Antonio Brown fends off the Bengals’ Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones in Cincinnati three weeks ago. — GETTY
A striking December sun splashed across the Steelers’ South Side fields Friday afternoon, and the din, somehow, was almost a mano a mano match for it. The adjacent rail line rattled and rumbled with the passing CSX freight train. The construction workers atop a still-skeletal office complex being built across those tracks hacked and pounded, whirred and clattered. And because all of that apparently wasn’t enough to envision how Heinz Field might erupt Sunday night, the young student the team employs to pump recorded crowd noise into practices was blaring four megaphone-sized speakers at 110 decibels squarely in the direction of the athletes.
“Red zone!”
That was Ramon Foster. Still can’t believe I could hear him from 50 yards away.
“Red zone now! Red! Red! RED!”
The big man’s got quite the big voice, suffice it to say, and it only got bigger as the Steelers’ first-team offense strode closer to the goal line. At this point, the ball had just touched the 20.
“Red zone! Red! Red!” came more calls from around the field, then even more after a Le’Veon Bell sprint up the middle pushed them a few yards closer.
And finally, when Ben Roethlisberger rifled the ball to Antonio Brown on a slick slant pattern, it became a crescendo. Even Mike Tomlin piped up.
Gee, wonder why …
Oh, yeah, that.
Broken down another way, the Steelers’ offense has traveled 6,231 yards this season with 41 touchdowns and 27 field goals to show for it. That means it’s taken an average of 152 yards to produce a touchdown.
“It’s all about the red, baby,” AB was telling me afterward. “Doesn’t matter how far you walk if you can’t finish it off with a win. We’ve got to get in. We’ve got to get better.”
He was anything but alone in the sentiment:
It’s a healthy thought process, for sure, entering the Steelers’ seismic showdown with the Bengals for the AFC North Division title. Because regardless of that one outcome, they’ll need to continue making progress heading into the already-clinched playoffs. They’ll need to display continued improvement on defense, especially the secondary. They’ll need to see continued maturation from some of the many younger players now starting. They’ll need to believe that the momentum of this past month is, as Ike Taylor labeled it Friday, “a very real thing that all of our guys can feel.” And yeah, the NFL’s No. 2-ranked offense can achieve another level, too, by getting a whole lot better inside the opponent’s 20.
The red zone isn’t everything, of course. If it were, the Raiders’ league-best 70.4 percent conversion rate would mean they were … you know, not the Raiders. Getting to the red zone counts almost as much. Or even just blowing through it. When Roethlisberger hooked up with Martavis Bryant from 94 yards in Cincinnati, it had no impact on red-zone stats, but that was more than acceptable, right?
Still, that shouldn’t diminish the impact red-zone success can create, especially in that intangible, fatal-right-hook-following-the-left-jab momentum measure.
Think of it this way: The Steelers took the game’s opening possession Sunday and rolled 80 yards on 11 plays, and they did so in style. Some no-huddle. A lot of shotgun. Bell left, Bell right, Bell up the middle. Deep ball to Bryant, quick strike to Heath Miller, first down to AB. And pfffffffffft … stalled at the Kansas City 5 for a field goal.
Find the end zone right there, and the game could take a wholly different feel.
Or, think of it from the Chiefs’ perspective: Their first two drives covered 65 and 44 yards, reaching the Pittsburgh 17 and 7, respectively, and pfffffffffft … they were up, 6-3.
Small wonder Alex Smith called that “maybe the difference in the game for us.”
The previous week in Atlanta, the Steelers opened with drives of 60 and 72 yards, both broaching the Falcons’ 20 and pfffffffffft … Shaun Suisham had to finish both. As a result, a lesser opponent was allowed to linger until the very end of the 27-20 victory, as happened with the Chiefs in the 20-12 victory. The Steelers went 2 for 4 in the red zone in the latter, but the first of those two touchdowns was essentially handed to them by a third-down defensive holding call against the Chiefs’ Ron Parker. If not for the fresh set of downs, Suisham was coming on for that one, too.
Those weren’t good teams, but all of the rest will be. More is needed.
Three wholly unsolicited suggestions for how to get it:
• Take some shots.
