Steelers Lounge Podcast #68: Bruce Arians and Free Agents

Cutting Timmons, Heyward,  the young CB’s, Gilbert and Sanders would be OK with you?

Not to split hairs, but how can Heath Miller be cut?  He’s pretty critical especially if the Steelers are trying to get Ben hit less (TE checkdowns are one way….).  Instead the Steelers need him and another Gronkowski/Graham type, not a D. Johnson who can’t catch outlet passes. 

Apparently Keith Butler isn’t quite a done deal yet, so there’s still hope there. Caldwell’s also expected to end up with Baltimore as QB coach. I’d love Clements too, but it’s tough to see a reason for him to leave Green Bay unless he’s passed over for the OC position. Anyone know who’s in the running for it? Obviously Clements has done a phenomenal job with Rodgers, but hopefully for our sake they’ve got other promising offensive assistants.

I love the podcast, and maybe it was more fretting over returning to “old-school Steelers football”, but I don’t share the same sense of worry JJ and Adam seemed to feel over Arians departure. I try not to criticize playcalling too much because I know it can be part of a larger scheme, but I think at the end of the day, Arians’ offenses should have produced more points given their personnel. Sure, other teams have better lines, but most teams dream of ability like ours at the skill positions. We’ve also got (in my mind at least) a top 5 quarterback. That should result in more than one top-10 finish over his five years. For me, that’s a pattern of underachievement and considering Arians is a guy so close to retirement, there weren’t any learning experiences or offensive revelations that were going to happen. Why not go with a new guy? Everyone who’s been mentioned is a passing guy, so it’s hardly a return to three yards and a cloud of dust. While a new direction could absolutely go poorly, I completely understand why the change was made.

The Pats winning would be annoying, but so would the ridiculous amount of Eli-love that would result from a Giants victory. NFL Network was already favourably comparing him to Peyton, for God’s sake. I at least have begrudging respect for Belichick and Brady. Those “greatest teams of all time” would have come up regardless of another Super Bowl, regardless of the ridiculous fact that Brady’s (just about?) the only player still there. Ideally, someone can go Thunder Gun on this thing and call in a bomb threat.

I think I’m glad Butler is staying… As a fan it’s just difficult to
evaluate the performance of a position coach. The team has had great LBs
for a long time but it’s impossible to know how much of that has to do
with him and how much of it is just great talent scouting (Alonzo
Jackson excepted). So I’m assuming that if the Steelers have tried so
hard to keep him, he’s very good and will hopefully be an excellent DC
for them sometime soon.

Haley certainly was an A-hole as a head coach, but I don’t recall any such problems when he was the OC of the Cardinals– corordinators just don’t have the power or media access that head coaches do.  Haley’s father also worked for the Steelers so I’m sure the Rooneys know him very well.  You know, I think I’d be in favor of this.  I’ll take the hardass with some proven credentials and success over the unknowns we’ve been hearing about, and trust that Tomlin can manage the guy’s personality if that were ever to flare up as an issue.

The thing is that until Ben got his ankle ephed, he was probably the best QB in the AFC. 

I really think this is a mismatch in many ways. The Giants D is playing at high level, getting pressure without blitzing, aggressive secondary etc. Their O has been very efficient, Eli looks great, the running game with Bradshaw is dangerous with their O-line playing healthy etc. ST’s ? Edge to Giants again.

New England’s D should be passed on all day..I give credit to their d-line for showing up in the playoffs but that’s about it. I think Eli and those receivers should have a fun evening.
Brady played badly against Baltimore and would have lost if Balt had a legit passing offense. Gronkowski will not be the same with that high ankle sprain..he’s not practicing and its more severe than the one Ben had apparently. That’s a huge loss. Not scared of their WR’s in any way, shape or form. That leaves one TE and Welker to hurt you in any real way IMO.

Short of numerous fumbles,  INT’s and ST’s gaffes…I think the Giants win this one by 10 or more points.Simply a better team that peaked at exactly the right time…and got healthy too.

Butler made it too. Greene didn’t.

 The Giants sure did! 

Non-Steelers Question of the Offseason:  Was this loss a career-shortener for Brady and / or Belichick?

You know, I was yelling at Bradshaw to go down, but now that I think about it, NE would have had about 20-25 sec with the score 18-17 to drive for the winning FG attempt. Didn’t they have about the same situation vs. St. Louis in their 1st SB win?

Yes, for a 125-year-old woman, she looked and sang surprisingly well.

Really?!  We’ve certainly gotten conflicting reports on this affair, then.

Hmm…. Everyone else is rumor-mongering that Haley has been hired. Jim Wexell noted that one of his sources said that Tomlin was very impressed with Haley during their interview, and that what might have started out as a courtesy has ended up as something else entirely.

Well, it sounds like they hired him. Crazyness and all.

Maybe we can trade him to the Jets for a 5th round pick?

