The Penguins' midseason report card is in

By Josh Yohe, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Tuesday, January 31, 2012

OTTAWA, ON - JANUARY 28: (L-R) Evgeni Malkin #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins and team Chara kneels on the ice with Kris Letang #58 of the Pittsburgh Penguins and team Alfredsson during the 2012 Molson Canadian NHL All-Star Skills Competition at Scotiabank Place on January 28, 2012 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The Penguins endured quite a rollercoaster ride during the first half of the season. There was a four-game winning streak, which was followed by a six-game losing streak, which was followed by the team's current seven-game winning streak.

There was The Return.

Then came the news release that changed everything, when the Penguins announced Dec. 7 that Sidney Crosby's concussion symptoms had returned.

There were plenty of disappointments, countless injuries and a brief stint removed from the playoff picture.

Evgeni Malkin reminded everyone that he is a superstar, and James Neal became one.

Kris Letang won a game 20 minutes after sustaining a concussion. Crosby may have played eight games without knowing his neck had recently been broken.

The first half of this season was truly unlike any other. Here are some grades for the Penguins, who begin the unofficial second half of their season Tuesday night at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Forwards

Evgeni Malkin, A+: Completely recovered from ACL and MCL surgery last season, Malkin is the game's greatest player and has carried the Penguins this season. He is on pace to land his first Hart Trophy as NHL MVP.

James Neal, A+: Has evolved into a legitimate star, and isn't just a great goal scorer. Neal plays a well-rounded game that blends perfectly with Dan Bylsma's system.

Jordan Staal, A: Before he was injured, was on pace for 35 goals. His game has evolved. The Penguins won't last long in playoffs without a healthy Staal.

Chris Kunitz, A: The Penguins' most steady performer. Plays well with stars, terrific on the power play.

Pascal Dupuis, B+: Scoring touch not always consistent, but has enjoyed an excellent season. Invaluable two-way player.

Steve Sullivan, B-: Hasn't been great in five-on-five situations, but is steadying influence on power play.

Richard Park, C+: When healthy, has scored a couple of big goals. Perfectly solid fourth-line center.

Joe Vitale, C: Plays hard, physical game. Needs to produce a bit more offense.

Matt Cooke, C: Great start, and deserves credit for cleaning up game. But hasn't scored a goal in 19 games.

Craig Adams, C: Never going to produce much offensively, but penalty killing remains elite.

Arron Asham, C: Handled enforcer role well, just can't stay healthy. Usually produces in playoffs.

Tyler Kennedy, D: Not close to last season's production or level of play.

Eric Tangradi, D: Hasn't been given chance to play on top lines, nor has he done anything to warrant such an opportunity.

Sidney Crosby, Incomplete: Producing 12 points in eight games speaks for itself. So does the fact that Crosby only played in eight games. His health will likely determine how the Eastern Conference playoffs unfold.

Dustin Jeffrey, Incomplete: Shows great potential.

Steve MacIntyre, Incomplete: Hard to grade a fighter who no one will fight.

Defensemen

Kris Letang, A: One of the NHL's five best defensemen; he was sorely missed during seven-week absence.

Matt Niskanen, A-: Along with Neal, the team's most improved player. Strong all-around game.

Deryk Engelland, A-: Rarely makes mistakes. Physical. Knows his limitations. Solid as a rock.

Simon Despres, A-: No reason to think he won't be a very good NHL defenseman.

Brooks Orpik, B: Not having his best season, but has been very good during past month. Remains indisputable voice of team.

Ben Lovejoy, B-: Full body of work pretty good. When he does have a bad game, it's noticeable.

Paul Martin, C-: Improved lately, but needs to be way better.

Zbynek Michalek, C-: See Paul Martin.

Goaltenders

Marc-Andre Fleury, A: No question he is one of the NHL's five best goaltenders.

Brent Johnson, C-: Needs to be much better in second half. Fleury will need a break soon.

Coach

Dan Bylsma, A: Has fixed power play impressively and again showcased ability to keep team competitive despite injuries to so many stars.

Without Crosby, Malkin takes over for Penguins

By Nicholas J. Cotsonika
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl
January 29, 2012

OTTAWA, ON - JANUARY 29: Evgeni Malkin #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Team Chara poses prior to the 2012 NHL All-Star Game at Scotiabank Place on January 29, 2012 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

OTTAWA — The only appearance Sidney Crosby made at the NHL All-Star Game was on the scoreboard screens. During a break Sunday at Scotiabank Place, there he was in a Gatorade commercial. The slogan? “Prime. Perform. Recover.”

