Big Lead Sports Bar

1/05/2010

BRUCE ARIANS REPORTEDLY OUT AS O.C. - UPDATED



ESPN 1250's Ken Laird just reported that the Steelers will, in fact, part ways with Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians. More info on this as it become available.

UPDATE:

Ken Laird elaborates on his original report in a blog entry on the 1250 website

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24 comments:

Steve said...

Also reportedly, Ron Cooke has just jumped off a bridge.

BurressWithButterflywings said...

I can already here Smizik's typewriter tapping ( I am certain he still has a typewriter and an intern transfers it to his blog) saying the fans got their way.

That will be followed up by an article about how despite their 13-2 record and recent big wins, Pitt is the worst NCAA basketball program ever and that everyone in Pittsburgh should just drown in the Confluence.

Unknown said...

Ligashesky, Ligashesky, Ligashesky, Ligashesky, Ligashesky, Ligashesky, Ligashesky, Ligashesky....

Steve said...

If you say his name 10 times, Cribbs gets a touchdown.

ernie mccrackens said...

this is definitely the right call...the play calling has baffled me all year. especially against green bay...after our long completion in the 4th we should have ran the ball n ran the time out but arians went for 3 pass attempts for a 3 and out...we got lucky but that shouldve cost us the game. i guess its all moot now anyway...

Unknown said...

Dumb dumb dumb dumb.

This is the Steelers "Grass is always greener" call. Yeah, the running game became secondary to the passing game, but look around the NFL! Do you think we would have beaten Arizona if we were that slow-trodden running game when they took the lead with 2 minutes to go?!?

The offense IMPROVED from last year. It is our 4th quarter defense that killed us in 95% of the losses (yet no one blames the sacred LeBeau, including me). If the defense holds 4th quarter leads, we've got a bye week this year in the playoffs!

The best solution, drop STs and OL coach, get solid replacements, work on redzone and 3rd down situations, draft depth in the defense and OL, and, voila, a superbowl contender next year.

But to drop all this on Arians? Sorry folks, you are just stuck in the old 'running game' past where, as I remember, we all wished we had an explosive passing game to help us when we fell behind early in the game....

The grass is always greener on the other side... until you get there...

BurressWithButterflywings said...

In my opinion, some stats are more important than others. While it's nice that we had a 4000 yd passer, a pair of 1000 yd WRS and a 1000 yd rusher, PPG was not where it needed to be. Neither was 3rd down conversion percentage.

It has been dually noted that the defense collapsed in the 4th quarter this year, but many times the offense failed to take advantage of chances to really cripple their opponents even earlier. Way too predictable in the red zone and way too predictable most of the game.

Enitirely too many 19-22 yd range FG's the last few seasons and low third down conversion rate are what stick out to me, not fantasy numbers. That is why it is called fantasy football...... it's not real.

Unknown said...

i'm not stuck in any past - his play calling is atrocious...and i don't think anyone has said they "drop all this on Arians"...

josh, if you like arians and a pass happy offense that turns the ball over, i think you'd be in the minority...

now, on to Ligashesky...

Unknown said...

It was definitely one of the Steelers' best offensive seasons ever, but we didn't control the time of possession like we used to, didn't give the defense enough of a break like we used to, and didn't grind people down like we used to. The Steelers are at their best when the offense compliments the defense. Somehow it worked last year, but just didn't this year.

Koz said...

If this indeed happens, you (via Laird) have the scoop on it.


Though after clicking through the link, all we have are "rumblings" to this point.

Chip said...

Hahahahaha...

I want to hear more whining from people telling us how "Stillers Football" is stupid and the new air-it-out style of Arians is sooooo much smarter.

Also, let's hear more from the morons whose entire argument is "He won a Super Bowl two years ago! HE'S A GENIUS!"

I love when the general ignorance of the average Steeler fan is exposed for all to see. Mike Tomlin and the Rooneys could see our offense sucked this year, yet all us intelligent fans had to read was how great it was because Mush Brain Ben threw for a bunch of meaningless yards.

Good riddance to BA. Get back to pounding the ball and playing Steeler football. Make Ben the game manager he's meant to be and maybe we'll win a couple more Super Bowls.

E from Moon said...

I agree the play calling has been baffling, BUT...

1. He did win SB43 a year ago (sorry, it's true).
2. Our skill players flourished this year under him (Ben, Hines, Wallace, Santonio, Heath, etc).
3. Right or wrong, Ben was comfortable in his system, now Ben will have to learn a new system and the comfort is gone. Will we all call for Ben's head if he has an off year (he also won SB43)?
4. I think we can pin more losses on defensive collapses than offensive play-calling.

Hope it works out, but we Stiller fans can be fickle...

Jonny Van Mundegaarde said...

And I love when Steeler fans call out other ones as ignorant morons that whine too much. Get over yourself douchebag.

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

The stats are nice, and I don't even mind the new emphasis on passing. Hey, you have to change with the times.

It's Arians insistence on downfield, slooowww developing pass plays and other schemes that basically, while padding Ben's yardage numbers (sometimes), also get him murdered.

Also, I don't believe our actual scoring output was proportionate to our yards gained on offense. And somebody else mentioned the bad 3rd down percentage.


Running the ball is good, testing the defense deep sometimes is good, but we lacked a good short, high percentage passing game. Also, the lack of underneath outlet receivers was also troubling at times.


