OT: The Pittsburgher Thread: Doritos Bowl Match Up - Taylor Swift vs San Andreas Fault

[CheckingLineCenter]

Grade it 5/10 as of today. Let’s hope it’s 10/10 for 2 years and he gets plucked.

Best guy they interviewed. Just didn’t interview the best candidates IMO.

Biggest concern- I am very worried this means more “we’re a run team that gets defensive stops!” rather than “we want to field the best modern offense possible regardless of how good our D is”.

Offense is independent of defense. Scoring the most points should be the goal.

 

[pistolpete11]

I mean you could make that same counter-argument to detract from his success as OC in TEN by saying it was mostly the players.

Personally, I'm including the bad (26th in ppg 2023, 26th in 2021) with the good (4th in 2020, 10th in 2019) and being left with a pretty underwhelming feeling based on his handling of ATL's top offensive draft picks.

Silver lining would be if we get Mike Munchak back I guess.

I don't agree with that either. A coach's job is to get the best out of the players. He did that in Tennessee. Those were Henry's and especially Tannehill's best years. Tannehill by a country mile.

They were ~20th in the league before he took over, 10th and 4th with him, and ~20th in the years since he left. Seems pretty clear to me he had a positive impact as the OC.

 

[bigdaddyk88]

So I guess we’re going to continue to eschew the modern passing offense under Smith and Tomlin…so glad the playoff wins drought will reach epic proportions under Coach T but who cares because he bonds well with 20 year olds or something something…

The 49ers attempted 30 passes in the nfc championship game kc with Maholmes has not cracked 270 in a game this playoffs passing yards. Purdy hasn’t cracked that either
Goff had the most yards in the playoffs at 850 the leading wr has 270

 

[Empoleon8771]

Refused to recognize it had become a passing league and ignored the secondary, especially CB, forever. Wasted many early picks on low value positions like ILB, RB, S instead of prioritizing the trenches and passing game (both sides of ball). Used bellcow RBs until last year. Defense first mentality. Promoted internally multiple times for offensive coordinator. Refused to open up the offense post Big Ben and played “ball control”, which just means bad offense with low turnovers.

I could not disagree more with only having two choices of “play to strengths” or “redo everything”.

A good organization should constantly be trying to innovate and improve at every level, whether it’s strength and conditioning, offensive scheme, player eval, salary cap management, etc. Steelers have done things “the Steeler way” for the past 10 years and as a result the game has completely passed them by.

The Steelers had some of the best passing offenses in the NFL from like 2014-2019. They finished 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 3rd and 2nd in passing yards in those years. It wasn't until Ben got hurt in 2019 and rapidly fell off a cliff that their passing game dropped off.

The issue of "not building a modern offense" is like a 3 year old issue, mostly because Ben became washed up and the guys they have replaced him with are not even close to as good as Ben was.

In terms of building the defense around the passing game, the Steelers have also had very good pass defenses for the most part over the last decade. They were top-10 in pass yards allowed from 2016-2021, only falling off to middle of the pack in the last 2 years. So their defense was obviously defending the modern offense well for the most part.

 

[Peat]

The 49ers attempted 30 passes in the nfc championship game kc with Maholmes has not cracked 270 in a game this playoffs passing yards. Purdy hasn’t cracked that either
Goff had the most yards in the playoffs at 850 the leading wr has 270

You can get away with passing less when everyone knows that if prodded, you can go boom.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

Good- got the most of out of very little (besides Henry) in TEN under a similar type of HC in Vrabel.

Bad- called 50 games in ATL, 30+ pts once. They play in a shitty division in a dome.

Interesting- is basically a billionaire

 

[pistolpete11]

Grade it 5/10 as of today. Let’s hope it’s 10/10 for 2 years and he gets plucked.

Best guy they interviewed. Just didn’t interview the best candidates IMO.

Biggest concern- I am very worried this means more “we’re a run team that gets defensive stops!” rather than “we want to field the best modern offense possible regardless of how good our D is”.

Offense is independent of defense. Scoring the most points should be the goal.

He did that as an OC in Tennessee and Tomlin at least gave lip service to wanting to score more points.

They still need to fix the O-line and figure out if Pickett or Rudolph can hack it (I have my doubt about either), though.

 

[JTG]

Steelers hiring ex-Falcons head coach Arthur Smith as new offensive coordinator

The Steelers are hiring ex-Falcons head coach Arthur Smith as the new offensive coordinator, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported.

www.nfl.com

Well. here goes nothing.

 

[Snooki Stackhouse]

If he brings Munchak and they bring in a talented QB coach I think this move becomes even better.

