Post-Gazette reports Arians will be back in 2010

[vrabinec]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10006/1026257-66.stm

f#@&.

[wineshard]

I'm very ''whatever'' at this point with Arians. I would pay the price of season ticket admission to get an audio recording of the meeting Tomlin and Arians had.

I just want Tomlin to show that he has some F#@&IN'' balls aside from benching Limas Sweed and Rashard for one game.

[Master Blaster]

I'm on the fence regarding Ariens. You can't discount the offensive stats that they accomplished this year. I'm only hoping that Tomlin gave him an ultimatum; stop being so predictable and make better use of the talent you have. Maybe Tomlin's firing of Larry Zierlein will be what the offense needed since everything starts with the OL.

[Master Blaster]

WOW! It's obvious that Jim Wexell wants Ariens gone, yesterday.

http://pit.scout.com/2/935134.html

End of season Steelers obit

By Jim Wexell
Publisher SteelCityInsider.com
Posted Jan 5, 2010

Jim Wexell reviews the needs of a team that needs plenty of help on defense and some common sense on offense.

Dan Dierdorf lost his Monday Night Football announcing gig because he was the master of the obvious, but Sunday even Dierdorf was oblivious to the obvious as the Miami Dolphins were finishing off a second successful drive against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“What a head-scratcher this football team is,” Dierdorf said of the Steelers as the Dolphins lined up near the Pittsburgh 10-yard line. “I look back at that five-game losing streak ... a loss to Kansas City, a loss to Oakland, and a loss to CLEVEland, hardly the upper echelon of teams in the NFL.”

Seconds later, the porous Steelers defense allowed the Dolphins their 10th point of the first quarter.

Are you WATCHING the game, Dan?

Why this Steelers team is a head-scratcher at this point in the season is a head-scratcher in itself. And that this team – bereft of defensive talent and poorly coached on offense – was expected to beat those teams is another head-scratcher.

Without Aaron Smith and Troy Polamalu, the 2009 Steelers defense became the 2007 Steelers defense. It allowed 171 rushing yards to Cleveland, yet that was only the third-highest total the Browns put up in their final four games, because while no one was watching the Browns have become a physical football team.

Even Eric Mangini is bright enough to understand that a team must be physical to win in the AFC North Division. It took Marvin Lewis long enough to figure it out in Cincinnati. He now has two physical lines, a thumper of a rookie middle linebacker, a plowhorse at tailback, and, get this, a fullback on his roster to go along with legitimate receivers and cornerbacks. The Ravens have all of that, except the legitimate receivers and cornerbacks and that’s why they finished second to the Bengals this season.

The Steelers? They have the best quarterback in the division and that’s why they haven’t fallen behind the Browns ... yet.

The Steelers went on to a real pretty win over the Dolphins on this day. They tried to hand them the game with another horrendous batch of playcalling from Bruce Arians and the typical defensive breakdowns in the secondary.

The talent on the defensive side will certainly be addressed. Yet, it wasn’t last year. The knowledgeable Steelers fans saw that the team lacked depth at safety, that Tyrone Carter couldn’t get it done any longer and that Ryan Mundy hadn’t shown anybody anything.

Perhaps the Super Bowl clouded the minds of those making personnel decisions because they didn’t add a safety after lopping off Anthony Smith late in 2008. And wouldn’t you know: Troy Polamalu went down with an injury after playing one quarter of sensational football in 2009.

The safety position should be easily addressed in a draft that could include first-day underclassmen DeAndre McDaniel and Earl Thomas, and will include Reshad Jones. Players such as T.J. Ward and Barry Church, among others, will be available early in the second day.

Cornerback is another problem altogether, and one the Steelers may want to address in free agency. But, of course, we must wait and see how big the free-agent class will be, and that will depend on whether the CBA is renegotiated or not. Otherwise, it could be a wish and a prayer that unknowns Joe Burnett and Keenan Lewis develop more quickly at the position than expected.

Middle linebacker and nose tackle are also question marks. James Farrior turns 35 on Wednesday. He’s admitted to losing a step. While one week he’s in Ray Rice’s hip pocket allowing LaMarr Woodley to hit and strip Joe Flacco, the next week he’s being shredded by young tight ends like Anthony Fasano.

