Has the NFL Neutered the Steelers?

Prologue -December 7th, 2005

In just 3 weeks Pittsburgh has fallen from 7-2 to 7-5. Crucial losses to AFC contenders Baltimore, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati rob the Steelers of their swagger. The final game ends egregiously, with Chad Johnson taunting the Heinz Field faithful by wiping his cleats with a stolen Terrible Towel.

The morning after the Post-Gazette speculates as to whether Jerome Bettis was second guessing his decision not to retire and, worse yet, fans learn that the Steelers could run the table yet fail to make the playoffs.

That Wednesday morning the Steelers return to the South Side to a surprise. Bill Cowher announces a practice in full pads. Long time veterans cannot remember a full pads practice this late in the season. But order it he does, and the Steelers go on an 8 game winning streak that ends on the podium in Detroit at Super Bowl XL....



Does This Impact the Steelers?

Ask Mike Tomlin how this affects the Steelers and he’d likely dismiss any impact, pleading lack of concern, as long as the rules apply to everyone….

Sounds like common sense, but the Steelers, more than many teams, have established a foundation in being physical.

The new CBA between the owners and the NFLPA stipulates that during the 17-week regular season, teams are only permitted a maximum of 14 padded practices. Moreover, coaches can practice in pads 11 times during the first 11 weeks with a single two-padded practice permitted once during that span.

During the final six weeks of the season, only 3 padded practices are permitted.

Those are the restrictions. How might they be impacting the Steelers?

Neal Coolong, of Behind the Steel Curtain (full disclosure, I also write for BTWC) offered this assessment in a personal email following the Trashing in Texas.

The direction of this game is becoming an absolute joke. We are [explicative] year because we cannot practice with pads on, and our defenders are so freaked out about getting fined every game they aren't hitting. Add that with the lack of practice time on the things, you know, you DO IN THE GAME YOU'RE PLAYING, you have a weak team that [sic] supposed to be physical.

In other words, they've Steeler-proofed the NFL.

Look at that screen play [vs. the Texans] on third and long in a must-stop situation for Pittsburgh's defense. Polamalu doesn't want to hit Foster the way he's supposed to be hit, because that involves the helmet and could lead him to a penalty, or another fine. Instead, he literally jumps on top of him and lets gravity do the rest.

Pittsburgh is facing a running concept they hadn't seen much of, and they can't practice in pads to truly replicate what it feels like in the trenches when guys are cutting you. Because of that, every team is doing it to them, and they can't keep up.... Their practice time in pads has been reduced 200 percent, and the physical defenses (Pittsburgh, Jets, and yes, the Patriots).

Our offensive line is in the same position. When will you get to know a person better, when you spend a day with them or when you exchange instant messages? Not being in pads and hitting their opponents during the week hinders their ability to learn each other's tendencies and work together on their weaknesses. They could last year, which is why they kind of held up despite all the injuries. Same amount of injuries, most of the same guys, completely different results.

Neal's logic flows flawlessly and he makes quite a compelling argument. But as Yoda might say “Reality not always does coherent logic add up to.” Aristotle argued that if you drop two objects the heavier one will fall to earth first. It made so much sense that no one thought to challenge him until Gallieo tested it from the Tower of Pisa and discovered Aristotle was wrong….

Neal was hardly the first fellow member of the blogging community to comment about the dramatic reduction of physical contact in NFL practices, so I thought it best to bounce his observations off of someone who has been watching the Steelers practice for decades. In his weekly PG Plus chat of two weeks ago this was how Gerry Dulac responded:


Clearly Dulac doesn’t think new rules on contact in practice are an issue. I don’t want to wade too much into a shadow debate between a friend and a serious journalist whom I respect. At this point Steel Curtain Rising will lay both issues out and comment that this is a story that will continue to develop.

The issue of how teams coach their players to avoid helmet-to-helmet hits is another issue.

The ironic thing about this is that after the Texans game Mike Tomlin reportedly ordered is two-pad practice and the Steelers rebounded with their best and most physical game of the year by far vs. the Titans.

