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Completely new offense?

antdrewjosh

antdrewjosh

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Ben Roethlisberger: Randy Fichtner's offense is 'completely new'
BySAM QUINN 20 hours ago
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(Photo: Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY Sports)
Randy Fichtner is in a difficult position with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is the team's offensive coordinator—his first coordinator role in the NFL and first overall in over a decade—but he is replacing a coordinator in Todd Haley who just led the Steelers through one of the most successful offensive periods in the team's illustrious history. The Steelers have had a top-seven offense four years in a row. They were in the top three in total offense in three of those four years. But despite that explosiveness, the team struggled to do what an offense is actually supposed to do: put points on the board.

Despite all of their talent, the Steelers finished 18th in red zone touchdown percentage last season. They were 16th in 2016, 13th in 2015 and 19th in 2014. The common refrain among Steelers fans was that Haley overthought himself. He refused to call simple plays like quarterback sneaks, and that may have cost the Steelers a victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

So Fichtner has to figure out how to keep the good things that the offense did in place while changing the bad, but these factors don't exist in an vacuum. Offenses are ecosystems, and altering strategies in one area could significantly affect the others. That has led some fans to believe that the team will keep most of Haley's offense intact and only change the play-calling in certain situations, but according to Ben Roethlisberger, that is not the case at all. "It is completely new," he said of the offense, "Aren’t we playing the Browns the first game, right? So, it’s a completely new offense." Haley is now the offensive coordinator for the Browns, so of course the Steelers would want to change the terminology before playing against him, but the sentiment extends well beyond that opening week.


This is going to be a very different Steelers offense in a variety of ways. Martavis Bryant is gone. That means that James Washington is going to have to start right away, and that JuJu Smith-Schuster is going to be in a different role. Chris Hubbard joined Haley in Cleveland, so the team no longer has a security blanket on the offensive line. Le'Veon Bell is not currently at OTAs, and with this new scheme in place, it is likely that the team has to give snaps to other runners early in the season while he adjusts to the new playbook.

There are constants to be sure. As long as Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown are in place, the core tenets of the offense will exist. But the Steelers didn't fire Haley just to replicate him with his replacement. Fichtner is the offensive coordinator because Mike Tomlin believed that he would make the offense better. According to Roethlisberger, he has been given every chance to do just that.

https://247sports.com/nfl/steelers/...Fichtners-offense-is-completely-new-118437320
 
As long as it has the QB sneak in it for 3rd and 4th and short it will be a plus.
 
stillwright said:
As long as it has the QB sneak in it for 3rd and 4th and short it will be a plus.
Click to expand...

And remove bubble screens. The occasional one is fine if the defense is playing off but we would have 6 or 7 per game and sometimes multiple on 1 drive. After the first one, the subsequent ones rarely worked.

I think Washington and Samuels were great additions to help the red zone issues.
 
Last edited:
As long as he's calling plays that give our athletes the best chance to succeed, I'm all for it. Also to swap in personnel in different down/distance instances to increase the chance of success.

This is what we need in an OC.
 
At least the offense won't be run by Todd Haley. Fichtner is an automatic upgrade.
 
Cope said:
As long as he's calling plays that give our athletes the best chance to succeed, I'm all for it. Also to swap in personnel in different down/distance instances to increase the chance of success.

This is what we need in an OC.
Click to expand...



That includes BELL, when the situation isn't geared for his success as he has weak spots just as anyone else does. I'm all for putting players in position to win the battles but sometimes, as a coach, you have to take the obvious player out. James Conner had 19 carries through 11 games (memory might), Bell could have sat in multiple games and been fresher for it.



Salute the nation
 
Drink IRON City said:
That includes BELL, when the situation isn't geared for his success as he has weak spots just as anyone else does. I'm all for putting players in position to win the battles but sometimes, as a coach, you have to take the obvious player out. James Conner had 19 carries through 11 games (memory might), Bell could have sat in multiple games and been fresher for it.



Salute the nation
Click to expand...