Perhaps Lawrence Timmons can take on a bigger role in pass coverage next season, or perhaps Keyaron Fox can replace Farrior at the all-important buck position inside. Fox, entering the final year of a peculiar two-year deal, could be a stopgap for a future captain such as Brandon Spikes, who’d need to be drafted in the first round.

But the Steelers may need to draft a nose tackle in the first round, because franchising Casey Hampton will infuriate him, and giving him a four-year deal will infuriate Mike Tomlin, who believes Hampton plays better in salary-drive mode.

The alternative to Hampton is to start Chris Hoke, who’ll only turn 32 in April. Hoke could mentor a first-round pick such as Brian Price, since NT Terrence Cody would only give Tomlin a new weight-watching headache and NT Dan Williams is a second-rounder.

Offensively, the problems aren’t as serious. Oh, sure, the Steelers blatantly ignored a raging problem with their short-yardage running game. They only drafted a fifth-rounder to improve that problem, and did not even add a fullback to the roster. They ended up using a seventh-round tight end as their fullback, and he regressed as the season unfolded.

Not that Arians cares a whit about short-yardage or red-zone problems. His sequence of playcalling in the second quarter Sunday showed his mettle, and showed why the Rooneys want Tomlin to find a new offensive coordinator.

With a four-point lead in the second quarter, Rashard Mendenhall rumbled 26 yards with a screen pass to the Miami 6. It appeared that “Spindenhall,” who’d used spin moves on 6 of his final 8 carries in the previous game, had received a good scolding prior to the Miami game. He wasn’t spinning; he was finally running behind his pads and looking like the power back he’s destined to become. But Mendenhall was pulled from the game on first-and-goal after the screen pass. Miami even called timeout, and came out of it to see Willie Parker still in the backfield. Mendenhall did not need a rest here; the coach needed to be a coach and make a move for a move’s sake. So Parker was stuffed, and he stayed in the game for second down, even though his footwear had malfunctioned. The second-down pass was nearly intercepted by Jason Taylor, and the third-down pass intended for none other than Mewelde Moore, well short of the goal line, was broken up.

Classic Arians.

And the Steelers settled for a field goal. They got the ball back almost immediately on a turnover, and then, at the Miami 41, threw a ridiculous first-down double pass on which Santonio Holmes was intercepted. Instead of going for the kill, this offense thought it best to get cute.

Classic Arians.

But the Steelers did win the game. Miami rallied, of course, but refused to take a hand-delivered win when it threw an interception from the 13 while in tying field goal range in the final minutes.

Arians’ offense put up great numbers ... in the sunshine of Miami. But back in Cleveland, where the season was lost, Arians had called 42 pass plays and only 20 runs in zero-degree weather with 30-35 mph winds gusting over 40 mph. The protective Pittsburgh media blasted the effort of the Steelers instead of Arians’ ridiculous game plan as the season died on the vine.

The Steelers still need a fullback and an interior lineman or two, but those have always been easy positions to fill, nothing like the FS-CB-MLB-NT quartet looming on defense. The other position to fill should be offensive coordinator.

Does Tomlin have the courage to fire a man with whom he’s won a ring? Or does he stand up to the pressures of the front office?

It should be an easy call; one that could be announced at a final press conference today.

Or, Tomlin could take the easy way out and listen to the Pittsburgh media and look at the stats, and the wins in the final three games, and the fourth-quarter playcalling that was fortunate enough to have survived the atrocious second-quarter playcalling.

It’s up to him. If it were up to me, I’d say unleash hell, and Arians.

[Creeping Death]

Well if that's the case than Omar is putting his job on the line. If he wants to put his neck out for a predictable ass OC go ahead. Then it's make or break for him next year, if he can't fix the OBVIOUS problems with this team he needs to be fired, he can't decide then to fire Arians.

This f#@&er needs to step up and do some actual coaching and make some much needed changes. If he can't handle that, then Cowher in 11. At least with him you know or offense will feature a solid FB.

