The age-old debate about football coaches and players when it comes to plays being successful or not comes down to the execution of the players vs the play-calling by the coach.
There are always times where you can clearly see a lack of execution. It happens because guys just don’t remember their job or because the guy across from them is simply better on that play. The job of the coach however is to put players in the best possible position to succeed and right now in the red zone, Todd Haley isn’t doing that.
During the offseason, the Steelers went out and signed LeGarrette Blount to help with this exact situation yet for two straight weeks Blount was essentially a no-show by no fault of his. Against Tampa Bay the Steelers ran 10 plays inside the red zone and passed on nine of those. A week later against Jacksonville the Steelers again had ten plays inside the red zone and had ten dropbacks.
The easy excuse as Will Graves of the Associated Press points out is that Ben Roethlisberger has darn good numbers in the red zone right now. Through five games Big Ben is 23-32 for 104 yards with four TDs and one interception. His QB rating is 102.8.
Obviously, throwing the ball in the red zone is necessary and personally I love to see it but the issue I’ve had with Haley is that many of the plays continue to be those that move right and left rather than forward. The attempted wide receiver screen to Antonio Brown on Sunday should have been audibled out of immediately as the two Jags’ defenders were rolled up on the coverage. There was little time or room for a block and Brown had nowhere to go.
Even the successful touchdown pass to Michael Palmer needed perfection from both Palmer and Roethlisberger. First of all, it was the same exact play used a week ago without success. This time it was used on third and goal where play-action pass isn’t going to fool anyone. The Jags had it covered but it took a laser-sharp throw from Roethlisberger to get it to Palmer before the linebacker closed.
Why would the Jags have fallen for play-action if the Steelers weren’t running the ball in the red zone?
Haley has to find more balance in the red zone and he has to call plays that work to keep the defense on their heels. Calling a play-action pass on third and goal isn’t going to fool anyone and it didn’t. Thankfully the execution was there and the play succeeded.
It’s time to involve Blount in the red zone and time to stop these end-arounds with Dri Archer or whoever else that gain but a few yards. Defenses are expecting these plays whether they are executed properly or not.
As the Steelers know all too well from recent years, field goals in the red zone will not win games. Get the backs involved in both the running and passing game so the defense has more to key on. Either way, Haley has to mix things up better than he is now.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteelDad and the website @SCBlitz. Check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/steelcityblitz and on Fancred.com. You can hear him weekly during the season on game day on the Trib-Live Radio Steelers Pre-Game
5 comments
Amen!
You are correct about a balanced offense but it’s not only in the red zone but all the time. We have some good pieces but the chess player is not playing them right. It’s almost like he is trying to prove that his offense works and using his personnel correctly is secondary.That being said let’s root for the Steelers they are our team. And they play the games for a reason you never know what’s going to happen.
Nepotism. Haleys father was in charge of g”Great steeler drafts of the 70;s.
Rooneys were loyal and still are hiring a failed KC head coach.
Haley’s job should be in jeapordy. his second failure.
We have two very good running backs who are not being used.
Haley is to predictable and hates going down the field to test the secondary. I am personally getting tired of the bubble screen and swing passes. I have a great idea why don’t we try some quick slants and some deep passes. Defense’s are waiting for those bubble screens. I would also like to see Blount and Bell in the backfield together. That would keep the defense of balance they would have to account fot two capable backs and also have to worry about the pass. Just my two cents. Hope the Steelers can get back to back wins on Sunday. Here we go Steelers! Let’s see a complete sixty minutes from the offense and defense. Getting pressure on Hoyer is key to us winning the game.
Thanks for writing guys…. I think we’ll know the truth I the nepotism stuff if this team goes 8-8 again and Haley is kept. As far as the slants I agree 100%. I’m so tired of the constant right and left.