Hmmmm….2%..?

Like to see the evidence though..He might have been catching the ball in an intimidating manner and they thought he was “on the drugs” (as my grandmother used to say)

No one wants to hear much about luck in general (although it’s certainly a factor) but I would say that luck was a bigger factor in this year’s Super Bowl, only because the Giants recovered both their fumbles when the football bounced their way and had a third fumble nullified by an unrelated penalty not of the Giants’ doing.

By comparison, Mendenhall was blown up immediately after receiving the handoff, Ben was picked off because of another egregious O-line breakdown, and Ben missed Wallace because he flat-out overthrew him.  Yes, the game hinged on those few plays (as almost all close games do), but those plays didn’t go the Steelers’ way because of a lack of execution, not luck.  As such I resigned myself to the opinion that the Packers were the better team.  Had the Packers won because the football bounced off someone’s rear end and was recovered for TD, I might have felt differently.

It’s mostly the ESPN mafia trying to will the Patriots to another glorious win. Except they have been very LUCKY their whole semi dynastic reign (Does anyone call the Cowboys of yore..Emmit, Troy and “I push off on every reception” Irvin a dynasty? Not really.) YOu have to win 4..minimum. That 4th SB win would have put them in rarified air indeed and the fact that they didn’t just eats away at their whole world view of Belichick/Brady as unstoppable. They’ve been stopped in 2 SB’s by the same team..its gotta hurt. And Brady has failed in the clutch whilst the opposing QB has soared. Sorta like Ben and the Keystone Kop offense in the final moments of last years SB..Not used to failure in those situations with Ben but apparently he’s not perfect. Brady IS. Right?

So you ignore the incredible “luck” the Patriots have had over the years (starting with the starting QB going out and Brady coming in, The tuck rule, and more recently, Baltimore choking their way to a loss with a winning TD in their hands and a kick that went awry) and push the Giants off center stage in favour of long, contemplative articles on how Jesus lost the Super Bowl because he was just too noble. The gods were against him, Lady luck..blah blah blah.

They lost because they failed to execute, had an overly conservative game plan that never stretched the field out, gave up on the run late in the game with the lead which left more time on the clock for the Giants and possibly because Belichick blew a challenge play that cost them an absolutely crucial timeout. That was worthy of Tomlin and whomever the genius’ are that the STeelers employ in the booth upstairs..wink (cheap shot..I love Tomlin but he’s not perfect either)

I’m good for an OG in the 1st. While I love the idea of getting Casey Hampton 2.0, in the new pass happy NFL I’m not sure it’s smart to use a first round pick on a run stuffing NT.

That said, the Steelers usually nail their 1st round picks (although Hood may be the end of the every first rounder is a probowler streak), so I’m probably good either way.

Our DL looks the thinnest it has been in a long time. If we’d won in Denver, our starters for the next game would have been Hood, McClendon and Heyward, with no backups who have ever played for us. Kiesel will likely be healthy, but even if Hampton restructures and is healthy, he’s pretty close to the end. I hope we get two DL fairly early.

Kinda scary and exciting at the same time. I don’t think he would have passed the interview without explaining a lot about his perceived behavior and conflicts.

I guess we are about to find out what kind of guy we have at OC..and I’m happy with a change.

Absolutely.  Unfortunately, seemingly the highlight/peak of McFadden’s career, in only his rookie season after seeing limited action in the regular season.  I really thought we had something.  Probably tells you the value of just looking at a couple clutch plays.

Roethlisberger’s comments are pretty interesting.  For the most part still backing Arians (“shock, surprise” that Arians was fired), that Ben will form his own opinion of Haley in time, but most importantly– and this came across loud and clear– do NOT overhaul this offense.

None of this would be surprising if stated privately.  But publicly, usually with such a coaching change all you’ll hear (at least at the introduction) is something like “he has a great reputation, I look forward to working with him, and I’ll do whatever I’m asked to make this work”.  Not from Ben, not totally.  I don’t really expect problems here but it’s enough to give you pause, as if Ben is saying “so, win me over”, right from the start.  And Haley might just have to do that.

My own opinion is that Ben is best off keeping his mouth shut, regarding both Haley and about this conversation he’s supposed to have with Art Rooney II around the direction of the team.  Hey Ben, you’re not that far removed from being bailed out of total disgrace, in some part by the team.  Rooney especially likely doesn’t want to hear it from Ben about franchise-level decisions.

A lot of people I run into thought the SB was boring for just that reason. Not many big passing plays. (Drew Brees,Aaron Rodgers have more weapons than NE or NYG’s and that’s what a lot of them wanted to see)

It seems to me that the STeelers with Whisenhunt as OC threw a lot of those medium passes, especially with Ben rolling out of the pocket. Just as an amateur observer, Whiz seemed to have more variety and “surprise” in his game plans than Arians. I hope we get back to a more diverse offense under Haley.