Will The Steeler Go More To A Passing Game?

[X-Terminator]

Originally Posted by 83-Steelers-43

At the same time, I think when people hear "open up the passing game to a larger degree" they automatically think " air-it-out type of offense/2003 season/6-10 record".

I agree. We have the personnel to open up the offense and score with anyone now, which is something we haven't had around here in a long, long time. But we certainly will not abandon the running game, not with a guy like Parker carrying the rock who can give you a 70 yard TD in a blink of an eye. You don't keep a weapon like that in your gun.

[Black@Gold Forever32]

I have wanted the Steelers to become a more balanced offensive team for years. I would like to see a 50/50 pass/run ratio. But I don't think that will happen I see more a 45/55 this year. The Steelers have the talent on offense to be a very good and dangerous passing team. But with all the success the team has had the last two years. Its hard to argue at not running the ball at the rate of the past two years.

About Ben passing the ball more then 20 times in the game and not having success. Thats so silly hearing that. Ben threw the ball a whole lot in college. True it was at the college level. But Ben put up monster numbers in college. Also the times he has more then 20 attempts in his pro career have been good as well. The AFC title game against the Broncos Ben had 29 attempts and had a very good game. In the loss to the Bengals during the regular season....Ben's 386 yards through the air was third most in a game for a Steelers QB. Plus he also completed 72 percent of his passes that day. True Ben also had 3 INT's. But hey every QB from Johnny Unitas to Joe Montana threw INT's from time to time. If Ben has to pass more. He will be fine.

[Livinginthe past]

What will be real interesting will be to see if Ben can handle the load if the running game doesnt pan out for the Steelers this year.

Its all very well saying balanced offense, but you have to have proven commodities in both departments before you can take it for granted that it is, at least, possible in a successful sense.

I would put the 2006 Steelers in the same category as the 2003 patriots, the one featuring Antowain Smith at RB.

Of course, Antowain and Willie are vastly differnt RBs in terms of style, but neither can be seriously regarded as a legitimate 1600 yard back.

This meant that the Patriots were having to concede drives, by running on 3rd and 5's that they knew they weren't going to make, in order to keep the 'balance' of run attempts to passing attempts.

Our passing was vastly more succesful than the running game, and people wanted to know why the Patriots weren't sticking with the method that brought them the most success.

The answer, I would guess to be, was that the Patriots needed to consistently pose the threat of the power running game in order that the passing game succeed - even if the running game was not hugely efficient.

I think the Steelers will find their running game shut down on a fairly consistent basis, and because Willie is the RB and not Bettis, Ben will find himself in alot of 3rd and long situations, rather than 3rd and short.

As I say, it will be interesting to see of Ben is capable of consistently carrying his team with big passing performances if and when they are needed.

NM

[BBC]

Originally Posted by Livinginthe past

What will be real interesting will be to see if Ben can handle the load if the running game doesnt pan out for the Steelers this year.

Its all very well saying balanced offense, but you have to have proven commodities in both departments before you can take it for granted that it is, at least, possible in a successful sense.

I would put the 2006 Steelers in the same category as the 2003 patriots, the one featuring Antowain Smith at RB.

Of course, Antowain and Willie are vastly differnt RBs in terms of style, but neither can be seriously regarded as a legitimate 1600 yard back.

This meant that the Patriots were having to concede drives, by running on 3rd and 5's that they knew they weren't going to make, in order to keep the 'balance' of run attempts to passing attempts.

Our passing was vastly more succesful than the running game, and people wanted to know why the Patriots weren't sticking with the method that brought them the most success.

The answer, I would guess to be, was that the Patriots needed to consistently pose the threat of the power running game in order that the passing game succeed - even if the running game was not hugely efficient.

I think the Steelers will find their running game shut down on a fairly consistent basis, and because Willie is the RB and not Bettis, Ben will find himself in alot of 3rd and long situations, rather than 3rd and short.

As I say, it will be interesting to see of Ben is capable of consistently carrying his team with big passing performances if and when they are needed.

NM

This was actually a rather good post until you mentioned the portion in bold. What exactly did Jerome do for us last season? He sure as hell didn't put us in any 3rd and short situations. He may have gotten the one or two yards needed in those 3rd and short situations that Ben and Willie put the Steelers into, but he had nothing to do with getting to that 3rd and short.

[Livinginthe past]

Originally Posted by BBC

This was actually a rather good post until you mentioned the portion in bold. What exactly did Jerome do for us last season? He sure as hell didn't put us in any 3rd and short situations. He may have gotten the one or two yards needed in those 3rd and short situations that Ben and Willie put the Steelers into, but he had nothing to do with getting to that 3rd and short.