Epilogue

The issue of the lack of contact was discussed on CBS both before and after the game. The exact flow of the conversation escapes memory, but Bill Cowher clearly said that were he still coaching, he’d want an extra padded practice in his back pocket.

One can imagine he would, if for no other reason than his famous full-pads December practice that sparked his Super Bowl run wouldn’t be possible in 2011.

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Watch Tower: The Story Behind Max Starks Signing, Running Game, Woodley

It has been anything but a slow news week for Steelers Nation in light of the Thrashing in Texas giving the Watch Tower plenty to focus its bright lights upon.

A Stark Reminder

The biggest news of course was the return of left tackle Max Starks. Gerry Dulac of the Post-Gazette get kudos for breaking the news, or at the very least he got his story that the Steelers were “close” to resigning Max Starks up before any of the other major competitor sites did. Good for your Gerry.

The story then took a couple of complicated twists.

During his PG Plus chat Dulac did his best to put the Stark into context, first explaining:

No, nor do they think he is the answer. But they need some players in their offensive line who know what they're doing, and Chris Scott was too young and Jamon Meredith is too new.

The questions, of course kept coming, to which Dulac clarified:

Well, I expect to see him uniform on Sunday, but only as an extra lineman. And the reason he will likely dress is because LT Jonathan Scott is not fully recovered from his ankle injury, even though he will likely start. Otherwise, Starks faces the very real possibility of being one of the two O-linemen who typically sits out each game. [Emphasis Added]

All of that made sense. After all, the Steelers just a week ago had committed themselves to playing with the men they had.

A short time later, however, Ed Bouchette dropped a bomb on PG Plus, revealing that Max Starks had taken snaps with the first team. Of course now the word is that Starks will likely start.

The football element of this – that someone could come off of the street after 11 months of inactivity to start an NFL game speaks for itself. But it also calls into question who was feeding Dulac this information about Starks role and why he seemed so sure of it.

Running with the Colts

The Steelers inability to run the ball (not to mention stop the run) has been at issue all season. A little tid-bit came to light after the Colts game, when Ed Bouchette revealed:

One source on the team said the run calls against the Colts looked nothing like the ones they practiced the week leading up to the game.

The curious part of this is the “one source on the team.” Enquiring minds of course want to know “who.” Of course we won’t find out now. But this is the job of the beat writer – to find out what is happening behind the scenes.

Its way too early to make too much of this kind of a “leak.” It could be that the offensive staff simply shift its game plan based on the looks the Colts defense gave it.

However, we know that, in contrast to his first few season, Mike Tomlin has been less shy about overruling his offensive staff. In fact, Bruce Arians almost decided to leave because of it.

Again, this might mean nothing. But if the Steelers fortunes do not improve it will be interesting to see if anonymous sources releasing similar pieces of news.

Laying the Wood on Woodley

This was not a good week for LaMarr Woodley. He looked stone footed against the Texans and easily had his worse game in a season where he’s done nothing to justify his status as the highest paid player in defensive history.

The first to take aim was Behind the Steel Curtain’s Michael Bean (full disclosure, the Watch Tower’s alter ego also writes for BTSC), who devoted an entire post to critiquing Woodley’s performance against the Texans.

Bean got company, although that was a little slow in coming. As mentioned here before, Steel Mill Blog’s column “After Further Review” on the Tribune-Review is one of the best we features out there.

What was curious was that none of the Tribune Review’s writers updated the blog with any new content for several days after the game.

However, when “After Further Review” did get published, it spared no quarter in going after Woodley, pointing out that in spite of the fact that Woodley failed to draw double blockers during the Texans game, number 56 was regularly out of position and otherwise getting overpowered or shown up.

Old and Slow?

There’s been a lot going on, but it does seem that some of the media have been a little slow to the punch. News of James Harrison’s injury didn’t become public until Mike Tomlin announced it.

Undoubtedly, that makes Tomlin happy, but the Steelers losing James Harrison for a month is a pretty big story.

Ditto the news that Casey Hampton will not play. That may have been mentioned, but was certainly not discussed as a serious possibility early in the week.

