Welcome to Pittsburgh Arthur Smith

O'Donnell and the Steelers would have been better off if he had stayed, but that was never a realistic possibility. Giving Stewart a shot at quarterback made sense. He actually had a hell of a year in 1997. They just didn't know how to use him properly.

 

If you're talking relatively, you're probably right. Funny thing is, this may Stewarts best season. He only threw more TD's than INT's in 3 of his 7 seasons as a starter. This was one.

He completed 236/440/53.6% 3020yds/21TD/17 INT's/75 QBR Even with his 400 rushing yards(29 ypg) he was only responsible for 213 ypg avg. Not amazing. Especially in an era when defenses weren't built to stop the 'running' QB.

KP was puke this season. Puke. In his healthy games he averaged 210 overall yards. 3 yards less than Kordell.

But what about those 11 rushing TD's? He had the one 74 yd TD that everyone remembers. The other 10 were from inside the 9 yrd line. 6 of those 10 were QB sneaks from inside the two. Interesting stat there is that the Bus only had 7 rushing TD's. Did they not think Bettis could score from the 1? Maybe they were trying to catch teams off guard that were keying on Jerome.


Nostalgia will never cloud my memories of this delusional bum. Not saying that has happened to you.

 

I agree with you. I read the article by Kozora today on Steelers Deepot and it really has me pumped about this hire now. When you look at it big picture wise it makes sense on so many levels. This guy comes from the Gibbs, Mularkey tree. His philosophy really seems to go back to the way the Steelers used to play under Cowher. He does have some similarities to Shanahan with the tight alignments where as the Steelers had the widest alignments in the NFL last year. We telegraphed what we were going to do before we did it. We definitely won’t be as predictable. It should be a much easier offense to run and more QB friendly. Its obvious the WR’s may get less chances but more quality chances with alot of crossing routes and rub routes etc. Those are high percentage routes with alot of opportunity for YAC which is where SF flourishes.

My only quandary is he likes to run wide zone in the run game and we failed miserably at that at the beginning of last year. I think Mason Cole really struggled with the outside zone and getting in position which hampered the cohesion across the whole line from a blocking perspective. My other concerns are is Najee the right fit for that kind of running style and our the receivers the right fit for that style? Seems to me you need recievers who are more built like the RB’s that can break alot of tackles and get YAC and good blocking receivers. They need to go get Juju back or someone like him.

It is obvious now that they are committing to KP this year. I think that center from Oregon just went way up their draft chart as it will be imperative to get a high pedigree player at that position the can get to the second level plus someone that has the girth to stand up to bull rushes with the QB being under center more in this scheme. I would still love to see them get a pass game coordinator in here from LA or SF staff to be groomed for down the road and to add innovation. Finally not sure about the O line coach. Is he up to the task of being able to coach these guys to block wide zone?

 

Stewart wasn't good. I'm not one of those people who just think he was ahead of his time. Sure, modern coaches could have made better use of his skills, but he was very limited and erratic as a passer. That said, most people didn't realize that yet at the time of Super Bowl XXX.

 

Limited and erratic are relevant though. Different game gets different results. In 1997, 61.3% completion percentage would be good enough for second place among NFL QB's. In today's game you'd be 30th. Also the top passing YPG QB in 1997 would be 10th in today's game. Offense was different then.

That said Kordell was 24th in completion percentage and 21st in passing YPG. He was below average in 1997 purely as a passer. Comparing to Pickett being 28th and 30th in both regards, it would be fair to say that Kordell was a more developed passer for his time than Kenny is today. Not saying Kordell was all that good (he wasn't), but sometimes the raw numbers look worse than they actually were for the time.

 

Again

 

They Pete Carrolled it.

 

Shouldn't you as a coach adapt your pilosophy to the players strength? Put players in a position to succeed.

 

That's what I'm expecting. I can only hope that's what they asked of him in the interviews.

 

To be fair they started the season out like that, but moved more to gap when Jones was put in. Seems like they went into the playoff game rolling through until they found something that worked.

 

Oh please, we watched Ben play like crap in the playoffs, then some of you guys blame Tomlin for not winning in the playoffs.

 

Then why you acting like it was Cowher who was choking and not his QB? Pretty sure Neil and Kordell weren't quite Mahomes in the AFCCG's. LOL had to point it out

 

I was trying to point out the double standard that's why .

 

Sounds like excuses to me, Kordell should've stayed in the Slash role, he could've made a lot of money.

 

How many times did the franchise QB Ben play well enough to get them there ? The AFC was weak back then when Cowher was HC.

 

Haley ran Tequila Todd out of town.

 

I think Haley ran himself out of town by telling Ben to STFU .

 

True. Also, Stewart was in year three in 1997. Pickett just finished year two.

 

If there's any truth to these Munchak rumors, they would likely stick with the gap blocking scheme as that is what he uses, correct?

 

That's one of the reasons I'd love to see them bring Munch back. He isn't a fan of zone blocking schemes either.

 

Yes, also true. Kordell wasn't starting at QB in his first two years, only throwing 37 total passes mostly as a gadget player (hence the "Slash"). Kenny threw 15 more passes in his first start in Buffalo (52) than Kordell did in 1995 and 1996 combined. Kenny has 24 games started going into year 3, Kordell had 0.

Mostly was just bringing up the point that "limited" in the reference to the NFL passing game is way different now than it was 25+ years ago. Even the top passers then would be considered "limited" today. Hard to compare eras in the NFL for sure.

 

Apparently I got my wires crossed. Did a search myself and found this: