Mark Madden: Is Rooney qualified to run the Steelers?

Mark Madden is not mentally ill ... he's just a douche and a well used douche.

I do not want to get in a who's to blame more game but I offer my opinion on several things.

First the offense did not score points in relation to what the offense actually did. The offense led the league in Time of Possession, not a small feat considering we do not run as much as fans would like. The offense had longer fields than most teams due to the fifth worst starting field position. Next we had ONLY one defensive score all year , Troy against Indy. I also believe we had only one punt or kickoff return. Now these points do show up in Points per game stats.

Second, I will have to disagree that turnovers are a bonus. Just like there are big "splash" plays on offense, you have the same on defense. How do you explain how the Patriots are in the SuperBowl with the statistically ranked last place defense. Well for one thing they create turnovers. They give up big plays and yardage ,yet I would hazard a guess that they rank much better in scoring stats. Just looked it up they were 10th. Thats what turnovers do, they are difference makers just ask the 49ers.

Third, while the offense was awful at scoring points, its not fair to point out the last three games since we played a hobbled QB. In hind sight we should not have played Ben. I for one thought we needed the home field to advance far this year, still believe it was needed.

Last, while our defense ranked first in most categories, what I saw last night from the 49ers and even the Giants has me believing we are lacking compared to them. Both of these teams pressure the opposing QB without blitzing often, they also make their secondary better by limiting the time they have in coverage. And is there anyone on this board who believes we have a better O-Line than any of the teams that played yesterday.

In closing Rooney said enough is enough and sacked Arians, I have no problem with it. Change could be beneficial to this team. But, and its a big But, this may not be the silver lining some of us think its going to be. Comments like it cannot get worse may just bite us in the Azz.

BTW the Chiefs game we did not score so well, how did the Packers do against them?

I honestly don't understand how anyone could watch us this season and try and play our offense off as something it's not. It really doesn't make any sense. In terms of talent we should have easily cracked the top ten in offense, yet we ended the season ranked 21. With the fastest receiver in the NFL and a quarterback in elite discussion, there's no excuse for being ranked so low offensively. We're not even bringing up the liking's of Brown and Mendenhall?

We we're ranked higher just below this years 21 in '08, and we had one of the toughest NFL schedule's of all time!

We won the Super Bowl ranked lower on offense in '08 based on the strength of our defense. We made the playoffs this year based on the strength of our defense, but it's the offense that couldn't execute. It's the offense that couldn't keep the defense off the field. When your offense is as talented and young as ours, there's absolutely NO excuse for 21st in the league.

bayz101 wrote:

I honestly don't understand how anyone could watch us this season and try and play our offense off as something it's not. It really doesn't make any sense. In terms of talent we should have easily cracked the top ten in offense, yet we ended the season ranked 21. With the fastest receiver in the NFL and a quarterback in elite discussion, there's no excuse for being ranked so low offensively. We're not even bringing up the liking's of Brown and Mendenhall?

We we're ranked higher just below this years 21 in '08, and we had one of the toughest NFL schedule's of all time!

We won the Super Bowl ranked lower on offense in '08 based on the strength of our defense. We made the playoffs this year based on the strength of our defense, but it's the offense that couldn't execute. It's the offense that couldn't keep the defense off the field. When your offense is as talented and young as ours, there's absolutely NO excuse for 21st in the league.

We ranked 21st in scoring, thats all that matters. We ranked 10th in passing and 14th in rushing, for a total of 12th in the NFL.

Now I did a little research on this years schedule, I will have to dig more to compare 2008's schedule. What I found is we played what may have been the toughest schedule ever as far as scoring defenses rank.

San Francisco #2
Baltimore #3 Twice
Houston #4
Cleveland #5 Twice
Seattle #7 I could not believe this.
Tenn #8
Cincy #9 Twice
Jacksonville #11
KC #12
NE #15 Last in yards per game but they keep you out of endzone.
Ariz #17
St Louis #26
Indy #28

As much as we want to complain against the offense not scoring this could be a big reason.

Just want to add to my last post, I did look up 2008 schedules and this is what I found;

Tenn #2
Balt #3 Twice
Philly #4
NY Gmen #5
Redskins #6
Indy #7
NE #8
SD #15
Cleveland #16 Twice
Cincy #19 Twice
Dallas #20
Jacksonville #21
Houston #27

So I think the schedules are similar with the 2008 being heavy with top rated scoring defenses 2-8, but more lower ranked (middle of the road to lower) defenses the remainders.

bayz101 wrote:

I honestly don't understand how anyone could watch us this season and try and play our offense off as something it's not. It really doesn't make any sense. In terms of talent we should have easily cracked the top ten in offense, yet we ended the season ranked 21. With the fastest receiver in the NFL and a quarterback in elite discussion, there's no excuse for being ranked so low offensively. We're not even bringing up the liking's of Brown and Mendenhall?