Should the Turk Have Cometh....?

Finally, 2-2 is not at all too early to begin the “what went wrong” columns. Bob Smizik entertained the criticism that the Steelers perhaps got too sentimental in their personnel decision making, likening it to the situation in the late ‘70’s or early ‘80s.

He then mentiones a few players whom he things the Steelers should have parted ways with (James Farrior and Aaron Smith.)

Both suggestions are plausible, but it is a little too over simplistic to suggest that both men should have been cut in training camp, unless he has two other players that the Steelers either let go or passed on whom he thinks should have taken their places.

Smizik has never been a Watch Tower favorite (dating back to the late ‘80s, when the Watch Tower read him on weekend trips to Grandma’s house), but this column does provide readers with good food for thought.

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Steelers Report Card vs. Texans

Translated into scholastic terms the Steelers recent offensive line building strategy has been the football equivalent of “craming pulling all-nighters.” In light of the Trashing in Texas, this Steelers report card carries a tone of “I warned you.” As usual, no other report cards were consulted.

Quarterback
It is not easy to throw from your back. Still, Ben Roethlisberger missed some open receivers on plays the Steelers needed to have and according to Dale Lolley, Ben had check downs open on some of the sacks he took. He also had a couple of three turnovers nullified by penalties. Grade: C-

Running Backs
So it isn’t just the poor run blocking. Mewelde Moore and Isaac Redman gave the offense a real shot in the arm when it needed it. Mendenhall has only been effective when reach the line of scrimmage. Grade: C+

Wide Receivers
Mike Wallace made a brilliant play that got called back on a taunting penalty – the Steelers can’t have this. Antonio Brown showed some fancy footwork. Overall the receivers were “above the line” but that alone was not enough. Grade: B-

Offensive line
No one on the line is playing well. No one. Maurkice Pouncey perhaps played a little better this week, but he’s still way below last year’s standard. And Pouncey's penalty took the Steelers out of scoring distance. Trai Essex left no doubt as to why he got zero interest in the free agent market, and Marcus Gilbert seemed to break off his blocks just as his man was getting to Ben or else he simply got beat physically. If the Steelers don’t have the worst offensive line in football, show me who does. Grade: F-

Defensive Line
Differing theories abound as to the Steelers sudden vulnerable to the run. What is clear is that the Texans ran inside, run outside, ran around and over the Steelers defensive line and none of the lineman could cope. Injuries or no, Aaron Smith’s continuing claim to a roster spot remains tenious at best, but Cameron Heyward and Ziggy Hood got plenty of snaps and they did not help. Grade: F

Linebackers
Why is it that James Harrison, he of 33 years of age and back surgery, appears to be the only noticeable player in the group? Age may be catching up with James Farrior, but what about Lawrence Timmons and LaMarr Woodley? The Steelers invested over 100 million dollars in these youngsters and neither has delivered. Grade: F

Secondary
Troy Polamalu was all over the place as usual, but his angles were off and Neal Coolong of Behind the Steel Curtain has suggested this arises for his desire to avoid fines. Keenan Lewis made a nice pass defense, William Gay and Ike Taylor looked good. Still, four games into the season, the secondary has produced ZERO turnovers. As bad as the rest of the team played, one turnover could have made the difference in Houston. Grade: C-

Special Teams
The Steelers had some nice punt returns although some work on when to field and when to fair catch is needed. But what is it with the blocked kick? In four games this is the second time one of the place kicking units has suffered a total breakdown. This cannot continue. Grade: D

Coaching
Perhaps the NFL’s new rules on dangerous hits have neutered the Steelers defense. Perhaps the mandated reduction of physicality in practice has had a similar effect on both the defense and the offensive line. It is difficult to argue with Mike Tomlin’s assessment that the Steelers problems trace back to the fundamentals – blocking and tackling. Except why would one say that about a defending conference champion? Either way the Steelers have been caught totally flatfooted by the NFL in 2011. Grade: F

Unsung Hero
David Johnson’s presence in the backfield helped get the running game going in the second half although it did nothing to help the pass protection. Either way Gerry Dulac gave him a nod in The Post-Gazette's Two Minute Drill.