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

The Steelers had some of the best passing offenses in the NFL from like 2014-2019. They finished 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 3rd and 2nd in passing yards in those years. It wasn't until Ben got hurt in 2019 and rapidly fell off a cliff that their passing game dropped off.

The issue of "not building a modern offense" is like a 3 year old issue, mostly because Ben became washed up and the guys they have replaced him with are not even close to as good as Ben was.

In terms of building the defense around the passing game, the Steelers have also had very good pass defenses for the most part over the last decade. They were top-10 in pass yards allowed from 2016-2021, only falling off to middle of the pack in the last 2 years. So their defense was obviously defending the modern offense well for the most part.

I didn’t say they couldn’t pass the ball? Look up the passing numbers against in the playoffs.

As I said, they have “played to their strengths” and have done things “the Steeler way” for a decade and have nothing to show for it. I want them to address their weaknesses and catchup with the modern game. Tomlin caters to his talent- when the offense was good it was about 3 incredible players, not about clever scheme. Same goes for the D the past decade. Why can the Steelers not combine scheme and talent? That’s what the best teams in the league have done IMO (Rams, 49ers, Chiefs, Eagles).

I think Khan did a good job of prioritizing the right things in his first draft, so I have hope from the team building side of things. Coaching staff has shown me nothing to really hope for.

 

[Josey Wales]

If he brings Munchak and they bring in a talented QB coach I think this move becomes even better.

& with a LEGIT OC I hope Fart Rooney 2nd Puts an end to HC Cliché sticking his dick in the OC's punchbowl

 

[WickedWrister]

A coach's job is to get the best out of the players. He did that in Tennessee.

And he didn't do it in ATL, so I don't know why you seem to exclude that from his resume.

He was good in TEN, no argument from me there. But I take it with a grain of salt because handing the ball off 400 times to prime Derrick Henry isn't exactly revolutionary.



Get ready for more zone runs!!!

 

[pistolpete11]

And he didn't do it in ATL, so I don't know why you seem to exclude that from his resume.

He was good in TEN, no argument from me there. But I take it with a grain of salt because handing the ball off 400 times to prime Derrick Henry isn't exactly revolutionary.

Because ....again 1) I don't think Atlanta's QBs were any good, so he may have gotten the best out of them and ....again 2) HC and OC/DC are different jobs. Being bad at one doesn't mean you're bad at the other (i.e. Lebeau).

He had prime Henry. So what? A good coach should use his best players a lot. Those 2 years were also Henry's best years in yards, TD's, and Y/C. And ....again they were Tannehill's best years by a wide margin, so it's not just about Henry.

 

[Peat]

And he didn't do it in ATL, so I don't know why you seem to exclude that from his resume.

He was good in TEN, no argument from me there. But I take it with a grain of salt because handing the ball off 400 times to prime Derrick Henry isn't exactly revolutionary.



Get ready for more zone runs!!!

Well at least there seems to some chance of that working here...

Najee Harris Thrived On Zone Runs In 2022, According To Pro Football Focus

Down the stretch in the second half of the 2022 season, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Najee Harris really started to play at the level in which the Steelers envisioned when they selected him in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft out of Alabama. Harris became that bruising, chain-moving...

steelersdepot.com

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

He did that as an OC in Tennessee and Tomlin at least gave lip service to wanting to score more points.

They still need to fix the O-line and figure out if Pickett or Rudolph can hack it (I have my doubt about either), though.

Yeah I mean I think this guy is a legit coach that deserves to be in the NFL. He’s not Fichtner or Canada. This is not a hire of a hack that leaves me in complete despair.

Idc if he wasn’t a good HC in ATL, just somewhat worried he couldn’t continue any of his offensive success from TEN. QBs made our room look good though, to be fair.

But you can learn from mistakes, so we’ll see. Lot of good coaches have failed in the NFL.

Like I said, my biggest concern is that Tomlin fell in love with a guy who likes “big” personnel, bully ball, and the run game.

 

[WickedWrister]

I'm just here for the memes at this point

@pistolpete11

 

[pistolpete11]

Yeah I mean I think this guy is a legit coach that deserves to be in the NFL. He’s not Fichtner or Canada. This is not a hire that leaves me in complete despair.

Idc if he wasn’t a good HC in ATL, just somewhat worried he couldn’t continue any of his offensive success from TEN. QBs made our room look good though, to be fair.

But you can learn from mistakes, so we’ll see. Lot of good coaches have failed in the NFL.

Like I said, my biggest concern is that Tomlin fell in love with a guy who likes “big” personnel, bully ball, and the run game.

The best thing about him for me is that it completely removes the OC excuse for Tomlin and the QBs. He might not be some mastermind, but he's at least adequate. If it fails again, then that's on them.

