Arians bashers are often criticized by a general statement that goes something like this. “You as a fan don’t know what he knows.”
And there is some truth to this.
The problem is that the statement never gets into specifics because th
e accu
ser is just playing an assuming role and rarely knows much more about the subject themselves.
Just listen to the Terry Foxx radio network in Pittsburgh and you undoubtedly catch onto this. But I digress.
So what does Arians know about the offense that others simply don’t quite understand?
Here it is.
In 2003, the Steelers ran a more up tempo offense with Maddox at QB. The downside to running an up-tempo offense is that unless you’re really committed to running the football, (and that era of football is over) you will leave yourself open to quick three and outs. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the problem with this is that your defense can find itself having been on the field way to long by the end of game/season. This is why you will often see teams get off to successful starts to begin a season, only to fall fade as the year goes on. There were times the Miami Dolphins in the Marino era struggled with this. His fast temp and quick strike offense just exhausted his defense by the end of the season.
The Steelers defense; Troy Polamalu has often said that their defense is not designed to be on the field for long periods of time due to its attacking scheme.
Arians understands this more than anyone does.
Fans get annoyed when they see Roethlisberger let the play clock run down to 1-2 seconds each time. But that is all by design to help the Steelers defense. But even Roethlisberger would like to speed up the tempo. That is why you hear the yearly request Ben makes to Arians about running more no huddle. Ben is basically saying he would like to speed up the tempo because he will perform better. All quarterbacks would like to play fast. A fast tempo allows a QB to keep in rhythm.
The way the fans thinking often goes is that Arians is a selfish bastard that just doesn’t want to give up his play calling duties.
But that is ridiculous!
Arians knows that his slow tempo offense is the best match for the Steelers defense even if that slow tempo will sometimes keep their average points per game down and not give his QB the best chance at getting into a nice rhythm. It has nothing to do with his coveted play calling duties. This is why the Steelers offense often looks disoriented or “ugly but effective”.
Arians also knows that Roethlisberger is talented enough to play the game at that tempo, while most quarterbacks would simply be way too inefficient.
It’s kind of like playing golf for 3.5 hours by going hole to hole and shot for shot without having to wait. There is a good chance that you will play better than having to sit for 15 minutes on every hole and end up in a 6 hour round.
It is hard to remain efficient in that environment.
But the heavily talented Roethlisberger can play that game. In fact, this is one of his incredible hidden playing traits that often go unmentioned. Roethlisberger is much better than what the fans and media are led to believe.
In the end, Arians offense is designed to match the high energy attacking style of the unique defense the Steelers like to play.
Football is the one sport where the offense and the defense really are designed to cooperate with each other.
Arians knows this very well.Rich Text AreaToolbarBold (Ctrl / Alt+Shift + B)Italic (Ctrl / Alt+Shift + I)Strikethrough (Alt+Shift+D)UnderlineUnordered list (Alt+Shift+U)Ordered list (Alt+Shift+O)OutdentIndentAlign Left (Alt+Shift+L)Align Center (Alt+Shift+C)Align Right (Alt+Shift+R)Insert/edit linkUnlink (Alt+Shift+S)Insert/edit imageEdit CSS StyleInsert More Tag (Alt+Shift+T)Insert Page break (Alt+Shift+P)Toggle spellchecker (Alt+Shift+N)?
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Arians bashers are often criticized by a general statement that goes something like this. “You as a fan don’t know what he knows.”
And there is some truth to this.
The problem is that the statement never gets into specifics because the accuser is just playing an assuming role and rarely knows much more about the subject themselves.
Just listen to the Terry Foxx radio network in Pittsburgh and you undoubtedly catch onto this. But I digress.
So what does Arians know about the offense that others simply don’t quite understand?
Here it is.
