Zierlein fired

[vrabinec]

http://blogs.nfl.com/2010/01/06/steeler ... -zierlein/

Seems official enough.

[Master Blaster]

I thought Bob Ligashesky would be the first coach to get fired since the S.T.'s were so bad.

[Master Blaster]

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_660952.html?feed=9

Steelers' OL coach Zierlein cleans out his office
Buzz up!

By Scott Brown and John Harris, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Last updated: 4:50 pm

Larry Zierlein is the first and so far only coaching casualty following the Steelers' disappointing 9-7 season.

Zierlein got fired today after serving three seasons as the Steelers' offensive line coach. He is the first coach Mike Tomlin has let go since taking over the Steelers in 2007. It appears that offensive coordinator Bruce Arians will return next season despite speculation that he will lose his job as well.

According to left guard Chris Kemoeatu, he was supposed to meet with Zierlien this afternoon. Instead, Kemoeatu said, Arians informed him that Zierlein had been fired. Kemoeatu added that Arians told him to get ready for next season, an indication that Arians will be back with the team has been an assistant coach with since 2004.

"This is the business part of the NFL," Kemoeatu said of Zierlein getting fired. "I'm shocked and disappointed. "We've been through a lot with Coach Z. He's like a father figure to all of us boys."

Zierlein is the second coach to leave Tomlin's staff since the end of the season.

Quarterback coach Ken Anderson retired earlier this week, something he had talked to Tomlin about doing as far back as last year.

Anderson said today he is going to pursue other opportunities outside of coaching, such as volunteer work and working with children.

Of the three seasons he spent with the Steelers, Anderson said "It's been great. I've enjoyed it immensely."

[DSH_97]

"This is the business part of the NFL," Kemoeatu said of Zierlein getting fired. "I'm shocked and disappointed. "We've been through a lot with Coach Z. He's like a father figure to all of us boys."

YOU'RE GROWN MEN! ACT LIKE IT! STOP BEING CROTCH MUNCH AND ACT LIKE GROWN ASS MEN!!!!

I don't get it. Why do players feel the need to have a father figure in some of these coaches? Larry Z was never on his job. After getting caught passing on porn in an e-mail to another coach, he was already screwed. Should have never hired him in the first place. Another former Browns reject that was given smypathy....

[Master Blaster]

IMO, Tomlin's only reason for keeping Ariens on staff is because of Ben's glowing endorsement of him. Tomlin needs to grow a pair of balls and tell his QB to know his role, shut his hole and get his ass back to work.

[zulater]

IMO, Tomlin's only reason for keeping Ariens on staff is because of Ben's glowing endorsement of him. Tomlin needs to grow a pair of balls and tell his QB to know his role, shut his hole and get his ass back to work.

Amen.

[gut]

Maybe be optimism on my part, but I think firing Zeirleins is also a shot across the bow to Arians. Would seem he is being given a bit of a pass because of the OL. Also, you can have some impact on Ben and the offense with the QB coach you hire to replace Anderson.

I think the standard is more scoring on offense, and more consistency. They ended like 12th in scoring, but with the yards and skill players they have, more should have been produced, especially with the weak schedule they had. And they laid some real stinkers.

A lot of people want to act like the offense didn't underachieve this year, nor that they didn't underachieve even more last year simply because Ben and the defense carried the team to a SB.

[vrabinec]

Nice article by Lance Zierlein, Larry's son, on the firing. I like the comparison of Ben to AI

http://blogs.chron.com/fantasyfootball/ ... _my_1.html

[gut]

Nice article by Lance Zierlein, Larry's son, on the firing. I like the comparison of Ben to AI

http://blogs.chron.com/fantasyfootball/ ... _my_1.html

Actually a good article, but I see a little misdirection from his father at Ben.

He is correct that the OL did improve some, and he's probably correct that Arians called plays that didn't suit the OL.

