Steelers won't be ultra-conservative

[stillers4me]

By Mark Kaboly, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, September 10, 2010


Art Rooney II said a few months back that the Steelers need to get back to running the ball more.
So, with Dennis Dixon getting only his second start Sunday when the Steelers open the season against visiting Atlanta, what better time is there to appease the boss and run the ball more?
Well, you might not want to erase the team record of 60 attempts out of the media guide quite yet.
"To go out and say we have to run the ball to win the game, put a number of runs on it, I don't believe that," offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said. "You have to score points."............................

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_698811.html

[ALLD]

"In order to win the game you first must not lose it."

-Chuck Noll

[Chidi29]

If I'm Arians, I'm spreading things out.

Even MORE four/five wide sets than we had with Ben last year.

Riddle me this. Why do college quarterbacks that aren't NFL-caliber usually run out of the spread offense? Jason White, Chris Leak, and Eric Crouch, are just three random examples that came off the top of my head.

Because it's easier for them to manage. There aren't situations where you have only two or three options and have to look that safety off to open up the post route, to hold that linebacker an extra second when you have your receiver coming across the field, to make that stick throw between two defenders. That doesn't happen.

It's a simple point and shoot offense. Check option one. If he's there, throw the ball. If not, go to option to. It's a "bang, bang, bang" type of progression. You'll have tons of guys running routes underneath, getting out of their breaks quickly. You won't have slow devolping plays that require a deceptive and accurate QB because you're only sending our two or three receivers, increasing the chances of the QB staring down a receiver.

It'll also teach Dixon to go through his progressions with a minimal chance of mistake because as stated, these are very quick progressions. You know that if you don't get the ball out of your hand quickly, you're going to be picking grass out of your helmet all game. This'll also ensure Dixon knows where his safety valve is each play in case there's a delayed blitz or a lineman gets beat off the snap.

Tomlin said he wants to create an offense that will come naturally to Dixon. No over-teaching because him thinking too much will do more harm than good. What better way to create an offense that feels normal and is natural than going back to what Dixon did at Oregon? Run the spread when you're going to pass.

Is this the best way to teach a QB? No, it's not. But we're not grooming him to become a starting, franchise QB. It's four games. Let's get through this as seamlessly as we can.

I wouldn't run bootlegs or rollouts. That's dumb in my mind. Why take away half the field? Dixon will have plenty of other opportunities to run on regular called pass plays. when nothing is open. We don't need to create special plays for him to take off.