To all the BA haters out there

Not only did he have to deal with a slew of injuries but he also had the YOUNGEST offense in the afc. We had 2 yes thats right 2 vets on the starting offense. I say our redzone problem was more growing pains then anything.

 

What do you consider a 'vet?'
Certainly Heath and Ben are vets. Mendy, Starks, Kemo, Hines was a starter early in the year.

 

Yeah - maybe they had the youngest offense in the conference, but certainly, there were more than 2 veteran players. Certainly MOST of the offense was the one that went to the Super Bowl last year.

 

Starting line up wise we had 3 i forgot about starks. Ben starks and heath were the only starters with more then 3 years in the league. O and mendy so we had 4 vets to 7 starters with with less then 3 years in the league. I say bring BA back one more year and see what he can do with a healthy mor time under their belts.

 

Also how do we know the next oc is going to be any better

 

I've said before that I am neither in BA's camp nor out of it. Whether he stays or goes does not matter to me. What they do on the field matters. As far as "vets" being those with more than 3 years experience, I'm not sure that matters so much. 3 years can be a CAREER at some positions in the NFL, so I think it's more what those players have shown to indicate that they are bonafide starters on an elite football team. Pouncey showed it in his first training camp. Others, it takes awhile. In fact, I'm ready to include Pouncey among the "vets" here, because he learned the offense quickly and is a true leader of the offensive line.

 

Pouncey is borderline but what im saying is most teams with an offense as young as ours aren't good at all. I think the browns were right behind us. Wrs need time and wallace who wasnt polished coming out of collage brown and sanders were our top three.

 

Wallace should be ready, by now. He was starting in the 2010 season, and began as a starter in the 2011 season. And he was doing all that talking about other teams needing to realize it's not a game dealing with him... then he went flat. Brown has proven he's ready to go. Sanders is good as long as he's healthy. There's another issue... and it's not necessarily BA. Players are not executing. The WRs are open... Ben isn't taking what the defense is giving him.

 

Yeah ben looks deep all the time and i dont know if that is him doing what he wants to do or if arians is telling him to or pressure from the wrs i dont know. I just dont think we can ise last year as a measuring stick for anything other then now we know a few players are done.

 

I'd say it sounds like another excuse to me.Our redzone production has been dissappointing for 5 years. We were 21st in scoring and even Rooney said that it was unacceptable. To answer your other question "how do we know our next OC will be better?" Theres more room for improvement than not. How do we know for sure the sun will come up tomorrow? We don't ,but theres hope that it will.

 

But most offenses with top tier franchise QBs are better than ours. I think thew QB position is definitely the most important for the offense. Our QB should be making all the others better regardless of age. Look at what happened to Indy when Manning went out -- their offense went from unstoppable to terrible.

If BA can't do it with a franchise QB in his prime......??????

 

Even if he had 11 VETS on the team it still does not account for his horrendous situational playcalling.
A Defensive Coordinator could probably study tape from a opponent for 2 hrs and then take the rest of the day off and go golfing before the next team meeting.
It boils down to whether Ben can move in the pocket or not and connect with receivers after they break their routine route.

 

our offense in the denver game was an infirmary. big ben hopping around on one leg, our backup rb starting, pouncey was out, colon was out for the year, starks (who we cut in the preseason and nobody else in the league wanted) started at left tackle and went down with an acl, we replaced him with the worst left tackle (j scott) in the history of football, we were starting a rookie (gilbert), we were starting a second-year guy who will never be anything more than a journeyman reserve lineman (legursky), our top receiver had a cast on his arm . . . heck, antonio brown was even on the injury report after tweaking something in the final game of the year . . . but, uh, yeah . . . all bruce arians' fault. ha!!

i'm not for or against bruce arians. i could care less. i remember the ron erhardt days but i also remember the joe walton days. i don't know how you bring some guy in to change things up when ben roethlisberger is your qb. his improvisational sandlot style of play isn't something you really scheme for. he's at his best when plays break down. i'll say it again, a vote for a new OC is a vote for a new qb.

the hate arians stuff made sense in '07. watching games at heinz, you could see what wasn't being done on offense. i was upset he coached from the sideline and not up in the pressbox where you could really get a feel for, and understanding of, the game. but he's made huge strides and this offense has been competent in recent years (a couple of those in the super bowl). i believe the 'fire arians' bandwagon has just gotten out of control. a bunch of retards jumping up and down screaming just because it's fun.

 

ALL of your high powered offense are extremely deep in vets. The pats the saints the pack the chargers all of them. The redzone is a mix of youth and no true redzone target. I think suanders could fix that. Sorry i guess im if the steelers mind set of no fire sales and no jumping off a bridge the second something turns ugly. You dont think if BA sucked as bad as all of you seem to think he does the rooney wouldnt get rid of him. But then again the rooney family has only been part of pro football since the 1890s so im sure a bunch of message boarders know whats best for this team. Give me a frickin break. If yinz had your way tomlin lebeau and arains would all be fired ben would be gone and ward would be starting.

