Steelers players reaction to Todd Haley's playbook shows how weak Arians playbook was

[Steeldude]

Todd Haley has handed out the Steelers new playbook. From the reaction of the players it is nothing like the playbook Bruce Arians has put out in the past. Ben Roethlisberger compared it to learning “Rosetta Stone”. That is expected when a new coordinator comes in. You get his playbook rather than the one you were using.

There were two comments though that stood out to me with the players talking about the new playbook. One was from Ben Roethlisberger and the other from Emmanuel Sanders.


Roethlisberger said...

“The similarities would be on a shorter list. Off the top of my head, from what I’ve seen so far, there’s a 90 percent change.”


Sanders said...

This new playbook is something serious!!!!! Bout to go old-school and make some flashcards.

Both liken the playbook to a completely new world. It makes this playbook seem more in depth and brand new. A playbook from a new coach should be new but not 90% new. If the Steelers had a good playbook before it would be 50-60% new. The overall scheme may change some but the plays even with new terminology should not be that different. It should not be that out of the ordinary. These two guys saying it is tells us even more about Bruce Arians.

Fans have been complaining for years about how predictable Bruce Arians was with the Steelers scheme. We all knew what type of play was coming when the Steelers would line up on offense. So did our opponents. They knew where the ball was going before the ball was even snapped. It showed in our offense. It showed in Roethlisberger’s grimace when he would get hit. We have all of these weapons and yet we can not score points. This makes sense as to why now.

People questioned the offensive line. They questioned Ben Roethlisberger. They questioned the wide receivers. The main question they asked was why does Ben hold on to the ball so long and take hits? Yes the offensive line was inconsistent. Yes Ben likes to be a hero. No the receivers did not get open. Now we understand though that the receivers may have not been able to get open because Arians playbook was so easy to figure out that it took more time for them to get open. If the defense knew what was coming they could roll the coverage to the play. If no one is open Ben had to hold the ball so he got hit more. So even though you can put some blame on the players most of it should go to Arians.

There were so many times when I sat on the couch and said that guy missed his hot read. Ben should have hit him right off the bat. The blitz was coming. Now seeing how much these guys think Haley’s playbook is so in depth it makes me wander if they did miss their hot read or not. Was there even a true hot read? Or, was a bubble screen Arians way of having a hot read?

cont'd here...Link (http://bleedblackandgold.com/blog/2012/05/11/steelers-players-reaction-to-todd-haleys-playbook-shows-how-weak-arians-playbook-was/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BleedBlackAndGold+%28Bleed+Bl ack+and+Gold%29)

[NJarhead]

I'm intrigued

[GoSlash27]

This whole line of reasoning rests on two stated facts being true: #1 The playbook is actually 90% different and #2 a 90% change in a playbook is abnormal. I don't know enough to confirm or refute either point. Can anyone else?

[NJarhead]

This whole line of reasoning rests on two stated facts being true: #1 The playbook is actually 90% different and #2 a 90% change in a playbook is abnormal. I don't know enough to confirm or refute either point. Can anyone else?
Nope, but I agree that Arians may have been a bit predictible (although I was always a proponent of his). Sometimes change is a good thing and I believe this may be one of those times. Maybe not immediately, but over the course of the season.

[Bluecoat96]

I think I'll need a hardhat to be in this thread, since I predict the sh*t to start flying before too long!
:behindsofa:

[Animal Mother]

Haley sucks! Fire him already!

[NJarhead]

I think I'll need a hardhat to be in this thread, since I predict the sh*t to start flying before too long!
:behindsofa:

Oh man, don't say that. Although you're probably right.


Haley sucks! Fire him already!


lol

[LLT]

This whole line of reasoning rests on two stated facts being true: #1 The playbook is actually 90% different and #2 a 90% change in a playbook is abnormal. I don't know enough to confirm or refute either point. Can anyone else?

...and that the changes are NOT including drastic changes in terminology.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Haley sucks! Fire him already!

