I frequently enjoy the sarcasm in your posts. Well done, sir. Lol!

 

I also enjoy the snarky posts. Iowasteeljim should be nominated for smartass of the year!