[DSH_97]

Even I'm lost with the thought keeping BA. The only thing I could think of is basically what everyone else probably came up with here: Tomlin and Arians are close friends, and everyone knows it's hard to fire a good friend. This is why coaches should never ever hire good friends to be on their staff.

It seems like I've seen this movie before. It involved a national powerhouse football team at the collegiate level. And the head coach and offensive coordinator were good buddies to the very end. They won a couple of high profile games after the offensive coordinator was frequently throttled by the fan base for lack luster play calling....I forget how it ends, I just remember the head coach sticking by his good buddy's side to the very end, despite the shouts and protest of the fan base and they continued to have good offensive stats despite the O-line falling apart at the worse opportunity possible

[Master Blaster]

Wexell is the only one that reports on the Steelers that actually has the guts to call it like it is regarding Ariens. The rest are gutless, capitulating suck-ups.

[Dwinsgames]

so much for part 3 of the sweep I was hoping for

[Lemonhead]

Even I'm lost with the thought keeping BA. The only thing I could think of is basically what everyone else probably came up with here: Tomlin and Arians are close friends, and everyone knows it's hard to fire a good friend. This is why coaches should never ever hire good friends to be on their staff.

:

......and we know they are good friends how? ...and were they good friends before Tomlin got here. They original hire of Arians as OC, made some sense. He had experience in that roll, and he was familiar with this offense. I, like many, would prefer to see Arians gone, but I think his "non-fire-ing", has very little to do with his friendship with Tomlin.

[wineshard]

Just read on another board that Wexell put on his Twitter that Ben saved Arians' job. ''Completed a hailmary'' is what how it was put to him.

[gut]

Just read on another board that Wexell put on his Twitter that Ben saved Arians' job. ''Completed a hailmary'' is what how it was put to him.

Sounds like Wexell may be using some BS bleacherreport as his source.

There is no way, no way Arians was actually fired AND THEN Ben saved his job. Anyone who thinks that decision would have been made without Ben's input beforehand is off their rocker.

It's hard to be the first to scoop with the internet some of these days. Apparently some guys don't handle that speed/pressure very well and are prone to jumping the gun.

[primantibro1]

Perhaps Tomlin felt that Arians' accomplishments and more importantly his pitfalls were more due to ineffective line play than offensive scheme. In other words, Tomlin and Arians agree philosophically and some of the questionable play calls were reactionary and fueled by a lack of belief in the line's competency. Perhaps MT believes that a more prolific line would catapult the Steelers O, under Arians, to elite status in the NFL.

While I do not see that all of Arians calls were reactionary, some seemed foolish from the get-go, perhaps more formidable run blocking and/or pass pro in situational football would have yielded far greater results.

I dunno. Execution breakdowns or reluctance to make calls based upon personnel could make an extraordinary mind look foolish. I am not saying that Arians comes close to a genius, but perhaps a bolstered front could go a long way to make him appear rational.

[gut]

Yeah, so if Arians has an elite QB, outstanding talent at the skill positions, AND a good OL the offense will be good. That would be quite the accomplishment.

[wineshard]

It's hard to be the first to scoop with the internet some of these days. Apparently some guys don't handle that speed/pressure very well and are prone to jumping the gun.

Twitter makes it all so much worse. And doubly so since some people seem to take that as the actual news.

[Lemonhead]

It's hard to be the first to scoop with the internet some of these days. Apparently some guys don't handle that speed/pressure very well and are prone to jumping the gun.

Twitter makes it all so much worse. And doubly so since some people seem to take that as the actual news.

[primantibro1]

Yeah, so if Arians has an elite QB, outstanding talent at the skill positions, AND a good OL the offense will be good. That would be quite the accomplishment.

Yeah, that is the underlying logic. Der. What can I tell you? I am doing my best in dealing with the 'non-loss' of Arians.

I just don't understand why we are hanging on to someone who is dastardly in the worlds of red zone and 3rd down efficiency? Perhaps Tomlin has his eye on someone in particular but won't cut Arians for an unknown... maybe the whole thing is revolving around the commitment of one particular individual?

Man, I hope so.

