"Mean" Joe Greene OK with idea of 'new' offensive plan

INDIANAPOLIS -- Count Joe Greene among those happy to see the Steelers move to change their approach on offense.

"If it doesn't feel good, you have to change it and, basically, it wasn't feeling good," Greene said Friday. "It wasn't feeling good in '09, and it wasn't feeling good in 2011."

Greene, a Hall of Fame defensive tackle chosen the most important player in Steelers history, spent time promoting a new commercial for Procter & Gamble that is a takeoff on his famous Coke commercial 32 years ago which won a Clio.

Greene, a special assistant in the Steelers personnel department since '04, said watching the offense last season was difficult for him.

"I don't like the imbalance," he said in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He implied the Steelers could be playing Sunday in the Super Bowl had there been smarter play-calling on offense.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12035/1208112-66-0.stm?cmpid=steelers.xml#ixzz1lOI3VIeH
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Mean Joe is just a hater. He obviously doesn't know shit about football.

A couple more great quotes from Mean Joe...

Quote :

"The thing that people don't understand with us, I've heard it said ... 'We want to throw the football because we have all the people.' Well, hell, [in the 1970s], we had Terry Bradshaw, John Stallworth, Lynn Swann; we had Jimmy Smith, we had the tight end. We could throw the ball when we had to, and we could run it when we had to. That's football! You do what you have to do when you have to do it -- run it when you need to, throw it when you need to. It's not all one way. I think that's what we didn't get."

Quote :

"And there is always a weakness in a defense for the run, but you have to be able to look for it. You don't just call the run because you get tired of throwing it or because someone wants you to."

OK, I'm taking a lot of joy in Greene's statements, because I've been banging this drum all season long ...

Quote :

Greene blamed the Steelers loss Nov. 6 to Baltimore on the offense's inability to run the clock with the lead. The Ravens drove 92 yards in the final two minutes to score the winning touchdown with eight seconds left, 23-20. He also noted that, even in the regular-season finale at Cleveland, the Browns were throwing desperation passes with a chance to win at the end, chances Greene believes they would not have had if the offense had used the clock better.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12035/1208112-66-0.stm?cmpid=steelers.xml#ixzz1lOJM3MBl

This is all fine and good, but how does Mean Joe stack up in "Madden 2012"? That's where the REAL football minds learn the game.

Well, add Greene to the list of experts to basically say the Steelers didn't have an identity on offense. Arians spent so much effort on trying to trick the opposition that the team lost the idea of imposing it's will. In the end, football is still a game where the team that can impose their will upon the other will win. This is why the Steelers can have a good regular season record and yet play below par against good teams. They couldn't impose their will on the Packers (fumble) in the SB; they couldn't impose their will on the Ravens in the second game (couldn't control the clock when leading); they couldn't impose their will on San Fran and got trounced; they couldn't impose their will in Cleveland in the last game of the season (lucky the Brownies sucked).

And Greene's comments on the lack of run prep in the offseason is telling. In all sports: you are what you prepared to be. Having played in high school and college, my opinion is that the most complicated play is the run. On pass plays, you can have so many variables go wrong, yet still succeed. However, on running plays, if one man does not win his 1-1 battle or is late or misses an assignment, then the play is most likely screwed. You want to impose your will on another team, then you have to practice the tough plays and not treat them as gadget plays during the games.

We had the offense, but we didn't have the execution. Relying on your kicker to make (likely miss) your points for you won't get you far, and that's what we did all year. We'd move the ball 40 yards from where we got the ball, and then settle for three a majority of time. It's our RedZone offense that needs to better itself, and I think it will this coming season.

So Rooney II was right for not giving Arians a new contract? and the media was wrong about Rooney II stepping in and canning Arians?

I like Rooney II did from the beginning.

kirklandrules wrote:

Well, add Greene to the list of experts to basically say the Steelers didn't have an identity on offense. Arians spent so much effort on trying to trick the opposition that the team lost the idea of imposing it's will. In the end, football is still a game where the team that can impose their will upon the other will win. This is why the Steelers can have a good regular season record and yet play below par against good teams. They couldn't impose their will on the Packers (fumble) in the SB; they couldn't impose their will on the Ravens in the second game (couldn't control the clock when leading); they couldn't impose their will on San Fran and got trounced; they couldn't impose their will in Cleveland in the last game of the season (lucky the Brownies sucked).

And Greene's comments on the lack of run prep in the offseason is telling. In all sports: you are what you prepared to be. Having played in high school and college, my opinion is that the most complicated play is the run. On pass plays, you can have so many variables go wrong, yet still succeed. However, on running plays, if one man does not win his 1-1 battle or is late or misses an assignment, then the play is most likely screwed. You want to impose your will on another team, then you have to practice the tough plays and not treat them as gadget plays during the games.

AMEN, BROTHER! PREACH ON!

kirklandrules wrote:

Having played in high school and college, my opinion is that the most complicated play is the run. On pass plays, you can have so many variables go wrong, yet still succeed. However, on running plays, if one man does not win his 1-1 battle or is late or misses an assignment, then the play is most likely screwed. You want to impose your will on another team, then you have to practice the tough plays and not treat them as gadget plays during the games.

I think that's spot on, KR. I can't find the exact quote, but I remember Arians saying something about they need to be able to run the ball when they want to. I argued at the time that a running game isn't like a light switch that can be turned on and off. You have to establish your running game by sticking with it. And then you have Mendy who after one game said they called some running plays that they didn't even practice. Arians never took the running game seriously. He had the attitude that whenever he decided he wanted to run the ball, they could just give the ball to the RB and run at will. It doesn't work that way.

And another key is attacking your opponent's weakness. We've seen the Patriots do this to us over the years. Before this season, we had a weak secondary, and the Patriots went after it. They threw more passes against the Steelers over the span of 4 or 5 years than against any other team in the league. They went right after our weakness. Compare that to what we did against the Browns in the second matchup this season ... we were facing a team with the 2nd best pass defense in the league and the 30th run defense. And what did we do? Did we attack their weakness (the run)? No, we threw the ball 40 times with a hobbled quarterback. Ben should have thrown no more than maybe 25 passes that game.

And another key is attacking your opponent's weakness. We've seen the Patriots do this to us over the years. Before this season, we had a weak secondary, and the Patriots went after it. They threw more passes against the Steelers over the span of 4 or 5 years than against any other team in the league. They went right after our weakness. Compare that to what we did against the Browns in the second matchup this season ... we were facing a team with the 2nd best pass defense in the league and the 30th run defense. And what did we do? Did we attack their weakness (the run)? No, we threw the ball 40 times with a hobbled quarterback. Ben should have thrown no more than maybe 25 passes that game.

It also helped that they KNEW our plays because they were cheating but I agree they still knew our weakness.