Steelers Seven - 2011 Season Wrap

It's all on you now, Coach!

1.  The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow
A playoff loss is never fun, but losing to a hated rival like New England or Baltimore would have been much worse than what we just witnessed in Denver.  And if you are need of some sort of silver lining, the Steelers now have the 24th pick in the draft.  That positioning could put them in striking distance for one of the top  OT's, namely Ohio State's Mike Adams, or in reach of a top ILB like Donta Hightower.   If you watched the National Title game last night, you saw the type of physical, block destroying insider backer that the Steelers sorely lack.  It's way early, but I'd put money down right now that Hightower is the name called by the Steelers at pick 24 in April.  Also don't rule out a trade up.  They are now within a realistic trading distance from the #1 overall Guard David Decastro or top ILB Luke Kuechly.   

Despite the loss and disappointing season, this roster is still loaded with young talent, especially on the offensive side of the ball.  Isaac Redman showed over the past two weeks that he can be a bell cow back in this league. A finally healthy Emmanuel Sanders had an outstanding game while his running mate Antonio Brown is already a certified star.  Imagine 3 wide sets consisting of 3 guys with actual NFL speed,  where the human anchor Hines Ward has no part of the offense.  Mike Wallace may have badly slumped down the stretch, but we have to remember that he is a young guy who is still developing.  Pouncey, Gilbert, and Foster look like they could be a good start towards rebuilding a quality O-line.  Next year the secondary should get a boost as Curtis Brown and Cortez Allen will have ample opportunities to work their way into the game day CB rotation as they will have a full slate of off-season workouts to better grasp the defense.  Each player impressed the staff this season with their work ethic and Special Teams abilities.  The young front 7 members like Cam Heyward, Ziggy Hood, and Steve McClendon should be ready to make a bigger impact as well.  Hopefully Jason Worilds can make the jump as well, though I have my well publicized doubts.  This team certainly has its issues with advanced age, but I believe there is enough quality young depth to keep it in the Super Bowl sweepstakes provided the front office makes prudent decisions over the next few months.

2.  The Defensive Game Plan
My thoughts about what the defensive game plan should be heading into this game were pretty similar to the collective pulse of the board, and to what Lebeau ultimately rolled out to open the game.  You had to put 8 in the box to stop the run, and you had to man up the receivers to eliminate any easy passes for Tebow to hit. The first quarter ended and the Broncos had amassed a whopping 8 total yards including ZERO passing yards.  The game plan was working perfectly as the Broncos couldn't run on early downs and couldn't complete a pass on 3rd and long.  That said, once Demaryius Thomas showed he could consistently beat Ike Taylor 1 on 1, and Tebow showed he indeed was able to get the ball out deep and accurate, I was positive Lebeau would go back to a more conservative coverage scheme.   Once the Broncos ran the score to  14-6 by beating William Gay for a TD pass,  I was sure Lebeau was going to back off his solo man coverages.  This is Dick Lebeau after all.  The Grandfather of bend but don't break defenses.  Mr. Keep-Everything-In-Front-Of-You would NEVER lose a playoff game by allowing his corners to give up 5 passes of 30+ yards and 3 passes of 50+ yards, right?   So before we sit here and bash Lebeau for him game plan, we should also realize it was the exact game plan many of us thought would be prudent heading into this contest.  Lebeau didn't necessarily fail with his scheme, he failed miserably with his complete and total lack of adjustments to his scheme that were repeatedly being exposed throughout the game.  It was reminiscent of watching Tom Brady dink and dunk Lebeau's soft zone coverages for years on end with no adjustments ever being made to come up and press the receivers.  Everyone knew that was the solution, and it was maddening to see the Defensive Coordinator never even give the revised strategy change a chance.    So if you are grading at home, give Lebeau a "B" for his game plan and an "F-" for in game adjustments.  

3.  The Secondary
How much of the blame really should go to the secondary here?  On the first 50 yard bomb where Thomas beat Ike Taylor, Tebow had about 7 seconds to throw the ball with no pass rush pressure being generated.  Thomas had time to make multiple moves, and Ike was stuck on an island with no help.  If your front 7, or front 9 as it was most of this game, is mostly standing around playing a lane and not rushing the QB, you will lose those 1 on 1 coverage matchups eventually.  Even with an H-back at the QB position.  Make no mistake, Ike Taylor got tooled badly all game long, but any coach who sees one of his player is being badly beaten and keeps leaving him alone with no help deserves the majority of the blame.   The Steelers typically corners do not excel in man coverage, though Ike Taylor is their best pure cover man.  Perhaps this changes a bit once Cortez Allen, Curtis Brown, and Keenan Lewis hit their stride next year, but William Gay doesn't match up well with anyone 1 on 1.   Even Ike Taylor has shown that can be beaten by the better receivers in the league.  Larry Fitzgerald gave him fits this year, and Javon Walker made him look like a fool a few years back.   Demaryius Thomas, well, it's too soon to say what he did to Ike.  Those wounds are still fresh.