[mojouw]

Interesting summary of the sequence of events that lead to the non-firing firing of Arians

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/01/07/report-roethlisberger-saved-arians/

I am convinced that Arians biggest problem is arrogance. It seems that he repeatedly gets "greedy" against what he deems to be lesser opponents. It is almost as if he says, "Well, the Lions suck so that means we can go deep to my new toy Mike Wallace whenever I feel like it. Also let's try running the same play repeatedly and there is no reason it shouldn't work. I mean the Lions are terrible right?" In contrast against better opponents/bigger games, Arians seems to call a decent to good game. Hopefully this whole experience humbled him somewhat. I also feel that if he could be convinced to incorporate a FB or blocking H-back into his schemes, it would solve a ton of the problems that everyone knows his system has.

I can't wait to hear what Death has to say on the matter.

[DSH_97]

Even I'm lost with the thought keeping BA. The only thing I could think of is basically what everyone else probably came up with here: Tomlin and Arians are close friends, and everyone knows it's hard to fire a good friend. This is why coaches should never ever hire good friends to be on their staff.

:

......and we know they are good friends how? ...and were they good friends before Tomlin got here. They original hire of Arians as OC, made some sense. He had experience in that roll, and he was familiar with this offense. I, like many, would prefer to see Arians gone, but I think his "non-fire-ing", has very little to do with his friendship with Tomlin.

Tomlin knew him well, prior to this coaching gig. I believe it was mentioned during his search for coaches that would be able to assist him when he was first hired on.

[DSH_97]

Interesting summary of the sequence of events that lead to the non-firing firing of Arians

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/01/07/report-roethlisberger-saved-arians/

I am convinced that Arians biggest problem is arrogance. It seems that he repeatedly gets "greedy" against what he deems to be lesser opponents. It is almost as if he says, "Well, the Lions suck so that means we can go deep to my new toy Mike Wallace whenever I feel like it. Also let's try running the same play repeatedly and there is no reason it shouldn't work. I mean the Lions are terrible right?" In contrast against better opponents/bigger games, Arians seems to call a decent to good game. Hopefully this whole experience humbled him somewhat. I also feel that if he could be convinced to incorporate a FB or blocking H-back into his schemes, it would solve a ton of the problems that everyone knows his system has.

I can't wait to hear what Death has to say on the matter.

We've seen Bruce call some halfway decent games along the way. In fact, some of his best called games came during Tomlin's first year in the Burgh. How many times did Ben find TEs wide open in the Redzone three years ago? But since that time, he regressed into some Mike Martz zombie, wanting to throw the ball all the time, even during times he should have ran the f#@&ing ball, he chose to pass it instead. This year being a humbling experience for him? I'm not counting on it. But I'll say this much, if Tomlin lets Arians do it again next year and let him stick around after the season, I'm sure more than a handful of fans will be pissed with the both of them. Tomlin can't allow this to happen again.

I kept hearing the word "balance" throughout the season. And yet, what did we see? 70/30 pass:run, 65/35 pass:run, they passed so f#@&ing much they broke records that should have stood for years to come. Completion rate from Ben sky rocketed. And so did the sacks, which is the first indication you're passing way too much for your own good. But you look at the ground stats and it's just plain terrible to see the Steelers ranked 19th in the league. That's not balance, no matter how you twist the numbers around and make them strike a pose Madonna would've killed for light years ago. 19th in the league in rushing? For Pittsburgh?

They say they're leaving old school Steelers football behind, that they want to take it to the air. What they don't seem to understand is that the old school way, was the best way. Tom Moore didn't have Bradshaw to throw the ball ever damn time, no matter what the down and distance was. No, he knew the conditions weren't always favorable for passing outdoors, particularly during the winter months (ie: in Cleveland or at home ). He ran the ball, kept the clock moving, while pounding the s#%t out of the defense with his linemen. It was classic "Hammer meet Nail" simplicity that made Steelers football what it was. Hell, it won them 4 superbowls along the way. And if he needed to get them up field, he'd make his call to Bradshaw, whom of which had all right to change at the line if he saw something Moore didn't see. And with that, the defense was dealing with a two headed monster that was hard to slay. When we see the Colts play, it's the same thing.

Good balance, is keeping the other team, off balance.

