Why does our offense always look so out of sync?

For several years now our offense never appears to have much flow. If you watch the pats,packers, saints they usually run like a well oiled machine while the Steelers always seem to be flying by the seat of their pants. This seems to be the case with at least 3 different offensive coordinators at the helm. Any thoughts as to what is causing this ugliness?

 

I used the "well oiled machine" thing last night when my husband asked why I wasnt watching the Pats game. Its painful to watch our team bumble and stumble around and then watch a well disciplined team hit the field.

 

Because Ben is only good when a play breaks down or he has to pump fake to get the open look he needs. Love him for what he is, but he's not the QB who goes through his progressions quickly and able to spot the open man. That's why even our TD drives are a mess...

 

Agree. It's "backyard football" as far as Ben is concern. I've posted it before, when have he just took a simple pass to a receiver on a simple route. Very few times.

 

Good question. I think the coaching is the most to blame when a team comes out flat and unprepared as the Steelers have done so often this year.

 

We looked the same with Cowher at the helm when Ben took over due to injury. As it stands the only common denominator is Ben. Every year I think this is the year that we finally put it together offensively and every year it's more of the same. I'm really starting to think that Ben starting as a rookie was a bad thing in that he learned some bad habits. Instead of becoming a student of the game he relied on his improvisational skills. While that has worked occasionaly it's not conducive to offensive consistency. Don't get me wrong I'm not blaming Ben for all of our woes; however, at this point I think one must admit that he is part of the problem.

I found an article last year where the writer had tracked and timed Ben's pass attempts for a season or two. When he was getting rid of the ball in ~3 seconds his pass completion percentage was x and over 3 seconds it dropped fairly significantly. Assuming that the author's numbers are correct that indicates while Ben's improvisational skills can e an asset they are also his Achilles heel.

 

I think it's another post injury thing with Ben. Was doing great last year got hurt against the Browns, never played the same the rest of the year.

This year playing the best he has ever done, gets hurt again, hasn't played as well as he did earlier in the year.

See the trend...

 

We looked the same with Cowher at the helm when Ben took over due to injury. As it stands the only common denominator is Ben. Every year I think this is the year that we finally put it together offensively and every year it's more of the same. I'm really starting to think that Ben starting as a rookie was a bad thing in that he learned some bad habits. Instead of becoming a student of the game he relied on his improvisational skills. While that has worked occasionaly it's not conducive to offensive consistency. Don't get me wrong I'm not blaming Ben for all of our woes; however, at this point I think one must admit that he is part of the problem.

I found an article last year where the writer had tracked and timed Ben's pass attempts for a season or two. When he was getting rid of the ball in ~3 seconds his pass completion percentage was x and over 3 seconds it dropped fairly significantly. Assuming that the author's numbers are correct that indicates while Ben's improvisational skills can e an asset they are also his Achilles heel.[/QUOTE]

bingoooooo. no oc can game plan an offense where your qb is going to improvise

 

bingoooooo. no oc can game plan an offense where your qb is going to improvise[/QUOTE]

You can't teach an old dog new tricks. BA knew this and as a result he designed his offense to the old dog's strengths. All that did was get BA fired and we're right back to square one now.

 

i keep saying it. the o-line is so mismatched and untalented. max starks has no business playing LT. pouncey gets run over. foster and colon are slow as mosses. gilbert is as soft as the stay puff marshmellow man. the help they kept giving beachum did more damage then good. they kept getting in his way and knocking him off his man. ben can't stay there and read a defense like that. it's always breaking down somewhere making him run. we can't run the ball. we can't set up a screen. they have no push. the recievers are terribly coached. you can't run a deep passing offense with this line and you can't run a dink and dunk offense with this line and you can't run the ball with this line.

as far as todd, here's not being sensitive todd, hit the road. colbert you lived on the coattails of cowher. john mitchell, your d-line stinks. butler, your LB'ers are terrible. scottie montgomery, you are not an nfl wr's coach. kirby, your RB's stink. tomlin you don't know how to right the ship. amos your st's suck. fitchner, your qb's are unprepared. todd your offense is a mess. it's time for some firings. coaches and player alike. this isn't just going to resurect itself. that's how we play the we aren't going to be sensitive crap. we need an overhaul badly. trades, cuts, firings.

