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Are people really blaming Bruce Arians?
By Dagger | November 24, 2009
The Steelers offense just put up 500 yards of offense. Scored 3 TDs. Ran the ball about 30 times. Threw the ball about 30 times. Points, yardage, first downs, time of possession, balance. What more do you want from Arians?
He is not the reason why the Steelers lost to Kansas City. I think the 3rd and 2 sweep call was idiotic and I blame Arians for that horrible, horrible call…..but you cant watch the offense put up 500 yards and then blame the entire loss on his one play call. It was a crucial moment and he should be heavily criticized but he is not the REASON for the loss. His dumb call contributed to the loss….sure….but he shouldn’t have been the focal point of sports-talk radio in Pittsburgh today.
Didn’t Ike Taylor drop a sure INT just one play before the Chiefs put the game away with a 61 yard play?
Didn’t Ben throw an INT in the endzone costing the team 3 or 7 points and giving the Chiefs 3?
Didn’t the Steelers Kickoff team give up another TD?
Didn’t the defense crumble at the end of the game like they have all season?
Didn’t Willie Gay get abused in coverage all game long?
Didn’t our punter cost us crucial field position by booting a punt into the endzone in OT for a touchback?
Football is a team game and the Steelers lost as a team. All 3units contributed to the loss. Bruce Arians annoys me as much as the next guy at times but you can’t pin this loss on one man.
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Topics: NFL, Sports, Steelers | 26 Comments »
November 24th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Be fair to Ike Taylor. He caught the INT and then had it inexplicably called back.
November 24th, 2009 at 8:03 am
but then he fumbled the ball and KC recovered, so either way it was bad. Either a dropped INT or a INT, then a fumble, then KC's ball.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
How many times did we throw to Moore? How many times in OT did Mendenhall Run the ball two times in succession? BA had a great day on paper, but like our QB on Sunday, failed when it mattered most. This loss isnt completely on him, but he certainly isn't bulletproof. Also its his responsibility to get Ben to stick to game plans, with things like check downs being important. Ben became the superhero in the 3rd and 4th Quarters, looking for the deep ball too often. I wanted BA fired, but not just because of these two losses, because I dont think he is making the most out of the talent around him. Yards dont mean shit if you cant score TDs, look at what happened to Baltimore, if they score one touchdown, they win. This is all irrelevant, the season is on the brink, Dixon will be auditioning for that number 2 spot next year, and Batch will be audiitoning for a coaching position.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
100% hit the nail on the head especially when you stated BA is not getting the most out of this offensive talent. last season with a very tough schedule steelers offense averaged 21.7 pts a game. this season with an easy schedule they are averaging 23.1 pts a game . only a 1.4 pt differential. arians and tomlin are so infatuated with the deep ball to wallace(blowing the top off the coverage) that the offense has become predictable and sorry to say al davis raideresque!
November 24th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
yards don't count, points don't count, wins count. last i checked we didn't throw the ball 30 times, we actually had 42 pass attempts not including sacks. we pass the ball 60%+ and run a high risk offense which puts more pressure on our defense.
fact is, BA failed to manage this came. starting the second half we had a 17-7 lead and continued our pass happy offense. that's just poor. there's a reason cowher had such an incredible record when leading by 10+ points. he knew how to manage the game with a lead.
November 24th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I loved the article and while I to disagree with calls that BA has made I do not blame him for Global Warming etc….like many members of Steeler Nation do….case in point…'points don't count'……as stated by Marc above…
November 24th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I also dont think he is the only one to blame. Actually, I think it would be very bruce arianesque to blame just one person for a loss. Obviosuly its a mix of factors and personel.
BUT still, everybody already knows he is not a smart coach, he does not have great ethics and it seems like nothing will change. We will keep getting irritated by dumb calls as long as he is around, game after game. Pitty Pitty.
If I was Colbert, I would have fired him after the SB. That would be amazing, imagine the reactions worldwide, "world champions fire offensive coordenator" haha! I would be totally into start 09/10 fresh with a new mindset, whats to lose? We are freaking WC! If Tomlin was as smart as I hoped he was, he would have realized by then that BA was as relevant in our championship as a FB…
Anyway, BA is not the only one to blame here, for sure not, but still, Im asking him to be fired for Christmas!
