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Bruce Arians

Art Rooney Must Answer To Big Ben

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Anybody else expecting a nice quiet off-season for the Pittsburgh Steelers?

If so, you’ve got to be sorely disappointed. The Steelers coaching carousel continues to go round-and-round with yesterday’s news that linebackers coach Keith Butler is in serious negotiations to join the Indianapolis Colts as their defensive coordinator. Butler has long been tabbed as Dick LeBeau‘s heir apparent to the point the Steelers refused to allow him to interview with Pittsburgh West Arizona about their DC job last summer. However, his contract is up this year and with LeBeau returning next season, it looks like he’s sick of waiting his turn.

In a twist of irony, if Butler does leave for Indianapolis, he’ll join ex-offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who was named the Colts OC on Friday. Wait, I thought BA had “retired?” That bald-faced lie went up in smoke faster than Bret Favre’s last three “retirements.” In fact, team president Art Rooney II (who from this point on, I’ll nickname the Deuce as to separate him from the one true honorable Art Rooney) has now all but admitted it was his call to can Arians.

“I think the questions of how we got here are not really relevant,” the Deuce told the Post-Gazette when pressed on the issue of where the dismissal of Arians came from. If that non-denial denial wasn’t damning enough, he all but outed himself two sentences later when he said, “I think it was time for a change, and we’re looking forward to moving on.” Oh, YOU think it’s time for a change, huh Artie? What does your HEAD COACH think? Or doesn’t his opinion matter?
Read More »Art Rooney Must Answer To Big Ben

Mike Tomlin vs Bruce Arians: Round 2

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Let’s take a walk down memory lane. The last time the Pittsburgh Steelers had a hugely disappointing season was the Super Bowl Hangover year of 2009. Shortly into the off-season, rumors began flying fast and furious that offensive coordinator Bruce Arians would be out on his ass. The local media began eulogizing his tenure in their columns while the Steeler blogs who turned #FireArians into an official meme of Steeler Nation were positively orgasmic.

Only thing left was receiving official confirmation from Steeler management. Of course, it never came. The story goes Ben Roethlisberger made a last minute plea to Mike Tomlin and Art Rooney on behalf of his buddy and they acquiesced to the wishes of their superstar quarterback. If not for Big Ben’s timely  intervention, Arians and his Flying Circus would’ve been sacrificed at the altar of Black and Gold failure.

Fast forward to the present. We recently completed the 2011 season, which was much more successful than the miserable 2009 campaign, although it ended just as badly. Big Ben surpassed 4,000 yards passing for the second time in his career (and team history), directing an offense which finished 12th overall and 10th through the air. Despite those accomplishments, not to mention being one year removed from a Super Bowl appearance, rumors are again swirling that Arians is on the way out.

Come hell or high water, Mike Tomlin always gets his man.
Read More »Mike Tomlin vs Bruce Arians: Round 2

Steeler Nation Sound-Off: Proposition 7 – Increase Air Force Spending

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Your old pal Chris here. A couple weeks back, I ran a special Guest Blogger column by longtime reader Hennessy. His post generated the most comments in Total Steelers history clearly indicating yinz guys like him better than you like me. Since I’m still stunned and angry over the Baltimore game and, left to my own devices, I’d write five posts ranting about the various travesties that happened on Sunday, I figured it might be nice to bring in a relief pitcher to change things up a bit. Take it away, Hennessy…

The Pittsburgh Steelers have drafted five quarterbacks since 2000, all of them in the fifth round, except, of course, Ben Roethlisberger. The brightest star in that group was Ex-Tennessee Volunteer Tee Martin, mostly because he had a pretty cool name which sounded particularly good in Pittsburghese. As we learned (the hard way) last Sunday, not to mention with the parade of human traffic cones who man the offensive line every season, we’ve clearly had greater areas of need in recent drafts. But this season and the success of Young Money have me hoping there is a plan to develop a game-ready mentor to Ben in the coming years.

I never thought I would find myself in this position, but Bruce Arians has made me a fan of the pass-first offense. That’s not to say I don’t shudder every time I hear someone saying we are getting away from “Steeler Football” (because we are, and yinzers don’t take well to change with the Stillers). There might not be anything more fun to watch than the pounding football of old, but the way Ben snaps, scrambles and throws has been pretty entertaining. And whadda ya know, he’s winning a lot of damn football games doing it.
Read More »Steeler Nation Sound-Off: Proposition 7 – Increase Air Force Spending

Arians’ Flying Circus Almost Left Town

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After the Pittsburgh Steelers heartbreaking loss to the Green Bay Packers in last year’s Super Bowl, an eerie pall was cast over the City of Champions.  When you follow the most successful franchise in NFL history, losing is not something to which you’re accustomed.  Let alone losing on the grandest stage of them all.  It leads to depression which in turns leads to crazy thoughts.

“Maybe they weren’t that good after all.”  “Maybe we should let LaMarr Woodley, Ike Taylor and Hines Ward go so we can get Nnamdi Asomugha!”  “Maybe I’ll start watching the Pirates.  How bad can they be?”

Offensive coordinator [intlink id=”31″ type=”category”]Bruce Arians[/intlink] had a crazy thought of his own.  Retirement.
Read More »Arians’ Flying Circus Almost Left Town

Big Ben Is Gonna Die

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Post-lockout madness has struck the Pittsburgh Steelers with the majority of the action centering around the team’s much-maligned offensive line.

The Steelers entered the day approximately $10 million over the salary cap.  To get within range, they released Antwaan Randle-El and Max Starks.   ARE is no surprise what with the emergence of rookies Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders.  Starks, however, has been the team’s starting left tackle and Franchise player over the past couple seasons.  He did suffer a herniated disc in his neck necessitating season-ending surgery last year so perhaps he has not sufficiently recovered.  Or maybe the Steelers feel they can re-sign him at a lower price with the injury discouraging other teams from showing interest.
Read More »Big Ben Is Gonna Die