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By Dutch Wydo

Dutch takes the time to answer questions and comments that he has received in the past couple of weeks though email, in person, and on-air during his radio broadcast on wmbs590 radio. 

Question. What team do you think will land Bill Cowher if he does return to coaching next season?

Dutch Wydo: I think if the NFL owners and players are serious about eliminating the salary cap, Cowher would have to give strong consideration to the Washington Redskins. Snyder is kind of a controversial owner and I’m not sure Cowher would initially want to coach under him. But, if there is no salary cap, the Redskins head coaching job becomes the best in football. Snyder has deep pockets and is willing to spend the money. Otherwise, I think the Carolina Panthers are the natural fit, and I can’t see John Fox getting another year.  

Q. When are the Steelers going to learn that being a pass first team like they were in 2003 doesn’t work in Pittsburgh?

D.W.:

2003 Tommy Maddox 1^st quarter Passing yards > 720 in 16 games played

2004 Ben Roethlisberger 1^st quarter Passing Yards > 870 in 14 games played  

Q. Are you saying that the Steelers have not become pass happy?

D.W.: “Pass-first” and “pass-happy” are two different things. The Steelers were pass first in 2004 and 2003. The difference was that Maddox was inefficient and the Steelers would often fall behind, forcing the Steelers to throw even more in an effort to play catch up. In 2004, the Roethlisberger-led Steelers came out throwing in the first quarter, and took leads into halftime in all but two games he started. They ran the ball like crazy in the second half while playing with double digit leads. Championship teams throw early to get a lead and run the ball a lot late in the game, all while their pass rush tees off on the opposing quarterback who is down a couple scores and forced into a one dimensional passing situation. You do not win championships by simply lining up in the first quarter and trying to run the ball down a defenses throat. That all being said, I do think the Steelers have been “pass happy” in certain situations that is very hard to quantify. The third down and 1 pass play call in Cleveland was one of those inexcusable situations where they got pass happy. But over all the Steelers are 15^th in the league if you were to rank offenses by their percentage of plays that are rushes. The Steelers are middle of the pack. 

Q. Did you hear former Pittsburgh Pirate Adam Laroche wants $31 million over three years?

D.W.: That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I have no further comment. 

Q. How do you explain all of these close losses the Steelers have suffered this year?

D.W.: In games against the Bears, Bengals (twice), Raiders, Chiefs, and Browns (2^nd game), the Steeler defense only forced one turnover. The offense only has seven points off turnovers in those six losses. That is nearly impossible to do. Consider that the Saints this year have nearly 200 points off turnovers. Bad teams turn the football over and give opposing offenses short fields and cheap scores. If the Steelers could have just managed one turnover in some of those games, they would be in the driver's seat in the AFC North. Of course, you have to credit these teams for taking care of the ball when they played Pittsburgh. It was their game of the year and they were playing with full concentration. But at the same time, luck plays an important role. Takeaways and giveaways often have wild and vicious swings from year to year. The Steelers have bottomed out in the luck department this season. Coincidentally, they have made things very hard on themselves.  

Q. Would you fix the special teams coverage by placing more starters on them?

D.W.: Actually, there is something else that can be done that could improve the coverage unit. How about getting a kicker that can boot the ball into the end zone once in a while?! Jeff Reed has only one touchback on the season. His kicks are not only short, but they are flat as well. This gives the return unit a huge advantage. These pathetic kickoffs force an already-suspect coverage team to make a tackle on every kick. Imagine if teams had to go 80 yards against the defense most of the time? Reed has been a good place kicker for them, but this kind of hidden yardage they give up on kickoffs has been a killer. 

Q. Is the Penguins power play going to kill them in the playoffs?

D.W.: No. Playoff hockey is all about shots-on-goal differential. The Penguins are a great 5-on-5 team that owns puck possession time. That is the key to championship hockey teams. That being said, I am not sure how the power play coach, Mike Yeo keeps a job. The power play unit has been consistently bad under his leadership. It's not like he doesn’t have the talent to work with. 

Q. Do you think Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin has lost his team and if so, when?

D.W.: The easy answer is to say we will find out over the next few games. But I will take a stab at this now and say I believe he has lost the team. I point to wide receiver Hines Ward telling the media after the loss against the Kansas City Chiefs that the coaches need to put them in better positions. That, to me, was a cry for help. The coaches seemingly had no answer in the games that followed Ward’s comment. There were few apparent adjustments made in scheme, tactics, or even personnel. That point at which I think the players lost confidence in their coach was on display last Thursday in Cleveland when it appeared that the players had lost focus and were not prepared for what Eric Mangini's team had to offer. 