We we're ranked higher just below this years 21 in '08, and we had one of the toughest NFL schedule's of all time!

We won the Super Bowl ranked lower on offense in '08 based on the strength of our defense. We made the playoffs this year based on the strength of our defense, but it's the offense that couldn't execute. It's the offense that couldn't keep the defense off the field. When your offense is as talented and young as ours, there's absolutely NO excuse for 21st in the league.

Find the breakdown of our offensive production broken down by quarter of a season. We were abysmal for the first 4 games. They put a bandaid on our o-line and we were ranked at the top of the league in redzone scoring and points scored for eight weeks. Once Ben got hurt we regressed again. Saying we were ranked 21st in the league in scoring doesn't tell the whole story.

Wallace might be the fastest receiver in the NFL, but he doesn't have great hands by any stretch and using his body to catch the ball isn't a good thing. We were tops in the league in time of possession, but the offense couldn't keep the defense off the field?

Rico, you make some well-thought-out and valid points.

But I don't agree that we can completely blame the defense's lack of turnovers for the offense's lack of scoring. Even a lot of us who hate Arians acknowledge that the offense did a good job of moving the ball between the 20s. We ranked 5th in the league in total yards this season. The problem is that our red-zone offense was atrocious. We were 17th in the league in red-zone percentage. We were able to move the ball down the field ... we just couldn't score.

Once a team gets into the red zone, they have to score touchdowns, not field goals. Our offense didn't have trouble getting into the red zone (with or without help from the defense with turnovers). The problem is what they did (or didn't do) once they got there. The defense can't be blamed for the offense's inability to score once it gets into the red zone.

I think it is time to move on from Arians, not trying to defend him just pointing out that there is more than just saying he sucked and was not a good OC. I think he made great strides with this team, I also think that this team at least on the offensive side is not disciplined, shooting themselves in the foot more than having the defense stop them. We will have to disagree about the Defense though. While ranked #1 in nearly all parts of the game I fear we do not have the guys up front or even the LBers anymore to put pressure on other teams QB. I hope I am wrong in all phases but I believe we have more to worry from next years Defense than the new Offense. We DO have an old Defense and the young guys have not shown me yet if they can be difference makers. Troy getting older, Snack, Hoke, Smith, Farrior, possibly gone, Kiesel will be another year older, Harrison is on the long side of 30. Ziggy shows promise, but McClendon Worilds I am not sold on yet. Timmons and Woodley disappear at times. I just hope the Old Man can put together a good group and hope the new offense can still control the ball and score more points.

riccosuavez wrote:

I think it is time to move on from Arians, not trying to defend him just pointing out that there is more than just saying he sucked and was not a good OC. I think he made great strides with this team, I also think that this team at least on the offensive side is not disciplined, shooting themselves in the foot more than having the defense stop them. We will have to disagree about the Defense though. While ranked #1 in nearly all parts of the game I fear we do not have the guys up front or even the LBers anymore to put pressure on other teams QB. I hope I am wrong in all phases but I believe we have more to worry from next years Defense than the new Offense. We DO have an old Defense and the young guys have not shown me yet if they can be difference makers. Troy getting older, Snack, Hoke, Smith, Farrior, possibly gone, Kiesel will be another year older, Harrison is on the long side of 30. Ziggy shows promise, but McClendon Worilds I am not sold on yet. Timmons and Woodley disappear at times. I just hope the Old Man can put together a good group and hope the new offense can still control the ball and score more points.

I agree with you on 2 counts, ricco:

1. It's time to move on from Arians. This debate has been going on for years. If it hasn't been settled by now, it never will be.
2. I'm also concerned about next year's defense, for exactly the same reasons you stated.

There will definitely be some tough decisions and rough transitions (sorry, channeling my inner Johnny Cochran ) on both sides of the ball. I trust the FO will make the correct ones to make it as easy and quick as possible.

I agree the Arians debate can be put to rest now. No need to continue bickering when the deed is done. There's no changing it now anyway. Let's just rally around whoever gets the job and move forward unified. We all want the same thing anyway... to win (well, except for Jon, that is ).