Posted by: StautnerFan
on Apr 15, 2013
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I had to post this here becuase it must be too long for the live feed!
Posted by: StautnerFan
on May 28, 2012
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Thanks to all to all those who have served this country in the past and will do so in the future. I don't know where we find so many men and women who exhibit such courage and valor. This is their day; Honor them.
Posted by: StautnerFan
on May 13, 2012
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Maintaining the playbook
when a new OC takes over is just living in the past. That you can't change
playbooks or terminology is nothing more than paradigm precipitated by fear of
change. I've seen this so often in American industry, it's literarily a cancer.
One of the few constants in life is change. Embrace it and you are likely to succeed;
resist it and it's nearly a guarantee of failure. A similar paradigm in
football is that the offense is too complicated for the QB to call the plays.
If the offense is truly too complex for the QB, who’s assumed to be one of the
more intelligent players, it's surely too complex for the rest of the team.
Everybody in the real world has to quickly adapt to new technology on a
constant and real time basis. Are football players incapable of also doing
this? The thrust for the team, especially Big Ben, has to be to embrace it,
love it, make it an obsession; rather than lamenting it as something painful to
endure. I've seen a lot of comments saying keeping the same terminology will
lead to consistency. Really? Have you seen anything less consistent about the
Steelers than the offense? Throw it all out and start over and I guarantee you
will find out who the team players are.
Posted by: StautnerFan
on Feb 09, 2012
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The responsibility for the diminishing of Mike Tomlin's authority may not totally rest with Art Rooney II. Tomlin must've understood that the Steelers ownership was unhappy with the offense: they indicated that at the end of last year and again at the beginning of the 2011 season. The $64 question is: did Mike Tomlin have any dialogue with the ownership about retaining Bruce Arians prior to his premature statements that Arians would be back. If not, then it was he, rather than an Art Rooney II, who caused the awkward release of Arians as coordinator. If Tomlin had any inkling that the ownership wanted to replace Arians, he should have been mute on the subject. If Tomlin had no such inkling, then he's not as perceptive as he appears to be. All of this of course is speculation and conjecture; none of us really know what actually transpired. There's no question that the release of Arians was not effected in the usual Steeler way. In my view, Tomlin is likely not lily white in the matter.
One thing I do know is that upper management always retains the right to change personnel. Sometimes the persons directly responsible for the personnel involved cannot, for whatever reason, bring themselves to make the changes that may be required.
Posted by: StautnerFan
on Jan 10, 2012
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If one looks at the final game of 2011 for the Pittsburgh Steelers, one may get the impression that it was not a very good year. The way they lost that final game serves to put that spin on the season. However, if one takes a closer look at the performance on the field by the players, especially the defense, they may come to the conclusion that it was one of the better years in recent memory. The Steelers started the season with the makeshift offensive line and in the beginning that surely was their Achilles' heel. They also started the season with a horrible performance against the Baltimore Ravens. After that however, they began to win games in the manner that would define the season. Most of the games would be close and would feature generally good defense and inconsistent offense.
Posted by: StautnerFan
on Nov 25, 2011
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The Steelers offense is slightly better this year but they still go dormant for long periods in the game. They still struggle in the red zone and they can’t run the ball especially in the red zone. Arians stated that Heath Miller is a great offensive lineman which illuminates how he thinks about Heath. They still can't or won't run screens to the backs and they think a draw is for 50/50 lotteries. Someone before said there is too much talent on this team to constantly win in nail biter fashion and they were correct. Arians is the main defective part in the machine and I for one wish the Ole Miss job was his! The defense is not what it once was and its time for the offense to perform up to the level of talent available.
Posted by: StautnerFan
on Nov 04, 2011
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Arians called a great game against the Patriots and that means all of his defenders will be saying: “See all you Arians bashers, we told you he was not the problem”. But wait a minute: what have the criticisms of Arians been? One of them was that he does not play small ball, that is, the short to medium passing game that is the NFL offensive staple these days. Well last Sunday the Steelers did play small ball and it worked to perfection. The obvious question Is “What took him so long to come to the realization that with a suspect offensive line and the blitz happy defenses, small ball is a path to success?” My concern now is that he will revert back to looking for Wallace 40 yards downfield while Roethlisberger is assassinated in the non existent pocket. (Please don’t misinterpret this, I love the bombs to Wallace.)
Posted by: StautnerFan
on Jul 25, 2011
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I understand limiting the veteran players' contact in practice but what about the rookies, many of whom are poor at tackling and/or blocking. How do they learn without pads? There are already so many players in this league who whiff on tackles: Now they will proliferate even more! Add to this the reduction in OTAs. I get sick of hearing all the pundits saying how great this is for the fans. This agreement will lead to ever more sloppy football and we already have enough mediocrity in the NFL. How is that good for the fans? High school players will now practice more often and with greater intensity than the pros. To add insult to injury all teams now must spend very close to the cap which means the same players who can’t block or tackle will get paid more for their incompetence!
Oh well, the rest of The USA has back slid to the dark ages why not football. A word of warning to all those writers who break out the knee pads for the players: To assume the money flowing into pro football will always grow as it has in the past is folly. It always ends! If you don’t believe it just ask the steel workers, auto workers, aircraft workers, etc. who had similar unrealistic, myopic & sugar coated views of the future.
And just a little reminder to all NFL players: The pay in pro football is commensurate with full time employment. So please, stop whining about the off season work.