 

The reason you do bring someone in is because Ben is the QB ,our franchise QB. I guess if you have been around long enough to remember Erhardt and Walton then you must also realize how long it's been since we had a franchise QB. Even though his sand-lot style is one of his strengths doesn't mean you build your entire scheme around that.It should be used when neccessary ,not every time he drops back. A vote for a new OC is a vote to keep our franchise QB alive and healthy and on the field, where he can actually help us. You said he has made "huge strides" yet we are still only "competent" WOW! what a vote of confidence. Hey! but what do I and a million other RETARDS know? I can go on for hours talking about his ineptness, but it's kinda hard typing while jumping up and down.

 

When the players execute the offense the eay it should be it works. Under arains we have had 2 1000 in the same year we have had a 1000 yard rb twice once happened to be with two 1000 yard wr and a qb go for over 4000 so the scheme works we need a true redzone target. In the rooneys i trust

 

I feel exactly as you do here. Ben basically became the so called franchise QB because of what he was able to do when the play broke down and he had to improvise. BA's wild west air show leaves room for him to keep doing what he does best even though it might also cut his career a little shorter in the long run because of the pounding he takes. You bring in a new system which is more of a controlled short passing game with heavy dependency on precision timing and hitting receivers in stride the results would be a disaster with Ben at QB. It's not his game and no matter what anyone thinks you won't be able to teach (coach) that old dog new tricks. Could he get better at it yes but he still wouldn't be great and whatever improvement occurs it's not happening over night and I doubt many fans would have the patients to wait for it to happen. Improvement on the OL and knuckle head Bruce managing to get a little more out of the running game is all this offense needs next year to start putting more points on the board. Oh and Ben being less of a turnover machine would also help the cause a great deal.

 

If they fix the O-Line and Ben starts taking what the defense gives him, then most of these arguments go away. BA draws up plays that have receivers open. Ben chooses not to throw to them.

 

We need either to have Arians figure out a way to run better plays in the red zone to increase scoring or find another OC. We have way too many weapons to finish 21st in the league for scoring. Look how many games were nail biters in which we settled for FG's instead of touchdowns. I do think we need a variety of both short passes and deep passes. The problem is we seem to just settle for the deep routes all the time and with our OL that is a receipe for disaster. And if you think Ben can't play that type of game, he outdueled Brady earlier this year.

 

We have shown at times this season that we are more than capable and effective utilizing a short passing scheme. Short passes and play-action would open up the deep passes. Our recievers are built for this type of offense they are not the type of recievers you would want ,to throw over the top of the D. They are too small but could be deadly in space if used properly.

 

he didn't exactly 'outduel brady.' we beat the pats. our defense held brady way below his typical output. you speak as if the game were in the 30's or 40's. it wasn't.

 

just make sure the bicycle helmet is fastened. safety first!

i don't know that arians has "built our scheme around that (ben's sandlot style)." i think that's on ben and, to some extent, our porous o-line. ben isn't really effective as a 'timing' thrower. he's not a three-step drop, fire the ball before the receiver has come out of his cut, qb. he's just not. i'm pretty sure those plays are drawn up for him. he drops back, hesitates, hesitates more, the rush comes, he shrugs, he moves, he rolls out, he throws, completion. that's his game. people used to complain about how often he got sacked and killed our o-line for it. meanwhile, ben's tendency to hold onto the ball too long were a big reason for the sacks. he's renowned for 'extending plays.' well, if he got the ball out of his hands sooner (when he is supposed to), maybe there wouldn't be a need to extend so many plays.

why doesn't he get rid of the ball sooner? he is not a decisive qb. he pumps and pumps and scrambles . . . he is what he is. i love him for our qb but if yinz think we're gonna bring in some genius oc that has ben playing like brees and rodgers, then the bicycle helmets have been fastened WAY too tightly. my prediction if we brought in an oc who tried to change ben's game into the mold of those other qb's: a huge increase in interceptions. when you ask him to do things he's not comfortable with the int's come. he doesn't throw the deep ball well, he's erratic with the timing routes . . . he is at his best when he improvises, scrambles, and makes the intermediate throws to receivers who finally get open. it's his game. it is what it is.

 

Statistics aside, the 'eyeball' test shows that BA has grossly underachieved with this offense. Who knows if a new OC would make a difference, but I am ready for a change. I feel BB's ability to make something out of nothing has made Arians appear successful. Red zone efficiency and short yardage conversions must improve. It's weird that I am always more nervous about converting 3rd and short versus 3rd and long. If BA stays, hopefully we can swing a new mauler or two for the O-line.

 

well, his use of mendenhall in short-yardage situations IS intriguing (see cleveland game at heinz). mendy is a horrid short-yardage runner and redman is outstanding. not sure why mendy is EVER in the game when we need a yard.

still, assuming the proper personnel is in the game, i put 3rd-and-shorts on our o-line, not on our oc. that situation is all about execution. line up, win the leverage battle, no strategy necessary.

still again, props to ba for an awesome goalline reverse to mike wallace at denver.

 

How do we know? We don't, but the fact is we DO know what we have in Arians (21st in scoring) and that ain't good at all.