Steelers OC Arians Expects Big Season From QB Roethlisberger (1 Viewer)

[Chunky Soup]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07204/803737-66.stm

This year's offense is a Big Ben production

Monday, July 23, 2007

By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It's not easy to think of Ben Roethlisberger as a writer, a Big Pen, if you will.

He had the most successful start of any quarterback in the history of the National Football League his first two seasons, with a 13-0 record as a rookie starter and a Super Bowl victory in his second season. Toss in the near-death experience of a motorcycle crash and there's meat for an autobiography that Roethlisberger has not yet produced.

The Steelers' quarterback, however, helped write what could be a more profound script this year and it will make its debut in summer stock this week at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. Roethlisberger helped rewrite the Steelers' offensive playbook, in collaboration with Bruce Arians, the Steelers' new coordinator. Tomorrow they start rehearsals for the first time in pads when the Steelers conduct their first training camp practice in Latrobe. Players are to report by 4 p.m. today.

"Back in March and April, he spent a lot of time with me and helped me write some of these things up that we're going to change," Arians said.

Roethlisberger and Arians crafted a larger role for the Steelers' quarterback in the new playbook.

"He's always had good control of what he's doing, we're just asking him to do more," Arians said. "We're expanding his role. He embraced it. He's spent a lot of time at it."

The increased role for Roethlisberger includes more planned use of the no-huddle offense, more use of three and four receivers on first and second downs with the quarterback under center and not in the shotgun, and more freedom for him to change the blocking protection and the play at the line of scrimmage.

The previous staff of head coach Bill Cowher and offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt limited what Roethlisberger could do, a necessary process because he was thrust into the job in just his third game after Tommy Maddox's right elbow was injured. They gave him additional duties in his second and third seasons, but nothing like what Arians is doing this year.

"Kenny did a great job of protecting him," Arians said. "He was with a veteran group that all he had to do was go in and play. We want him to continue that mode but expand it, and have audibles -- if you see things, take them."

He spent much of last season giving rather than taking, issuing an NFL-high 23 interceptions as his passer rating dipped from 98.1 and 98.6 in his first two extraordinary seasons to a pedestrian 78.1 in 2006. But Arians and the new staff are confident Roethlisberger will return to the form of his first two seasons and that last year was the fluke, particularly in light of the physical problems Roethlisberger's motorcycle accident, appendectomy and midseason concussion presented.

"He's been beautiful. I'm real pleased. I couldn't ask for any more," Arians said to describe Roethlisberger's work throughout the spring.

"It should be his breakout year."

That's a mouthful about a player who had such success in his first two NFL seasons.

There was more to those 23 interceptions than just bad throws by the quarterback last season. The pass protection broke down more often and the Steelers played from behind more often. Roethlisberger threw 469 passes last season, fourth most in club history and 75 percent more than the 268 he attempted in 2005. Obviously, there were more opportunities for interceptions and sacks and he was sacked twice as often last season (46) than the Super Bowl year (23).

"Our protection unit -- backs, line and receivers running hots -- that's a three-pronged attack when your quarterback's getting sacked," Arians said.

"The sacks can't be attributed strictly to the offensive line because so many times a receiver might have missed a hot while the line blocked all the guys. Or the quarterback might have missed it, or a running back might have missed a block. So, it's a three-pronged attack when you're talking about sacks."

Arians praised the blocking for the running game last season. Willie Parker rushed for 1,494 yards, third-most in team history. But Arians acknowledged that the offensive line overall did not play up to expectations.

"No, we were not as good as a group as the year before," Arians said.

He and others will try to fix that starting tomorrow when competition begins for three open jobs along that line. For all the changes done to the playbook, the Steelers will need better play from their line for Roethlisberger to write a better ending to things this season.

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Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com.

 

[treat88]

No matter how well Ben performs, FWP is the catalyst for this offense. Steeler success hinges on how the OL performs for him.

 

[Franknbeans]

No matter how well Ben performs, FWP is the catalyst for this offense. Steeler success hinges on how the OL performs for him.

That's true the Steelers OL will be crucial to the teams success this season. I must say this is probably the most raw talent the Steelers have had on the offensive side of the ball in many moons.

 

[Jason Wood]

The Steelers and Cardinals are going to be interesting studies in contrast this year. People seem to think the Steelers, despite losing Cowher, Whisenhunt and Grimm, aren't going to "rock the boat" and will continue to run, run, run under Tomlin and Arians. Whereas in Arizona, the prevailing viewpoint is that, despite what Whisenhunt and Grimm WANT to do, they will have to throw a lot more.

I think the truth lies somewhere in between. One thing that's really impressive about Whisenhunt's tenure in Pittsburgh is how efficient his passing attack has been.

*** 2006 -- 0.5168 fantasy points per attempt

*** 2005 -- 0.5942 fantasy points per attempt

*** 2004 -- 0.5686 fantasy points per attempt

That is WELL ahead of the league average. While Big Ben has been at the helm for most of those attempts, the productivity was not lost when Batch got into the game. Meanwhile, in Arizona, the Cards were woeful in this regard. Leinart ranked just 33rd in FPPPA out of 45 qualified passers last year. So while I expect the Cards to throw less per game, I also think they will do more with each throw. And similarly in Pittsburgh, based on Bruce Arians history, I'm expecting the Steelers to throw more (well, not more than last year necessarily) but do less with each throw.

 

[Mike]

How telling is that stat, fantasy points per attempt? Wouldn't it likely be a natural consequence that teams that pass less have more success when they do try to pass ("surprise defense: we're passing"), and vice versa?

 

[Jason Wood]

How telling is that stat, fantasy points per attempt? Wouldn't it likely be a natural consequence that teams that pass less have more success when they do try to pass ("surprise defense: we're passing"), and vice versa?

I could see where you might expect that, but the numbers show no correlation between pass attempts and productivity per pass attempt:

PassAtts	PtPerAtt	TEAM 1	26	GB2	21	DET3	8	STL4	29	MIA5	5	NO6	2	IND7	1	PHI8	19	ARI9	24	CAR10	30	MIN11	31	TB12	3	CIN13	9	NE14	16	BAL15	7	PIT16	20	NYG17	12	SEA18	14	CHI19	27	CLE20	4	DAL21	22	NYJ22	32	OAK23	25	HOU24	15	WAS25	6	SD26	17	DEN27	11	KC28	18	JAX29	23	SF30	28	TEN31	10	BUF32	13	ATL

Correlation Coefficient: 0.046554252

 

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http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-s...p&type=lgns

Roethlisberger attended all the offseason workouts, helping new offensive coordinator Bruce Arians rewrite a playbook that gives the QB more responsibility and options. Look for more no-huddle looks, spread formations and multiple receiver sets that should allow Roethlisberger to throw shorter and more accurately and avoid the numerous downfield interceptions of a season ago.

Roethlisberger will make all the calls and checkoffs at the line of scrimmage, including those for the blocking schemes. It's another big change during a season in which he's dealing with a new head coach, coordinator, quarterbacks coach (Ken Anderson) and, even, a new center (Chukky Okobi or Sean Mahan).