Randy Fichtner Looking To Improve Personnel Usage, Communication In Year 2 As OC

[polamalubeast]

It can be argued that the biggest move the Pittsburgh Steelers have made in the past couple of seasons was to move from Todd Haley as their offensive coordinator to Randy Fichtner, who had previously been the team’s wide receivers, and retains the dual title of quarterbacks coach.

While Fichtner spent some time at the college level as an offensive coordinator calling plays, the role was new to him at this peak in the NFL. There were several times throughout the 2018 season during that week in which he would chalk something that came up in the game or after the game to his inexperience and the growing pains of being a coordinator.

Fichtner recently sat down with Missi Matthews for the team’s website during OTAs this past week to discuss a diversity of topics, and one that he was asked about right off the bat was what areas he felt that he could improve upon going into his second season as an NFL-level coordinator.

“Continuing to utilize our players to the best that they can be and putting them in more unique positions to help them do their job better” was the first thing that he came up with. Rather than mold players into the pieces that he wants them to be to run a specific offense, it sounds as though he is more interested in tailoring what he does to who he has and what they are capable of doing.

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https://steelersdepot.com/2019/06/ra...-year-2-as-oc/

[Rotorhead]

I will give him this year to see what he can do, but we won’t know if he is going to be a great OC until Ben retires IMO. He know how Ben plays better then probably anybody having been his QB coach, not to mention Ben is a future HOF’er.
I am hoping for a better more balanced offense over the next few years, and putting players in a position to make plays is my preference for both off and def.

[DesertSteel]

I will give him this year to see what he can do, but we won’t know if he is going to be a great OC until Ben retires IMO. He know how Ben plays better then probably anybody having been his QB coach, not to mention Ben is a future HOF’er.
I am hoping for a better more balanced offense over the next few years, and putting players in a position to make plays is my preference for both off and def.

And we won't know if Belichick is a great coach until Brady retires... And we found out Noll wasn't a great coach after Terry retired... I could go on...

I'm not sure that's a fair way to make an evaluation. Great coaches need great players.

[polamalubeast]

Fichtner was not perfect and I would like a more balanced offense, but he was far from bad.

Much less frustrating than Todd Haley and his huge ego.

[Six Rings]

Fichtner was not perfect and I would like a more balanced offense, but he was far from bad.

Much less frustrating than Todd Haley and his huge ego.

Fichtner was better than Haley. With a year under his belt, I expect the communication part of calling the plays to be a bit smother. I think we are going to have to use the Tight End and backs a bit more in the passing game until a reliable #2 Wide Receiver emerges.

[pczach]

And we won't know if Belichick is a great coach until Brady retires... And we found out Noll wasn't a great coach after Terry retired... I could go on...

I'm not sure that's a fair way to make an evaluation. Great coaches need great players.

You're right about all of that. What has Belichick accomplished without Brady?

I'm not sure that's the best way to evaluate a coach. Talent means so much in pro sports and to the success of the coaches.

The red zone offense dramatically improved with Fichtner. That has to count for something, but we need a bigger sample. We'll see what he is able to do this year in regard to scheme now that AB and Bell are no longer on the team, and the RB position clearly has more depth and experience this year.

He didn't run the ball enough last year IMO, but Bell was a holdout and he rolled with Ben last year. I want to see where that goes this year and going forward. I want the offense to toughen up, run the ball better(particularly in short yardage situations) and more often, and try to play more complimentary football to help the defense be on the field less. I know the defense clearly needs to improve as well, but the offense and defense could help each other.

Overall, I think Fichtner did a very good job considering the circumstances last year. We are going to watch everything unfold as the season goes on, and any changes or adjustments he makes for personnel. That will probably require some tweaking and adjustments on the fly to adapt to the new players as they learn from each other.

[polamalubeast]

Maybe the Steelers will run the ball more often next year because we have more depth and also more confidence with the RB than the steelers have .... Last year, the only RB that the steelers had confidence in the first 3 months was Conner, and after the first game, I think the steelers did not want to give Conner 30 run per game and the steelers did not have much confidence in the other RBs, so I think that's one of the reasons why the run-pass ratio was crazy, but we'll see.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Maybe the Steelers will run the ball more often next year because we have more depth and also more confidence with the RB than the steelers have .... Last year, the only RB that the steelers had confidence in the first 3 months was Conner, and after the first game, I think the steelers did not want to give Conner 30 run per game.

Unless Fichtner has an eye opening experience, I don't expect much different. He comes from an environment of spread offenses and gadget offenses in his coaching career. He hasn't been part of a balanced offensive attack that lets good O linemen establish their presence running the football.

Haley cut his teeth coaching in Bill Parcells environments and Parcells was a proponent of building his teams from the inside out (linemen first and then skill players), so Haley saw what offenses that were more balanced and had physical O line play could do. As much as Haley had his shortcomings, he at least knew when he could feed guys like Bell, DeAngelo Williams, etc to wear down a D line early and then close out games behind an O line with multiple pro bowlers on it.

[Edman]

Running back depth has been an issue for years under Tomlin. It isn't a unique Fichtner thing. Behind Le'Veon Bell, we'd have a half-decent veteran, and nobody else. DeAngelo Williams was good and reliable, but he was no game changer. Outside of him, we had Fitzy Toussaint, Jordan Todman, Josh Harris, Dri Archer, and even Ben Tate.

The immense talent Antonio Brown brought to the offense was a double-edged sword, and I'm not talking about the whole "Ben forces it to AB" thing, because I don't believe in that. Brown was by far the best skill player on the team, and the Steelers couldn't afford to not get him the ball any way they could. Combined with talents like Bryant, Wheaton, and Juju at wideout, yeah, you can see why RB was a meh position for many years. It bit the Steelers in the ass many times. Like last season. Fichtner's hand was forced a little last season, at least I hope that is the case. 2019 will tell us everything.

Now, the WR core is depleted to 2005-2008 levels. No really, it's a really depleted group. All Ben has to throw to is Juju, and a bunch of journeymen like Moncrief, Switzer, and unproven guys like James Washington and Rookie Dionte Johnson. Conversely, the backfield has been (theoretically) loaded with better depth. Conner, Samuels, and Snell.

There is absolutely no excuse for the Steelers to lead the league in pass attempts again in 2019. I will give Fichtner a bit of a mulligan for 2018, but If I see more shitheap offensive gameplans like last season against the Chargers, then he can kindly eff off.

[polamalubeast]

I do not think our WR core is bad ... In fact the potential is very good, but they need to prove that on the field.

If we compare with the core steelers after Brown in 2016, it was garbage and depleted!

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Unless Fichtner has an eye opening experience, I don't expect much different. He comes from an environment of spread offenses and gadget offenses in his coaching career. He hasn't been part of a balanced offensive attack that lets good O linemen establish their presence running the football.

Haley cut his teeth coaching in Bill Parcells environments and Parcells was a proponent of building his teams from the inside out (linemen first and then skill players), so Haley saw what offenses that were more balanced and had physical O line play could do. As much as Haley had his shortcomings, he at least knew when he could feed guys like Bell, DeAngelo Williams, etc to wear down a D line early and then close out games behind an O line with multiple pro bowlers on it.

I had no problem with the schemes from Todd Haley in offense ... My big problem with him was his play calling and his ego. Sometimes Haley wanted too much to be a genious.