Notebook: Ben wants to light up scoreboard

[stillers4me]

If Ben Roethlisberger called the plays this season, the Steelers' offense would be called "Air Pittsburgh.""We should throw every play," he said.

Roethlisberger, who's entering his eighth season, wasn't totally serious when he made that comment. Obviously, as a quarterback, he'd like to throw the ball as often as possible but he knows that in order to be effective, there has to be some kind of balance between pass and run..............

Read more @ http://www.timesonline.com/sports/lo...9d9c642c9.html

[86WARD]

Of course he does. I'd be worried if a QB didn't want to air it out...lol.

[suitanim]

Oh boy...that's not going to sit well with the Arians-haters-who-think-that-the-only-plays-that-work-are-the-ones-that-Ben-calls-and-the ones-that-don't-are-called-by-Arians crowd. The same people who think if we run 75% of the time we'll be fine.

[siss]

Ben sounds like a little kid who get everything on his Christmas list!

[XxKnightxX]

Pass pass sack punt. BA must of slipped something into that cool aid eh guys haha

[Edman]

Because that worked so well in 2009, Ben. Just stick with what works.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

I saw London Fletcher lighting him up on the weekend. The O line was confused on that play, it looked like Pouncey went wide for the blitzer and let the ILB get a free run at Ben.

[SteelerEmpire]

"Air Pittsburgh.""We should throw every play," he said.

Roethlisberger, who's entering his eighth season, wasn't totally serious when he made that comment. Obviously, as a quarterback, he'd like to throw the ball as often as possible but he knows that in order to be effective, there has to be some kind of balance between pass and run

It's my opinion that when teams throw the 3,4 or 5 receiver sets against us (and they will since it's popular to do so), we can counter them and "run up the score-board" as well by lining up our 3,4 and 5 receiver sets. We have the best WR core in the NFL... IF we take full advantage of it, we can make Ms Brady and New England envious...

1. We can out-pass them (any opponent)

2. We can out-run them, because nobody (and I do mean nobody) can run against the Steelers

3. As long as special team's just does it's job (which should be easy) we can zero this area out.

4. When you combine number's 1 & 2 above... we should be unstoppable.

[suitanim]

Because that worked so well in 2009, Ben. Just stick with what works.

Wow. That didn't "work"?
In 2009 Ben was 337 of 506 (66.6% completion percentage) for 4328 yards, 26 TD's to 12 INT's for a 100.5 QBR and rushed for two TD's. It was the single most impressive QB performance in Steelers history.

[Edman]

Wow. That didn't "work"?
In 2009 Ben was 337 of 506 (66.6% completion percentage) for 4328 yards, 26 TD's to 12 INT's for a 100.5 QBR and rushed for two TD's. It was the single most impressive QB performance in Steelers history.

Yep. Impressive. You also know what was impressive that year?

-Going 9-7 and missing the playoffs.
-Losing to the Bears, the Bengals twice, the Chiefs and the Raiders.
-Not scoring a touchdown and getting sacked 8 times against the "juggernaut" Browns defense on National TV with the season on the line.
-Racking up yardage, but not a whole lot of points.

In 2008 and 2010, Ben put up less impressive stats, but guess what? He won more games and took the Steelers to a Super Bowl those years. I'll take the gutsy winning over pretty stats anyday.

[fansince'76]

Yep. Impressive. You also know what was impressive that year?

-Going 9-7 and missing the playoffs.
-Losing to the Bears, the Bengals twice, the Chiefs and the Raiders.

And in how many of those games was the defense handed a lead late in the 4th quarter only to let it slip away? Making scrubs like Gradkowski and Murphy look like Montana to Rice redux was particularly memorable.

[Bluecoat96]

And in how many of those games was the defense handed a lead late in the 4th quarter only to let it slip away? Making scrubs like Gradkowski and Murphy look like Montana to Rice redux was particularly memorable.

and don't forget our special teams taking a gigantic dump on numerous occasions.

[fansince'76]

and don't forget our special teams taking a gigantic dump on numerous occasions.

True - like spotting the Chiefs a 7-0 lead on the opening kickoff, for one example.

[suitanim]

Yeah, I'm sorry, failing to grasp the logic here (yet again).

The team loses more BECAUSE our QB plays better?

Somehow, I have a feeling that Arians is about to get blamed here...