In 2003, the Steelers ran a more up tempo offense with Maddox at QB. The downside to running an up-tempo offense is that unless you’re really committed to running the football, (and that era of football is over) you will leave yourself open to quick three and outs. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the problem with this is that your defense can find itself having been on the field way to long by the end of game/season. This is why you will often see teams get off to successful starts to begin a season, only to fall fade as the year goes on. There were times the Miami Dolphins in the Marino era struggled with this. His fast temp and quick strike offense just exhausted his defense by the end of the season.
The Steelers defense; Troy Polamalu has often said that their defense is not designed to be on the field for long periods of time due to its attacking scheme.
Arians understands this more than anyone does.
Fans get annoyed when they see Roethlisberger let the play clock run down to 1-2 seconds each time. But that is all by design to help the Steelers defense. But even Roethlisberger would like to speed up the tempo. That is why you hear the yearly request Ben makes to Arians about running more no huddle. Ben is basically saying he would like to speed up the tempo because he will perform better. All quarterbacks would like to play fast. A fast tempo allows a QB to keep in rhythm.
The way the fans thinking often goes is that Arians is a selfish bastard that just doesn’t want to give up his play calling duties.
But that is ridiculous!
Arians knows that his slow tempo offense is the best match for the Steelers defense even if that slow tempo will sometimes keep their average points per game down and not give his QB the best chance at getting into a nice rhythm. It has nothing to do with his coveted play calling duties. This is why the Steelers offense often looks disoriented or “ugly but effective”.
Arians also knows that Roethlisberger is talented enough to play the game at that tempo, while most quarterbacks would simply be way too inefficient.
It’s kind of like playing golf for 3.5 hours by going hole to hole and shot for shot without having to wait. There is a good chance that you will play better than having to sit for 15 minutes on every hole and end up in a 6 hour round.
It is hard to remain efficient in that environment.
But the heavily talented Roethlisberger can play that game. In fact, this is one of his incredible hidden playing traits that often go unmentioned. Roethlisberger is much better than what the fans and media are led to believe.
In the end, Arians offense is designed to match the high energy attacking style of the unique defense the Steelers like to play.
Football is the one sport where the offense and the defense really are designed to cooperate with each other.
Arians knows this very well.
Path:
What is so unique about the Steelers' defensive style that makes it any less effective if it's out there too long than any other defense? To me this idea also seems to contradict somewhat the "conservative"-ish characteristics ascribed to recent LeBeau defenses — keep everything in front of you, don't give up big plays, make the offense move it in small chunks (thus taking a LONG time when they do), eventually the QB will make a mistake when Harrison gets in his face, etc. Any defense is less effective the longer it's out there. Why specifically is this more so for the Steelers other than that it has been described as "attacking" and "high energy"? Teams that don't blitz a lot woul d prefer to be on the field more on defense? And wouldn't Troy like some more points on the board as much as an extra two minutes of Gatorade time? A touchdown or a running-the-clock-down?
I get why the Steelers aren't playing no-huddle all the time, but it isn't gonna kill the D if the Steelers sometimes snap the ball with 4 or 5 seconds left on the play clock instead of 1. I'm not asking for a no-huddle, but what I do ask is that the opposing pass rushers not know exactly when the ball is going to be snapped. Under Arians, they do.
Also, let Ben call the damn plays, because Arians doesn't know how to do it.
The entire premise of the argument is BS despite what Troy says unless you're running a hurry-up (not necessarily a no-huddle) all the time. Seriously, Arians was worried about the offense being TOO GOOD for the defensive scheme's unique intesity style and then came up with telling Ben to run the play clock down (which I'm not even sure they do quite as much as is implied) and not get into a rhythm somewhat ON PURPOSE as a solution? Anyway, if the offense has a five-play, 2/ 1/2 minute drive and then the defense gives up a 16-play, 9-minute drive it's the offense's fault? If the offense keeps having short-time drives for a whole game, fine, it makes some sense, but I'd like to hear from Troy how the Steelers defense wears down differently, specifically, any more than any other defense.