November 24th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
When BA was with the Browns they put up huge numbers and never won. BA runs a very soft offense. The Steelers have a huge OL line, they should be running it 60% of the time wearing down defenses then striking deep in the fourth QTR. Pittsburgh is a tough team that should impose their will on teams and dance around them.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
We didn't hire Arians to rack up stats…we hired him to produce wins. When it comes down to the wire, Arians consistently makes horrible decisions that cost us games. That is why he must go.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
+1
November 24th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
What you guy's fail to acknowledge is the relationship that Ben has with BA…..keep that in mind when you ask for his firing…
November 24th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I want Arians fired for a few years of bad coaching not what happened yesterday. How about last week when our offense was TOTALLY OUTCOACHED at Cinny? Their defense has talent but not the kind of talent our offense has. Yet I saw us going deep every play while they rolled coverage downfield. Or what about not getting Mendenhall the ball? It took him till this past week to give him some carries?
November 24th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
I tell you what, in my opinion BA is the big reason Ben does not change his turnover prone style. I think Big Ben could deliver good numbers and plays and still be more responsable with the ball if he had a different style of tutorship. BA is turning Ben into a egomaniac diva.
So thats another reason for him to go, like if we needed more..
November 24th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Its complicated no doubt, but the more we wait the worse. BA is ignorant and old, he will not change, and Ben will not change either if BA stays for more years. They love each other, and that is somehow good and bad, good because Ben feels good having that connection and he is still to get into his best football and bad because he might never stop with the turnovers because BA dont care or do anything about it!
Also, Im not sure it would take Ben more then a great off season to handle a new O scheme, it does not need to be so different u know? A new OC could still provide similar schemes, but avoid mistakes and retarded clutch time calls! Perhaps Batch could step it up next year, we will see, if we dont go to the playoffs i think BA will go, imagine how much bias he will face by the time our season is done, it will be like a tsunami over him, and I will be toe in surfing that wave with pride! lol
November 25th, 2009 at 1:14 am
Good post Seth….but as you stated, you take the good with the bad – every see a certain #4 play? He has the same mentality as Ben – Gunslinger….
Think about it, Ben threw over three men to win the Super Bowl…you could argue it is was an ill-advised pass but it won the Super Bowl…I for one, do not want Ben to change….
November 25th, 2009 at 1:51 am
This post was sorely needed.
At what point do we accept that the Steelers may have weaknesses other than play calling? At what point do we say "that was a fine play call, but they just didn't execute." It seems like the attitude is always "that play didn't work, it was a horrible call." Yet when Whisenhunt was the offensive coordinator, the attitude was like it should have been: "we just didn't execute there."
No offensive coordinator is perfect, and I know I'm in the minority, but as a whole I like Arians. At least he realizes he has a franchise QB in Roethlisberger, unlike Whisenhunt/Cowher.
Also, I love how last year everyone was complaining because we needed to pass more. "Arians needs to realize the NFL is a passing league, blah blah blah." Now we're a passing team and it's "Arians needs to run the ball and control the game on the ground."
Steelers fans. Fickle and reactionary.
November 24th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Just to be clear…you guy's are ok with waiting a year or so until Ben is comfortable with a new offense? And you are ok with telling your franchise QB that it doesn't matter that he likes Arians….?
November 25th, 2009 at 4:51 am
I hope BA does it good next Sunday or I will come after u Nate!! With an army of 10 000 trolls! ;)))
November 25th, 2009 at 7:37 am
I agree. Arians is an unrecognized savior and a scapegoat. Even in the no huddle, Ben has an earpiece to Arians. It's not like all success the offense has is because of Ben. And let us not forget that Arians calling is influenced by Ben's own high risk style. It is sometimes hard to tell what Arians has called because the play is completely different by the time Ben gets rid of the ball. People seem to forget that Ben got sacked less under a different O-Line and a different O-line coach, not just a different )-line coordinator. Russ Grimms is gone, and doing well. He'd have done well here, too. Remember that he tutored Faneca and Hartings, among others. So before we lay the blame of finicky Steeler fans at the feet of one man, let's realize that he's not the only one involved. It's not a dictatorship; there are audibles, etc. Ben has a lot of leeway, and as often as he makes great plays, he might muff a few too (Favre.) But it sells tickets and is a metric shit ton of fun to watch.