That last part, of course, can be tricky.

The news that Crosby had a neck injury along with a concussion overshadowed this marketing event, along with other doom-and-gloom stuff like the future of the Phoenix Coyotes, the financial problems of the New Jersey Devils and the looming labor negotiations.

But if there is a silver lining, it is this: Even though the Pittsburgh Penguins don’t have the best player in hockey, they still have the best player in hockey.

His name is Evgeni Malkin.

Remember him? He once won a scoring title and the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ most valuable player. He finished second for the Hart Trophy as the regular-season MVP in back-to-back years.

He’s healthy for the first time since 2009, seems more comfortable in the spotlight and right now is the favorite to win another scoring title and his first Hart Trophy. He leads the NHL in scoring with 58 points. He went on a tear before the break, racking up nine goals and 13 points in six games. That helped turn a six-game losing skid into a seven-game winning streak, lifting the Penguins from ninth in the Eastern Conference to fifth.

Asked if he could win the scoring race, Malkin pointed out he wasn’t injured anymore and said: “Why not? I have great confidence now, and I try.”

Crosby hopes to come back this season, at least for the playoffs. The Penguins are cautiously optimistic. Maybe he will, and maybe he’ll pick up where he left off as he did Nov. 21, when he ended a 10-and-a-half-month absence with a two-goal, four-point performance. If he does and the Penguins’ other injured players return to full strength, Pittsburgh should have the best team in the league.

But Crosby has played only eight games in more than a year’s time now. Maybe he won’t come back, or maybe he won’t be the same when he does. We just don’t know. Hell, we don’t even know what his injury problems really are anymore, let alone the outlook.

What we do know is that Malkin is capable of carrying a team.

“It’s not easy, but he can,” said the Detroit Red Wings’ Pavel Datsyuk, a fellow Russian and a teammate at the All-Star Game. “He’s so hungry now, you can see. Every game, he have points, he have good plays.”

Malkin had them Sunday – a goal and an assist. In the first period, he finished a give-and-go with Jarome Iginla even though Iginla passed the puck into his skates. Malkin kicked the puck to his stick in close, then chipped it over the left shoulder of goaltender Henrik Lundqvist on the short side. He made it look ridiculously easy. He said he didn’t even look where he was shooting.

“I think nobody understand how I got the puck in,” Malkin said.

It’s one thing to do that in a half-speed event like the All-Star Game. But Malkin does things like that at full speed. You don’t need to know anything about hockey to know if Malkin is on his game. Just grab your remote.

“You can see from even watching the game on TV that when he’s playing his game, he’s got the puck all the time,” said Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen. “Some way the puck finds him, and he’s coming through the middle.”

Vancouver Canucks captain Henrik Sedin – who won the scoring title and the Hart Trophy in 2009-10 – said he and his teammates often catch the Penguins’ 4 p.m. ET faceoffs.

“Pittsburgh’s the one team we like to watch, because they’re a good team,” Sedin said. “We watch them quite a bit. He’s got everything. He’s big. He’s strong. He’s got a great shot. He makes the players around him better. I think he’s the whole package.”

Timonen said Malkin was probably the best player in the league right now. So did Sedin. So did several other all-stars. It was almost unanimous at media day on Friday, with some honorable mentions for guys like Datsyuk and the Flyers’ Claude Giroux.

“Obviously everybody knows he’s right now the best player in the league,” said the Chicago Blackhawks’ Marian Hossa, a former Penguins teammate, who is five points behind Malkin in the scoring race. “You can see the points, but also when you look at his game. He just dominates most of the games, if not every game.”

Remember that Malkin won the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year in 2006-07. Remember that he didn’t miss a game the next two seasons, when he put up a combined 82 goals and 219 points – winning that scoring title and that Conn Smythe, almost winning those Harts, lifting the Cup over his head.

He played 67 games in 2009-10, dipping to 28 goals and 77 points. He played only 43 games last season, fading to only 15 goals and 37 points. He had shoulder, knee and conditioning issues, and then he suffered torn knee ligaments Feb. 4.

“I have big surgery and tough work in summer,” Malkin said.