I'll get my pitchforks and torches and rally the troops. Meet you in the town square and we run him out of town!!

90% change to offense........this is exactly what the Mayan calendar predicted.:old:

[tube517]

I'll get my pitchforks and torches and rally the troops. Meet you in the town square and we run him out of town!!

90% change to offense........this is exactly what the Mayan calendar predicted.:old:

Not soon enough. Did anyone get the FireHaley.org/FireHaley.com domains yet? :chuckle:

[fansince'76]

Not soon enough. Did anyone get the FireHaley.org/FireHaley.com domains yet? :chuckle:

Give it about six games.

[GodfatherofSoul]

2011: "OMG, Arians playbook sucks!"
2012: "90% new plays? OMG Haley sucks!"

[HollywoodSteel]

I'm not really following the logic of the argument. If coordinator A's playbook is 90% different than B's, that somehow proves how awful B's playbook is. Wouldn't the reverse also be true? If Arians replaced Haley in KC, wouldn't the KC players be correct in saying that they have to get to studying because the playbook is 90% different? Would that somehow prove that Haley must have sucked? No wonder KC was 27th in total yards and 31st in points per game! It all just goes to prove what I conveniently already believed!

Okay, before anyone gets the wrong idea, here's what I believe: Haley is a better offensive coordinator that Arians. His playbook is probably better. But the logic of this article does absolutely nothing to persuade me one way or another. If anything it makes me worry that Haley might have made a mistake in not incorporating more of the some of the stuff that the players are familiar with, but again, that would be a leap on my part. The 90% different statistic tells me nothing other than the fact these coordinators have very different playbooks.

[Austin87]

I'm not really following the logic of the argument. If coordinator A's playbook is 90% different than B's, that somehow proves how awful B's playbook is. Wouldn't the reverse also be true? If Arians replaced Haley in KC, wouldn't the KC players be correct in saying that they have to get to studying because the playbook is 90% different? Would that somehow prove that Haley must have sucked? No wonder KC was 27th in total yards and 31st in points per game! It all just goes to prove what I conveniently already believed!

Okay, before anyone gets the wrong idea, here's what I believe: Haley is a better offensive coordinator that Arians. His playbook is probably better. But the logic of this article does absolutely nothing to persuade me one way or another. If anything it makes me worry that Haley might have made a mistake in not incorporating more of the some of the stuff that the players are familiar with, but again, that would be a leap on my part. The 90% different statistic tells me nothing other than the fact these coordinators have very different playbooks.

Good post!

[Steeldude]

I think I'll need a hardhat to be in this thread, since I predict the sh*t to start flying before too long!
:behindsofa:

Well it will probably get the usual Arians lovers posting smartass remarks, as they so often do.

[Steeldude]

I'm not really following the logic of the argument. If coordinator A's playbook is 90% different than B's, that somehow proves how awful B's playbook is. Wouldn't the reverse also be true? If Arians replaced Haley in KC, wouldn't the KC players be correct in saying that they have to get to studying because the playbook is 90% different? Would that somehow prove that Haley must have sucked?

Then Sanders wouldn't need flashcards.

As the article hinted at, I doubt there were hot reads.

[Steeldude]

Haley sucks! Fire him already!

I can see the Arians lovers doing that after the first loss.

[steeldawg]

Well of course his playbook is 90% different, thats why they hired him! The steelers made it clear they were not happy with what arians was doing with the talent he had on offense, so why would they hire anyone who was running a similar playbook. And for the record I thought arians playbook was very weak and very predictible, I applaud the change.

[ALLD]

Arians" playbook consisted of :
Run on first down up the middle, hey diddle diddle.
Run around the edge on second.
Third down everybody block and WRs go long. Hopefully BB doesn't get killed.
Punt

[fansince'76]

I can see the Arians lovers doing that after the first loss.

No, I imagine it will be the same armchair OCs who pissed and moaned nonstop about Arians (and every other OC to come down the pike before him) doing that instead. Of course, we could go 12-4 and win the SB, but if we don't score 70+ points a game doing it, the same thing will happen as well.