[Count Steeler]

Let it rip Ben. I'll take 40 points every game. Kind of makes our secondary woes a moot point.

[Psycho Ward 86]

Yeah, I'm sorry, failing to grasp the logic here (yet again).

The team loses more BECAUSE our QB plays better?

Somehow, I have a feeling that Arians is about to get blamed here...

part of the reason for those statistics is because we were playing catch up an awful lot more than we usually do. not to mention our running game on short yardage situations was atrocious (unlike last season where the Steelers were 1st in 3rd and 1/4th and 1 situations) and we opened it up a lot more than we usually do.

[Edman]

The Defense and Special Teams failed many times in 2009. We all know that.

But whose offense proved to be ineffective in crucial situations? Second Bengals game? The Second Browns game? The Vikings game? That's right. The Steelers Offense. Horrible Short Yardage game, Empty Backfields on 3rd and 1, lots of sacks, and outright inconsistency. Here's another wonderful stat. The 2010 Steelers actually scored more points than the 2009 "Air Pittsburgh" squad.

Yes, Ben has his pretty stat sheet and racked up the yardage, but the writing on the wall read that the Steelers lost 5 games in a row to miss the playoffs. Next year, Ben doesn't have quite as impressive but still quite effective stats (17 TDs, 5 INTs) and he and the Steelers got the job done and there were no debacles like the 2009 Thursday Nightmare in Cleveland. In fact, I think Ben may have played much better last year than his 2009 season.

The last time the Steelers went "Air Pittsburgh", they didn't do so good, that is why I'm against it.

[Psycho Ward 86]

The defense AND offense were brilliant on paper, but ineffective at the most crucial times. The defense was still ranked in the top 5 overall as it has been every year since 2004, but it gave up a ton of 4th quarter leads against a plethora of putrid offenses. The offense? a 4,000 yard QB, 2 1,000 yard wide receivers, and a 1,000 yard running back just for starters, but all that firepower accumulated into pathetic short yardage, redzone, and 3rd down offense.

The fingers can be pointed everywhere.

[86WARD]

The fingers can be pointed everywhere.

^ this.

BTW - this discussion is two years old. A little has happened in the past two seasons...there's a lot of talent on this team now. I wouldn't jump so fast to compare this team to 2009...

[suitanim]

I don't think anyone is comparing this team to 2009. The disconnect is that people are somehow making a connection between Ben being effective and the team losing. The main reason Ben passed so much was simply because our running game was not as effective as it needed to be. That was obviously addressed last year. And, before the blame again starts being leveled at Arians for the running game lacking, please remember that execution trumps play calling. Look at the Super Bowl against Seattle. At the end of the game, when we needed to run clock, we lined up and handed the ball to Bettis and dared them to stop us. For the most part, they could not. There was no mystery to the play calling. We didn't hide our intent. We were gonna run, and they knew we were gonna run. What we did effectively was execute.

The point is that with an effective running game, and the weapons Ben has at his disposal, there is no reason that we can't pass to set-up the run, and have a multi-faceted offensive attack. Execution is the key. If it's 3rd and 1, and we come out empty set, well, it's obvious we're passing. BUT, if it's 3rd and 1 and we come out with a two-TE jumbo package with a FB, it's also pretty obvious we're running. The key to converting in either situation is execution.

I just think it's kind of silly to dismiss the QB's wishes to be more of a passing-oriented team based on something that happened two seasons ago, especially since (as this thread has proven), there were a ton of mitigating factors involved back then.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

True - like spotting the Chiefs a 7-0 lead on the opening kickoff, for one example.

Yeah, that season was marred by poor special teams, injuries to Smith and Polamalu and the offense having to throw the ball a lot because they were playing from behind. I thought I forgot it, but I guess not.

[XxKnightxX]

I dont care, all I want is the scoreboard to show that we Got W's instead of Ls

[Steeldude]

please remember that execution trumps play calling.

then why not pick plays from a hat? sorry, but you put your players/team in a position to succeed.

using your logic, running on 4th and 12 would be the fault of the players(if they fail to get the first), not the play called.

[fansince'76]

then why not pick plays from a hat? sorry, but you put your players/team in a position to succeed.

