The Case Against Arians

It seems as though Smizik would say we all have valid points.





his is about Bruce Arians and why he should not be the offensive coordinator of the Steelers. It’s not about what an unimaginative and predictable play-caller he is. It’s not about what a dreary offense he runs. I don’t believe either to be the case.

My belief that Arians should step aside -- as gently as possibly because he deserves that -- is based on what many people believe to be his strength: His relationship with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The two men are close. It has been described as a friendship; as a father-son relationship; as an uncle-nephew relationship. Whatever, this type of a relationship is viewed as a positive.

I view it as a negative. Roethlisberger doesn’t need a friend, a father or an uncle as his offensive coordinator. He needs a boss. Not a tyrant, but someone to lead him to a better place. Arians is not capable, because of the long-standing close relationship, of altering Roethlisberger’s style.

I’m not sure Roethlisberger has a boss with the Steelers. And that’s not a knock on him. By most accounts, he’s been a team guy, not a prima-donna in his latest reincarnation.

But he is the organization’s $100 million man and, as such, gets special treatment. Nothing wrong with that either -- to an extent. But the Steelers have allowed Roethlisberger to become too undisciplined in his approach to the job. He needs someone to make him more adhere to a specific offense.

Roethlisberger loves to extend plays, to freelance. He should. He’s good at it. He’s a big man who looks to be a bit overweight but who has surprising agility and quickness to avoid pass rushers. He also has amazing strength to shrug off tacklers. That, too, is a positive.

But he’ll be 30 next season. Some of those attributes will fade. He needs more discipline.

This is not to suggest Mike Tomlin hire some tough guy to crack the whip on Roethlisberger. That would not work. Let’s not forget that he’s the $100 million man.

But they need a coach with a different mentality -- not necessarily in philosophy, but in style -- than Arians. They need someone to come in, take over and show Roethlisberger there’s a different way, a better way to play quarterback.

Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers are the new wave of quarterbacks. They stand in the pocket and get rid of the ball. Their teams are still playing.

The Steelers have a franchise quarterback, an excellent young corps of wide receivers, a talented but under-used tight end and mediocre running backs. A team plays to its strength and, beyond doubt, the Steelers strength is passing.

They need to refine that passing game and to do that they need to discipline Roethlisberger. The quarterback needs a new guru. His old one did well. His time has come.






















http://communityvoices.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/sports/bob-smiziks-blog/31506-the-case-against-arians

I agree wholeheartedly. The combination of Ben and Arians will never work out. Ben doesn't have the capability of running Arians' offense effectively, and Arians doesn't have the capability to change Ben's deficiencies as a QB. As long as there's a "let Ben be Ben" mentality, I don't think our offense, regardless of who the OC is, will ever reach its full potential.

great article , i like arians but i do believe ben needs someone to push him instead of catering to him. when wiz was our oc ben played much better.

Just to poke the hornets nest did y'all happen to notice where it said because he sucks?

Wallace108 wrote:

I agree wholeheartedly. The combination of Ben and Arians will never work out. Ben doesn't have the capability of running Arians' offense effectively, and Arians doesn't have the capability to change Ben's deficiencies as a QB. As long as there's a "let Ben be Ben" mentality, I don't think our offense, regardless of who the OC is, will ever reach its full potential.

Arians isn't capable of running Arians Offense.

supytalpeht wrote:

Just to poke the hornets nest did y'all happen to notice where it said because he sucks?

Why do I have to read what I already know to be the truth.

Quote :

But he’ll be 30 next season. Some of those attributes will fade. He needs more discipline.

100% in agreement with this post. Points are well made and valid. As I've said before, I think that at the end of next season, we need to draft another qb. I'm not saying get rid of Ben, but the Steelers need to start grooming another qb. He has been pretty banged up and I don't that the agility he has now is going to last long due to all of his injuries and his agility, imo, is his greatest attribute. I'd feel better having a healthy back up, too (nothing against Batch - he has gotten us out of a lot of jams and he is good, but even he said he is getting old). It's all well and good that the OC and Ben have a good relationship, but you hit the nail on the head. Ben needs a coach, not a father or "crazy uncle".

I still want to know what they were yelling in Ben's ear a few weeks ago when he turned to the sideline and made that sort of "I know I know" gesture.

Hey let's get rid of him any way we can. If we have to praise his ass out the door (because as the man said he deserves it) so be it.


I still think we should have him play on our offense during practice. Let him go in motion left, throw him a bubble screen and tell Harrison there'll be NO fines for this hit.

Seriously, I agree with the article except for our RBs being mediocre. I'm not saying Mendy and Redman are probowl caliber but they're better than mediocre. That's all I'm sayin'.

I agree with everything except "mediocre running-backs".

Every time I come in to this thread, I keep thinking of 'Monty Pythons: Holy Grail", during the witch burning scene.

BURN HIM! BURN HIM!

mediocre might be a little A LITTLE harsh, but average is certainly fitting

supytalpeht wrote:

mediocre might be a little A LITTLE harsh, but average is certainly fitting

I think "Exceptional" is a better fit. It's the line that deserves the "Mediocre" label. Redman ran for 117 yards against the Broncos. We have Baron Batch, Jonathan Dwyer and several other talented backs as well, it's just a matter of whether or not Arians ever uses them.

bayz101 wrote:

supytalpeht wrote:

mediocre might be a little A LITTLE harsh, but average is certainly fitting

I think "Exceptional" is a better fit. It's the line that deserves the "Mediocre" label. Redman ran for 117 yards against the Broncos. We have Baron Batch, Jonathan Dwyer and several other talented backs as well, it's just a matter of whether or not Arians ever uses them.