I was thinking about the Steelers, historically, over the length of Bettis' career rather than just last year.

Of course, Ben wasn't the QB for a large percentage of Bettis' career but he was present for Bens first, and best, regular season.

I am of the opinion that, the high risk/high reward nature of Willies game compared to Bettis' game will lead to alot more 10 yard runs on first down, but similarly more 3rd and 8-12's rather than 3rd and 4's.

Ben stepped it up great in the playoffs, which is the most intense pressure atmosphere, but im wonering how he will cope through a long regular season if his effective run game is taken away from him.

NM

[Lyn]

I'd rather see the Steelers throw early and establish a rhythm for Ben, than run early and count on him to manage the game and deliver when the pressure is on to keep drives alive because that's when problems occurred with Ben late in the season. Recently I have had more doubts about Ben performing well on this level when he is in the controlled offense he ran last year than when he can drop back, read the defense and air it out as he did in college.

Oddly enough, this has me thinking of Terry Bradshaw. In the earlier part of the Steelers success, say '72 through '76, the Steelers achieved their success through running in a day when running was the thing to do (before the days of the "Mel Blount" rule on contact came about). In the later stages, '78 and '79, Terry was the prototypical gunslinger QB, calling pass plays more often than his contemporaries. Maybe he was in the early days of throwing early and often to establish a rhythm before anyone put the idea into formal
thought? Something to think about...

[BBC]

Originally Posted by Livinginthe past

I was thinking about the Steelers, historically, over the length of Bettis' career rather than just last year.

Of course, Ben wasn't the QB for a large percentage of Bettis' career but he was present for Bens first, and best, regular season.

I am of the opinion that, the high risk/high reward nature of Willies game compared to Bettis' game will lead to alot more 10 yard runs on first down, but similarly more 3rd and 8-12's rather than 3rd and 4's.

Ben stepped it up great in the playoffs, which is the most intense pressure atmosphere, but im wonering how he will cope through a long regular season if his effective run game is taken away from him.

NM

I agree that Willie is better for a couple of long runs, rather than every run being 3 or 4 yards, but Ben played with Willie as his RB all of last season, and didn't seem to skip a beat on 3rd down, I don't see why that would change this season, as they each have another year of experience under their belts.

[Livinginthe past]

Originally Posted by BBC

I agree that Willie is better for a couple of long runs, rather than every run being 3 or 4 yards, but Ben played with Willie as his RB all of last season, and didn't seem to skip a beat on 3rd down, I don't see why that would change this season, as they each have another year of experience under their belts.

I would disagree strongly with your assesment of Bens performance on 3rd downs in 2005 compared to 2004, when he had an effective Bettis in his armoury.

Here is a statistical breakdown.

Atts/ Comps 2004 - 67/105 - 63.8%
Atts/ Comps 2005 - 47/83 - 56.6%

Yards per att 2004 - 8.51
Yards per att 2005 - 7.00

TD/INT 2004 - 7/3 (70% TD Ratio)
TD/INT 2005 - 4/4 (50% TD Ratio)

Comps 20+ Yards 2004 - 14
Comps 20+ Yards 2005 - 7

3rd Down Passer Rating 2004 - 101.1
3rd Down Passer Rating 2005 - 74.4

In just about every 3rd down measureable Ben was a good deal less impressive last year compared to his rookie year.

Im not going to say Bens 3rd down performance was reliant upon a single factor, that being Bettis' input, but i'd deduce he had a very large impact.

NM

[BBC]

Skip a beat was bad wording on my part. When I used that phrase, I meant skip a beat from 1st and 2nd down. It wasn't as if Ben was having trouble playing on third down because he was set up in a long yardage situation, he played just fine on 3rd down (obviously not as well as last season, but still not exactly numbers to be sneezed at).

[Livinginthe past]

Originally Posted by BBC

Skip a beat was bad wording on my part. When I used that phrase, I meant skip a beat from 1st and 2nd down. It wasn't as if Ben was having trouble playing on third down because he was set up in a long yardage situation, he played just fine on 3rd down (obviously not as well as last season, but still not exactly numbers to be sneezed at).

Unfortuately I dont have the stats to back this one up, but I would hazard a guess that Bens main struggle with with 3rd down conversion and passer rating would have been the distance he needed to go to convert it.

This would be a direct result of less consistent play on 1st and 2nd downs.

Of course, there is a possibility that his thumb injury played some part in lowering his numbers, but I think his Wr corps was as strong as it ever was last year, and as you say, he was another year wiser.

NM