But that tough work paid off. Before the season, Malkin told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review not to call it a comeback, because this was a new Malkin, a recommitted Malkin, not the one who was admittedly “lazy before.” He reported to training camp in top shape. He said his “motivation is now very good.”

His English isn’t very good yet, but it’s getting better. Malkin started a Twitter account. He started doing more interviews. He allowed some of his sense of humor to come out during All-Star Weekend, goofing around with reporters and teammates.

“What people don’t know about him, he likes to joke,” Hossa said. “When I was [in Pittsburgh], he just liked to joke around. Maybe you couldn’t understand everything he said, you know, but it was just fun to be around him.”

Crosby’s absence continues to cast a shadow over the NHL. If and when he does come back, he will be monitored shift to shift. He might be for the rest of his career.

But the Penguins still have to play no matter what happens, and even though their injury problems have gone deeper than Crosby, they have not lowered their goals at all. They still have Kris Letang, Marc-Andre Fleury, James Neal and company. They still will have Jordan Staal when he returns from a knee injury.

“I want Crosby be here,” Malkin said. “I know fans miss him, of course. But we play very well now, and we try do best without Crosby.”

Their best means only one thing.

“With the lineup we have, the expectation is always high,” said Letang, who came back from a concussion and played in the All-Star Game. “We don’t see anything less than the Cup.”
Even with the injuries?

“Even with the injuries.”

Especially if Malkin can lead the way like this.

“I don’t worry what people think about Pittsburgh,” Malkin said. “I know we can do it. We can win the Stanley Cup.”

Nicholas J. Cotsonika is a hockey writer for Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter. Send Nicholas a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

How do you miss a broken neck?

By Dejan Kovacevic, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/?_s_icmp=nav_sports
Monday, January 30, 2012

PITTSBURGH, PA - DECEMBER 5: Sidney Crosby(notes) #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins controls the puck as Zdeno Chara(notes) #33 of the Boston Bruins gives chase in the third period on December 5, 2011 at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Boston defeated Pittsburgh 3-1. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

One can choose to study the Sidney Crosby injury saga through the maddening prism of its particulars. One could dissect every detail of every visit to every doctor to what now might be every state in our union, and that's to say nothing of possible paddle-boat excursions to see medicine men in the jungles of Brazil and Burundi.

Just wait till those hit the Canadian tabloids.

But, honestly, I'm as weary of all the minutiae as most Pittsburghers. It's becoming increasingly difficult to make sense of the big-picture perspective.

So let's try something simpler and focus solely on two dates.

On Jan. 1, 2011, Crosby was blindsided in the head by Washington's David Steckel during the Winter Classic. The Penguins' captain crashed to the ice and was, by his recollection ... well, actually, he had no recollection.

"I couldn't even tell you what happened," Crosby said that night, his dazed eyes visible to most of us in Heinz Field's news conference room. "The puck was going the other way, and I turned. Next thing I know, I'm down. So I can't really comment."

Crosby went on to say he felt some "neck soreness." That soon became the official diagnosis.

On Jan. 28, 2012 — that was Saturday — the Penguins commented on reports swirling around the NHL's All-Star festivities in Ottawa that Crosby had sustained a neck injury. The Tribune-Review's Rob Rossi reported that this injury consisted of cracks in his two uppermost vertebrae, the C1 and C2.

Sticking with the simple theme, that's what we commoners call a BROKEN NECK.

This was the Penguins' statement, not attributed to any individual: "The diagnosis of Dr. Robert S. Bray, a neurological spine specialist based in Los Angeles, is that Sidney Crosby had suffered a neck injury in addition to a concussion. Dr. Bray reports that the neck injury is fully healed. Those findings will be evaluated by independent specialists over the next few days. The most important goal all along has been Sidney's return to full health, and we are encouraged that progress continues to be made."

Well, that's reassuring.

But, hey, if it's all the same to that unnamed soother of souls, I've still got a couple of small questions based entirely on the two events just cited:

1. A BROKEN NECK?

Really?

Fractures do get missed, even in the high-stakes world of sports medicine. Last summer, for example, the Pirates took embarrassingly too long to diagnose first baseman Derrek Lee and outfielder Jose Tabata with hairline fractures of the wrist.

But after the athlete complains on a global stage about "neck soreness?"

If Bray's findings are correct, the various people assembled by the Penguins and Crosby to treat his ailment have some serious explaining to do.