2 cents

Baron Batch has never taken a snap in an NFL game, don't know that I would go anointing him as anything yet. I'm intrigued by him, he looked good in practice, love his attitude, the way he writes etc, but he's going to have to do something on the field first.

I might be wrong, but I think Dwyer has only played in 1 game. He had a great carry in that game, but again I wouldn't go betting the farm on him yet. I'm also troubled by what appears to be a tendency of showing up to camp out of shape. At least I seem to remember reading that about him during training camp the last 2 years. And his body of work is a really small sample size. Also I think Dwyer was on his way to being on the outside looking in until Batch tore up his knee. I got the impression they were leaning towards Mendy,Redman, Moore, Batch this year. But, I have to admit that I get that impression solely from what I read about Batch during backs on backers last year.

John Clay might have some potential, but the sample size is once again so small that it's way too early to tell. We're talking like 20 carries total and 8 or 9 of those came agaisnt one of the worst teams in the league. Clay like Dwyer did well in college, but there are thousands of backs that did well in college and don't transition to the NFL.

I love the way Redman runs and he did extremely well against Denver. But, exceptional to me is reserved for the likes of AP, Foster, Sweetness, Emmit Smith etc. For my money Mendy and Redman aren't even in the same paragraph as those guys. Even with a very good O-line I don't see either of them becoming any of the above mentioned backs.

Mewelde Moore is Mewelde Moore. He can help us in a pinch, but he's not a feature back by any stretch of the imagination.

My first post!!!

I actually sent a e-mail to Smizik after Ron Cook's second or third article telling us how great Arians is. He was pretty honest and I didn't say anything about it on a board because... it was an e-mail.

I asked what the hang up is with Arians and why are we so unwilling to move forward from what I see is a pretty shitty OC?

I asked why no team had any interest in a OC that has been to the Super Bowl 3 times?

In a nut shell, he said he felt the steelers could do better. This is the first article I have read that said anything negative about Arians (from a beat writer). Bouchette doesn't even keep it honest about Arians.

If Arians is to return.... I feel Tomlin and the front office will have established the "new standard" and that standard is shit. So let Ben scramble around with no line, running game and or fullback. Focus on getting our defense back because we know they can be great.

yeah, I'll just take your word for it


I sent an email to Nancy Pelosi asking if Obama was really a citizen. She said no and the birth certificate thing was fake. But since it was an email I didn't want too share it with anyone.

supytalpeht wrote:

yeah, I'll just take your word for it


I sent an email to Nancy Pelosi asking if Obama was really a citizen. She said no and the birth certificate thing was fake. But since it was an email I didn't want too share it with anyone.

LOL... really? Did you see the article he just wrote? Much more harsh then "they could do better"

if it means anything I'll forward it to u

La Flama Blanca wrote:

supytalpeht wrote:

yeah, I'll just take your word for it


I sent an email to Nancy Pelosi asking if Obama was really a citizen. She said no and the birth certificate thing was fake. But since it was an email I didn't want too share it with anyone.

LOL... really? Did you see the article he just wrote? Much more harsh then "they could do better"

ARe you referring to the article posted in this thread?

supytalpeht wrote:

yeah, I'll just take your word for it


I sent an email to Nancy Pelosi asking if Obama was really a citizen. She said no and the birth certificate thing was fake. But since it was an email I didn't want too share it with anyone.

I KNEW IT!!!!

I obviously can't verify if La Flama is right, but I can verify that beat writers sometimes have much different opinions of players and coaches than what they express in the paper.

Wallace108 wrote:

supytalpeht wrote:

yeah, I'll just take your word for it


I sent an email to Nancy Pelosi asking if Obama was really a citizen. She said no and the birth certificate thing was fake. But since it was an email I didn't want too share it with anyone.

I KNEW IT!!!!

I obviously can't verify if La Flama is right, but I can verify that beat writers sometimes have much different opinions of players and coaches than what they express in the paper.

So maybe Smizek doesn't think Arians needs to go afterall.

supytalpeht wrote:

Wallace108 wrote:

supytalpeht wrote:

yeah, I'll just take your word for it


I sent an email to Nancy Pelosi asking if Obama was really a citizen. She said no and the birth certificate thing was fake. But since it was an email I didn't want too share it with anyone.

I KNEW IT!!!!

I obviously can't verify if La Flama is right, but I can verify that beat writers sometimes have much different opinions of players and coaches than what they express in the paper.

So maybe Smizek doesn't think Arians needs to go afterall.

[quote="supytalpeht"]

La Flama Blanca wrote:

supytalpeht wrote:

LOL... really? Did you see the article he just wrote? Much more harsh then "they could do better"

ARe you referring to the article posted in this thread?

Did you take what Smizik wrote as a vote of confidence? Have you ever heard a Steeler beat writer write anything close? Grant it, bloggers and people like myself dislike him, but writers must like there front row in the locker room.