Stillers Offseason Outlook -- Feb '08

 

This annual offseason outlook is a thorough examination of the team's status and stance as one season ends and another beckons. It's inherently intended to be thorough, and wide in breadth & scope. This isn't a USA Today, 5-sentence-glossover that you often see in various magazines, newspapers, and so-called in-depth or insider Steeler web sites. Rather, it's a fairly long read, but I believe it'll be well worth your time. 

 

First, let’s recap the 2007 season.   Coming off an 8-8 season that followed the Sup Bowl win, Tomlin assumed the helm when Cowhard officially quit.  The fallacy of the ’07 season is that Tomlin “took over a .500 team”.   In actuality, he did not…nor did he take over some moribund, woebegone team like the Falcons or the Raiders.  Both the ’06 and ’07 teams had plenty of starters and key players from the Sup Bowl champion.  There were 3 simple reasons why the ’06 team faltered:  

 

  1.  Typical Sup Bowl hangover

  2.  The head coach had mentally QUIT months before the season, and simply mailed it in during the entire preseason and regular season.

  3.  The star QB -- the most important position in all of pro football -- suffered a motorbike accident that nearly took his life, as well as an organ removal and TWO concussions.    

 

           The cupboard was stocked well enough to improve upon the 8-8 record, and when the dust settled, the ’07 Stillers finished 10-6.  Just viewed on paper, the 10-6 record looks pretty good.  Peeling the onion back, however, the 10-6 record smells a bit like a rotten onion.  The Stillers started swiftly out of the gate, going 3-0 in resounding fashion.  They stubbed their toe out in AZ, but then collected themselves to destroy the Hawks and entered the bye week at 4-1.  They lost out in Denver, but rebounded with key divisional wins over Cinci and then over Balt. on MNF that turned out to be the high-water mark of the season.

 

           Sitting atop the division at 7-2 and presumably having learned a lesson or 2 from the losses to AZ and Denver, the Stillers were presumably ready to hunt bear.  They weren’t.  At home, they had to claw and scavenge to overcome the Browns, whose last-second FG fell 2 feet short.  Ugly as it was, it seemed to at least serve as another useful lesson.  Wrong.  In perhaps the pitiful loss of the season, the Stillers traveled to NY and lost in a sputter-fest to the lowly Jets.  They rebounded with lukewarm wins over winless Miami and free-falling Cinci, and had a chance to prove their mettle against unbeaten New England.  Instead, they got thoroughly embarrassed and outclassed by NE, in what turns out was the last game the Pats would annihilate an opponent during their late-season struggles.  The following week, the Stillers were physically manhandled and dominated by the Jags.  The Stillers then beat hapless St. Louis before losing a somewhat meaningless but uninspired finale to Balt. 

 

           Going from 7-2 and looking like world beaters, to faltering and stumbling down the stretch (going 3-4) with meek, uninspired play, turned what was a promising season into an inglorious swoon.  Losing at home to the Jags in the playoffs added more tarnish to the late-season downfall. 

 

This year's offseason keys are as follows:

 

- Expanding the offense

 

- If relying on the draft, then draft something

 

- Restoring depth

 

- Obtain something from the free agent market

 

 -The need for speed

 

- Fix the Blitzing

 

 

1.  Expanding the Offense.   With a superb veteran QB, a mega-fast RB that was leading the NFL in rushing, a strong starting WR duo, and 1 of the best pass-receiving TEs in all of pro football, it’s time to expand the offense beyond the plodding PlowHorse Offense of yesteryear into something a bit more diversified.   Some will argue this has already happened, but I disagree.  Yes, Ben set the franchise record for TD passes, and the offense generated loads of passing yards.  Much of this, however, was out of pure desperation when the team was trailing in the 2H.  Much of this was also out of almost surreal individual efforts (particularly by Ben, as well as Ward & Miller), rather than any planned scheme.  

 

           I’m not calling for a chuck n’ duck offense.  Every team, especially those in a northern outdoor stadium, needs to be able to run the football.  Problem is, the offense is mired in stale predictability and rampant grab-bagism.    Parker is not permitted at all to play on 3rd downs because there is an obscure rule that prohibits this.  Despite a love affair with the 2TE sets, Miller and Speath are extreme afterthoughts in the passing offense.  Parker is thrown the ball only on screen plays or desperation valve dumps.   Well-designed gimmick plays involving the skills of Ward and Wilson are an afterthought.  The production from the #3 and #4 receivers is marginal. 

 

            Some will fawn over the ’07 offense, using a comparison to the ’06 version as justification.  Comparing the ‘06 and ‘07 offenses is an absurd fallacy that makes no sense.   The ‘06 offense had a QB riddled by a MOTORBIKE ACCIDENT that nearly took his life, as well as an organ removal and TWO concussions.  The ‘07 offense had a HEALTHY QB that was relatively healthy the ENTIRE summer and ENTIRE season.   

 

           It’s high time to expand and diversify this offense, as the weapons are there.  Miller and Speath present enormous mismatch problems for opposing defenses, and off the play-action pass, each should be hauling in passes as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.  Miller has developed into a brilliant receiver, and catching only 47 passes is chickenfeed for a man with his size, quickness, route-running, and hands.  Parker absolutely must be used more in the passing game, particularly on “long handoffs” such as flare passes that put him out in the open field, as well as wheel routes such as the one Jones-Drew snagged and ran in for the 43-yard TD against the Stillers in the Wild Card loss in January.  Here you have one of the fastest RBs in the entire league, and he’s relegated to meager-assed valve dumps and the occasional Whaleshit Screen pass.  Nate and Wilson -- or whomever is the #4 receiver -- have got to be integrated far more into the passing game, particularly when the offense goes to the spread formation. 

