Time To Move On        By Still the Champ

 

The Steelers’ 2007 Season is over – it’s time to move on.  Although disappointing at the end, in retrospect it was a decent year.  The Steelers improved their record to 10-6, won the AFC North Division, and made the playoffs.  Rookie coach Mike Tomlin had a good first year coaching the talent that he inherited from his predecessor, Bill Cowher.  His decision not to make any major changes during his first year was probably a good one, as he needed time to evaluate the players, establish his leadership position and decide on his future strategy.  Will the defense change to a cover-2?  Will the offense become more pass oriented?  This off-season should tell us a lot about what direction Mike Tomlin is heading.

A very quick analysis of the Steelers:

·         Overall defense – the number one ranking is deceiving considering the poor finish to the season.  The major decision facing Tomlin is what type of defense does he want/need to build.  Does he want to continue with the Dick LeBeau defense or go in another direction?  Major problems include the lack of pass rush and defending against the spread offense.

·         Defensive line – Performance dropped dramatically when Aaron Smith went down.  Casey Hampton is no longer the run stopper he once was and offers nothing in the pass rush.  Brett Keisel failed to live up to the preseason expectations.  Help needed.

·         Linebackers – Very average as a group.  James Harrison had a terrific season, but the others did not.  Farrior played well at times, but Foote and Haggans had sub par seasons.  Lamar Woodley showed impressive pass rushing skills in his limited appearances.  Got to get Woodley and Timmons on the field.

·         Secondary – Actually played rather well this season, but hampered very much by the absence of a pass rush.  Deshea Townsend played very well, but age may catch up to him in the near future.

·         Overall Offense – Ben Roethlisberger is the sole reason the offense played as well as it did finishing 17^th overall in the NFL.  The offensive line play was atrocious as evidenced by the 53 sacks allowed in regular and postseason play.

·         Quarterback – Outstanding!  Ben Roethlisberger could be the best Steeler quarterback of all time, and he’s only 25 years old.

·         Running backs – Better than average.  Willie Parker is a Pro-Bowler, and Davenport is a decent backup.  Davis wasn’t great, but wasn’t bad either.  Gary Russell showed a lot of potential and may have a future role to play.

·         Receivers – Average at best.  Santanio Holmes is the best of the lot.  Hines Ward is aging and appears to be slowing down.  He is still tough as nails and has a great deal of football savvy, but Hines is on the downside of his career.  Nate Washington has moments, but overall is very average and does not scare anyone.  Cedric Wilson is overpaid for his production, and Reid just may be a bust.

·         Tight ends – Very good.  Heath Miller had a his career best season and should become a major threat to the Steelers offense.  Matt Spaeth had a good rookie year.  Funny though, after Jerame Tuman went down, the effective three tight end offense on the goal-line went down too.

·         Offensive line – If not the worst in the NFL, close to it. Embarrassing to see them being mauled and thrown aside by the other teams’ defensive lineman. Major overhaul is needed!

·         Special teams – One of the NFL’s worst coverage and return teams.

Bottom line – the Steelers did not win the Super Bowl or go deep into the playoff because they are not good enough!  There is a talent shortage that must be corrected before the Steelers will improve.  However, all is not lost!  This situation can be corrected so that the Steelers can compete for the Super Bowl Championship in 2008.

Defensively, the major problem for the Steelers is to improve the pass rush. The pass rush relies way too much on scheme.  Other than James Harrison, nobody can win one-on-one battles. While James Harrison displayed good pass rushing skills, he did not get any help from his teammates. Harrison had eight sacks, Farrior had six while Haggans and Woodley had 4 each.  The defensive line, in total, had six sacks; two each for Keisel, Smith and Kirschke.  Casey Hampton and Nick Eason had none.  The Steelers 36 sacks tied for 13^th in the NFL.  This is not Steeler football!

The solution may be found in the Steelers past.  In 1994, the Steelers led the NFL with 55 sacks.  This was one badass defense!  The team leaders were linebackers Kevin Greene with 14, Greg Lloyd with 10, and Chad Brown with 8.  Defensive end Ray Seals had 7 sacks.  Kevin Greene was one of the NFL’s all-time best pass rushers and still ranks #3 in career sacks behind Reggie White and Bruce Smith.  He was a pure pass rusher who rarely, if ever, dropped into pass coverage.  The notable characteristic of the 1994 pass rushers was their ability to win one-on-one battles!  The 2008 Steelers might be able to emulate this 1994 pass rush by:

·         Putting James Harrison, LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons on the field at the same time.  They have too much talent to sit on the bench.  Woodley could become the Kevin Greene opposite James Harrison (who reminds me of Greg Lloyd).

·         Finding a Ray Seals to replace Brett Keisel.  There are several top-notch defense line free agents this year.  The best (Jared Allen, Albert Haynesworth and Terrell Suggs) will probably be franchised by their teams; and, if not, will demand a very high price tag in the market.  However, the Green Bay Packers are not trying to sign Corey Williams to a contract.  At 6’4” 313 lbs, 27 years of age, he might be a great fit for the Steelers at defensive end.  Of note, he has had seven quarterback sacks in each of the last two years.

·         Getting Aaron Smith healthy.  At his age, he doesn’t have many seasons left, but the Steelers need two more years out of Aaron Smith.