Truth is, Todd Haley’s offenses over three seasons have converted in the red zone at about the same league-average rate, 55.1 percent in 2012 and 52.8 percent last season. My contention throughout has been that not enough pass attempts target the end zone, and that still applies. Even in the past three games, all wins that came with a solid 63.6 percent rate, only 7 of 33 plays — per my own notes — were passes targeting the end zone. And two were to Michael Palmer and Lance Moore, meaning only five balls were thrown to people who should have been targeted.
“Gotta take shots, man. Gotta take shots,” one player told me Friday. “We’ve got the people.”
I’m all out on Haley-bashing anymore, but more is needed.
• Move Bell around.
Bell has scored five of the seven offensive touchdowns in the past three games, so he’s feeling it like no one else. I’d never posit that Haley should overthink the offense — far too much of that goes on — but there’s no harm in having Bell line up at wideout and confound an opponent he recently stormed for 235 total yards, 50 of those in the air.
I asked Bell, only semi-joking, if he might spend half the game Sunday on the outside: “I’d love it, man, but I don’t think so. Maybe someday. I could do it.”
It’s outlandishly unfair to ask any more of Bell, but more might be needed.
• Get the kid receivers involved.
Bryant has seven touchdowns in his first nine NFL games, and Markus Wheaton has become an increasingly dependable third-down receiver for Roethlisberger, both terrific developments for the organization. But now, both need to find ways to get open in the red zone.
Bryant’s only touchdown in the past five games was the 94-yarder, this despite regularly being targeted and having a significant height advantage on his coverage.
“The 94-yarder was nice, and it was a great feeling at the time,” Bryant said. “But I’m sure Cincinnati and other teams are going to make an adjustment for that now.”
Wheaton has only two touchdowns all season, or one fewer than Willie Gay. He has none in the past six games. He isn’t being targeted in the end zone as much as Bryant, but it’s fair to assume that’s because Roethlisberger isn’t seeing him get open.
It can’t be all AB and Miller. More is needed from these two.
Multimedia: All's well that ends well for Fleury
12:04 am 
How does Super Bowl 50 apply to Steelers?
1:45 pm Monday
December 27, 2014
Column: Steelers strive to see red Sunday
by Dejan Kovacevic • Columns • Steelers
Antonio Brown fends off the Bengals’ Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones in Cincinnati three weeks ago. — GETTY
A striking December sun splashed across the Steelers’ South Side fields Friday afternoon, and the din, somehow, was almost a mano a mano match for it. The adjacent rail line rattled and rumbled with the passing CSX freight train. The construction workers atop a still-skeletal office complex being built across those tracks hacked and pounded, whirred and clattered. And because all of that apparently wasn’t enough to envision how Heinz Field might erupt Sunday night, the young student the team employs to pump recorded crowd noise into practices was blaring four megaphone-sized speakers at 110 decibels squarely in the direction of the athletes.
“Red zone!”
That was Ramon Foster. Still can’t believe I could hear him from 50 yards away.
“Red zone now! Red! Red! RED!”
The big man’s got quite the big voice, suffice it to say, and it only got bigger as the Steelers’ first-team offense strode closer to the goal line. At this point, the ball had just touched the 20.
“Red zone! Red! Red!” came more calls from around the field, then even more after a Le’Veon Bell sprint up the middle pushed them a few yards closer.
And finally, when Ben Roethlisberger rifled the ball to Antonio Brown on a slick slant pattern, it became a crescendo. Even Mike Tomlin piped up.
Gee, wonder why …
Broken down another way, the Steelers’ offense has traveled 6,231 yards this season with 41 touchdowns and 27 field goals to show for it. That means it’s taken an average of 152 yards to produce a touchdown.
“It’s all about the red, baby,” AB was telling me afterward. “Doesn’t matter how far you walk if you can’t finish it off with a win. We’ve got to get in. We’ve got to get better.”
He was anything but alone in the sentiment:
It’s a healthy thought process, for sure, entering the Steelers’ seismic showdown with the Bengals for the AFC North Division title. Because regardless of that one outcome, they’ll need to continue making progress heading into the already-clinched playoffs. They’ll need to display continued improvement on defense, especially the secondary. They’ll need to see continued maturation from some of the many younger players now starting. They’ll need to believe that the momentum of this past month is, as Ike Taylor labeled it Friday, “a very real thing that all of our guys can feel.” And yeah, the NFL’s No. 2-ranked offense can achieve another level, too, by getting a whole lot better inside the opponent’s 20.