[Animal Mother]

Arians" playbook consisted of :
Run on first down up the middle, hey diddle diddle.
Run around the edge on second.
Third down everybody block and WRs go long. Hopefully BB doesn't get killed.
Punt

I don't think it was THAT bad. More like "defense is blitzing the crap out of us, let's do a bubble screen to throw them off", "now defense is backed off, let's see how a bubble screen works in this situation", and finally, "it's 3rd and 6 if we convert we win the game, the last thing they're going to expect is a bubble screen"

[X-Terminator]

Should have just locked this thread before it got going.

[ShutDown24]

Got my popcorn ready for this one :pop2:

[bayz101]

This will be interesting.

[smokin3000gt]

I don't think it was THAT bad. More like "defense is blitzing the crap out of us, let's do a bubble screen to throw them off", "now defense is backed off, let's see how a bubble screen works in this situation", and finally, "it's 3rd and 6 if we convert we win the game, the last thing they're going to expect is a bubble screen"

Lol!

Sent from my EVO 4G using Tapatalk

[Texasteel]

Well it will probably get the usual Arians lovers posting smartass remarks, as they so often do.

No smart ass remark here. I just haven't see anything in anything I read that showed that BA or his playbook sucks. I only see that there is a lot new for the players to learn. I hope not to much. I believe that our offense should be much better this year for several reasons. We will have a stronger line, it became stronger in the first two rounds IMO. We also may have a weapon that we didn't have last year in the ultra fast RB that can hit the outside in a heart beat. Hopefully Ben will get beat up a lot lease and be able to play on two good wheels all year. We also have a new OC that I hope will do a great job, but that does not mean that BA sucked or that he will not to a very good job with his new team.

I am a little worried about a playbook that the players need flashcards to learn or understand, but I have faith in Haley and even if we have a rough couple of games to start I will trust him to get his playbook across to the players or make any needed adjustments so that we will have a great year.

[Count Steeler]

No big deal here. How different was the Steelers playbook from the respective players college playbooks?

Some people handle change better than others. The players need to suck it up and get cracking.

[Steeldude]

No, I imagine it will be the same armchair OCs who pissed and moaned nonstop about Arians (and every other OC to come down the pike before him) doing that instead. Of course, we could go 12-4 and win the SB, but if we don't score 70+ points a game doing it, the same thing will happen as well.

And how long was Arians the OC? Seems to me he was given quite a long time.

The realists wanted an offense that wasn't so predictable and didn't put so much pressure on the defense

[SteelGhost]

I just HOPE that 90% percent change (that sounds exaggerated IMO) help the players to perform at their top AND protect Big Ben better, he MUST be healthy if we want a 7th trophy.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Not soon enough. Did anyone get the FireHaley.org/FireHaley.com domains yet? :chuckle:

no, but toddhaleysucks.com is already taken. Late again.:smash:

[fansince'76]

And how long was Arians the OC? Seems to me he was given quite a long time.

The realists wanted an offense that wasn't so predictable and didn't put so much pressure on the defense

"Cowherball" lasted 3 times as long as Arians' tenure, and if memory serves, the same bunch that squawked about Arians squawked constantly about that too. That's my point - it doesn't matter who the OC is, there's going to be no shortage of people constantly second-guessing the playcalling when Haley puts on the headset as well.

[Steeldude]

"Cowherball" lasted 3 times as long as Arians' tenure, and if memory serves, the same bunch that squawked about Arians squawked constantly about that too. That's my point - it doesn't matter who the OC is, there's going to be no shortage of people constantly second-guessing the playcalling when Haley puts on the headset as well.

That's what makes us fans. It's like that with every team's fans.

[steelreserve]

Pretty hard to say the new playbook is better than the old playbook when we haven't even seen what's in the new playbook.

On the other hand, the bar has not been set very high.