Q. It is easy to blame the defense but the offense can’t put away bad teams. They only scored 24 points against Oakland.

D.W.: Points allowed by the Raiders in various games this season

Chargers scored 24 points in game 1

Chargers scored 24 points in game 2

Dallas scored 24 points against Oakland

Denver scored 23 points against Oakland.

Bengals scored 17 points against Oakland

Eagles scored less than 10 points against Oakland.

Steelers scored 24.

If you throw out the Browns game, the offense has played very well this year. Their points-per-game average would be higher if the defense could take the ball away once in a while and provide a short field like the other top defenses do.  

Q. Are you saying the offense hasn’t struggled at times?

D.W.: No. They have struggled on third down and in red zone rushing. They are ranked 26^th  (out of 32) in the red area in rushing efficiency. Meanwhile the New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals are tops in the NFL in red zone rushing efficiency. Roethlisberger’s numbers on 1^st and 2^nd down are off the charts. He’s completing over 70 percent of his throws (at nearly 9 yards per attempt) and has passer ratings over 100 on those two downs. But he has struggled on third down this year which is unusual for him. But much of those struggles have been receivers dropping balls on third down. This has gone on all year. Holmes started dropping huge third-down passes in Chicago and is in the top five in the league in most drops on the season. The usually-reliable tight end Heath Miller has had an inordinate amount of drops this year. Running back Rashard Mendenhall has had some drops, most recently in Cleveland. Roethlisberger has double the amount of sacks on third down than he has on first and second down combined. The good news is that history has shown that teams that play great on first and second down, but struggle on third down in one season, tend to improve the following year because their luck will turn around on third down. I can’t say enough about how much bad luck the Steelers have caught this year. It sounds like excuse-making, but it is not. In fact, it is the reason why guys like Trent Dilfer (who claims to study hours of film while working for ESPN) cannot explain why this team suffered so many losses. The Steelers move the football, and prevent opponents from moving the football as if they are a top five team. But they have bottomed out in the luck department in every way imaginable. Oakland Raiders QB Bruce Gradkowski lobbing a ball up and the Raiders receiver catching it, despite five Steelers surrounding him, would not happen any other time. But the ball has not bounced the Steelers way this year. Consider the Detroit Lions fumbling the ball four times against the Steelers, but they were able to recover all four before the Steelers got there. What are the odds of that happening?  

Q. What do you think of Director of Operations Kevin Colbert possible leaving at the end of the year to go with Cowher?

D.W.:. I hope it happens, quite frankly. Colbert is the guy that signed all these offensive lineman that, after three years, are still allowing sacks at an extremely high rate. The offense can’t run screen passes because their lineman are not athletic. The quarterback has most likely had his career shortened by this offensive line and I blame Colbert before I blame anyone. He also drafted linebacker Bruce Davis, who might have only weighed 150 pounds. Anyone who looked at that guy scratched their head on that pick. They didn’t need a situational pass rusher in the third round. I could go on and on. Colbert is the most overrated figure in Pittsburgh sports. He’s right ahead of Willie Parker and Marc Andre Fleury in that category.  

Q. Who is going to win Super Bowl XLIV?

D.W.: Consider the following statistics:

Indianapolis Colts

Yards per pass differential = +1.7

Yards per play differential = +1.0

New Orleans Saints

Yards per pass differential = +2.3

Yards per play differential = +1.1

San Diego Chargers

Yards per pass differential = +2.3

Yards per play differential = +.7

Philadelphia Eagles

Yards per pass differential = +1.3

yards per play differential = +1.1

Minnesota Vikings

Yards per pass differential = +.9

yards per play differential = +.4

New England Patriots

Yards per pass differential = +1.1

yards per play differential = +.5

Denver

Yards per pass differential = +.8

yards per play differential = +.7

New York Giants

Yards per pass differential = +1.0

yards per play differential = +.6

Green Bay Packers

Yards per pass differential = +1.7

yards per play differential = +1.2 

Yards-per-pass differential typically seems to be the better indicator when we get into the playoffs. So, based on that, I’d be calling for Saints — Chargers Super Bowl if the stats remain as they are until the end of the season. The problem is that I would list a Colts-Chargers game as a toss-up because the Colts superior pass defense is going to cut down Rivers yards per attempt. The Colts only allow 5.9 Yards per pass against offenses that gain 6.6 on average. This is very, very good. The Colts would probably open as 3.5 point favorite at home against the Chargers. If the AFC champion does play the Saints, there will be one hidden advantage. Drew Brees is not nearly as good on the road and out of that air-controlled environment he enjoys in the Louisiana Superdome.

Dutch Wydo is a sports talk show host on WMBS 590 radio in Uniontown. You can email Dutch at smartmonies@gmail.com for questions or comments to be used in future columns.