 

             A main problem of the ’07 offense was that when it needed to run it could not run, and when it needed to pass, it could not pass.   In clutch situations, this offense had its struggles, with legs as wobbly as a punch-drunk boxer.  Removing the predictable shackles will go a long way into making this offense dangerous, rather than as easy to read as a 2nd grade primer.  

2.  If relying on the draft, then draft something.  The Stillers present a strange paradox -- the team eschews free agency (aside from signing scrubs like Kirschke and Mahan), but then treats the 2nd day of the draft as a colossal waste of time and just blandly makes irrational stabs on the 2nd day. 

 

           The 2nd-day draft flops have been well documented.  While the Chargers nabbed useful WR/TE Legedu Naanee in 5th round of the ’07 draft, Colbert was wasting time with Ryan McBean and Cam Stephenson.  While Colbert dawdled around last April, the Giants nabbed rookies WR Steve Smith, RB Ahmad Bradshaw, and DT Jay Alford.  

 

The ’06 draft was a lark as well.   2nd day throw-away picks included Orien Harris and Slomar Jacobs.   Here are the last 4 drafts, summarized for your review:

 

2006

Round - Pick - Overall - Name - Position - School
1 - 25 - 25 – Santonio Holmes - WR – Ohio State
3 - 19 - 83 – Anthony Smith - S – Syracuse
3 - 31 - 95 – Willie Reid - WR – Florida State
4 - 34 – 131 – Willie Colon - OT – Hofstra
4 - 36 - 133 – Orien Harris - LB - Miami, FL
5 - 32 - 164 – Slomar Jacobs - QB – Bowling Green
5 - 35 - 167 – Charles Davis - TE - Purdue
6 - 32 - 201 – Marvin Philip - C – California
7 - 32 - 240 – Cedric Humes - RB – Virginia Tech

2005

Round - Pick - Overall - Name - Position - School
1 - 30 - 30 – Heath Miller - TE – Virginia
2 - 30 - 62 – Bryant McFadden - DB – Florida State
3 - 29 - 93 – Trai Essex - T – Northwestern
4 - 30 – 131 – Fred Gibson - WR – Georgia
5 - 30 - 166 – Rian Wallace - LB - Temple
6 - 30 - 204 – Chris Kemoeatu - G – Utah
7 - 14 - 228 – Shaun Nua - DE - BYU
8 - 30 - 244 – Noah Herron - RB – Northwestern

2004

Round - Pick - Overall - Name - Position - School
1 - 11 - 11 – Ben Roethlisberger - QB – Miami(OH)
2 - 6 - 38 – Dicardo Colclough - DB – Tusculum
3 - 12 - 75 – Max Starks - T – Florida
4 - 13 - 145 – Nathaniel Adibi - DE – Virginia Tech
5 - 12 - 177 – Blo Lacy - T - Arkansas
6 - 29 - 194 – Matt Kramdick - TE – Penn State
7 - 32 - 197 – Drew Gaylor - C - Stanford
8 - 11 - 212 – Eric Taylor - DT - Memphis

2003

Round - Pick - Overall - Name - Position - School
1 - 16 - 16 – Troy Polamalu - DB - USC
2 - 27 - 59 – Alonzo Jackson - DE – Florida State
3 - 28 - 125 – Ivan "Ike" Taylor - DB – Louisiana-Lafayette
4 - 28 - 163 – Brian St. Pierre - QB – Boston College
5 - 28 - 242 - J.T. Wall - RB - Georgia

 

           As you can see, the value and production in rounds 4-6 has been pitiful.  This team used to seize quite a haul in these rounds, grabbing fairly useful players like Foote, Haynes, Earl Holmes, Keisel, Roye, Townsend, and so forth.  That essentially ceased after 2002, and the result has been 5 consecutive years of wasted picks on Day 2 of the draft. 

 

           The staff needs to utilize these rounds to obtain players that can bolster depth, help out on spec teams, and in some cases, gain a starting job within a year or 2.  Throwing picks into the shitter on selections such as Fred Gibson and Charles Davis degrades depth and provides nothing on special teams. 

 

           Lastly, today’s rookie players (with the exception of QB), playing in complex pro-style offenses and defenses at the NCAA level and even at the 4A and 5A level in many high schools, do not need to serve an apprenticeship for 2 years in order to contribute to their football team.  Drafting Timmons and Woodley in rounds 1 & 2, and then forcing them to rot the bench the entire season, it incomprehensible in this day in age of the NFL.  That kind of Neanderthal idiocy needs to stop.  

 

3.  Restoring depth.   Spending just a few hours preparing for the draft will inherently help out in this 2nd area, restoring depth. 

           Injuries are part of the game and the Stillers had their fair share down the stretch run last season.  Again, however -- every single team has injuries and the ones that actually possess some depth are far better able to handle the challenge.  The Giants lost Shockey and never missed a beat.  The Jags lost Marcus Stroud -- one of the best D-lineman in the entire conference -- in early Dec. and churned right along.  The Jags were also without the services of DE Reggie Hayward.  Undaunted,