[zulater]

I'm excited about Haley and what he might bring to the offense. Given that we have a franchise quarterback in his prime, elite receivers, solid running backs, and the best all around tight end in the game I think it's fair to speculate that this offense has under performed in recent years. To me the only question has been how much of that is due to inconsistent and below average offensive line play, and how much is on the Arians -Roethlisberger dynamic?

Now the question is if we do get our line up to standards ( or hopefully beyond) does Ben function best in a complex offense with multiple moving parts? I think there's a strong possibility that we could take a step back in the early stages of next season while Ben finds his comfort level in Haley's offense. But I also believe if Haley and the coaching staff is patient. And if Ben is mature enough to stick it through and not whine, complain, or demand a return to simplicity. Then eventually the one step back initially taken will be followed by two huge strides forward, with the end result being the Steelers and Ben finally evolving into a truly elite offense.

Before anyone takes this as a bash at Arains, it's not. As mentioned before Bruce wasn't exactly afforded the best of offensive lines. But even more than that, it may have been Ben wasn't quite ready to take those next strides yet. Bruce's offenses quite likely are what best gave us the chance to succeed ( with some exceptions) at the time.

I also think it's quite likely that Arains and Ben's relationship was such that Bruce wouldn't have been able to bring about the desired change ( aka the "tweaks") in the way that Ben plays the game. Any initial failure would have likely resulted in a scrapping of the new and a reversion of the same old "system" of before.

[BnG_Hevn]

I think people are over reacting to Ben's "Rosetta Stone" comment. If the new playbook was akin to "Rosetta Stone", the wouldn't it be easy to learn?

After all, from what I hear anyway, Rosetta Stone makes learning languages easy.

[GoSlash27]

"Cowherball" lasted 3 times as long as Arians' tenure, and if memory serves, the same bunch that squawked about Arians squawked constantly about that too. That's my point - it doesn't matter who the OC is, there's going to be no shortage of people constantly second-guessing the playcalling when Haley puts on the headset as well.

Memory may not serve. Certainly I would expect some people to fuss about the OC no matter who it is, but I don't recall a large percentage of the Cowher-ball detractors griping about Arians or vice-versa.

Speaking strictly for myself, I have always loved Cowher-ball, I was never a fan of Arians' offense style, and I am reserving judgement on Haley until I see what he has in mind.

[Prok]

I'm not really following the logic of the argument. If coordinator A's playbook is 90% different than B's, that somehow proves how awful B's playbook is. Wouldn't the reverse also be true? If Arians replaced Haley in KC, wouldn't the KC players be correct in saying that they have to get to studying because the playbook is 90% different? Would that somehow prove that Haley must have sucked? No wonder KC was 27th in total yards and 31st in points per game! It all just goes to prove what I conveniently already believed!

Okay, before anyone gets the wrong idea, here's what I believe: Haley is a better offensive coordinator that Arians. His playbook is probably better. But the logic of this article does absolutely nothing to persuade me one way or another. If anything it makes me worry that Haley might have made a mistake in not incorporating more of the some of the stuff that the players are familiar with, but again, that would be a leap on my part. The 90% different statistic tells me nothing other than the fact these coordinators have very different playbooks.

Well put. I grew tired of our play-calling and gameplanning during the Arians years. Coach Haley has something he never had in KC though. A true franchise QB. With all this talent at the skill positions and re-vamped O-line i think most of us are expecting big improvements from our offense immediately. Hopefully these guys get the play-book down asap and we see a dynamic, consistant offense week after week.

[TMC]

I would think that while the playbook changed, it is more the terminology. I mean, how many routes are there on a WR route tree? How many different combinations of those routes can be ran? But, terminology changes with each OC. They can be as simple as an I right, T pull, which is simply an I-formation, TE right, and you are leading the run with the tackle pulling (Steelers have called it the Off Tackle under one coordinator and the 22 Double under another, same play). Now, it is a myriad of play calls from the sideline and each OC seems to have a different verbiage. Some of these plays sound like the QB started to make the call and was stricken with Tourette's syndrome midway through.