What if that's done and a player simply fails to make a play? For example, Ben badly underthrowing a wide open Wallace in the Super Bowl, which would have been a sure TD? Or Sweed dropping a sure TD pass in the 2008 AFCCG (which thankfully didn't cost us the game), and then making matters worse by faking an injury and costing us our final timeout of the first half and a chance to at least salvage 3 points out of it? Not to mention Sweed dropping another sure TD pass against the Bengals the following season which did wind up costing us that game? How does that fall on poor play calling?

[HometownGal]

Oh boy...that's not going to sit well with the Arians-haters-who-think-that-the-only-plays-that-work-are-the-ones-that-Ben-calls-and-the ones-that-don't-are-called-by-Arians crowd. The same people who think if we run 75% of the time we'll be fine.

You tell 'em Ben!

The way I've always seen it is that if you have a QB who can make plays like our Ben and receivers who mesh well with that QB as we have, utilize that talent as often as possible.

[Texasteel]

What if that's done and a player simply fails to make a play? For example, Ben badly underthrowing a wide open Wallace in the Super Bowl, which would have been a sure TD? Or Sweed dropping a sure TD pass in the 2008 AFCCG (which thankfully didn't cost us the game), and then making matters worse by faking an injury and costing us our final timeout of the first half and a chance to at least salvage 3 points out of it? Not to mention Sweed dropping another sure TD pass against the Bengals the following season which did wind up costing us that game? How does that fall on poor play calling?

Now, we both know that those where designed parts of the play. I believe I saw Arians telling Sweed, "Be sure you do NOT catch the ball" before he went out on the field.

[fansince'76]

Now, we both know that those where designed parts of the play. I believe I saw Arians telling Sweed, "Be sure you do NOT catch the ball" before he went out on the field.

Yep, Mendenhall's fumble in the SB was his fault too....

[suitanim]

The same people are always going to rehash the same arguments over and over again. But that doesn't change the facts. I never said play calling was unimportant, simply that execution of the plays is more important. THAT has been our downfall when things have gone south. As someone else pointed out already, there isn't even consensus among the haters, since half of them say Arians is "grab-bag" and the other say he's too predictable. When we line up on 3rd and 1, and then we pass and it fails, the "glass half full" crowd always reflexively chimes in with "Arians sucks". That doesn;t account for the fact that there was a chance that, had we run, we might have also failed to convert. It doesn't account for the fact that there is a DC and 12 defensive players who have down their own research, run their own plays, and execute themselves with the one goal of stopping our 3rd down attempt. All it takes is one misstep, one player not executing the play, and the whole thing breaks down.

And, I hate to say it, with one of the worst Olines in the NFL for the last few years, it seems a little intellectually lazy to simply always blame the OC when something doesn't work to perfection.

[Craic]

Sigh. Here we go again.

1st down. Dang it Arians! You should have ran the ball.
2nd down. Dang it Arians, you should have passed the ball.
3rd down. Dang it Arians, you should have passed the ball.
4th down punt.

Next series.
1st down. Come on Arians, you should have passed the ball.
2nd down, come on, you hsould have run the ball.
3rd down. Come on, you should have run the ball.
Punt.

Next series.
1st down Damn you Arians. RUN the ball.
2nd down Damn you Arains, RUN the ball.
3rd down Damn yo uArians, Run the ball.
punt

Next series.
1st down DAMN IT! I said PASS IT!
2nd down DAMN IT! PASS THE BALL!!!!
3rd down. DAMN YOU! PASS IT!

Next series.

Fire Arians!



It's going to be a long season if this starts up.

[suitanim]

Sigh. Here we go again.

1st down. Dang it Arians! You should have ran the ball.
2nd down. Dang it Arians, you should have passed the ball.
3rd down. Dang it Arians, you should have passed the ball.
4th down punt.

Next series.
1st down. Come on Arians, you should have passed the ball.
2nd down, come on, you hsould have run the ball.
3rd down. Come on, you should have run the ball.
Punt.

Next series.
1st down Damn you Arians. RUN the ball.
2nd down Damn you Arains, RUN the ball.
3rd down Damn yo uArians, Run the ball.
punt

Next series.
1st down DAMN IT! I said PASS IT!
2nd down DAMN IT! PASS THE BALL!!!!
3rd down. DAMN YOU! PASS IT!

Next series.

Fire Arians!

It's going to be a long season if this starts up.

I don't care who you are (and even if this actually applies to you), that was FUNNY!

Only thing you left out was the play that worked, in which case insert:
"Ben must've called that play, that resulted in a 20 yard completion"