The red zone isn’t everything, of course. If it were, the Raiders’ league-best 70.4 percent conversion rate would mean they were … you know, not the Raiders. Getting to the red zone counts almost as much. Or even just blowing through it. When Roethlisberger hooked up with Martavis Bryant from 94 yards in Cincinnati, it had no impact on red-zone stats, but that was more than acceptable, right?
Still, that shouldn’t diminish the impact red-zone success can create, especially in that intangible, fatal-right-hook-following-the-left-jab momentum measure.
Think of it this way: The Steelers took the game’s opening possession Sunday and rolled 80 yards on 11 plays, and they did so in style. Some no-huddle. A lot of shotgun. Bell left, Bell right, Bell up the middle. Deep ball to Bryant, quick strike to Heath Miller, first down to AB. And pfffffffffft … stalled at the Kansas City 5 for a field goal.
Find the end zone right there, and the game could take a wholly different feel.
Or, think of it from the Chiefs’ perspective: Their first two drives covered 65 and 44 yards, reaching the Pittsburgh 17 and 7, respectively, and pfffffffffft … they were up, 6-3.
Small wonder Alex Smith called that “maybe the difference in the game for us.”
The previous week in Atlanta, the Steelers opened with drives of 60 and 72 yards, both broaching the Falcons’ 20 and pfffffffffft … Shaun Suisham had to finish both. As a result, a lesser opponent was allowed to linger until the very end of the 27-20 victory, as happened with the Chiefs in the 20-12 victory. The Steelers went 2 for 4 in the red zone in the latter, but the first of those two touchdowns was essentially handed to them by a third-down defensive holding call against the Chiefs’ Ron Parker. If not for the fresh set of downs, Suisham was coming on for that one, too.
Those weren’t good teams, but all of the rest will be. More is needed.
Three wholly unsolicited suggestions for how to get it:
• Take some shots.
Truth is, Todd Haley’s offenses over three seasons have converted in the red zone at about the same league-average rate, 55.1 percent in 2012 and 52.8 percent last season. My contention throughout has been that not enough pass attempts target the end zone, and that still applies. Even in the past three games, all wins that came with a solid 63.6 percent rate, only 7 of 33 plays — per my own notes — were passes targeting the end zone. And two were to Michael Palmer and Lance Moore, meaning only five balls were thrown to people who should have been targeted.
“Gotta take shots, man. Gotta take shots,” one player told me Friday. “We’ve got the people.”
I’m all out on Haley-bashing anymore, but more is needed.
• Move Bell around.
Bell has scored five of the seven offensive touchdowns in the past three games, so he’s feeling it like no one else. I’d never posit that Haley should overthink the offense — far too much of that goes on — but there’s no harm in having Bell line up at wideout and confound an opponent he recently stormed for 235 total yards, 50 of those in the air.
I asked Bell, only semi-joking, if he might spend half the game Sunday on the outside: “I’d love it, man, but I don’t think so. Maybe someday. I could do it.”
It’s outlandishly unfair to ask any more of Bell, but more might be needed.
• Get the kid receivers involved.
Bryant has seven touchdowns in his first nine NFL games, and Markus Wheaton has become an increasingly dependable third-down receiver for Roethlisberger, both terrific developments for the organization. But now, both need to find ways to get open in the red zone.
Bryant’s only touchdown in the past five games was the 94-yarder, this despite regularly being targeted and having a significant height advantage on his coverage.
“The 94-yarder was nice, and it was a great feeling at the time,” Bryant said. “But I’m sure Cincinnati and other teams are going to make an adjustment for that now.”
Wheaton has only two touchdowns all season, or one fewer than Willie Gay. He has none in the past six games. He isn’t being targeted in the end zone as much as Bryant, but it’s fair to assume that’s because Roethlisberger isn’t seeing him get open.
It can’t be all AB and Miller. More is needed from these two.
Here’s guessing that’s all loud and clear.