2. Fully healed?

The Penguins' statement specifies that Bray deemed the vertebrae "fully healed," which means he either peered back into Crosby's past to determine they once were cracked, or the BROKEN NECK was found in the same week that it mystically healed itself in the California sunshine.

It's understandable that the Penguins want other specialists to confirm a retroactive diagnosis.

But it's telling, yet again, that the team and Crosby clearly still aren't in sync on the issue of his health.

Even with regard to the $8.7 million question as to whether Crosby sustained a concussion Dec. 5 when elbowed by Boston's David Krejci, there remains a fundamental disagreement: The Penguins have stated repeatedly that Crosby is out with "concussion-like symptoms." But Crosby's agent, Pat Brisson, was quoted by Canada's CBC network as saying Crosby did, indeed, sustain a second concussion. Brisson later denied saying that.

This sort of thing has been going on for several months now, and it must change.

It's very much the intent of team owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, as well as general manager Ray Shero, to sign Crosby to a long-term contract before the current one expires in summer 2013. I believe front office personnel when they say that, just as I believed Crosby when he told me a couple weeks ago that he loves Pittsburgh and wants to stay. It's the right move, even with Crosby's health questions.

But all concerned would benefit from a come-to-Mario moment right about now, and the word Sunday that Lemieux and Crosby watched the All-Star events on TV at Lemieux's place might be an encouraging precursor.

If nothing else, it could be a sign that Crosby doesn't blame the Penguins for failing to diagnose a BROKEN NECK.

End of an era for Steelers defensive line

By Mike Bires
Beaver County Times
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
January 27, 2012

Brett Kiesel, Casey Hampton and Aaron Smith (Duane Reider/Whirl Magazine)

PITTSBURGH — Although it wasn’t a full-blown retirement dinner, Chris Hoke couldn’t have asked for a better farewell meal.

Not only did Hoke break bread with team president Art Rooney II and coach Mike Tomlin, but also seated at his cafeteria table at Steelers’ headquarters Thursday were a trio of veterans sure to be remembered as three of the finest at their positions in the franchise’s proud history.

Aaron Smith. Casey Hampton. Brett Keisel.

Over the past several seasons, those three provided excellence on the defensive line. They comprised the second-best defensive front in the team’s first 79 years of the existence.

The “Steel Curtain” of the 1970s is one of the most famous front fours in NFL annals. But the Smith, Hampton and Keisel collaboration has been special, too.

Smith and Keisel, defensive ends in the Steelers’ 3-4 scheme, have each played in one Pro Bowl. Hampton, the burly nose tackle, has played in five NFL all-star games. They’ve been part of three Super Bowl experiences, including two won by the Steelers.

However, that trio will probably never play together again.

Smith will likely follow Hoke’s lead.

Hoke, the 35-year-old back-up nose tackle, announced his retirement Wednesday. Like Hoke, the 2011 season ended prematurely for Smith because of a neck injury that required surgery. Hoke cited his health reasons for calling it quits.

Smith, who turns 36 in April, should do the same. After all, he’s missed 33 of the last 48 regular-season games with injuries. His body is clearly breaking down.

Hampton, who’ll be 35 in September when the Steelers open the 2012 season, has no intentions of retiring. However, there are no guarantees he’ll be back. He’ll have surgery Friday to repair a torn knee ligament. That doesn’t bode well for a man of 350 pounds or so who’s had trouble making weight in recent years.

Plus, Hampton is due to make $4.89 million next season. With the Steelers close to $20 million over the proposed cap of $125 next season, Hampton may be cut for financial reasons.

Keisel, who’ll be 34 in September, has job security for at least one more year. But as just as Ziggy Hood replaced Smith this year, Cameron Heyward is destined to take away Keisel’s starting job in a year or so. After all, Hood (2009) and Heyward (2011) are former first-round draft picks.

And although it’s a bit early to say who the Steelers will draft in the first round this year, there’s a chance it could be Dontari Poe, a mammoth defensive tackle out of Memphis.

“History will look back very fondly on that group of guys,” Hoke said at his retirement press conference Thursday while Smith, Hampton and Keisel stood by his side in a show of support.

“You have these guys ... Casey, Brett and Aaron ... all they did was go out and work every day. They did their jobs. They will be compared and be in the same class as those (“Steel Curtain”) guys in the 70s.”

After the press conference, those four defensive linemen who bonded so well on and off the field for so many years, headed to the cafeteria.

