The management and coaches realize that in today's NFL you need to be able to throw down field successfully with consistency. The team's coaches have convinced themselves they can skimp in this area and simply build the running game and the defense, which is particularly disturbing since it was this philosophy which tortured us for so many years under Wannstedt.
You need to be able to throw the ball down the field with success. Look at how we lost all 3 of these games, Atlanta, Indi, and San Diego all throw the ball down the field with success against us. Look at who the elite teams are in the league - they are teams that are committed to passing - Patriots, Saints, Colts, and yes, even the Steelers have a greater emphasis on passing today.
This team has absolutely none of that. The coaches have no commitment to passing the ball down the field successfully, and this inhibits our offense greatly in that A) the safeties can cheat up and stop the run more effectively because there is no threat of the deep ball B) the safeties and corners can jump the first move on every route - and be correct 95% of the time - which causes incompletions and interceptions.
Let's look at this from a purely mathematical point of view.
Average yards per passing attempt in the NFL is 6 or 7
Average yards per rushing attempt in the NFL is 4
Purely based on math this tells you that you should be passing more than you should be running, since on average throwing gets you more yards, which in turn gets you more points.
Unfortunately, this team has a front office and management that dogmatically hold to it's prehistoric strategy of running + defense...which I think Wannstedt disproved well enough.
This team cannot succeed until a commitment to success in the passing game is made. And judging by the conservative play calling and philosophies of the coaching staff, it looks like we're going to have to go through another management change before that happens. This isn't 1930s anymore guys, the game has changed, and it favors the team with an elite QB. If this is not obvious enough to anyone after watching the Patriots, Colts, Giants, and Steelers win super bowls in recent years because of Brady, Manning, Manning, and Roethlisberger, no amount of evidence will ever sway you from your conservative, old style football superstition.
Never has this been more obvious. Rewatch our game against the Colts if you must - see Manning pickup 20 yard chunks at will, and score TDs within 30 seconds of getting the ball, while our team has to claw away for 30 minutes just to get into field goal range if we are lucky. The game has changed. Our coaches philosophies stay the same. Don Shula was the only one that ever had it right. Get an elite QB, put the ball in his hands and watch.
You need to be able to throw the ball down the field with success. Look at how we lost all 3 of these games, Atlanta, Indi, and San Diego all throw the ball down the field with success against us. Look at who the elite teams are in the league - they are teams that are committed to passing - Patriots, Saints, Colts, and yes, even the Steelers have a greater emphasis on passing today.
This team has absolutely none of that. The coaches have no commitment to passing the ball down the field successfully, and this inhibits our offense greatly in that A) the safeties can cheat up and stop the run more effectively because there is no threat of the deep ball B) the safeties and corners can jump the first move on every route - and be correct 95% of the time - which causes incompletions and interceptions.
Let's look at this from a purely mathematical point of view.
Average yards per passing attempt in the NFL is 6 or 7
Average yards per rushing attempt in the NFL is 4
Purely based on math this tells you that you should be passing more than you should be running, since on average throwing gets you more yards, which in turn gets you more points.
Unfortunately, this team has a front office and management that dogmatically hold to it's prehistoric strategy of running + defense...which I think Wannstedt disproved well enough.
This team cannot succeed until a commitment to success in the passing game is made. And judging by the conservative play calling and philosophies of the coaching staff, it looks like we're going to have to go through another management change before that happens. This isn't 1930s anymore guys, the game has changed, and it favors the team with an elite QB. If this is not obvious enough to anyone after watching the Patriots, Colts, Giants, and Steelers win super bowls in recent years because of Brady, Manning, Manning, and Roethlisberger, no amount of evidence will ever sway you from your conservative, old style football superstition.
Never has this been more obvious. Rewatch our game against the Colts if you must - see Manning pickup 20 yard chunks at will, and score TDs within 30 seconds of getting the ball, while our team has to claw away for 30 minutes just to get into field goal range if we are lucky. The game has changed. Our coaches philosophies stay the same. Don Shula was the only one that ever had it right. Get an elite QB, put the ball in his hands and watch.