 

Damn Mac you're more fired up than I've ever seen you. Relax bud it's bad but it ain't that bad. They're only a few bone headed plays away from being the division winner LOL

 

i'm telling you it's the friggin line. both sides of the ball. d can't get off a block and the o can't hold a block. they also can't move quick enough to make blocks to spring anyone. we have to run half the offense with them. there is big trouble in the steel city my friends. this isn't just about the last game or a couple of turnovers.

 

after 10 years with a franchise qb and still experiencing the same problems then perhaps he is part of the problem. Yes, we have won two superbowls with Ben. However, there's no way in hell you can point to his tebowesque performance in XL and say we won because of him. And a strong case can be made that our loss was because of him, but that's a horse that has been beaten beyond recognition. Also we had been using retreads at qb for a couple of years so your point about the offense prior to Ben is moot.

 

Exactly.

 

This always comes up but this team doesn't have the personel to run the dink and dunk Pats offense is. Heath Miller is great but he doesn't have the speed of Gronkowski, the WR's we have are fast but they aren't quick, Welker is quick and gets open fast, and we don't have backs that do well catching the ball. The colsest thing we had in a recier that gets open was Limas Sweed, that guy had a natural ability to get open but it didn't matter because he couldn't catch, I also believe in the intelligence level, we have very little, the smart guys on offense like Hines Ward are gone, young money worries about highlight films instead of ball security and running better routes. I also believe that the oline needs more help in order to make the offense go, it is impoosible to run when 3 out of 5 dlinemen are in the backfield as soon as the RB gets the handoff, the same with the quick strike passing game, if the blocks aren't made the quick passes go for zero yards as no one blocks anymore and that is the biggest problem.

 

Now that, is telling it like it is. If we don't make the playoffs I DO THINK HEADS WILL ROLL. Stand up and be counted,
thanks Mac I know you are a long time season ticket holder, you are right on target with your comments.

 

I don't know what happened. It was looking so good for awhile ,with the short passing game and mixing in some runs. All of a sudden we went back to deep passes and bubble screens. Someone needs to reel us back in. The only way to make the playoffs and some noise once we get there Is a ball control offense and well rested D. Anything else and we have no shot. Our O has become high risk,no reward.

 

i agree about the ncredible over use of the buble screen which never seem to work. they are the worst screen team in the NFL and i dont think im exagerating.

as for the deep passes. i dont think they try them enough. i cant remember the last time they tried one to AB or Sanders. they might try 2 at the most in a game and i would say they usually only try 1.

they seem to have given up on the run game. Dwyer has had 16 attempts in the last 2 games. not gonna get it done with that.

 

Just a random question then: Is it possible that Haley came in with a game plan based on all the talent he saw, then realized they execute like crap and is having to resort to what BA saw, all along?

 

This team cannot run Haley's type of offense consistently, you know the slow, dink and dunk type of offense that has long drives, because this team makes tooooo many mistakes along the way, like drop passes, bad passes, fumbles, sacks,other then the last game we would also have penalties. We are not a a well oiled machine to run this type of offense. This is also the reason we will never blow teams out and we will always have close games even with the bottom feeders.

Something will have to change, either the type of offense or play calling that allows for quicker strikes as we cannot methodically go down the field with long drives as toooo many bad things happen along the way.

 

100% de acuerdo!!!
We need an O-line, no matter if: run or pass, different QB's; bring us consistency.

 

for one thing we never look set and ready to go .. the next thing that kills me is ben never snaps the ball before 1 2 3 seconds left on the play clock? then we look hurried as the clock winds down.. i assume he does that to rest our aging D?

HINES

 

No one has stated the obvious, this is a new OC with a new offense. Some guys just aren't going to get it right out of the gate. Some guys are going to push back against change (Ben). And some guys are just not going to have their head or heart in it (fumbles). Let's wait until next year now that Haley has had time to see what he's working with.