Connor sat becaue he wasnt getting it done in pass protection..cant play if you cant protect Ben. Teams will pickup that you only run the ball when you come in.. so if you cant do both you are not going to play
 
antdrewjosh said:
Ben Roethlisberger: Randy Fichtner's offense is 'completely new'
BySAM QUINN 20 hours ago
Share
0 Comments

(Photo: Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY Sports)
Randy Fichtner is in a difficult position with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is the team's offensive coordinator—his first coordinator role in the NFL and first overall in over a decade—but he is replacing a coordinator in Todd Haley who just led the Steelers through one of the most successful offensive periods in the team's illustrious history. The Steelers have had a top-seven offense four years in a row. They were in the top three in total offense in three of those four years. But despite that explosiveness, the team struggled to do what an offense is actually supposed to do: put points on the board.

Despite all of their talent, the Steelers finished 18th in red zone touchdown percentage last season. They were 16th in 2016, 13th in 2015 and 19th in 2014. The common refrain among Steelers fans was that Haley overthought himself. He refused to call simple plays like quarterback sneaks, and that may have cost the Steelers a victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

So Fichtner has to figure out how to keep the good things that the offense did in place while changing the bad, but these factors don't exist in an vacuum. Offenses are ecosystems, and altering strategies in one area could significantly affect the others. That has led some fans to believe that the team will keep most of Haley's offense intact and only change the play-calling in certain situations, but according to Ben Roethlisberger, that is not the case at all. "It is completely new," he said of the offense, "Aren’t we playing the Browns the first game, right? So, it’s a completely new offense." Haley is now the offensive coordinator for the Browns, so of course the Steelers would want to change the terminology before playing against him, but the sentiment extends well beyond that opening week.


This is going to be a very different Steelers offense in a variety of ways. Martavis Bryant is gone. That means that James Washington is going to have to start right away, and that JuJu Smith-Schuster is going to be in a different role. Chris Hubbard joined Haley in Cleveland, so the team no longer has a security blanket on the offensive line. Le'Veon Bell is not currently at OTAs, and with this new scheme in place, it is likely that the team has to give snaps to other runners early in the season while he adjusts to the new playbook.

There are constants to be sure. As long as Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown are in place, the core tenets of the offense will exist. But the Steelers didn't fire Haley just to replicate him with his replacement. Fichtner is the offensive coordinator because Mike Tomlin believed that he would make the offense better. According to Roethlisberger, he has been given every chance to do just that.

https://247sports.com/nfl/steelers/...Fichtners-offense-is-completely-new-118437320
Click to expand...

One can hope. Haley was a fool. No QB sneaks, and an underuse of play action. Todd was good a bad third-down call a game and had red zone blues despite amazing talent.

Ben hardly rolled out either, and he used to be excellent at rolling out to his right.

Even if Fichtner turns out to be an average offensive coordinator, the Steelers will improve. We did lose our best deep threat in Bryant. I have heard Washington looks good in minicamp. Let's hope the momentum carries into summer camp. But I still think we should have picked a linebacker in round two over what will be a 3rd or 4th WR for the Steelers as long as Brown and Ju-Ju are healthy and under 34.
 
Replace the blocked wr. Screens with quick sugar routes against off coverage. I dont mind taking three or 4 free yards. Two or three times a game to keep it honest.
 
Coach said:
One can hope. Haley was a fool. No QB sneaks, and an underuse of play action. Todd was good a bad third-down call a game and had red zone blues despite amazing talent.

Ben hardly rolled out either, and he used to be excellent at rolling out to his right.

Even if Fichtner turns out to be an average offensive coordinator, the Steelers will improve. We did lose our best deep threat in Bryant. I have heard Washington looks good in minicamp. Let's hope the momentum carries into summer camp. But I still think we should have picked a linebacker in round two over what will be a 3rd or 4th WR for the Steelers as long as Brown and Ju-Ju are healthy and under 34.
Click to expand...

That's another great point. The Steelers TD rate in the Red Zone was awful. It HAS to improve drastically this fall for us to be a contender.
 
Whether Fichtner is as good a play caller, I dont know we will see. I do know this. Ben and Todd didnt have a great relationship. In fact Id say it was closer to ****** than good. That effects things.
 
Coryea said:
It wasn't Haley's call, it's Tomlins call to put the QB sneak in

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Click to expand...

