i agree w/ u about haynes. that is true. he is under-used and brings a whole new dimention to the offense. but he is big enough to take the abuse…as far as the cowher and burress stuff. i sorta disagree.
that is why we got duce…b/c in philly he cought a lot of balls out of the back field!!! i think with duce and haynes and parker…r running game wont miss a beat!!! and if the line stays healthy like they did this year…we will be good again!!!
duece is fine he just doesn’t have any speed. Sure compared to bus he’s quick but you need someone who can break away. If haynes had that run bettis did last night down the sideline, he’s sittin in the endzone and we might be talking about going to jacksonville. Not to degrade the bus at all, he did his job great. If the steelers truely want bettis back next year they better throw him off a lil money, he isn’t comming back again for 1 mill. give the guy the money he earned this year and maybe some extra as a thank you for taking one for the team.
We tried that last year remember?
The little backs can’t take that kind of hits and abuse all year long. Find me one back that survived the entire season? Look at all the injuries to the starting running backs all year. Haynes won’t last, and yes he is fast. We do need more explosiveness but I don’t think Haynes is an every down back.
The days of one back getting the workload for 16 games is gone.
we ran amous with an inferior offensive line, for that same reason we couldn’t pass either. I wouldn’t exactly call haynes little, short maybe but not little. He may be little next to bettis who is obvious not 255 but more like 280. haynes is 5’9 222. thats a fair size back. curtis martin is not a big guy and he’s done it since 95. Size doesn’t really determine injuries, football is just that kinda game, the biggest most trained person on the field could go down from the freakiest thing. you wanna talk little, look at warrick dunn, i thought that guy would be long gone by this point but he’s still here. He’s not a true feature back but he gets a fair share of touches.
maybe the steelers need to change their offense. Move duece to FB and have him an active FB unlike a pure blocker like crieder. Don’t forget that bettis was a FB in college and rickey waters was the tail back. thats more what i’m trying to get at, that type of offense strategy. Run the proset offense. When you got good athletes you gotta find a way to get them in the game. With two good RB’s in the backfield at once and the threat of a pass, the D don’t kno where ur gonna strike next. It may not be the answer but a good option to explore.
You need to watch more pro football instead of jocking the days of Curtis Marton in High School.
how so? because i just gave you a great example of how a little back works and because i’m cutty that has no weight? he’s 5’11 210, thats a little back who has been a feature back his whole career and is 4th or 5th all time leading rusher in NFL history. barry sanders was a little back, emmit was a little back, marcus allen was a little back, do you want more? point proven.
silvrhand - your missing the point… You might watch football, but you sure as shit don’t understand it. Last year and this year are no where close to being able to be compared… We had turmoil on the o-line (simmons out, smith didnt like switchin to l. tackle, hartings hurt, k. vincent adjusting to pro game) to good this year. I think Haynes needs more touches, I think Duce still needs to be the primary back, and as much as I want Jerome back for sentimental value,I think well be better off if he rides off into the sunset this off-season.
Cutty knows what hes talking about… and if he doesn’t, I’ll correct him 
Cowher is a student of Shottenheimer(sp) and follows his path well. How many years did the Chiefs play great football all season and make the playoffs only to blow their chances due to conservative play calling and getting away from the aggressive season long play. San Diego was a huge threat in the playoffs only to lose to NYJ from being too conservative. Pittsburg has been to the playoffs I believe 9 times since Cowher took over. Every time was blown from being too conservative with the exception of 95 against the Colts but yet another conservative game that was won by one point. If the pass is caught at the end Indy goes. Pitts gets a double their luck against the Jets this year, face it, Jets should have been going on. They outplayed the Steelers and when Herm Edwards outcoaches you you were to conservative. In 01 and this year the Pats played wide open like they did all regular season and they prevailed. Since knoll is still a part of the Steelers organization maybe he needs to grab Cowher by the balls and give him some insight on playing to win. If it wasn’t for Knoll opening up the passing game downfield in 13 Pitts would have lost to Dallas,the run wasn’t working and even the highlight films show Knoll telling Bradshaw that Dallas isn’t going to give him the high percentage pass ie: the long ball highlights we all see Swan and Stallworth catching. Championship teams have been in Pittsburg for many years now, it’s the championship play calling that has been absent.
BTW… Would be nice to see Bettis become the running backs coach for the Steelers.