Tom Moore doesn't seek balance through play calling, he calls plays because they were dictated by the situation. In the end of it all, they've found balance. I don't understand the Bruce Arians version of balance at all. He calls scripted plays, plays that pretty much everyone on this site knows by heart and expects to see, and then he tried to mix up the same number of plays in search of this mythical creature name "balance". He grabs his purple 13 sided dice after each play, and whatever number it ends up on, he calls the play it corresponds to. All hail the D&D master of play calling, Bruconian Ariapostle the lvl 4 mage of Pittsbugggh!!

Just once I'd like to see Tomlin go across Bruce's dome with that playbook. They said they stripped out a bunch of plays that coordinators over the years have added while Cowher was around. We know during Cowher's tenure, he had Erhardt, Lewis, Gilbride, Gailey, Mularkey, and Whisenhunt as coordinators of his offenses. Not everyone on that list knew what the hell they were doing. And personally, let's just cut to the chase, Gailey, Erhardt and Whisenhunt would've been the playbook on their own. Whatever the hell Arians is doing right now,can't possibly be from their playbook. Nothing the Steelers are doing right now resembles Gailey's playbook. Ditto for Ernhardt and he was good for using TEs in his system. Mark Bavro and Eric Green? Erhardt knew what he was doing with that position. And never did we see him use 3 TE sets to get results. So whatever Arians is doing, he needs to go back and review that playbook of his. He needs to take a page out of one of the three fore mentioned coordinators and see if he has the right personnel to run what hell he's trying to run.

[SteelMagnolia]

I kept hearing the word "balance" throughout the season. And yet, what did we see? 70/30 pass:run, 65/35 pass:run, they passed so f#@&ing much they broke records that should have stood for years to come.
.

Tom Moore doesn't seek balance through play calling, he calls plays because they were dictated by the situation. In the end of it all, they've found balance.

I wholeheartedly agree with this last statement. That is why I don't give a crap what the run/pass ratio is at the end of a game. If the circumstances dictate a pass play, call it. If the opposing team have a poor run defense or there is a good matchup, take advantage. If a totally depleted or stinky secondary, throw all day long. Poor weather, no brainer.

In 2005, the ratio was skewed b/c for the most part, especially in the beginning of the season when the weather was cooperative, they passed more until taking a substantial lead then pounded the rock to close the game out. This Steeler team 1) hasn't been able to establish a lead early and often and 2)couldn't get first downs running the ball consistently and would have to punt off (last year was especially pitiful in this regard...understandably they gave up running all together after awhile b/c of how poor the run game was). I can understand somewhat why BA would hesitate on using that approach since they haven't been dominate in the run game for some time...thus a more skewed pass/run stat than years past.

Off the top of my head, I remember the Steelers had a good mix of run/pass in both the San Diego and Denver games this season. And BA had no problems allowing Dixon to hand it off against Baltimore b/c of the circumstances. So I know BA is not totally opposed to running the ball. (the last Cleveland game makes you really wonder what in the world he was thinking however)

My beef with BA is more the creativity, adjusting when things aren't working, and calling WOW plays at the most crucial times. Whiz was great at that. I despise trick plays but I now concede that they are of huge benefit at crucial (and rare, unlike Mularkey) times to throw defenses totally offguard.

By the way, anyone else notice that there have been more misdirection plays and even a trick play in the past 3 games than all the previous ones put together? Something tells me that was Tomlin putting in his .02 cents

[Master Blaster]

Do any Steelers fans need to be reminded of the time he decided to sit his best and most successful RB only to replace him with Mewelde Moore and then call a pitchout on third down that ended in a loss of yards and ended a potential game winning drive? I don't blame Moore because he was doing what his coach asked him to do. I blame the man responsible for that call, Ariens for losing his f#@&ing mind. We all know that there were far too many of those types of situations that the gutless Pittsburgh local beat writers turned a blind eye towards.

I'll also say that I witnessed, on several occasions, the Steelers getting out physicaled by their division rivals. That's on Tomlin. You can say what you want about Cowher, but his teams were never out physicaled. Despite their talent level they were always mentally tough.

