Offense not as good as we think it is going to be?

[Atlanta Dan]

Originally Posted by jjpro11

if nobody else is going to say it, then i will... i am worried about the offense. the oline couldnt pass block for shit last year and heading into this season, it doesnt look any better. no hartings, RT is still undecided, center isnt decided yet, and faneca isnt happy... i dont care about preseason performance, nothing we did in the offseason would lead me to believe this oline will be a stellar group, or at least keep ben healthy for an entire season. i hope im wrong. but i will wait and see.

The offense was even worse in 2005 preseson, so much so that Ed.B. of the P-G wrote at the start of the 2005 season that Ben's playoff and subsequent pre-season performances had Steelers officials wondering if he was a 10 week wonder who had fallen back to earth.

Let's wait until the second half of the Browns game, when some of us will be suitably intoxicated, to start worrying. If they lose in Cleveland I promise you this board will have some "Whiz Was The Right Choice"" threads by 4:30 that afternoon.

[HometownGal]

I think it's way too soon to throw in the towel on this offense or Arians. We've only played 3 preseason games and adjusments are going to be made after the final cuts - the coaches will then know for certain who and what they have to work with and gameplan accordingly. Balance is the key to any successful offensive attack and remember - FWP just played his first preseason game this past Saturday night. The "left hand" and the "right hand" must be in sync. I don't think it's fair at this point to shed dark light upon the offense or Arians - it's just too early to make a call either way imho.

[delhess]

don't forget that field position killed us because of poor special teams play last year. by all appearances we drafted a kick ass punter, and tomlin has been focusing on special teams in training camp.

i'm not saying we're goin to the superbowl, but there is a lot of positives this year.

[WV-SteelerFan]

One word...

PRESEASON!

[Preacher]

Okay.. Let's break this down a bit more, and ask why or why not we should worry coming out of the preseason.

1. CB's. Last year, pitiful. There are some that blame the DL and LB's, some that blame the scheme (standing to far off the LB's and not jamming them on the line), and some that blame the CB's).

In Pre-season, when the CB's have been in position, they have done a good job defending this preseason, in the "personal battles." What we can learn from that from preseason, is that it is possible our CB's have learned how to defend 1 on 1 against a receiver when they are both going up for the ball. However, there have been times the WR's have been wide open. Why? That we cannot answer in preseason. It may be that LeBeau doesn't want to unveil his new schemes. It may be simply a lack of game-planning in the preseason.

So for the CB's, what we CAN take away from the preseason is that they have improved in the physical battle for the ball. everything else we have to wait for the reg. season to wonder about.

2. OL. Last year, horrible. The right side of the line resembled the French army in WWII (Sure, come right this way!)

In preseason, Simmons looks like he has done a good job stepping back up to be the player we drafted. Starks has struggled and Willie Colon may take over for him. Again, these are personal battles. I haven't see any DL or LB come through the line at the center position (ST excepted). Thus, I am not worried about that. All we ask the C to do is not allow the D in. The holes are opened up by the Guards and tackles, not the center. So if he locks up his guy and gets the ball to the QB, he is done. We had one issue with a bad snap, but that is it.

So, for the OL, what we have learned is that Starks has not learned how to out-muscle or out-work opposing players in personal battles. But Colon has done a fine job. Thus, our Oline should be fine, but if ANYONE gets hurt, we are in trouble.

[The Duke]

Just like the defense, in preseason they're not showing all they will do during the season, it is a vanilla offense, and we saw a preview of it against the saints and some other flashes against skins and packers. The o line problems obviously won't be all gone, but we are shifting some men around to see where they fit better, like starks(when is he leaving anyway?), as long as the line protects Ben for a few more seconds everything will be alright

[SteelerFanInCA]

I think we need to sit back and relax because it's only the preseason. We have barely scraped the surface of the playbook. You can't expect us to show all our plays during preseason.

Everything will come together just fine. There's alot of talent on the team.

[jjpro11]

Originally Posted by Atlanta Dan

The offense was even worse in 2005 preseson, so much so that Ed.B. of the P-G wrote at the start of the 2005 season that Ben's playoff and subsequent pre-season performances had Steelers officials wondering if he was a 10 week wonder who had fallen back to earth.

Let's wait until the second half of the Browns game, when some of us will be suitably intoxicated, to start worrying. If they lose in Cleveland I promise you this board will have some "Whiz Was The Right Choice"" threads by 4:30 that afternoon.

i already said i dont care about what they do in preseason. on paper though, i just dont know how its going to get better... i hope arians has schemed for potentially a bit of a weaker oline.. all this long ball talk is nice, and id love to see ben air it out.. but its also what made the raiders offense one of the worst ever. they kept trying to go for the long ball but just didnt have the protection to hold off long enough. we are nothing near the raiders, even though they did beat us with a concussed ben.. but arians has to be careful with what we have right now.

[steelpride12]

Well see how we do against the Eagles thats all!

[PalmerSteel]

if your not worried at least a little bit about our offense, then your just blind. there is some cards stacked against them. new HC, new OC, new playbook, new style, questionable reliability/consistancy on the o-line. these are all facts not opinions. now do i think the steelers can overcome them and be really good on offense this year? yes because i believe ben will step his game up and the line will step it up, but their has to be worries.