Arians' call - 3rd and 6

[Steeltime]

Arians was the OC of the Clowns in 2002, when they lost a huge lead against the Steelers in the playoffs. The Clowns could have won the game had they been able to convert a first down, late in the 4th quarter, right before the Steeler scored to take the lead for good.

A key play in that sequence was a pass dropped by a Clowns receiver. The incomplete stopped the clock and saved a timeout for the Steelers. Many commentators were critical of the call, since the incomplete pass and clock stoppage were crucial to the Steelers victory.

I suspect that Arians' experience in that game played a role in his conservative play calling.

[Blitzburghv5]

IIRC it was Dennis Northcutt that dropped that pass wasnt it ?

[Steeltime]

IIRC it was Dennis Northcutt that dropped that pass wasnt it ?

I believe that it was . . . Arians should have had no fear of a repeat since Northcutt was on the opposite sideline.

[BAS]

Interesting find, and while I would agree with it affecting his decision in this game... you have to look at your offense's performance in the 2nd half. The Steelers were controlling things pretty well in that last quarter - no reason to shift gears like they did. Plus the run simply wasn't getting it done all day.

[Coryea]

He's in a tough spot, if he calls a pass and it fails it's a dumb call because it stops the clock, if he calls a run and it doesn't work it's conservative.
No matter what call, the players need to make it happen, as in the pass while with the Browns, Northcutt dropped an easy catch, and Saturday, Essex totally whiffed on the block.

[Steeltime]

He's in a tough spot, if he calls a pass and it fails it's a dumb call because it stops the clock, if he calls a run and it doesn't work it's conservative.

I really do not buy that argument.

The reason is this: The Steelers had not run the ball for shit against the Jags. Ben was carving up the Jags secondary. Expecting the running game suddenly to prosper was not well-founded. Expecting Ben to complete a third down pass for a first down would have been a good bet, since he has done it all year and had torn the Jags a new asshole in the second half.

As another poster pointed out, the Steelers possessions in the second half went like this:

FG
TD
TD
TD
Run, run, run, punt.

[Coryea]

I really do not buy that argument.

The reason is this: The Steelers had not run the ball for against the Jags. Ben was carving up the Jags secondary. Expecting the running game suddenly to prosper was not well-founded. Expecting Ben to complete a third down pass for a first down would have been a good bet, since he has done it all year and had torn the Jags a new in the second half.

As another poster pointed out, the Steelers possessions in the second half went like this:

FG
TD
TD
TD
Run, run, run, punt.

I agree with you, you have to call it based on how your team is performing. I was just saying to an outsider that didn't watch the entire game, no matter what he calls someone is going to bitch about it.

[BAS]

I really do not buy that argument.

The reason is this: The Steelers had not run the ball for shit against the Jags. Ben was carving up the Jags secondary. Expecting the running game suddenly to prosper was not well-founded. Expecting Ben to complete a third down pass for a first down would have been a good bet, since he has done it all year and had torn the Jags a new asshole in the second half.

As another poster pointed out, the Steelers possessions in the second half went like this:

FG
TD
TD
TD
Run, run, run, punt.

The other thing to think about on the playcalling - Jags would be looking for the Steelers to run to try and burn some time off the clock - especially after the first play netted 5 yards.

[Coryea]

The other thing to think about on the playcalling - Jags would be looking for the Steelers to run to try and burn some time off the clock - especially after the first play netted 5 yards.

yep, exactly what 2nd down should've been a play action fake.

[Irv24]

I was on the phone with a friend who coaches H.S. ball. It was 3rd and 6. I asked him what would you call right now coach? He said he would call some type of boot giving Ben the option to throw to Miller or run.
As soon as he said that the ball was snapped and Essex ran by the guy who tackled Ben.
We both sat silent on the phone.

[cgilbert]

He's in a tough spot, if he calls a pass and it fails it's a dumb call because it stops the clock, if he calls a run and it doesn't work it's conservative.
No matter what call, the players need to make it happen, as in the pass while with the Browns, Northcutt dropped an easy catch, and Saturday, Essex totally whiffed on the block.


The time stopping (should there have been an incomplete pass) should not have been a factor. Whether JAX had 2:00 or 2:30 (from mid-field) they would have scored. In hindsight, an incomplete pass would have been better for us. We may have had 1:00 on the clock to move into FG range.

[Steelers.exe]

I was on the phone with a friend who coaches H.S. ball. It was 3rd and 6. I asked him what would you call right now coach? He said he would call some type of boot giving Ben the option to throw to Miller or run.
As soon as he said that the ball was snapped and Essex ran by the guy who tackled Ben.
We both sat silent on the phone.

This is exactly what should have been called; a roll out to the right. Where the Steelers were on the field, they had to play for better field position first, then burn clock. This would have decrease the chances of the Jags getting the ball at midfield if they had to punt.

[z500zag]

The time stopping (should there have been an incomplete pass) should not have been a factor. Whether JAX had 2:00 or 2:30 (from mid-field) they would have scored. In hindsight, an incomplete pass would have been better for us. We may have had 1:00 on the clock to move into FG range.

Exactly right. Us stopping the clock once or twice was irrelevent. The Jags had more than enough time even when we tried to kill the clock -- so we really accomplished a lot with those runs... Any decent coach would know that running the clock down from 3:40 to 2 minutes was a useless exercise, holding a 1 point lead.

