Starkey: The joke’s on the Steelers

[Hawaii 5-0]

Starkey: The joke’s on the Steelers

By Joe Starkey
Published: Wednesday, December 26, 2012

This Steelers‘ offense is an abomination.

Worse, it‘s soft.

They cannot run the ball. They do not score enough (2.2 touchdowns per game if, unlike them, you‘re scoring at home). Their red-zone approach stinks, and maybe most critically, their quarterback still goes sandlot too often and is getting his brains beaten in.

Bottom line: Bruce Arians must go.

I mean, Arians called for 25 passes in the first half at Dallas! He didn‘t use a fullback on several short-yardage runs against the Chargers! His third-and-1 handoffs take an hour-and-a-half to unfold and only work when Isaac Redman performs a miracle.

The running game is laughable. Byron Leftwich, who couldn‘t steal a base off Rod Barajas, has the team‘s second-longest run of the season. Rashard Mendenhall doesn‘t even bother to show up anymore.

The Steelers have lost their two divisional home games even though the opposing offense DID NOT SCORE A TOUCHDOWN. That‘s hard to do.

Mike Wallace is now a possession receiver. Emmanuel Sanders can‘t take a hit. Antonio Brown has lost his mind.

This group needs a coordinator with a backbone.

Besides, Arians is too friendly with Big Ben. He‘s more like Ben‘s uncle than his boss. You can‘t have that. Players can‘t be friends with coaches. That‘s insane.

It‘s obvious, in watching Ben play, that Arians isn‘t tough enough on him. Did you see the ridiculous interception that lost the Bengals‘ game? Typical Ben, doing whatever he wants out there and taking silly chances.

The Steelers need a guy who‘ll get in Ben‘s face, for Ben‘s own good. The man turns 31 in March. He won‘t make 34 if this kind of punishment keeps up.

What‘s more, Ben has misplaced his clutch gene. Behold his recent history in big games:

• He was terrible in the 2010 AFC Championship.

• He air-balled the last shot of Super Bowl XLIII.

• He double-dribbled on the last regulation possession of the Denver playoff game.

• He had multiple chances to finish off the Cowboys two weeks ago and the Bengals four days ago and came up empty every time.

The magic is gone.

So here‘s my suggestion for Steelers president Art Rooney II: Let it be known to Mike Tomlin that you‘d like to see Arians jettisoned. Leave the decision up to Tomlin, of course, knowing that any intelligent employee will take a hint from his boss (I sure hope Art and Mike aren‘t friends, by the way, because we‘ve seen how poorly that has worked out with Bruce and Ben).

That‘ll be it for Arians, but the Steelers should let him down softly. Maybe disguise the firing as a “retirement.” It‘s not likely Arians would find work right away and make the Steelers look bad. Everybody knows Ben made him.

Secretly, I‘m sure Arians still wants to be a head coach. Can you imagine that? With his luck, he‘d probably wind up in charge of a no-hope, 2-14 team.

Once Arians is gone, Rooney II should tell reporters that Ben needs to “tweak” his game, even if Robert Kraft would never say anything like that about Tom Brady. The Steelers need to rock Ben‘s world. He‘s too comfortable.

Look, it‘s past time the offense carried this franchise for a bit, but that‘s hard to do when you can‘t score. This sickly unit has reached 30 points once all season. The Seahawks score that many in a quarter.

If the Steelers don‘t hit 30 against Cleveland on Sunday, it‘ll be the first time in 20 years that they failed to reach the number at least twice in a season.

The bigger picture, though, is the quarterback. Ben must be tamed. He must be spared more bodily harm. My God, the man nearly speared himself to death with his own rib. Somebody needs to put him in his place — the pocket — and maybe even blow up at him once in a while.

I don‘t know who the new guy should be, but I‘ve got a solid tip for Rooney II and Tomlin.

I hear Todd Haley‘s available.

http://triblive.com/sports/joestarke...#ixzz2GGR6oTIQ

[desertsteel]

I get the article... I just think it's weird...

[Killer]

Hire Arians!

bwahahahahahahah


The 2009 9-7 team was at least entertaining - seems to me we were scoring points pretty regularly that year

38
28
27
27
28
24
24
37
23
30

oh how I wish we could score like that again, unless you prefer losing 13-10 games in the dink&dunk era

[Bayz101]

Sounds like Joe's butt-hurt.

It's Haley's first year, and people already want him on the cross. News Flash: The Steelers, once again, fell victim to injuries late in the season. The only difference between this year and last year is that we're not going to be humiliated in the playoffs again.

Arians isn't coming back, and I thank god for that. I really do.

[GoFor7]

Besides, Arians is too friendly with Big Ben. He‘s more like Ben‘s uncle than his boss. You can‘t have that. Players can‘t be friends with coaches. That‘s insane.

In case you didn't get this, he was pointing out how it's bad if Ben and Arians are perceived as buddy-buddy, but it's okay if Tomlin is buddy-buddy with the other players. I mentioned this before and some of you didn't see how that was hypocritical. Get it now?

[Killer]

If the Steelers don‘t hit 30 against Cleveland on Sunday, it‘ll be the first time in 20 years that they failed to reach the number at least twice in a season.

Disgusting. That's what Mr Dink&Dunk will get you - more chances to lose

[stb_steeler]

Originally Posted by Bayz101

Sounds like Joe's butt-hurt.

It's Haley's first year, and people already want him on the cross. News Flash: The Steelers, once again, fell victim to injuries late in the season. The only difference between this year and last year is that we're not going to be humiliated in the playoffs again.

Arians isn't coming back, and I thank god for that. I really do.

Funny how most seem to forget the injuries

[GoFor7]

Originally Posted by Killer

If the Steelers don‘t hit 30 against Cleveland on Sunday, it‘ll be the first time in 20 years that they failed to reach the number at least twice in a season.

Disgusting. That's what Mr Dink&Dunk will get you - more chances to lose

But you gotta possess the ball more! Those numbers are more important than the numbers on the scoreboard!

[Killer]

When defenses figured out we were playing Marty Ball and ascared to throw it deep they collapsed their coverage and jumped the under routes....Mr Play Not To Lose's dink&dunk went to shit after that


3rd and 1 - line up the single back 8 yds deep and run it up the gut

4th and 1- line up the single back 8 yds deep and run it up the gut


that's your offense, no misdirection, no play-action on 1st downs - just line up and run it up the gut

[GoFor7]

Originally Posted by Killer

When defenses figured out we were playing Marty Ball and ascared to throw it deep they collapsed their coverage and jumped the under routes....Mr Play Not To Lose's dink&dunk went to shit after that


3rd and 1 - line up the single back 8 yds deep and run it up the gut

4th and 1- line up the single back 8 yds deep and run it up the gut


that's your offense, no misdirection, no play-action on 1st downs - just line up and run it up the gut

lol. And yinzers shit on Ben for the season. Look at how this offense worked, he was almost set up to fail. If it wasn't for his epic 3rd down play before the injury, 8-8 would seem like a championship season. The Steelers played scared, close to the vest football for the majority of the game, then hoped Ben would bail them out at the end.

Guys, you're allowed to admit Artie screwed up when he hired Haley. Really, you don't get struck by lightning when you criticize him. And no, I made no deals with the devil to do so.