When you have a situation like the Steelers had last Sunday against the Dolphins, there is obviously plenty of blame to go around.
If you’ve read stuff I’ve written in the past, I was one that mentioned Todd Haley for offensive coordinator before it even became a thought publicly, I supported the Haley hiring, and I’ve continued to support the job Haley has done as the Steelers’ offensive coordinator.
All that being said, Coach Haley definitely still has his strengths and weaknesses; as we all do. I think that Haley’s strength is his play design and how he keeps defenses guessing by running different things out of the same formation. His biggest weakness is that he often tries to get “too cute” instead of just beating a defense with the easy answer.
I place the biggest share of the blame for Sunday’s disaster on Todd Haley for not running the ball. You have two of the best backs in the NFL at your disposal that could have clearly helped on a day that the passing game was not clicking, and helped out a defense that was literally so hot and so gassed they had players vomiting on the field.
With the nearly unstoppable Patriots offense coming to town this Sunday, clearly Todd Haley’s best course of action will be to help his backup Quarterback by pounding the rock right? Keep the ball away from Brady, right?
WRONG!
Old-school thinking says that’s what you should do. It sounds nice in theory… but I don’t think the Steelers have a prayer in running the ball all day on the Patriots.
Bill Belichick is the smartest coach in the league. Bill’s m.o. is “I am going to take away your biggest strength, and make you try and beat me in another way.” With Ben Roethlisberger out, Le’Veon Bell is clearly the Steelers’ biggest strength. Le’Veon (and DeAngelo Williams) can expect to see a loaded box all . day . long.
Yes, Le’Veon is probably still good enough to pick up yards against a loaded box but not consistently enough to put up the kind of points this team is going to need to in order to beat Tom Brady… because I can guarantee you Tom Brady is going to put up plenty of points in this game.
So what is my suggestion?
Get cute. Do what we all yell and scream at you for doing when you’re playing an inferior opponent and it’s clearly not needed. This week, I think it is needed.
I would throw every off the wall thing in the playbook at the Patriots. I’d have a heavy dose of Le’Veon Bell in the wildcat. I’d have Antonio Brown back there as well, and give him the green light to throw the ball down field if he sees an opening. I’d run gadget plays that may include throw backs to Landry who then throws it downfield, throw in reverses and screen, and fakes of those that may just end up being a simple handoff. While Landry isn’t a threat to run the ball, what if you had Bell and Brown in the backfield running the read-option?
I wouldn’t just stop there either. If the Steelers get into the endzone, I wouldn’t be opposed to going for 2 every single time.
Go for it on any 4th and short that makes sense. I don’t think that the Steelers can beat the Patriots with field goals.
If the situation is right, don’t be scared to try a surprise onside kick.
Defensively, while I don’t really think you can blitz Brady, I’d play more aggressively at the line of scrimmage and really attack his receivers on the line to try and throw off his timing.
I realize that there’s a reason you don’t normally do a lot of the things I’ve mentioned above… They’re high risk plays that can often lead to a team getting blown out if it’s not successful. Personally, I think this team gets blown out almost no matter what they do, so I’m all in favor of going all in and swinging for the fences. If it blows up in your face, then you’re probably in the same position you would have been in anyway.
Clearly, it’s on the coaches to decide where to take their shots. I’m not saying you need to go crazy all game but you need to do something to keep those defenders from just coming downhill all game without hesitation. Maybe if you run a trick play that beats them downfield, you at least open it up a little bit at that point to pound the ball with the run game.
In short, it’s going to take a miracle for the Steelers to come away with a win on Sunday, so you might as well go all out.