And I'm hoping our new OC puts it into the offense. Does Tomlin have sign off on it? Maybe. Probably. I think we will see it in our offense. The thing is even if we had our backup QB was in the game we couldn't call the QB sneak. It just was in the playbook. It not being in the playbook is well......simply stupid.
 
antdrewjosh said:
Connor sat becaue he wasnt getting it done in pass protection..cant play if you cant protect Ben. Teams will pickup that you only run the ball when you come in.. so if you cant do both you are not going to play
Click to expand...



DUDE, you are a genius as I would have never figured that out, OBVIOUSLY. There were many obvious relief times that Conner could have come in and relieved BELL, run the clock and kept BELL fresh. Don't you think they could have garnered 30 more touches his way?????? Don't you think maybe that may have helped BELL????? SORRY, not buying your thinking. Sure he needs to pass protect on passing opportunities but also there were RUN plays that Conner could have been involved or even PLAY ACTION if the "D" was so set it was a run with Conner in there. COACHING can overcome a lot even if it's just a little thing here and there..............30 touches more.



Salute the nation
 
stillwright said:
And I'm hoping our new OC puts it into the offense. Does Tomlin have sign off on it? Maybe. Probably. I think we will see it in our offense. The thing is even if we had our backup QB was in the game we couldn't call the QB sneak. It just was in the playbook. It not being in the playbook is well......simply stupid.
Click to expand...
Yes Tomlin has to sign off on that. Tomlin doesn't want Ben getting ear holed diving into the pile.

Sent from my XT1585 using Steeler Nation mobile app
 
Not having Bell in OTA’s and camp will hurt for sure. I don’t care how much he’s practicing on his own and getting into “game” shape. Not being around to take reps with new terminology and plays will put him and the offense behind like it did last year.
 
Atlsteelers said:
Not having Bell in OTA’s and camp will hurt for sure. I don’t care how much he’s practicing on his own and getting into “game” shape. Not being around to take reps with new terminology and plays will put him and the offense behind like it did last year.
Click to expand...

Which is why I hope they ease him in lighten the load.They won't but why not reward the players that actually have their *** in camp ?
 
With the additions of JaySam and Washington, and Conner with a year under his belt, I'm hoping for some new wrinkles.
As others have pointed out scoring touchdowns given the opportunity would be a really good idea. Maybe McDonald will be utilized more.

Heck, being a homer, I hope Henderson finds a way on to the team for kickoffs, punts and gadgets.

But most of all I want them to take their time scoring. The other side of the ball still looks like they'll be out there a lot.
 
Atlsteelers said:
Not having Bell in OTA’s and camp will hurt for sure. I don’t care how much he’s practicing on his own and getting into “game” shape. Not being around to take reps with new terminology and plays will put him and the offense behind like it did last year.
Click to expand...


The new terminology and play book is a good point. With Fichtner being there about as long as Haley, they will have to change it up, even if it is the Browns they'll be facing twice a year.
 
SteelerSask said:
Whether Fichtner is as good a play caller, I dont know we will see. I do know this. Ben and Todd didnt have a great relationship. In fact Id say it was closer to ****** than good. That effects things.
Click to expand...
I hope Tomlin gives Ben the authority to call his OWN plays just as Bradshaw used to do back in the day.
 
having the wild cat formation would be nice to with both bell and brown and with brown an option to throw.
 
Ever wonder if we are just going back to the days of Bruce Arians?F

So Fichtner becomes QB coach 2 years before Haleys arrival. Ben loved Arians. So those last 2 years of Arians when ben was seemingly running for his life, holding the ball,, etc.. Was under fichtner and Arians. Then
Roony brings in Haley. Offense is noticeably changed. Ben is better protected and isn't holding the ball and getting creamed. Ben obviously hates Haley. Steelers Offense Looks great last few years,, but cant put the ball in the endzone.

Does Fichtner add to Haleys Offense and make it more dynamic? Does he scrap it all and start fresh? Does he combine what he knows under Arians and Haley to make the offense better? Or OR Does he do whatever ben wants, like what we thought Arians was doing.
 
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