But his comment that Ben "jacks up too many shots" is clearly off base. Ben's interception% this year was a career low, and a number of those picks were not his fault (every QB has it, this year was probably average, last year above, etc...). And 23 of Ben's 50 sacks came on 3rd down, so while Tomlin might prefer 3rd and 7, that doesn't apply there. But I'll agree about 3 sacks took them out of FG range, but that was uncharacteristic of Ben this year. Ben taking sacks is the most overrated, overplayed thing out there. He takes 8-10 more sacks than most guys would in his situation, but this year it was about double that.

Ultimately, and OL that has been together for over a year should have some expectation of being average. Other teams get more without having high draft picks or high salaries. No, the great indictment of this OL is not Ben getting sacked, it is the total and consistent failure in short yardage and the redzone. Otherwise this is a top-10, maybe top-5 offense in scoring and the Steelers would be rolling into the playoffs at 12-4. I agree Arians deserves some blame with his predictable playcalling, but Zeirleins clearly also underachieved and the coaching business is unforgiving to underachievers. The improvement we saw this year is no feather in the cap when the bar was set so low the prior year.

[DSH_97]

Overall, unbiased reporting there.

It's kind of funny though, when you read the first part of the article and he mentions that the O-Line wasn't the problem this year. And then the 2nd half, he starts talking about how the Steelers should have gotten Unger over Hood, how they could use a tackle with better feet and how they should move Colon inside from tackle Not that I disagree with him, in fact, he echoed me almost perfectly.

[Dwinsgames]

well this makes 2 oF the 3 I said needed to happen ....

to a clean sweep

[Creeping Death]

The Steelers need to put a halt to all of the bunch formation crap they've got going and figure out that they have the personnel to be very effective out of their two-TE sets.... especially with Wallace and Holmes on the field at the same time. Sure, it will piss Hines Ward off, but he's getting up there in years and does his best work against zone coverage rather than against man. With a 2-TE set and with vertical threats like Holmes and Wallace, safeties will be in a tough spot. They will have to worry about run support thanks to the 2 TEs but they will also fear homerun threats outside. To me, this is a way for the Steelers to get back to a more physical brand of football without sacrificing their big play potential. If the Steelers need to upgrade over Spaeth, then have at it.

I've actuall said this alot this year. This the only way this set can be productive seems that this guy gets, why can't Omar and Arians figure it out.?

[DSH_97]

The Steelers need to put a halt to all of the bunch formation crap they've got going and figure out that they have the personnel to be very effective out of their two-TE sets.... especially with Wallace and Holmes on the field at the same time. Sure, it will piss Hines Ward off, but he's getting up there in years and does his best work against zone coverage rather than against man. With a 2-TE set and with vertical threats like Holmes and Wallace, safeties will be in a tough spot. They will have to worry about run support thanks to the 2 TEs but they will also fear homerun threats outside. To me, this is a way for the Steelers to get back to a more physical brand of football without sacrificing their big play potential. If the Steelers need to upgrade over Spaeth, then have at it.

I've actuall said this alot this year. This the only way this set can be productive seems that this guy gets, why can't Omar and Arians figure it out.?

Because Arians has his head up his ass. He's so damn used to running bunch sets and his fabled 3 TE set to run the ball, he failed to realize that without an actual FB to run it or without Holmes and/OR Wallace to help stretch the field out to open up the middle of the field, so the TEs can actually work underneath the coverage out of that crappy ass formation. I hope I never see him refer to that formation as 3TE set again. He could have used the 2 TE set in a variety of ways while utilizing Mendenhall, Wallace/Ward and Holmes.

Now that I'm thinking about it, Bruce Arians was Peyton's first QB coach. Peyton didn't fare so well in his first couple fo seasons with Bruce. He was getting his ass handed to him whenever teams blitzed him. It wasn't until he left the Colts, that Manning took complete control of his game. So look at his body of work again. Manning, Couch, Roethlisiberger....They have a few paralells.