“I don’t walk by 5 rushing titles, I walk by 5 Lombardi Trophies.” This is what Mike Tomlin famously
pointed out to Willie Parker during his first year as Head Coach. He stated Steelers football is about
winning. Tomlin went on to bring another Lombardi to Pittsburgh the following year, solidifying the Steelers Way: Winning.
Talk to any Steelers fan and they’ll tell you Steelers football is smash mouth, grind it out, running the
football. They’ll tell you “You gotta have a fullback and run up the middle.” They’ll say “we gotta go
back to running the football 60% of the time.” These are the same people that say “we should have
drafted Dan Marino (which is true). The thing is, they also would have wanted Dan Marino to hand it off
75 times a game instead of throwing the football. Maybe it’s the contrarian in me, but I always interject
this discussion with “Why?” I’m a die hard, and don’t care how we win, just win baby like Al Davis used
to say (too bad the Raiders haven’t lived up to the quote.) You do whatever it takes to win football
games. Even notoriously conservative Bill Cowher didn’t get “one for the thumb” until he allowed Ken
Whisnehut to let the offense loose in the 2005/2006 playoffs.
Our best player is Ben Roethlisberger, who, as you probably know, plays Quarterback, so it only makes sense to throw the football more than we run it. Fans will say “It doesn’t matter, we always ran it, we've got to pound the football!” Again, I say why? Look at our offensive weapons. Mike Wallace is the best deep threat in the NFL, Antonio Brown is developing into a great receiver, Jericho Cotchery is a steady receiver and Emmanuel Sanders has unlimited potential. That is four good wide receivers, not to mention Heath Miller, yet people want to pound the ball 60% of the time with unproven Issac Redman. This is not a good idea. Let Ben Sling it around. I’m not saying abandon the run. I think we’ll have a good ground game with Redman, and when Rashard Mendenhall gets healthy we’ll have a great 1-2 punch, but we have to throw the ball too.
Provided we stay healthy, this team should be fun to watch this year. I am excited for the youth
movement on the offensive line. There are several ways to win in the NFL, and I believe the Steelers will have the diversity to win however they choose. I believe the Defense will be top 2-3 as always, but the offense has a chance to be explosive. What we as Steelers fans need to accept is that our offense is leaning more toward the pass. Gone are the days of Dan Krieder, and Jerome Bettis isn’t walking through the door. Just remember, it doesn’t matter how we win, as long as we win.
I agree w/ you Ma$e, but I think the issue comes up late in games. The Steelers of old used to take the air out of a ball late in the 4th quarter with a 3 pt lead and walk off with the win. Nowadays, it seems that we can't get a 1st down when it matters and it ends up falling on our D. Do what it takes to win, but we need to be able to run the ball when it matters.
ReplyDeleteThat is a good point. I think of that might have had to do with BA's offense. Sometimes I thought Arians was a genius, but then he would do some head scratching things. I always wondered why Heath Miller wasn't used in the Red Zone more often.
ReplyDeleteGreat point Jobu. The Steelers need to be able to utilize the run when it counts. I don't know how many expletives were sent towards Bruce Arians when he would throw on 2nd and 1...the pass would go incomplete, then he would run up the middle and get stuffed and the Steelers would be forced to punt. Need to be able to run it, but just win baby. UP YOUR "BUCKET" (edited version of MAJOR LEAGUE) JOBU!
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