4.  You Are What You Put On Tape
It's the Tomlin-ism I quoted when discussing the Steelers chances in Denver as I was more pessimistic than most heading into this game.   What the Steelers put on tape was a VERY mediocre road team and a below average offensive team on the road.  I never expected Tebow to go off like that, nobody did.  I did however have serious concerns that Ben would be sacked 5 times, which he was, and that the offense would continue to struggle once across the 50, which it did.  The Steelers absolutely dominated the opening quarter of that game, but yet again they failed to score touchdowns once in position to do so.  Instead of being up 14-0 and having Denver demoralized and in need of a dramatic change in their game plan, the Steelers found themselves losing 7-6 after one fluky 50 yard pass on 3rd down led to a score.  The Steelers offense also had the ball at midfield at the end of each half in need of only one positive play to get into position for a field goal.   Just before they half they faced a manageable 2nd and 4 from the 32.  Two runs and any positive yardage at all puts your kicker in easy FG range, yet Arians calls two passes, one of which led to a bad snap and a loss of yards which forced a punt.  At the end of the game Roethlisberger led the team to a 1st and 10 from the Denver 45 with two timeouts in his pocket.  All he needed to do to win the playoff game was find a way to gain 10 to 15 more yards without taking a sack or turning the ball over.  Ben being Ben of course. he refused to check the ball down, took a sack and fumbled which killed the drive.   #7 deserves a lot of the blame for the offensive issues.  Situationally Ben is just dumb at times.  When dumping the ball off for an easy 5 yard gain is the smart thing to do, our QB still stubbornly refuses to take what is there as he'd rather force a big play that isn't available.  Arians will rightfully take a lot of heat for this game plan and the struggles of the offense across the 50 all year, but having Ben as your QB only compounds the issues.  All I can say to Bruce Arians right now is that it takes a special kind of stupid to call a bubble screen on 3rd down and 7 in scoring range.  How obvious is your offense when the commentators can point out every time you send a WR in motion into a bunch formation it will be a WR screen pass.  We've seen teams defend this play more aggressively as the season has gone on which has led to interceptions, incompletions, and nearly a backwards pass fumble in this game.  The Steelers put offensive ineptitude on tape all year once in scoring range, and that is who this team was.  Now, will they find a way to fix it in the off-season?

5.  Fatal Flaws
Now that I've blown enough sunshine up your collective asses, let's take a closer look at what caused the Steelers season to unravel.  
 

Flaw #1:  The biggest difference between the 2008/2010 Steelers defenses and the one we saw this year was the complete lack of a pass rush.  James Harrison struggled with his back injury and was never the All-Pro caliber guy we've grown accustomed to seeing in the past.  There is no reason to believe he'll do anything but decline further as he'll be 34 by the start of next season.  Lamarr Woodley had a very slow start to the season, exploded in the middle of the year, then was a non factor after his hamstring injury.   This defense simply could not force turnovers because they couldn't get to the QB.  Fewer QB hits means fewer forced fumbles, fewer hurries that lead to interceptions, and a worse average starting field position and fewer points for the offense.  How will the Steelers generate a better pass rush next year and into the future?   Jason Worilds had a huge opportunity this season and showed he is little more than a solid back-up in the league.  His pass rush skills are not anywhere near what you need to be an elite pass rusher.   Somehow the Steelers need to generate pressure next year if they plan to make a run at another title, but I have my doubts they can without investing another premium pick at OLB.  With their other needs they just can't afford to do that.  Pray Harrison returns to form or Worilds turns it around.  

Flaw #2:  We all knew this O-line was complete shit heading into the season.  There was no worse starting left side in the entire NFL than the Jon Scott / Chris Kemoeatu pairing heading into this season.  Now add in multiple injuries and you have Trai Essex and Doug Legursky also playing prominent roles on the O-line.  Make no mistake, none of those four men are starting caliber O-linemen in this league.  When you have all four of them making multiple starts, and typically several of them bunched together on the line, you have a serious issue.  The Steelers couldn't establish a run or keep their QB clean in critical situations all year, and now they are home watching the playoffs.  A starting LG is an absolute must acquire this offseason.

Flaw #3:  Father Time is a mean old bastard.  With age comes declining play and added injuries.  Aaron Smith, Brett Keisel, Casey Hampton, Chris Hoke, and James Farrior were the heart and soul of a dominant run defense for a decade.  Time's up guys!  This run defense fell flat on its face this year as this group had declining production and multiple injuries.  I strongly believe this team needs to add an ILB and NT early in the draft and hope Hood. McClendon, and Heyward develop rapidly.

