Fire Todd Haley!!!!!

[lloydwoodson]

Originally Posted by GoFor7

All those teams you mentioned aren't obsessed with ball control offenses - they actually try to score. I keep telling you that, but you seem incapable of understanding.

This is yinzer nation in the offseason:

"Ben don't gotta throw da ball more den 20 times! Gotta run da ball! Gotta rest da defense! Da stillerz dun't need ta score more points cuz da stiller defense will be well-rested!"

This is yinzer nation after a close loss:

"BEN WHY DIDN'T YINZ DO MORE! YINZ STINK! YINZ GOTTA SCORE MORE POINTS! BOOOOOOOOO!"

Don't demand the offense play ball-control and then go on demanding more points. Want more points? Gotta make some quick strikes and not worry about protecting the defense all the time.

NFL Team Passing Play Percentage

Steelers 13th 59.7% Pass
Green Bay 15th 58.5% Pass
New England 20th 56.1% Pass
Denver 21st 55.9% Pass

The 6 teams who passed the most frequently are out of the playoffs- Saints included. Quick!!!! Pass more!!!!

It turns out 3 of the 4 elite quarterbacks pass less than Roethlisberger percentage wise. Next theory that puts the responsibility on everyone but Ben please.

The teams that run the most you ask? Seattle, Washington, San Francisco, and Minnesota are 4 of the 5 who run the most.

Remember kids, it is a new league!!!!! Running doesn't work!!!!! Just ask GoFor7!!!!!

[TRH]

very interesting stats.
I agree we need to run more and i'm hoping we get a different back to work with.
I think our passing game could be outstanding - but there's no question we have to work harder on the run game to make that work.
I wasn't impressed with our constant "runs up the middle". It became far too predictable. And our OL was absolutely dreadful this year when it came to opening holes.

[GoFor7]

Remember, bubble screens count as passes too. Don't put too much stock onto run/pass ratio.

[lloydwoodson]

Originally Posted by GoFor7

Remember, bubble screens count as passes too. Don't put too much stock onto run/pass ratio.

If a wr screen counts as a run it turns out teams are running more than these stats show! Oh wow! You are on to something. With all the screens NE throws they are likely running more than they are passing! No team in the league runs more screen plays! NE probably runs the most! I think you are on to something.

[Steelers58]

Firing Haley is not the reason were home, it all boils down to Ben making horrible decisions, all the time we hear Ben makes something out of nothing, yep, true enough, but how many times have we seen him tracked down and planted in the turf, this guy is in the prime of his carrer but still hasent learned to throw the ball away

[lloydwoodson]

Originally Posted by Steelers58

Firing Haley is not the reason were home, it all boils down to Ben making horrible decisions, all the time we hear Ben makes something out of nothing, yep, true enough, but how many times have we seen him tracked down and planted in the turf, this guy is in the prime of his carrer but still hasent learned to throw the ball away

Some quotes as the NFL Network weighed in on Ben's comments about Haley in late October.

"I can only speak on my time with Todd Haley. I didn't feel like we were dink and dunk at all. I mean, we were fifth in the league in big plays- 20 plus yards pass plays.... Big Ben is on pace to throw more than we did that year and we were fifth in the league. I still think the Steelers are taking shots." Kurt Warner

"(Ben needs to) take what the defense gives you and don't out your offensive coordinator. Some of these things you have to keep in house. I mean we murdered TO (in the media) for this but with Big Ben it's not a huge story. I'm glad we are talking about this right now." Marshall Faulk

"Mendenhall is coming back from an injury so the dink and dunk becomes your running game because you didn't know what kind of running game you were going to have. My issue with it is this, Ben Roethlisberger, once you say this now you just gave Antonio Brown, Mike Wallace and Sanders the ability to act nuts on the sideline if the offense isn't going well... and that's what you don't need right now if you're the Pittsburgh Steelers." Michael Irvin

"Didn't we all see this coming? The quarterback who has never been reined in, never been told he is holding the ball too long, never been told he is spending too much time in the pocket, never been told these things. Now he has Haley for his offensive coordinator. I have gone up against Haley's offense and he is fiery in every way, shape and form." Warren Sapp

[wwhickok]

Hopefully he interviews with Arizona and accepts their head coaching job.

[VaDave]

Moderators,

Can I start a sticky on firing our next OC??

Haley stays, Ben will produce, like he did before the oline blew apart. This offensive system is sound, and the hype about Ben and Todd's relationship is hype. Nothing more.

As for the rushing attack, let's look at the last Cleveland game for a microcosum of the season. We stated the game with the following offensive line left to right, Starks, Foster, Pouncey, DeCastro, Beachum. In the Second quarter it was Starks, Foster, Pouncey, Legurski, and Beachum. Then in the third quarter on, we fininised the game with Starks, Legurski, Pouncey, Malecki, and Foster.

I'm all for position flexability and all, but I got to break it to you, to expect a dominant rushing attack, with all of that shifting around, especially Foster, who spent all the week prior cramming the books prepping to play left guard, then ends up playing crunch time at RT, and position he hasn't played since he was in college, is an unreasonable expectation.

When you are playing a guy that was your second string RG, who was filling in at LG, but had to be moved to right tackle, our 4th option at RG that spend most of the season on the PS, our third option at RG moving over to LG to replace our third option at LG who had to move to RT as our 5th option at that position........ Can you understand why there might be a little disruption with our rushing attack?

Guys, injuries do matter. "Next Man Up" is nothing more than macho BS. When a guy goes down, the next man is not going to be as good. If they were as good, they would be alternating snaps to balance the work load.

Hayley is doing fine and IMO was a dang good hire.

[thethinkingguy]

I'm loving this conversation. In fact, your posts are the subject of our first article at our new quantitative analysis site: www.steelcitystats.com

What we have learned, through regression analysis and statistical analysis of NFL means and standard deviations is that, the Steelers didn't lose division games because of pass/rush distribution. Rather, they lost the division because of abysmal QB play in key games. I encourage you to check it out.

[bde407]

Fire Haley??? While I agree that the Offense was somewhat "boring in 2012" Big Ben was on his way towards his best season before getting hurt. Sitting out for 3 stright games will kill anyones progress. There are many changes that need to take place this year, which one(s) will help only time will tell... I agree in a way that the Offense needed to change from the gun slinger offense. Big Ben would not last another season without a more protective offense. Alot of that is on Big Ben himself (hold the ball to long) and I think the Haley offence would build more around Big Bens ability to read a D and make more plays with his mind and not his running around the field like a wildman. While that worked in the past it will tend to age your QB faster. I just don't think Wallace (with no training camp) adjusted to fit in with the Haley offense. Do we need the deep ball plays, of course every team has that need. But we need the other 20 passing plays to move the field. As for the running game, well that never really took off because of the constant " who will start" and how long will they last before getting hurt. D-line, while it is older when compared to the entire league, it WAS still #1 overall. Don't fix what is not broken. Not saying it does not need to be adjusted but the foundation it present!!!!

I don't follow the O-line so I can't really comment..... But it sure did not seem to help with the running game when the Defense is attacking the running back before he can get a head of steam under him.

I say keep Haley, But build in a few more 20 -25 yard passes and lose a few 5 yard dumps... Heath Miller had a pro bowl year finally because he was getting the 10 yd passes the steelers never had before.

Wallace, well.... Steelers have always build team around players that could contribute in more that just one way and well Wallace at this point can only do one or two tricks.

While 2012 was not in anyway like the last couple seasons, I think the idea was sound but they were trying to put in a entire new offense and some players just could not adjust.