The Steelers coverage units have played well this year, and yesterday they were led by rookie corner Curtis Brown who made three special teams tackles and forced a fumble which the Texans recovered. Age is an issue for the Steelers defense, and signs of hope from the youth are welcome, and for that Curtis Brown is Steel Curtain Rising’s Unsung Hero of the week.

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Statement Game for WHO in Houston?

Each NFL win or loss carries the same weight in the standings. That’s the Gospel Mike Tomlin has preached both after the Debacle in Baltimore and the Shut Out Over Seattle.

Tomlin is wise to preach those points as they convey a healthy perspective.

The entire “On Any Given Sunday” philosophy is another way of saying that one win or loss represents 1/16th of the body of work by which the teams regular season will be measured.

Late in the season, of course, things change a little as teams lose margin for error and opportunities for second chances disappear.

Those games come in November and December. But then are the games that come earlier, the games whose importance grows beyond their mathematical significance.

Commentators dub those “Statement Games.”

Statement games can be tricky things. Sometimes they’re anticipated. During Bill Cowher’s 1992 rookie season, the Steelers stood at 4-2 heading into a three week stretch that would take them to Buffalo, Kansas City, and would bring Houston to Pittsburgh.

Bob Labriola of Steelers Digest commented that a win in any of the three games would be and “upset” and that this three game stretch would tell Steelers Nation what they really had.

The Steelers came out 2-1, and in winning against Kansas City and Houston, Cowher Power had officially made Pittsburgh a contender.

1992 was of course a long time ago, and the Steelers have been contenders ever since, with the exception of the dark days of 1998 and 1999.

2011 brings them to a very different place.

Having gone to 3 Super Bowls in six years, the narrative that the media would like to hang on their necks is: “Too old, Too Slow, Too Much Time Has passed.”

The Houston Texans find themselves in the opposite situation.

Since Gary Kubiack’s arrival in 2006 they have perennially been the AFC’s up and comer always unable to make it over the hump.

With Peyton Manning’s injury, 2011 is supposed to be the year that changes, and it is against the Steelers that they’re scripted to make such a statement.

But once the whistle blows, it is the men playing between the little white lines that dictate the script, not the scribes. I don’t pretend to know enough about the Houston Texans to offer detailed pre-game match up analysis. (For that, I’ll refer you to Behind the Steel Curtain’s Pre Game Zone Blitz.)

The Steelers strengths and liabilities are better known to me.

The Steelers offensive line is not a team strength and has not been for some time. But for all that has been said about the line thus far much of what has ailed the line can be cured with just a little cohesion. If these men can function just a little better as a single unit, then the Steelers have the offensive weapons to compete in Texas.

Things are a little different on the defensive side of the ball.

Thus far the Steelers secondary has not been the glaring liability everyone said it would be. No, this is another incarnation of the Woodson-Lake secondaries of the 90’s, but thus far the men are playing well, and Troy Polamalu is making his presence felt.

The Steelers once-vaunted run defense is showing cracks. This is not good as Houston is phenomenal at running the ball.

Is the shakeyness of the Steelers run defense attributable to cut blocking or to the aging of Aaron Smith and, yes, Casey Hampton?

The truth is probably a little bit of both. That brings us to the game’s “X” factor, the Steelers linebackers. In 2011 the only linebacker to make a “Splash” play is James Harrison. LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons have been quiet.

Therefore the game on the defensive side of the ball for Pittsburgh will come down to their ability to involve their linebackers.

“It ain’t bragging if you can do it, but just saying it don’t make it so.” Houston Oilers coach, Bum Philips

Steel Curtain Rising quoted the Texas football icon when the Steelers opened the 2008 season against the Texans and it seems only appropriate to quote him again.

Early in that game the Texans thought they were ready to “Do It” and got stuffed on 1st down and that set the tone for the whole game.

Here we are in 2011 and the Houston Texans once again think they can “Do It.” Mike Tomlin and the Steelers have other ideas.

Time to see who is right.

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