Tomlin: Stilted offense was Steelers’ ‘Achilles’ heel’

[Hawaii 5-0]

Tomlin: Stilted offense was Steelers’ ‘Achilles’ heel’

By Alan Robinson
Published: Monday, December 31, 2012

On a day coach Mike Tomlin spent considerable time discussing the myriad injuries that helped wreck the Steelers‘ once-promising season, he disclosed a previously unrevealed malady.

Tomlin didn‘t blame the offense‘s second-half stagnation for short-circuiting the season, but he said Monday that the lack of progress was significant as the Steelers (8-8) lost five of their last seven. Not coincidentally, those were three games Ben Roethlisberger missed with a major injury, and the four in which he struggled to return to playing the way he did pre-injury.

“I thought we started out on the right foot in terms of dominating time of possession and converting third downs,” Tomlin said. “We did what was required to possess the ball and win football games. Obviously we didn‘t ascend in the second half of the season in those areas. It was an Achilles‘ heel for us.”

Or, perhaps more specifically, it was a shoulder and a rib that effectively doomed a season in which the Steelers (8-8) appeared to be peaking, with four straight wins, before the quarterback was hurt Nov. 12 against Kansas City.

At the time. Roethlisberger was on pace for his best season statistically; afterward, his numbers dipped.

“I felt like early on in the year, in the Oakland game (Sept. 23), we were coming on the sidelines and looking at the (scouting) pictures and it was like, ‘We‘ve got everything we want,‘ ” wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery said Monday. “We were moving the ball so well, and I felt like we were growing. All of a sudden, Ben gets hurt and that slows the progression. … Once Ben got back in, we were just trying to recapture what we had early on in the year, but it just didn‘t take place.”

Because the offense was so effective early on, Cotchery doesn‘t doubt Haley and Roethlisberger can work well together.

“I think this year guys did a good job of welcoming change and just trying to get better in the offense, and I think it will be better going forward,” Cotchery said.

Cotchery said the potential was there for much more.

“You look at the Oakland game, you look at the Tennessee game, games pretty much that you had in control, and for some reason they slipped away; the Browns game,” Cotchery said. “You (beat yourself) up the entire night, the entire offseason looking back at those games.”

And now they‘ll have nine months to do it.

http://triblive.com/sports/steelers/...#ixzz2GgTCr541

[lloydwoodson]

Good post. Official sources reiterating what we already knew: Haley's offense was showing promise before Ben was hurt, the players are working to learn the offense, and that if the team buys into the system and plays a responsible style of football good things will happen.

[OX1947]

Achilles Heel: "Preparing your team against shitty teams like they are playing waffle ball."

[Edman]

Originally Posted by lloydwoodson

Good post. Official sources reiterating what we already knew: Haley's offense was showing promise before Ben was hurt, the players are working to learn the offense, and that if the team buys into the system and plays a responsible style of football good things will happen.

The team can buy into the offense as much as they want, but it doesn't matter if #7 carries on his attitude.

[GoFor7]

Originally Posted by Hawaii 5-0

“I thought we started out on the right foot in terms of dominating time of possession and converting third downs,” Tomlin said. “We did what was required to possess the ball and win football games. Obviously we didn‘t ascend in the second half of the season in those areas. It was an Achilles‘ heel for us.”

Maybe next year the focus should be on scoring points instead of taking away opportunities for your offense to protect the defense, coach.

[OX1947]

Originally Posted by GoFor7

Maybe next year the focus should be on scoring points instead of taking away opportunities for your offense to protect the defense, coach.

Maybe if he put an actual game plan that could work 16 weeks in the regular season instead of reading his thesaurus all week for words to say, we would be playing next week.

[BowCatShot]

"Obviously we didn‘t ascend in the second half of the season in those areas. It was an Achilles‘ heel for us.”

It just happened. I had nothing to do with it. Don't blame me or hold me accountable. Nothing could have been done about it by me.

Tomlin = dud.

[SteelersCanada]

Originally Posted by BowCatShot

"Obviously we didn‘t ascend in the second half of the season in those areas. It was an Achilles‘ heel for us.”

It just happened. I had nothing to do with it. Don't blame me or hold me accountable. Nothing could have been done about it by me.

Tomlin = dud.

This makes me sad. Not only is Tomlin one of the very few coaches that will take all the blame regardless of whether or not it's warranted, he doesn't make excuses. He didn't say injuries were the reason the season derailed. He didn't say that losing the franchise Quarterback for 3 games in the middle of the season while they were in the midst of a playoff hunt was the reason they lost. No, he just took accountability and expects better results for 2013.

Your post implies he deflects blame which is ridiculous. He takes accountability and takes the blame for losses even when it had little-or-nothing to do with coaching. But, I don't think I'm going to change your mind with logic because you're hard pressed on blaming Mike after one bad season that was marred by injuries.

[lloydwoodson]

Tomlin never makes excuses.

Tomlin is the hardest worker on the team. He looks like a ghost at the end of a season. I would be curious to know how many hours a day he spends working. Definitely more than 12.

Tomlin is a young coach who will make mistakes. Belichek has been an NFL coach since Mike Tomlin was 2 years old. Tom Coughlin has been coaching since before Tomlin was born.

[BlacksburgSteeler13]

Originally Posted by SteelersCanada

This makes me sad. Not only is Tomlin one of the very few coaches that will take all the blame regardless of whether or not it's warranted, he doesn't make excuses. He didn't say injuries were the reason the season derailed. He didn't say that losing the franchise Quarterback for 3 games in the middle of the season while they were in the midst of a playoff hunt was the reason they lost. No, he just took accountability and expects better results for 2013.

Your post implies he deflects blame which is ridiculous. He takes accountability and takes the blame for losses even when it had little-or-nothing to do with coaching. But, I don't think I'm going to change your mind with logic because you're hard pressed on blaming Mike after one bad season that was marred by injuries.

But Tomlin sucks! He didn't take his team to the playoffs every single year. He somehow made Ben throw game losing interceptions in three different games! He somehow made all his running backs and wide receivers fumble! He somehow made the offensive line not block! He somehow got Ben and many other players hurt! All of this is somehow Tomlin's fault! Tomlin is the worst coach in the league and he should be replaced by Whiz, even though Whiz has never won anything and never sniffed the postseason after Kurt Warner left.