November 25th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
For the most part I'm ok with Arains. But in my opinion Arains was responsible for the red zone interception that changed the tide of the game. The reason being, first and goal from the 9 and he has the Steelers in an empty back set. Isn't that pretty much telegraphing your intentions on the play? I'm fine with passing in that situation, but have a running back in the backfield for god's sake. Why make the defense's job easiar than it has to be? I mean the defense is already at an advantage because of the short field behind them, now you've made it that much easiar because designate x amount of ment to coverage and x amount to rush the passer. Or maybe Arains thought he'd keep a linebacker and safety honest by protecting against the possible qb draw… from the 9 yard line. sheesh
Really is it any wonder Ben was hit when he was throwing on that play?
November 25th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
We won it with Carey Davis in as well, so should we resign him for a few more years eeh?? Yeah, lets stick to that OL until 2015 because they won the SB, nothing will please me more then to wait until they "gel" for a few more years, after all they are champions…
November 25th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
How many idiotic ans stupid plays does Arians get away with before the entire team is effected.
A herd of sheep lead by a lion is to be more feared than a herd of Lions led by a sheep.
Arians is a lamb playing as Offensive coordinator.
Arians is the "root" cause of Pittsburgh's losses
November 25th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Damn that Arians! We'll never win a Super Bowl with him as our Offensive Coordinator! Er…wait a minute…
December 14th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
the year BA came to the steelers fast willie basically begged arians to let him run behind dan kreider (FB). he was released and now hes on the cardinals w grimm and the wiz. arians believes in using multi te formations because he believes if u want to run the ball apparently running behind someone w a head of steam going is stupid. carey davis played last year and SHOULD have been the goal line back but guess what! we dont need a fb…… we picked him back up a few weeks ago. ok theres my little rant about him single handedly murdering the concept of steeler football, heres my rant about his child-like scribblings on the back of a shoney's menu that he calls a playbook. the steelers dont gain 500 yards because of ba they gain 500 yards in spite of ba. how am i the only person that realizes every gain of 20 yards or more is A BROKEN PLAY!!!! ben makes plays w his feet, moving himself out of the pocket where hes most effective, which arians apparently hasnt noticed because he takes about 32 sacks sittin in the pocket against the BROWNS and rolls him out of the pocket maybe once (i didnt see it but he cant really be that stupid he is an nfl coach after all so ill give him the benefit of the doubt). offensive coordinating 101: if your getting killed in the pocket…….. GET THE F**k OUT OF THE POCKET!!!!!!! now heres the cool part how this all ties together: be a run first offense (duh) run behind our giant line W A FULLBACK and this will set up the play action pass and bootleg passes where ben thrives (i dont know the exact stats but he has ridiculous numbers when throwing outside of the pocket). the end result- greater time of possession, less turnovers, and less 500 yd 3 td games and more 335 yd 4 td games (yards dont mean a thing if u cant put it in the endzone especially when your given good field position most of the time)
December 14th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
and how about a check down every now and then? BA has got to be fired or demoted to the WR coach where he was pretty good.
January 8th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
Arians' pass oriented teams rack up yards but not touchdowns. Remember the Super Bowl when they had six cracks from inside the 10 and didn't score a touchdown? This against the 26th rated defense. This is not the exception its the rule with Arians. His game plans leave half the known football plays on the cutting room floor. Offenses need diversity in the plays and he thinks that's just another pass pattern. He seems to think you don't need to put emphasis on the running game, counter plays screens to backs, draws, etc. you can just dial them up when you need them, which of course is baloney. With the Steelers, commitment to anything but the downfield passing game is non existent. Tomlin seems to underwrite this philosophy with his no style points rhetoric which when translated means We played poorly but we won". Arians and ultimately Tomlins offenses are one dimensional and as the NE Patriots learned in the SB, great but one dimensional offenses can be stopped.