By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette
Even the two-minute warning didn't go the Steelers' way Sunday in their loss to the Colts.
The Pro Bowl quarterback is hurt and clearly playing at less than 100 percent. The Pro Bowl running back has missed more than half the season.
The Pro Bowl left tackle has missed the past four games. The five-year starter at right guard has missed the past four games and is out for the season. The backup and heir apparent at running back has missed the past six games and is out for the season.
Woe is the Steelers' offense, which is 26th in total yards, 27th in yards per play, 24th in passing and 24th in rushing in the NFL.
These are most un-Steelerlike numbers, and significant portions of the passionate but not always wise fan base know just how to fix the problem.
Fire offensive coordinator Bruce Arians.
Those wishing to fire Arians, and their numbers multiplied several times after the loss to Indianapolis Sunday, almost make it sound like a dismissal would be putting him out of his misery. They consider him badly overmatched when it comes to calling plays and that, they insist, not the injuries is what's wrong with the Steelers' offense.
For the record, this column does not think Arians should be fired.
Anyone who thinks they can evaluate play-calling by sitting in front of a television set or in the stands at Heinz Field is delusional. It's far more complicated than that.
For starters, there's another team on the field, a factor many of Arians' critics fail to take into consideration. Even the most brilliantly called play won't work if the execution is poor.
Beyond that, there are multiple factors fans in the stands and people in the press box are not aware of, and without that information it's difficult, if not impossible, to evaluate play-calling.
Consider the two calls that received the most criticism and were most pivotal in the 24-20 loss to the Colts:
• The decision to throw a pass on third-and-2 from their 16 with 90 seconds remaining in the first half and leading by 10.
• The failure to score on two running plays from the 1 in the fourth quarter of a tie score and settling for a field goal.
On the first, the pass was intercepted, and the Colts scored six plays later. Critics howled that the Steelers should have sat on the ball, punted and turned the game over to the defense.
Coach Mike Tomlin, after noting all plays go through him, talked about the strategy of passing late in the first half at his news conference yesterday.
"We had a new punter. We were concerned about him attempting to punt backed up in those circumstances. Even if we did execute a successful punt, we were giving Indy the short field. It was my goal and desire not to give them the football back. I did not want them to get any points.
"Had we punted the ball, it pretty much assured ... they [would have] a chance of kicking a field goal.
"We had a third-and-2 1/2 earlier in the game and we hit Santonio [Holmes] on a similar play for 23 yards."
What is wrong with that logic? What's wrong with trying a play that worked earlier? What's wrong with going on the attack instead of playing conservatively?
If the Steelers had run the ball, failed to get the first down, punted and the Colts came back to score, here's what people would have been saying:
"Arians is too conservative."
The strategy in this circumstance was unsuccessful not because it was a poor call by Arians but because Roethlisberger threw an interception.
Football is a game of execution far more than it is a game of strategy.
In the crucial fourth-quarter series, the Steelers ran the same play on consecutive downs. Both times running back Mewelde Moore was stopped.
Can you imagine the furor if Arians had called a pass play and it failed in this situation? He would have been called an idiot. Just as he would have been called a genius if the pass play worked.
Here's Tomlin on the decision to run Moore twice:
"I think if you're going to be a good football team and have the personality we desire to have offensively, in those instances you gotta be committed to and capable of running the football over people and running it into the end zone."
In other words, Arians was playing Steelers football and using the same play that had produced two touchdowns earlier.
"In the second one, Mewelde went in standing up," said Tomlin. "I saw no reason why we weren't capable of doing that again, providing we have quality execution. We executed on the play on two earlier instances and we didn't on the two later instances."
For those who say he shouldn't have run the same play consecutively, consider this: After stopping the play, the last thing the Colts would be expecting is the Steelers to try the same thing again.
The Steelers are 6-3 with a good chance of winning their next two games.
They lost their most recent game because they have an inordinate number of injuries on offense and because Roethlisberger failed to execute on two pass plays.
They did not lose because Arians called the wrong plays.
Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.
First published on November 12, 2008 at 12:00 am
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