 

[ChaosAgent]

NFL.com | Official Site of the National Football League

The official source for NFL news, video highlights, fantasy football, game-day coverage, schedules, stats, scores and more.

www.nfl.com

These are good numbers. The bad one is turnover ratio. But is that coaching or mostly players, especially the QB?

 

[Peat]

Because ....again 1) I don't think Atlanta's QBs were any good, so he may have gotten the best out of them and ....again 2) HC and OC/DC are different jobs. Being bad at one doesn't mean you're bad at the other (i.e. Lebeau).

He had prime Henry. So what? A good coach should use his best players a lot. Those 2 years were also Henry's best years in yards, TD's, and Y/C. And ....again they were Tannehill's best years by a wide margin, so it's not just about Henry.

HC and OC are different jobs, but he was still basically the OC as well as the HC. I don't see why it should be excluded from consideration.

Being HC also means I don't think there can be much defence with "I got the most out of the QBs available" either. The HC has a voice there, either the guy can't identify a QB for love or money, or he can't make his point and lead others to the right conclusion.

Also the point about having Henry is basically the same as the point about Belichick's and Brady's records after leaving each other. Sometimes coaches are propped up by players. I know Henry has declined without Smith, but how much of that is scheme, how much of that is no AJ Brown, how much of that is just natural RB decline? And in any case, it's possible for both player and coach to prop each other up and fail each other.

*pause* It's also very possible that the Steelers want to pick up Harris' 5th year option now because he's about to explode.

 

[WickedWrister]

HC and OC are different jobs, but he was still basically the OC as well as the HC. I don't see why it should be excluded from consideration.

Being HC also means I don't think there can be much defence with "I got the most out of the QBs available" either. The HC has a voice there, either the guy can't identify a QB for love or money, or he can't make his point and lead others to the right conclusion.

Also the point about having Henry is basically the same as the point about Belichick's and Brady's records after leaving each other. Sometimes coaches are propped up by players. I know Henry has declined without Smith, but how much of that is scheme, how much of that is no AJ Brown, how much of that is just natural RB decline? And in any case, it's possible for both player and coach to prop each other up and fail each other.

*pause* It's also very possible that the Steelers want to pick up Harris' 5th year option now because he's about to explode.

Yeah this is pretty much what I was typing out, but more thoughtful haha.

f*** it, trade for Fields, draft 2 OL and go all in on the rush attack.

 

[xlm34]

This is probably one of my bigger concerns with Smith. He seemingly runs what he runs even if it isn’t working.

Even going back to the Titans days, it wasn’t easy to stop the run but from what I’ve read from fans, once you did stop it he didn’t have an answer. Or a QB that was capable of overcoming the running game having a bad day at the office.

I’m pretty much expecting something between what Atlanta was and what the Titans were.

 

[pistolpete11]

HC and OC are different jobs, but he was still basically the OC as well as the HC. I don't see why it should be excluded from consideration.

As I said in a different post, there's more to an offense succeeding than play calling.

Being HC also means I don't think there can be much defence with "I got the most out of the QBs available" either. The HC has a voice there, either the guy can't identify a QB for love or money, or he can't make his point and lead others to the right conclusion.

That's not his job here, so who cares?

Also the point about having Henry is basically the same as the point about Belichick's and Brady's records after leaving each other. Sometimes coaches are propped up by players. I know Henry has declined without Smith, but how much of that is scheme, how much of that is no AJ Brown, how much of that is just natural RB decline? And in any case, it's possible for both player and coach to prop each other up and fail each other.

The players are always the most important, but why does everyone focus on Henry and then ignore Tannehill?

Tannehill's QB rating with Miami was 87.0.
With Smith as his OC it was 110.6.
After Smith left, it was 88.7.

Must just be a coincidence, I guess.

 

[WickedWrister]

As I said in a different post, there's more to an offense succeeding than play calling.

That's not his job here, so who cares?

The players are always the most important, but why does everyone focus on Henry and then ignore Tannehill?

Tannehill's QB rating with Miami was 87.0.
With Smith as his OC it was 110.6.
After Smith left, it was 88.7.

Must just be a coincidence, I guess.

Because its more likely that having a 2k yard RB had more to do with Tannehills insane efficiency those years than thinking Arthur Smith is some QB whisperer.

Some more info on his tendencies:

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

Arthur Brown is far superior.

 

[pistolpete11]

Because its more likely that having a 2k yard RB had more to do with Tannehills insane efficiency those years than thinking Arthur Smith is some QB whisperer.

Yet he wasn't able to repeat it the minute that Smith left despite still having Henry.