Now, onto even better news: The Pens snapped the losing streak and Pitt hoops just might be back!

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

Chip,

Get over it, Ben's a good quarterback.

If I complained about our QB to fans of the team where I live now, I'd be beaten to death. Seriously, outsiders think that those among us that don't think Ben is good are complete effing morons.

Ben's good, and can be even better with a real offensive coordinator. Whoever we get won't go back to running 60% of the time and losing in the AFC Championship every year Chip, so prepare to be disappointed.

johnny said...

@Louis Lipps,

The reason is simple. It's because those among us who don't think that Large Ben is good are in fact complete f'ing morings.

Unknown said...

I love being called a moron by 'intelligent' fans.

Look at the stats last year (where we won the superbowl) and this year. We had a BETTER time of possession and all around stats. We only lost 2 games by 7 points, the rest by less.

Call playing is mostly Arians trying to outthink the opponent (though, yes, I can't stand an empty set on third and short).

But since I'm a moron, lets go back to the Baltimore game when Ben sat and Dixon played. We ran at will against a tough Ravens D. Arians CAN set up a good offense based on the run. Perhaps everyone would be happier if Tomlin imposed his will on Arians and 'forced' more of a running attack and only use the passing offense as a compliment?

Again, I think the biggest problems is the offensive line coaching and the special teams coaching. Replacing those will go a long way, along with improving our red zone offense and third down situations.

But, hey, if you want to completely destroy the offensive playbook and start over from scratch, knock yourselves out, guys... I'm just a moron of a fan that is out in the open that everyone can make fun of!

Steve said...

Another thing that gets an offensive coordinator fired other than bad 3rd down conversion rates, 50 QB sacks, bad game management and situational ineptitude is red zone TD efficiency, which before the Dolphins game; the Steelers were something like 27 for 29 (mentioned by a commentator) in the 4 games prior...worst in the NFL.

Also, I found this press quote about Mularkey shortly after he was fired: "Mularkey began to be characterized as a coach that used predictable formations and was way too quick to abandon the run. He became reliant on the gimmick or trick play as opposed to sound play calling." Really? I though everyone was happy with the Tommy Gun offense. He had the most yards passing in one season in Steelers history up until Ben recently broke that record.

Sound familiar? Remember they also had Bettis on that team. The solution then? Fire Mularkey. Whisenhunt was promoted from TE coach and with a rookie QB and a run first game plan again, he took the Steelers to a 15-1 record in his first season and a Super Bowl his next. Mularkey went from the Steelers to the Bills and was fired after only two seasons. Whisenhunt was hired by the Cardinals and like tomlin, took his team to the Super Bowl in only his second season. Anyone think the NFL will be knocking on the door of the great Bruce Arians once he is let go?

So, I guess Josh, Ron Cook and the 4 other people who are comfortable with the results and direction of this current offense can picket to have the team sold to new owners with a new administration who knows what they're doing because winning 6 Super Bowls and being the class of the NFL is obviously something based on a myopic, "knee-jerk" mentality.

BurressWithButterflywings said...

@Looooou and Steve:

That was exactly my point. The fantasy stats are nice, but red zone efficiency and PPG are the most important stats IMHO. We might have gained a ton of yards between the 20s, but not enough where it counts the most.

I love Ben and live and die with him as our QB, but I would rather have an OC who isn't afraid to tell the QB that it is ok to hit an intermediate route to a WR every now and then and that not every throw needs to be 20+ yards.

But what do I know? Since I didn't win SB XLIII, my opinion is moot. By the way, what were the distances of Reeds FGs in that game. Also, when did our offense look best in that game? In the no huddle with someone else calling plays? Interesting.

Steve said...

On second thought, lets keep Arians. I just love seeing a shotgun formation between the 25 and 20 that leads to a 3 and out series with a sack thrown in to knock them out of field goal range because the passing plays and routes they mostly employ are TD, or bust and easily defensable on such a short field when our receivers are basically tripping over DE's and LB's just to get into the secondary coverage. All the while Ben is getting sacked by a 3 man pass rush. Nothing wrong with our offense...nothing at all.

BurressWithButterflywings said...

I just love the people with the
" But he won the Super Bowl" defense.

Please take a closer look at that game: 68 total offensive yards and 3 points between the end of the 1st quarter and beginning of the final GW drive. The longest drive we sustained was helped more by Arizona's lack of discipline than his play calling.

MJ said...

Why is everyone citing this report as Gospel? "Strong rumblings" are hardly a concrete source.

Yet, of course the rest of the Yinzer media tried to follow Laird downt he rabbit hole.

http://thebreadlineblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/shoddy-reporting-at-its-best-or-worst.html

Steve said...

Ligashesky has a super Bowl ring too and Logan set a Steelers record for return yards this season. If Arians stays, Ligashesky stays too, right? Why should Ligashesky become the "scapegoat" for a bad defensive special teams?

Unknown said...

Ken Whisenhunt doesn't run the football in Arizona and very similar to Arians. The difference is Whisenhunt had an offensive line big enough to run the ball, where Arians does not.

As I said before, lets run run run, then when we get behind by 14 points, don't be surprised when Ben can't get us back in the game because passing isn't the focus anymore. Oh, and say goodbye to Santonio Holmes and Heath Miller. There's no point in keeping htem around, and they'll free up the money to get offensive lineman needed to run.

What? You want BOTH?!? You can't have your cake and eat it too, boys...