It may have been their last lunch together.

Unflappable Malkin leads surging Penguins into all-star break on a high

The Canadian Press
http://www.thehockeynews.com/
26 January 2012

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 11: Evgeni Malkin #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins brings the puck up the ice against the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center on January 11, 2012 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Dan Byslma isn't a doctor, even though the Pittsburgh Penguins' coach sometimes sounds like one while running down his team's lengthy injured list.

So forgive Bylsma if he can't say for certain whether star centre Evgeni Malkin is fully recovered from the torn ACL in his right knee that prematurely ended the Russian's 2010-11 season.

Malkin's entertainingly broken English doesn't lend itself to adjectives, anyway. Ask Malkin how he's feeling and the Russian just smiles and says "good."

All Bylsma knows is what he sees. And at the moment he sees the 25-year-old all-star playing arguably the best hockey of his career, heady territory considering Malkin won the Conn Smythe Trophy while helping the Penguins to the 2009 Stanley Cup.

"I don't know if he's going to have another couple levels to get to 100 per cent," Bylsma said. "(If so) in six more months it's going to be really scary."

It already is.

Two weeks after Pittsburgh's season seemed on the brink of unravelling in the midst of a six-game slide, the Penguins have turned things around in the blink of one of Malkin's slap shots.

Pittsburgh enters the all-star break riding a seven-game winning streak, the franchise's longest since ripping off 12 straight in November-December 2010.

Yet that run came with the team nearly at full strength, before Sidney Crosby's odyssey to recover from concussion-like symptoms began following a pair of hits last January, before Malkin's season ended abruptly with knee issues.

This run has come with Crosby out indefinitely—again—as the symptoms returned in early December. It's also come without forward Jordan Staal, likely out another month with a knee injury.

It has come mostly on the strength of the top line of Malkin, James Neal and Chris Kunitz, who have been nearly unstoppable in the last two weeks.

The trio has scored 16 of Pittsburgh's 24 goals during the run, with Malkin's nine over the span propelling him into the NHL's points lead.

He's scoring in a variety of ways. If he's not rifling slap shots from his favourite spot in the right circle, then he's weaving through traffic or posting up in front of the net to slam in loose rebound after loose rebound.

"He's controlling the game so well right now," Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin said of his countryman. "He knows that without Crosby (their) team is good, but not that good. He's handling it well."

So well Malkin's barely batting an eye at the massive amount of ice time Bylsma is throwing his way. Malkin has played more than 20 minutes in each game during the streak, including topping 25 minutes twice, a remarkably heavy workload for a forward.

Part of it is out of necessity—he's easily the team's best player with Crosby sidelined—and part of it is out of luxury.

"There are times when he's probably gotten a lot of ice and he's still ready to handle more," Bylsma said. "He's demanding the ice time by his play."

For proof, Bylsma pointed to a pair of hustle plays by Malkin last week that helped preserve the winning streak.

In a 5-4 shootout victory over Montreal last Friday, Malkin went to the ice to block a shot, a rarity for him during a regular-season game. He preserved the tie, then won it by scoring the only goal in the shootout.

He was just as fresh in the third period against Washington on Sunday, picking himself up after getting checked, then chasing down the puck and fending off three Capitals before feeding Neal for the game-tying goal. The Penguins would eventually win in a shootout.

"The way he's playing right now, it doesn't look too much like he's getting overtaxed," Bylsma said. "There's not a cheat in the effort in those 25 minutes, and that's what you see in his game on both ends of the rink."

It's the kind of on-ice leadership the Penguins needed following a miserable stretch at the beginning of the month in which a team considered a Stanley Cup contender two months ago looked like a veritable pushover.

Six mostly lifeless losses dropped Pittsburgh to the fringe of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, with goals becoming scarce and whispers about Crosby's silence leading to questions about his commitment.

Crosby joined the team for a three-game swing through Washington and Florida, even donning his skates for the first time in over a month during a couple of light practices.

While his teammates point to the captain's presence as encouraging, they also know they couldn't wait around for No. 87 to swoop in and save the day.

Defenceman Brooks Orpik says a well-timed team meeting just before playing at Washington on Jan. 11 served as a turning point.

"I hate using the word soft, but at times we'd become easy to play against," he said.

With Crosby out of the lineup, the Penguins were so focused on trying to manufacture goals, they forgot about the other parts of the game, namely checking.