Not talking about little backs, pro formation crap with skilled players is probably a thing of the past due to Salary Cap/Free Agency. Look at the colts probably one of the best offenses ever in many aspects but they are a finesse team and probably won’t be together but another year or two.
You gotta run the ball in this league to win, that’s been proven year after year… Could you imagine us trying to throw the ball 30-40 times a game in Heinz field, a place where the longest field goal is 48 yards? I think not, the field is an example of the old “Boston Celtics” home field advantage…
The point is that you have 2/3 years max with the same roster, and you don’t have time to have 30 formations/sets you gotta do something and do it well. It doesn’t have to be complex, the true mark of a champion is the other team knowing what you are going to run and you run it anyways and it works. That is how you play smash mouth football, and that’s Cowher.
BTW: Barry Sanders is probably the only example of a small back that did the bulk of the work on his own, maybe the only other two that could claim that would be Gale Sayers/Walter Payton (Early years) Emmitt Smith doesn’t even rank in the top 5 backs due to him being a product of one of the best offensive lines ever. If you want to talk about great backs, talk about Gale Sayers, Earl Campbell, Bo Jackson (sucks he got hurt), Barry Sanders, Walter Payton.
point of this thread - Cowher sucks ass and really needs fired and the steelers will not win the big game until he is gone. I have hated Cowher since he started.
imma slap the shit outta you at WOW.
why - he fucking blows when the game actually means something. It’s soooooo fucking lame to hear people say “but we got to the playoffs almost every year since he started”, big fucking deal, if you can’t win under pressure you are a shitty coach.
he cant go out there and play the game for them. And its not exactly like we lost to a shit team. They are on a 36-2 streak. One of those was us. 2 superbowls in the last 3 years. We set an AFC record for the number of wins in a season with a rookie QB and half of our starters injured for the majority of the season. Take back a couple of Bens interceptions and we’d be in the super bowl right now. What more do you want?
i want a fucking win where it counts. I could give a fucks less about the regular season, I want the steelers to win the superbowl, but it won’t happen with Cowher. He just isn’t a good enough coach and it’s been proven that he can’t come through when it counts.
i agree we lost to a great team and that cowher can’t go out and play for them, but in the end it’s his fault because he is the leader of the team. All the blame and glory goto the coach, and this time it’s all the blame for fucking up yet another game when we needed it.
Like i said you asstart, he cant go out there and play for them. Look back at the 95 Superbowl. Take back Neil O’Donnel’s 2 picks and we’d be looking for one for the OTHER thumb. The offensive play calling wasnt too great for the NE game, but that wasnt Cowher calling the plays. He’s a defensive minded coach. If you want to be pissed at someone, be pissed at Whisenhunt. Cowher can only do so fucking much. Like putting together a competetive team, giving them a scheme to win, making sure they play well as a team, and keeping them motivated. And thats exactly what he did. He’s been competative with the shit QB’s we’ve had over the last 10 years, and we finally get a good one and you want to bail on him? Thank goodness the Rooneys have more sense than you.
it’s his team and his job to win, and he cannot do that when there is pressure.
He put together a competitive team, gave them a scheme to win ( during the regular season, but doesn’t have enough sense to mix it up during the playoffs) and greatly lacked motivation of his players. During the jets game and even the pats game, when it was all or nothing the team came out flat and looked like just another regular season game for them. Guess what, the playoffs is a different game and cowher in all of his years has not figured that out yet. I stand by my comment that cowher is a fucktart and we will continue to have good regular seasons and get smoked in the playoffs like every other year. fuck cowher
just an FYI you have to win regular season games to make the playoffs
true story
Violator: you were reading my mind. Shottenheimer couldn’t win an AFC championship to save his life while he was in cleveland. cowher is a desendant of a loser coach, plain and simple.
silverhand, are you telling me in years past martin didn’t carry a bulk of the work? how did he get in the top 5 rushers then? Marcus ALLEN!!! you didn’t even address him! I used to think how overated Emitt was until i watched film from his first few seasons. I forgot that he used to be really fast. Sure he benifited from a great line in his prime but he was still gonna be a great back regardless. What about another cowboy, Tony Dorsett… Maybe the greatest college football player of all time and then did the same thing in the NFL. When you don’t wanna see somthing its easy to forget. I love a big back too, earl campbell i would take anyday on my team as i would Bo jackson. The little guys thou make for a good story cause everyone doubts them…