6. Bitches & Gripes
Announcing Edition:  The commentators for NFL games have a week to prepare and a sheet in front of them that lists all of the players in the game and what school they attended.  These highly paid announcers like to repeatedly cite  players alma matters in an effort to sound knowledgeable.  How then, over the past two weeks have these guys repeatedly botched multiple players’ college affiliations?  Repeatedly in this game they said Demaryius Thomas went to Central Florida when he went to Georgia Tech.  Perhaps they had him confused with former Bronco Brandon Marshall?   They also said Marcus Gilbert played at Temple instead of Florida on several occasions.  Last week they referred to Ziggy Hood as being from  Northwestern or something when he played at Missouri, and did so at least 5 times in that game.  I wonder if CBS has a disgruntled stats guy messing with the announcers info. 

Rules Enforcement Edition:  Personal foul calls have hit an all-time unbearable mark during the playoffs.  In the Lions-Saints game a Detroit defender jumped to bat away a high pass in the end zone, missed and grazed the helmet of the receiver with his open palm.  This was flagged for an illegal blow to the head of a defenseless receiver.  I literally turned off the game at that point and left the room.  In the Steelers game, James Harrison was flagged when he put two hands on Tebow after he threw a pass.  There were multiple other calls in games that made me wonder why they even allow contact in the league anymore including a bunch of weak pass interference calls.  This league now resembles a 7 on 7 flag football league than the hard hitting NFL we grew up with.   And to think, NFL Network has the balls to still uses the term "Smash Mouth football".  What a disgrace!

Goat Balls Edition: Since I'm already in a salty mood I may as well bust out the old Goat Balls Award.  Ike Taylor and Dick Lebeau clearly earned it this week.  Hang your heads in shame boys!

 
7.  Tomlin Time
For years the Steelers have entered the off-season with one word in mind, continuity.  They want to keep the coaching staff and as many players as possible together on the roster.  Mike Tomlin again said as much in his final presser of the year.   I will go on record right now and say that will be the absolute biggest mistake Mike Tomlin has ever made if he takes this approach again this off-season.  The team that went to the '05-'08-'10 Super Bowls is officially done.   You have to gut the roster of aging and declining players and inject some new blood into this team.  You need to start fresh with a new offense as well.  Much like Baltimore did last year when they cut a bunch of trusted vets and switched defensive coordinators, the Steelers must go into the mindset of improving, not taping together their broken toy.  I'd fire Arians and Kugler and gut the roster of many big name staple players like Ward, Smith, Kemoeatu, Foote, McFadden and others.  If the production no longer matches the pay scale, they need to be gutted.  This isn't a damn charity, you can't keep dragging along mascots for the ride.   Paying Hines Ward even a dramatically reduced salary of $1 million dollars takes a roster spot from a young guy who you could play $400k, and that player likely can help you on Special Teams which Ward can't.   Cut the cord Pittsburgh, cut the damn cord already!  For the love of God cut the damn cord!!!

Mike Tomlin is entering his 6th season as head coach and has never hired or fired an Offensive or Defensive Coordinator.  It is time Tomlin puts his stamp on the team and dictates the direction rather than defaulting to the coordinators he was handed.  Does he have it in him to shake up the foundation of the team, or is Tomlin just a guy who is good at managing a franchise and not good at building one?  This is the most critical off-season in his young career.

Lastly, Tomlin needs to cut the dead weight.  As I mentioned above, guys like Hines Ward and Aaron Smith were great players, great teammates, and great people.  Then again Daisy Duke used to be one hot piece of ass.  Growing up in the 80's she holds a special place in the heart of many of us who are now in our 30's and 40's.   That was at least, until they did that Dukes of Hazard reunion special a few years back.  Some fat Jabba the Slut came waddling out in short shorts and permanently ruined our mental image of Daisy Duke.  Oh the cellulite horrors!  Hines Ward and Aaron Smith have drained the Steelers resources for too long now.  They take up significant cap room and are nothing more than mascots on this team.   When you hear the names Hines Ward and Aaron Smith you still get the mental picture of 1980's Daisy Duke when in fact they are now that fat slob with cellulite.    Had the Steelers had the balls to cut ties with them before this season, they may have had enough cap room to land one significant free agent to help the O-line.  That player may have made one or two blocks over the course of the season that would have won 1 extra game and helped the Steelers win the division and earn a bye week.  Tomlin MUST make hard decisions and remove emotions from his thought process.   Smith and Ward need to be told to retire gracefully or face being immediately cut.  Some combination of Bryant McFadden, Larry Foote, James Farrior, Chris Kemoeatu, and Willie Colon need to be purged from the roster.  There won't be enough draft picks to fill all of the holes, so they need to find a way to be at least a little active in free agency.  This off-season is critical for the future of the Steelers, and if Tomlin and Colbert are complacent expect the Steelers to fall back into the pack.

A special thanks to all of our loyal SteelerFury readers and contributors for sharing this season with us and taking the time to read through my weekly thoughts and rants.  Stay tuned throughout the off-season for more articles on free agency and the draft.  I have amassed a pretty impressive draft database including a Top 200 list through my college scouting articles and research this season.  I will publish quite a bit of it through the combine, Bowl Games, and the draft.  Stay tuned, and here's to a better 2012 season!