"We may not go out and fight every night but teams are going to feel like we forecheck and bounce pretty well," forward Matt Cooke said. "I think we got away from that."

Though the Capitals won 1-0 the next night, Orpik noticed a change.

"If you ask (Washington), I think they'd tell you it was one of the harder games they'd played all season," Orpik said. "When you're missing (defenceman Kris) Letang, Crosby, Staal, there's not going to be a lot of goals scored. You've got to find other ways to be hard to play against and get better in certain areas."

Lopsided wins in Florida and Tampa Bay followed, and the Penguins haven't looked back. Letang is in all-star form since returning last week, and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has been exceptional.

The optimism inside the dressing room has returned, led by the hottest player on the planet.

"I have great confidence now, you know?" Malkin said. "I just am enjoying the game, you know? And having fun."

Highlights: Penguins 3, Blues 2 (SO)

Arians' firing makes little sense

By Mark Madden
Beaver County Times
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/
January 23, 2012

Is Art Rooney II qualified to run a football team in any way that goes beyond his birthright?

That doesn’t matter. The birthright does.

That truth was held to be self-evident this past week as the Steelers president, after doing a round of media self-promotion, decided to use his thunderbolts to smite Bruce Arians, relieving the offensive coordinator of his duties.

The Steelers say Arians retired. That’s a lie. The Steelers decided to not renew his contract.

Head coach Mike Tomlin wanted Arians back, having reportedly told him that since the playoff loss at Denver. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is an Arians supporter and friend, having saved his job two years ago, and is said to be miffed that Arians got dismissed. Can’t wait to hear what Roethlisberger has to say at the Pro Bowl (where Arians and his wife will be Ben’s guest).

So, who’s left? General Manager Kevin Colbert? Colbert wouldn’t overrule Tomlin in this situation.

It looks like Rooney, after saying it was “Mike’s decision,” dropped the guillotine.

Why?

The Steelers’ red-zone efficiency was dismal at Denver, leaving lots of points on the table in the first quarter. But the Steelers’ defense was pathetic all day, adjusting not one bit as Tim Tebow carved them to ribbons. Arians is the scapegoat. Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau is Teflon.

Looking at the regular season, the Steelers were 12th in the NFL in yards gained, just 21st in points. Not a good contrast. But the Steelers’ offense was doubtless hurt by a defense that collected just 15 takeaways, fewest in the league. The offense didn’t get many short fields, or easy points.

Receivers Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown each caught over 1,000 yards worth of passes. Roethlisberger threw for over 4,000. The Steelers sent four offensive players to Pro Bowl. That hadn’t happened since 2004.

You can’t knock the running game, either: It averaged 4.4 yards per carry, the best mark since 2001.

Looking at Arians’ five-year tenure, his offense helped the Steelers get to two Super Bowls, winning one. His successor will not have done that, or do that. Guaranteed.

Arians hasn’t always had the best players to work with, particularly on the line. When it comes to excellence, the Steelers spend on defense first. You can’t cook gourmet meals when half your ingredients are from 7-11. All things considered, Arians did fine. Overachieved, even.

So why was Arians fired? For a few debatable play calls? Why not fire Tomlin for consistently poor clock management? Or LeBeau for the debacle at Denver?

Or why not leave pretty good alone? An early playoff exit aside, 12-4 is an excellent season.

This is bizarre. This seems like a decision made by a talk-show caller. Knee-jerk. Hasty. Against the grain.

In 2010, Rooney said that he wanted the Steelers to run more. This season, they ran on 43 percent of their offensive snaps. Is that enough? Arians is the man who minimized Steelers’ icon Hines Ward. Perhaps that didn’t sit well with upper management. Word is the Steelers may bring back Aaron Smith despite injuries that sidelined him for most of the last three seasons. Tradition counts.

Maybe it counts too much.

Maybe Rooney wants to pay Roethlisberger $102 million to hand off more.

Maybe Rooney wants to pound the ball on the ground, just like granddaddy’s team. According to ESPN.com, sources say Arians was canned with an eye toward shifting “the offense back toward its blue-collar identity of years past, in line with the desires of Steelers president Art Rooney II.”

Anybody got Jerome Bettis’ number?

Mark Madden hosts a radio show 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WXDX-FM (105.9).

Highlights: Penguins 4, Capitals 3 (OT)