We had trouble stopping the Jags anyway, but when you give the team the ball when they have all *4* downs to work with, it's awfully tough to stop them from getting a good FG attempt off. Damn near impossible in the modern NFL.

You have to play the odds. I'll take giving Ben 2 chances to throw any day, over stopping the Jags from getting 30 yards using 4 downs per 10 yards.

[Steelr4evr]

They could have pretended for one moment they where down by 3 and run,run,run..punt would have never been. Of course that wasn't in the script.

[Hines57]

When in doubt, go to the flea flicker.

I would have loved to have seen Heath Miller run a curl route over the middle of the field for a first down on that play.

Hopefully Arians learns from the mistake and lets our franchise QB win these games for us.

[Ghost of Frenchy Fuqua]

This isn't on-the-job training.

Arians is old enough and experienced enough to have learned from his mistakes and not to have called such a stupid play.

As poor a choice as he was for the OC job, it's even worse that he's being retained. And if a big part of his being retained is because "Ben likes him," that's a mark against the organization.

As someone here aptly put it, the QB is an Indian, not the chief...

[In Ben We Trust]

The only reason Ben likes Arians is because they don't go run, run, pass the entire game like they did with Whiz. Arians rear end should be to the fire after that qb run on Saturday....I don't care how much Ben likes him. With that said, Tomlin is just as much at fault for that play...he knew what was called so obviously he approved it. As someone said in an earlier post, you have to go win the game right there. In today's NFL the offenses are just too good to play turtle and hope for a stop. That play call was just plain stupid and I would have said that if they got lucky and made it....you have a top 5 qb in the league who had carved up the Jags all half and you call a run with no pass option at all....I seriously wanted to puke right then and there.

[Superman]

I was on the phone with a friend who coaches H.S. ball. It was 3rd and 6. I asked him what would you call right now coach? He said he would call some type of boot giving Ben the option to throw to Miller or run.
As soon as he said that the ball was snapped and Essex ran by the guy who tackled Ben.
We both sat silent on the phone.

you had the motherfucker on the phone?!? DURING A PLAYOFF game??


oh. high school ball. my bad.

[NYSteel]

Arians was the OC of the Clowns in 2002, when they lost a huge lead against the Steelers in the playoffs. The Clowns could have won the game had they been able to convert a first down, late in the 4th quarter, right before the Steeler scored to take the lead for good.

A key play in that sequence was a pass dropped by a Clowns receiver. The incomplete stopped the clock and saved a timeout for the Steelers. Many commentators were critical of the call, since the incomplete pass and clock stoppage were crucial to the Steelers victory.

I suspect that Arians' experience in that game played a role in his conservative play calling.

FWIW, in that game, Arians called passes on 2nd and 3rd down, and both went incomplete. You can say on 3rd down it was the right call because he was trying to ice the game. (that was the Northcutt drop) But to pass on 2nd as well and preserve a TO for the Steelers, probably saved the game for us.

[Steeltime]

FWIW, in that game, Arians called passes on 2nd and 3rd down, and both went incomplete. You can say on 3rd down it was the right call because he was trying to ice the game. (that was the Northcutt drop) But to pass on 2nd as well and preserve a TO for the Steelers, probably saved the game for us.

You, sir, are correct.

I looked it up. Incomplete pass second down, incomplete pass third down.

That definitely could have played a role in Arians going the opposite direction on Saturday.

[Turbo Pig]

I was on the phone with a friend who coaches H.S. ball. It was 3rd and 6. I asked him what would you call right now coach? He said he would call some type of boot giving Ben the option to throw to Miller or run.
As soon as he said that the ball was snapped and Essex ran by the guy who tackled Ben.
We both sat silent on the phone.

rolling to right would have given him that option.... I have said all along, should have been a roll out to the right with a throw to Miller or Ward....

[tapeANaspirin2it]

I think the 3rd down call is the only call that can be questioned. You have to try a run on first down. You do need to bleed the clock. The jax defense had been on the field a lot and momentum was with the steelers. The steelers get a good gain.

After the gain on 1st down, i think you have to run it again. You hope for a good 4 yard run, but even a 2 yard gain sets you up with a 3rd and short, plus the clock is running. The steelers get thrown for a loss.

Now you've got 3rd and long. What do you do? It's too long for a standard run, so if you run, you want it to be some sort of a misdirection, a draw, a bootleg, some sort of trick run maybe. If you pass, you want it to be a very safe pass. An incomplete pass is unacceptable. So, you're thinking of bootlegs with a TE or WR dragging with the QB, maybe a screen or some crosses.

You look at your play sheet. What play do you have? You worked on the bootleg run with Ben all week. You've been waiting for a certain look to run that play. The Jags are now giving you that look. So you call the play, not just because it's safe, not because you're scared, but because you think the play will work.

I would have liked the play a lot more if it had a pass option with it, but I'm not going to bash Arians for calling it. It was one of the plays they installed just for the game. They must have seen something on film that made them think the play would work. I think the play was there, they just didn't get the execution they expected.

If the 1st down run had been for a small gain or no gain, i think we would have seen a pass on 2nd down.

[FAB802]

That Cleveland debacle may have been on his mind, but that team didn't have anywhere near the weapons this team has. He fucked up, time to move on.