How Todd Haley and Big Ben are getting along...

[steelfury02]

it isn't madness, I just think it is there, and probably won't blow up like the media hopes it does. As Tomlin said, it'll prob happen and then they'll move on.

[Atlanta Dan]

Originally Posted by FanSince72

Why would Bruce Arians need an "apologist"?

Why would coaching an offense to 5 winning seasons and 2 Super Bowl appearances require an apology?

Did you actually see the moment during last night's game I am referring to?
I think that anyone who saw that exchange would be thinking the same thing I was thinking.

I saw it and I was not thinking that

If Bruce Arians was so good why did Art Rooney fire him? Consider the possibility the guy that owns the team might have a better handle on whether Arians was maximzing the talent on offense than certain fans of the team

[maddog78]

Originally Posted by FanSince72

Why would Bruce Arians need an "apologist"?

Why would coaching an offense to 5 winning seasons and 2 Super Bowl appearances require an apology?

Did you actually see the moment during last night's game I am referring to?
I think that anyone who saw that exchange would be thinking the same thing I was thinking.

So Arians coached this team to two Super Bowls? In 2008, the offense was ranked 20th, the defense 1st. In 2010, the offense was ranked 12th, the defense 1st. Arians had a top ten offense once, when it ranked 9th in 2007. Other than that 12, 12, 11, 20, 21.

Yeah, he coached them to two Super Bowls the way the fly on the windshield carried the driver across the finish line.

He may not need an apologist, but it sure looks like he has one in you.

[steelfury02]

Wait a second - why are we talking about Arians again? I think we can all agree that the production is no worse without him? The correct answer is that him being or not being here wouldn't change things all that much if at all.

You can't argue that without Ben, Arians' body of work in Pittsburgh would have gone from "ok at times" to "below average"

[Atlanta Dan]

Originally Posted by FanSince72

Why would Bruce Arians need an "apologist"?

Why would coaching an offense to 5 winning seasons and 2 Super Bowl appearances require an apology?.

I suppose it depends if the players thought the coach's best interests and the team's best interests might be different

Hines hasn't offered many strong opinions on NBC, but, man, he crushed Bruce Arians

Collinsworth spoke of a 'rumor' that the Steelers thought Bruce and Ben were "too close" and that it led to the move at coordinator. He asked Hines, "Do you buy into that?"

Hines answered with surprising candor: "Well, sometimes I think when you get so close, partiality sets it, and you don't know if Bruce Arians is doing what's best for the Steelers or if he's doing what's best for Ben Roethlisberger. And I think that set in. And they had to part ways, because when you go out there and you can't decide what's best for the team, and you're doing what's best for the player, sometimes it can be a problem."

http://sulia.com/source/S-38641461/f...-47f78a2a0067/

[teegre]

Originally Posted by steelfury02

You can't argue that without Ben, Arians' body of work in Pittsburgh would have gone from "ok at times" to "below average"

Agreed.

Arians has had Peyton Manning, BB, and now Andrew Luck.

With those three QBs, even my 18 month old daughter could have been "ok at times."

[Atlanta Dan]

Ed.B. of the P-G brings the snark

Haley has a proven track record running offenses and it’s not as though he’s trying to replace Bill Walsh here

http://plus.sites.post-gazette.com/i...ises-to-qno-2q

[maddog78]

Originally Posted by Atlanta Dan

I suppose it depends if the players thought the coach's best interests and the team's best interests might be different

Hines hasn't offered many strong opinions on NBC, but, man, he crushed Bruce Arians

Collinsworth spoke of a 'rumor' that the Steelers thought Bruce and Ben were "too close" and that it led to the move at coordinator. He asked Hines, "Do you buy into that?"

Hines answered with surprising candor: "Well, sometimes I think when you get so close, partiality sets it, and you don't know if Bruce Arians is doing what's best for the Steelers or if he's doing what's best for Ben Roethlisberger. And I think that set in. And they had to part ways, because when you go out there and you can't decide what's best for the team, and you're doing what's best for the player, sometimes it can be a problem."

http://sulia.com/source/S-38641461/f...-47f78a2a0067/

Good find. And in trying to "help" Ben, all he ended up doing was getting him killed.

[steelfury02]

Ben wasn't happy with Whiz either because Whiz told him what was going to be done in spite of what he wanted.

Fast forward - he loved Bruce because Bruce let him have more input.

Fast forward - now he is back to someone that approaches the relationship more like a coach-player relationship, not one that is of equal footing when calling the shots - and that pisses Ben off.

My opinion is that Ben is a great QB and I'm thankful he is a Steeler - but I also think that Ben doesn't know what is best half the time, despite the winning and the 2 Super Bowl titles. Ben wants to go for the home run as much as possible, and Ben thinks some of that predictable empty set shit is awesome, and that is what gets him killed and leads to less production.

Ben wants to surpass Bradshaw in rings. Not sure if that is an achievable goal (I thought he would have going into XLV, but the more I see the aging vets, the more I realize that was in fact a last chance for a handful of the key cogs). I think Ben is going to win 1 more before he retires, and 2 if some of these young guys step up sooner than expected

The time of possession improvement alone is totally worth the Arians canning. Ben needs to trust the Steelers way just a bit more, at least show that he does in public.