Fixing the offensive line will not be easy.  There are major problems here!  Alan Faneca will be gone, and Max Starks will probably leave too.  Given the overall poor play of the line, this will not be that great a loss.  How the offensive line is rebuilt will depend on what strategy Mike Tomlin chooses.  Historically, the Steelers have been a power running team using the Erhardt – Perkins system also known as smash mouth football.  This system primarily uses man blocking schemes and favors linemen with run blocking skills.  Will Tomlin continue with this scheme, modify it, or go with something else? The Patriots and Colts run the pro version of the spread offense, will Tomlin follow suit?  We will see, but his choice will effect what type of lineman he wants on his team. 

At the end of the season, Tomlin added Jeremy Parquet and Jason Capizzi to the active roster.  Parquest is listed at 6’6’ 321 lbs and Capizzi is listed at 6’9” 315 lbs.  The common denominator is these are large men.  Is this an indication that Tomlin want his offensive line to get bigger?

The Steelers have the 23^rd pick in the upcoming draft.  Their track record in selecting offensive linemen has not been good.  Since 1980, the Steelers have selected 17 offensive linemen in the first three rounds of the draft – nine have been outright busts! 

 

Two of the draftees were perennial All-Pros and future Hall of Famers:  Dermontti Dawson and Alan Faneca.  Leon Searcy and Brenden Stai were pretty good started drafted in the 90’s.  Since 2000, the Steelers have drafted four offensive linemen in the first three rounds:  Marvel Smith, Kendall Simmons, Max Starks and Trai Essex.  Three starters and a backup, but only Marvel Smith has excelled.

The Steelers have done a decent job of picking up free agent offensive linemen.  Duval Love, Will Wolford and Jeff Hartings were terrific pickups.  On the other hand, Shar Pourdanesh, Todd Fordham and Barrett Brooks were kinda laughable.  The Steelers may have to go this route to shore up the line in the short term to stop the bleeding.

If I were the Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers (sounds like if I were King), I would set a goal of building the biggest, baddest, ass-kicking line in football -- a line that that would never, ever be bull-rushed into the backfield or tossed aside.  I would want a line that other teams fear.  By fear, I mean physical fear – afraid of having your ass kicked and being hurt.  Never again would I be embarrassed by weak Steeler linemen being pushed around and abused by the opposition.

I would build it inside out, starting with the middle of the line.  The Steelers have had top-notch centers for over thirty years:  Mike Webster, Dermontti Dawson and Jeff Hartings.  The dropoff to Sean Mahan is incalculable!  Many have speculated that Kendall Simmons will be the next center.  It’s worth a try and should be an upgrade over Mahan.  A sleeper here may be Darnell Stapleton.  The Steelers decided to keep him on the 53-man roster for a reason.  He beat out his Rutgers teammate and fifth round draft pick Cameron Stephenson for a roster spot.  The Steelers also elected to cut centers Chukky Okobi and Marvin Philip (twice) from the roster.  Even though he only played in two preseason games this year, I assume there must be some reason why the Steelers kept him on the roster.  Could he be the center of the future?

The Steelers need two big, strong, badass guards.  Chris Kemoeatu is not the answer.  If he has not been able to win a starting job by now, there is something wrong.  It’s not going to happen with Kemo.  The Steelers have the 23^rd pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.  Herman Johnson of the National Champion LSU Tigers at 6’7” 350 lbs should be available.  What a monster!  Reportedly he is even bigger than advertised.  Nobody is going to bull rush or toss aside this man.  What a replacement for the former LSU Tiger Alan Faneca.  Another guard who should be available in Round 2 is 6’6” 318 lb Kerry Brown of Appalachian State.  He is the only two-time, first team, All-American in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly known as Division I-AA).  As you all know, Appalachian State has won the championship three years in a row and made history by beating Michigan this past season – they also wear Black and Gold.  Just think of these two monsters in the middle of the line!

Rebuilding the offensive line into a Steeler line will probably take at least two years.  In this regard, I hope Marvel Smith and Willie Colon can play another year.  Marvel Smith’s contract runs out in 2008, but maybe that aching back can last for one more year.  There has been talk of moving Willie Colon to guard, but I think that is a mistake.  He has spent the past year learning the right tackle position, so take advantage of that experience.  He may not be the long term solution, but he probably is the best for another year.  Smith and Colon played better than the interior line and should be kept around for a while.  The key to improvement is replacing the center and guards.  I offer my ideas, but I’m sure there are others that would work also.  The imperative issue is that something be done and done quickly.  The patient is dying and needs immediate attention!

As to the third part of returning to football, Special Teams, I leave that to another day.  I really don’t have enough knowledge of the schemes and personnel to discuss this topic in an intelligent manner.  For some reason that God only knows, Special Teams have been the Achilles heel of Steeler football.

I been reading a lot on this site as to why the 2007 season went wrong – some good comments, some not so good.  My take is to put this season behind us and move on.  The Steelers have a franchise quarterback and a lot of talent.  If Steeler management and coaches can get a pass rush, fix the offensive line and special team problems, there will be some very exciting Steeler football to watch next fall.  Meanwhile, let’s see just how Mike Tomlin goes about rebuilding the Steelers this off-season.