Time for Steelers' Mike Tomlin to Fire His Two Coordinators

Time for Steelers' Mike Tomlin to fire his two coordinators
By Vinnie Iyer Sporting News
http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl/stor...-smith-fantasy
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Coach Mike Tomlin was “angry” and “disappointed” with his Pittsburgh Steelers’ latest loss, Sunday’s 55-31 beatdown in New England. After this especially embarrassing and head-scratching defeat, he vowed to “re-evaluate everything.”
Here’s where he has to start: unloading both offensive coordinator Todd Haley and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau. It’s bad enough being 2-6; it’s even worse falling to a franchise low.
“You have to after a performance like that and we will,” Tomlin said of putting his team under the microscope after the Steelers allowed more points than at any point in the storied franchise’s history. “It doesn’t necessarily mean we will change or change for the sake of changing, but we will look at every aspect of what we are doing and who we are doing it with because we can’t have performances like that.”
Tomlin won’t be fired for the Steelers’ mess, nor should he be. But he has to fire his coordinators.
There are opposite problems on either side of the ball. Offensively, the identity doesn’t match their personnel. Defensively, the personnel no longer matches the identity.
Tomlin made the change from Bruce Arians to Haley on offense two years ago, and ever since there have been rumblings of how Haley just doesn’t mesh with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. That appears truer on the field than any rift they may have had off it.
While Tomlin wanted a more ball control, power rushing offense, Haley was brought in to lessen the hits on Roethlisberger with a passing game built to get the ball out quickly. But Roethlisberger is a gunslinger who loves using his mobility to buy time to push the ball downfield, even if it means taking all those extra hits.
Arians let Roethlisberger be aggressive with the deep passing game. When the Steelers have had their limited flashes of offensive success this season, it’s when rookie back Le’Veon Bell is setting up the play-action shots. It’s a waste to make Roethlisberger an underneath route passer, when even without Mike Wallace, he’s got wideouts such as Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders to stretch the field. It was a mistake to replace Arians with Haley, rather than a similar pound it and chuck it play-caller in the mold of Norv Turner (now with AFC North rival Cleveland).
While it’s been clear for a while Haley hasn’t been a good fit, it’s the harsh reality that it’s also time for the Steelers to replace Coach Dad, Dick LeBeau. It’s not just the knee-jerk reaction to LeBeau’s unit getting walloped, giving up 413 yards passing, 197 yards rushing and 610 total yards to Tom Brady’s Patriots. It’s been building all season.
He just isn’t pushing the right buttons with the current personnel, and while an influx of youth on the roster is paramount, it’s also not the only solution.
The Steelers have never been this bad against the run in the 10 seasons LeBeau has been coordinator. Never lower than No. 8 from 2004-’12 and No. 2 as late as last season, Pittsburgh is No. 31 in rushing defense, with only Jacksonville worse in 2013. That makes the Steelers’ No. 4 ranking against the pass misleading.
They have only 13 sacks and four interceptions—the exact kind of mediocrity that will keep them out of the playoffs for the second-straight year.
LeBeau is a revered defensive mind, the godfather of the 3-4 zone blitz and a Hall of Famer. But now he’s stuck with too many aging players on the career downside and because of some shaky recent drafts, a percentage of young players who haven’t met expectations.
On top of that, LeBeau’s scheme has gone stale in Pittsburgh. The Steelers need new players and someone new to coordinate them. They were No. 1 in total defense last year, but the most critical factors—an absence of sacks and key takeaways—were still present. The failings in that area are just as responsible for consecutive non-playoff seasons as Haley’s play-calling.
Tomlin has a strong 4-3, Tampa 2 background with the tenets of rushing the passer with just four, sound tackling and keeping seven in coverage to force more turnovers. Bears coach Lovie Smith would be a great complement to that philosophy.
Tomlin has shown he’s not afraid to make tough decisions with his current players. Given how he moved on from Arians, his coaches aren’t immune, either. For him to do a better job with his team in 2014, he’s got to get someone other than Haley and LeBeau to do theirs.