Sometimes a win isn't enough for me

Don't get me wrong, first and foremost, I want the Steelers to win by any means necessary.

But when the Steelers win by airing it out and playing average defence, a small part of me isn't completely satisfied. I love when they win, but there's always a tiny part of me that wants to see them win by running the ball down the other teams throat and playing very tough, hard hitting defence. Ben getting 400 yards and 4 TD's is great, but I am a traditionalist, and am having a hard time adjusting to us becoming a passing team. I love running the ball and playing lights out defence. That's the Steelers way, always has been, and I thought it always would be, but maybe times are changing. We don't run the ball well anymore, haven't since Bruce Ariens came to town. Our defence this year has been softer than normal. Sure, on paper we're playing good defence, but we're just not as tough as past years. We're still winning, but a very small part of me wants the Steelers to get back to their roots, running and defence.

Anyone else like me?

 

I'm with you one this one, I watched that whole monday night game not because the Ravens were losing(well maybe that was part of the reason) but mostly because it was a smash mouth defensive game. The Jags were running the ball down their throats and playing smash mouth defense. I don't care if Ben throws for 600 yards and 6TDs I enjoy a defensive dog fight. I'll take a 12-10 game any day over a 49-42 game.

 

Agreed. I love lining up at the line of scrimmage and smashing the ball straight into the other teams linemen and seeing who comes out on top. We used to win that battle 80% of the time. Now it seems like we rarely win that battle and it's frustrating. I'm having a hard time adjusting to the new NFL. I want to see smash mouth football and steel curtain type defence. I love that we're winning, I'm just not used to the style we have had since Cowher left. I want us to go back to that style of football.

 

The actual games I miss were when Cowher used to give the ball to Bettis with four minutes to go and he would close out the game. That was beautiful to watch.

 

I would love nothing more than to see our team win a game with the 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense...Doesnt work in the new age NFL....The new NFL wants 55 yard TD passes... they do not want 8 min drives and a 1 yard TD run.They want offense..I think they are wrong. Football fans want to see knock down drag out football games.Give me a 10-7 game compaired to a 28-21 game anyday.You cant touch the WR...God forbid you touch the QB..Lets just get back to playing football!!

 

I agree - Bettis/Kreider were good for 4 or 5 yards average in my recollection. I loved to see them line up & completely dominate the game. I hope we can see something like that again sometime.

 

I love defense and it is a shame the new rules promote more offense. However I believe a good balanced offense is the best defense in the 2011 era of the NFL. The offense can dictate the entire tone of the game by staying on the field. The reason we loved the old Steeler way is because we would physically dominate them on Defense and have long methodical drives of power house running that usually ended up in a field goal. We would establish 13 to 17 pt leads and sit on them while eating up the clock. With all the rules protecting offensive players it makes it very hard on a defense to play physical.

Look at the Colts and Peyton Manning. They haven't had a great run game since he has been there but he is able to manage the game in such a way that all the players around him succeed. His ability to have drives eat up 6-10 minutes of game clock as well as provide quick lightening scores is what made the Colts team so good for 10 years. Being able to dictate the momentum of the game and play to your teams strengths is crucial.

With Bruce Arians at the helm I am sure we all noticed he is not very good at situational play calling. I find that he likes to go for the gold too much instead of planning a balanced attack. I also feel like he has his own personal quota in using certain players or calling certain plays. IE bubble screen. The quick strike and deep ball are effective tools to an offense but it cannot be your only tool. Quick strikes put your defense back on the field in a league geared toward offense.

 

I agree pretty mch with what everyone is saying about smash mouth football. I have been screaming about how Bruce Arians changed the philosophy of Steelers Football from a hard nose smash approach to a soft zone blocking pass the football approach. He destroyed the tough physical style of Steelers football. He should be ran out of town for doiong so. Its time for him to go. I hope this is his last year. I hope the Steelers hire an OC who can develop a running game. I don't care about all that high flying passing style of football. They need to get back to what made playing the Steelers a nightmare for teams. The game against the Patriots on Sunday is a perfect example of how the old style of football for the Steelers is what is needed to beat the Patriots. If we ran the ball down there throats and keep Brady on the sidelines, we would win the game easily hands down. Our defense would be rested and not on the field.