As I stated already, the #1 reason why Ariens has not been fired yet is because of Ben's glowing endorsement of him. This is a prime example of the inmates running the asylum. Tomlin needs to grow a pair of balls and tell his QB that he doesn't run the team.

[Master Blaster]

It appears that Dale Lolley agrees with my statement that Ben is responsible for Tomlin staying with Ariens. He's also in agreement that it's not a good thing when the QB has more power than the H.C. when it comes to firing Ariens.

http://nflfromthesidelines.blogspot.com/

THURSDAY, JANUARY 07, 2010

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Offensive line coach Larry Zierlein and special teams coordinator Bob Ligashesky are gone.

Quarterbacks coach Ken Anderson has retired.

Offensive coordinator Bruce Arians is staying, apparently at the behest of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

What does it mean?

For one, it means that head coach Mike Tomlin was very serious when he said he's out to change the fact that Roethlisberger has been the most sacked quarterback in the league over the past four seasons.

Was that all Zierlein's fault? Nope. Roethlisberger was sacked 40-plus times in 2006 when Russ Grimm was still the offensive line coach in Pittsburgh and Ken Whisenhunt was the offensive coordinator.

But the team learned to live with Roethlisberger taking some of those sacks by holding the ball because him holding the ball also turned into some big plays for the offense.

While Arians will be back, some of the things the team does offensively will change. He and whoever the new QB coach is will work with Roethlisberger on getting rid of the ball more quickly - ie. reading defenses better - with the idea that they can prolong his career.

Roethlisberger has bucked that in the past because the coaching staff has been willing to live with the bad plays because the big plays were so great. But with the team's third-down conversion rate plunging this season to the bottom of the league and a defense that wasn't as dominant, the Steelers couldn't fight through the bad sacks this season. They just couldn't afford to lose that kind of field position.

Roethlisberger going to bat for Arians and getting his way is a bad sign for this team, however, in that it gives the QB the idea that he's in charge of this ship.

Should Roethlisberger have some say in the matter? Sure. But Tomlin had better have told him that if Arians stays, Roethlisberger had better spend the necessary time in the offseason working on getting rid of the ball more quickly.

POSTED BY DALE LOLLEY

[DSH_97]

But ultimately it still goes back to Tomlin. It's his rear if things don't change for the better. What Tomlin should probably do is have a talk with Ben and Bruce about whats going on with the offense, because it's not working as well as the two of them think. Ben wants the ball in his hands, that's fine. But Ben have better understand that they have this thing called a running game as well. And it's just as big of a part of the offense as passing is. He doesn't need the ball in his hands, becoming a target behind that O-line on every 3rd down. Use the running game, and keep his big ass off the ground, with 4 defenders wrapped around his waist and thighs. It seems to be Ben's chosing path to be like the great John Elway, by taking big sacks and exchanging them for big plays. Even John needed a good running game to be effective. Mendenhall should have at least 1,500 yds next year, if the offense is to be on the right track next season.

[gut]

Roethlsiberger was sacked 27 times on 1st and 2nd down, about 12 more than the likes of Brees, Rivers, etc...

A 50% 3rd down conversion rate would be easily top-3 in the league....That means Ben's sacks accounted for a whopping 6 less conversions. All the sacks on 3rd down are Ben trying to make a play, which he didn't because of the OL broke down or guys weren't getting open. Getting rid of it throwing short of the sticks or throwing it away isn't doing anything for your conversion rate.

Also, Ben was sacked like 47 and 48 times the prior two seasons, so the % actually went down this year (in fact, it may be near a career best). Ben holds the ball and typically takes 8-10 extra sacks because of it (although probably double this year). But this is the biggest chicken little argument out there and it is masking that the OL and receivers against man coverage are the biggest problem.

The OL in the running game and pass pro were, at times, serviceable this past season, and still people want to make excuses for them. If receivers are taking too long to get open (or not at all), then maybe Arians' design isn't as good as given credit for. For crying out loud he was running zone routes against a CLE man defense for over half a game before he figured it out.

[DSH_97]

Worse part about that game against the Browns: They had NO DLs to stop the run. Not one. They were injured that last game against them. Which simply proves Arians was throwing it just to be throwing. He didn't even try to run the ball.