Troy Polamula stated long ago that the best Steelers defense was when they were on the sidelines. When our offense scores quickly or goes three and out, that puts serious stress on our defense. They need to wake up and get back to the smash mouth style that made this organization.

The first step is to get rid of BA, Bruce Arians.

The guy who was Arians biggest critic was kevdude and I was right with him.

The next question will be, if this is BA's last year, who should the Steelers hire as there next OC?

 

You know I love the ground and pound,,,,,but rules are in favor of the passing game........With that said the Football Gods are still making a point......Teams are still rewarded for running the Football and throwing to the RB'S .....Examples are the Texans,,San Fran,,,,and Denver.......The Bills did have that recipe and started to go pass happy and now they are sliding......Also a very recent example was Seattle vs. the Rats.......That game was not just a straight let down by the Rats,,,,,the Hawks came with a game plan to Impose their will on the Rats and to get the ball to the RB in space with the pass......They executed it to perfection and broke the will of the mighty Ravens........

As I stated for years I wished we would use our RB'S more in the game plan,,,,,with the talent we have at RB coupled with our speed at WR and a border line elite QB our O would thrash people.......Now throw in our D and their is no reason we should loose 1 single game.......No one can match us talent for talent ,,,is why I hate the execution crap.....If we know we have the most talent it's the Coach's job to put us into position to execute at a high level......

And with 3 RB'S over 220 lbs. on the roster we need at least 35 touches to the RB'S every single game anything less is not playing to your strenghts.......And before you argue we have great WR'S and a great QB let me simply say if we would make Teams respect our RB'S the WR'S and the QB'S jobs would be a whole lot easier......Not to mention how much easier it would be for the OL to execute if the D doesn't know whats coming....

That is the beauty of running and passing from the same or similar sets........We need to look for the beauty in the game ,,,,,it is right there if only we would take a hold of it.....

 

You have all described what STEELER football use to be about. I miss those days
I have started to cut back on all my football watching. It is depressing for me
to watch no defense being played at all. In all of football down to the midget level.
They have ruined a beautiful game.

 

While I agree with all of you....I take a win anyway I can get it....I don't really worry about how we won just that we won it

 

i think once we get sanders back on the field, it opens up the run and now we have seen a glimps of saunders at the TE spot. this will add another demension to the team and something else for the other teams to have to defense. it all may come together at a good time this year. crotchedy coming on is also bad news for other defenses. if this offense can peak by playoff time we will be hard to handle.

 

Once again, you and I agree. The run it down their throat game was great to watch but that was then ....and this is now and this "now" is a passing league. I would be really unhappy if we were still trying to stay with the run game in a pass happy league and were losing to be honest.

 

It's funny that this thread was started. I was watching the high school play-offs and was thinking about this very thing. I watched two smaller schools (yes, there are large schools in Iowa) and it was one of the best games I have seen in a long while. I don't believe that both teams combined threw more than 10 passes. It seemed like both teams only had about three drives the entire game. These two teams were slugging it out and "killing" each other. When one kid would slobber-knock another kid he would jump up and help the other kid back to his feet, give him a pat. As I get older, I, too, long for a time that is passed and don't expect to see again for some time. Is this my rotary phone moment?

 

Just a matter of time before the players are replaced with robots

 

The days of the running game are gone for the Steelers, because we have nobody that can run the ball for good yardage. We have no O line to open up holes for the runner and when they do the runner does a hop-skip and run and by then the hole is closed. I think Ben holds on to the ball to long to make a play. He would rather take a loss than throw the ball out of bounds. I have been a Steelers fan since 1955 and have seen a lot. The Steelers at one point where the worst in the league back then. I would like to see the running game come back but as someone stated earlier that is a thing of the past. For the most part Ben does a good job but sometimes when it is 3rd and 9 and the receiver isn't near the first down marker and catches the ball and now we are kicking. I question some of the coaching on this team, sometimes I do not think everyone is on the same page. As with anything in a forum this is just me venting and I will always be a Steelers fan. Heck we look great compared to the year I started to watching and rooting for them.