Has Ben lost it?

[bostonsteeler]

Since the Midgeville incident, Ben seems to have lost his fighting ability to come back in the last minute. Earlier, 7pts down, 2 minutes to go, ball in Ben's hands, and I felt very good about our chances.
Lately, same situation, I think its hopeless. Does anyone else feel the same way? Has he lost his killer instinct?

[Steelhere10]

It is not Ben. Lebeau suck azz, passive defense will not win in this league. And 31 and 23 pts should win around 85% of games. But grandpa can't call plays to save is life. Ben is the least of my worries.

[NJ-STEELER]

yes

but its the defense thats lost it. cant stop anyone late... going back to last year

[stopplayn]

Ben doesnt score enough Touchdowns. He looks great in between the 20's. Once in the redzone, he just hasnt been a high scoring quarterback. I see strides in Ben's game. He is looking really good in decision making, field generalship etc. What worries me is that hes doing it against the Raiders, Jets and Titans. If we cant score Td's vs the lesser Defenses then what will happen when we play the Ravens (2), Bengals (2), Giants etc.......

[DBR96A]

Roethlisberger just led a game-winning drive against the Eagles. He still has it. The problem is, this game played out like so many of them did in 2009, with the special teams basically giving the opponent seven free points, and the defense unable to protect a lead in the fourth quarter.

[SteelBucks]

It is not Ben. Lebeau suck azz, passive defense will not win in this league. And 31 and 23 pts should win around 85% of games. But grandpa can't call plays to save is life. Ben is the least of my worries.

LeBeau is not the problem.....

[8467thekraken]

Heh. Ben is certainly not the problem.

This defense is no good. At best,average.

I'm befuddled by how we can have three 12-win seasons in the last 4 years and then suddenly we are a sub-.500 team. Just like that.

WTF?

[Sword]

passive play calling is the problem...

[Sword]

no...bad play calling lost this game!!!

[Steelhere10]

Yes he is! Why on 3rd and long all night he play conservative and continue to get burned by it. Why take your best pass rusher who is also your slowest LB to cover when sacks are needed. Can you name one time on 3rd and long that Grandpa decided to bring pressure ? Also why let your worst corner continue to play man to man. Ike is not even decent , he may be the worst corner in the league. How many corners have that many holding and pass interference calls on them along with the fact that he can't catch, I say he is the worst.

[feltdizz]

Ben hasn't lost it but he left a few passes out there last night..

He isn't the problem though...

This D is horrible and the bubble screens are crazy... Ben isn't getting sacked or hit as much but how long before fans start missing the vertical game? I know I missed it last night. I think we would blow TN out if we went down field more often.

[phillyesq]

Ben hasn't lost it but he left a few passes out there last night..

He isn't the problem though...

This D is horrible and the bubble screens are crazy... Ben isn't getting sacked or hit as much but how long before fans start missing the vertical game? I know I missed it last night. I think we would blow TN out if we went down field more often.

Completely agree about Ben. He missed a few big passes last night but wasn't the problem.

I'm ok with those quick screens. They gain consistent yardage. I'd like to see Haley use those to set up more downfield passing, but there is something to be said for taking what the defense gives you.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Since the Midgeville incident, Ben seems to have lost his fighting ability to come back in the last minute. Earlier, 7pts down, 2 minutes to go, ball in Ben's hands, and I felt very good about our chances.
Lately, same situation, I think its hopeless. Does anyone else feel the same way? Has he lost his killer instinct?

It's not just you...I've been thinking along the same lines.

Oh, I'm not quite as far down the road of despair as you are; I don't think it's "hopeless" with 2 minutes, needing a score, and the ball in Ben's hands (after all, he pulled out the win against the Eagles just a week ago). BUT it sure doesn't seem like Ben is as CLUTCH as he was a couple of years ago. I think the statistics for game-winning drives would bear out that feeling.

Understand, I'm not putting the lion's share of the blame for last night's game on Ben. The defense sucked, the OL sucked, the run game sucked...and there was some poor play calling and coaching decisions. Pretty hard to win with all that. But Ben left some big plays out on the field, missing open guys in big situations, and those plays easily could have made the difference in the game. I don't think it has anything to do with losing his "killer instinct." But I do worry that he may have lost his "clutch instinct."

[Djfan]

He had a bad game. It happens. Even Marsha lost to the AZ Cards in Cheatborough!!! He will be back. He is not done.

[pittpete]

Plain and simple defense lost this game.
Defense almost lost the game vs Philly also.
We just don't make stops when the other team gets in a rhytym.
Of course the Special Teams blunder doesnt bode well either.

[Steelgal]

I think Ben is the least of their problems. I can't remember the statistic, but when Cowher lead going into the last quarter or second half by X number of points, he had almost a perfect record. Those days are LONG gone. I can not remember a defense being so average for the Steelers. Yes there are injuries, but it has been onl the decline for a few years and the injuries just make it more evident.

Special teams is also average, at best. While Rainey was a bright spot last night, the blown coverage for the punt was bad. Coaching is another area of concern. Why Tomlin would go for a 54 yard FG when it was shown the defense could NOT stop them, is absurd. Just gift them a field goal, why don't you? Yes, Suisham had hit a 52 yarder earlier, but did anyone think he might realistically make it? also, why in the heck did they call a time-out before it? I was hoping it was to change their decision. They may as well of let Ben go for it on 4th down. He would have had a better shot getting it, than Suisham did.

Also the number of penalties this team is giving up this season is horrible. That shows either lack of discipline by the players or the coaches not put them in the best situations.

Also,when is the last time Ben has had a consistent o-line. It seems someone is always getting injured and the line gets shuffled around.

This team has many issues, all magnified by 2 losses to below-average teams. Unless something changes, they are gonna get blown out by the Ravens both times and possibly the Bengals as well. This is the most negative I've felt about the Steelers in a long time. These games are almost unwatchable.

[feltdizz]

It's not just you...I've been thinking along the same lines.

Oh, I'm not quite as far down the road of despair as you are; I don't think it's "hopeless" with 2 minutes, needing a score, and the ball in Ben's hands (after all, he pulled out the win against the Eagles just a week ago). BUT it sure doesn't seem like Ben is as CLUTCH as he was a couple of years ago. I think the statistics for game-winning drives would bear out that feeling.

Understand, I'm not putting the lion's share of the blame for last night's game on Ben. The defense sucked, the OL sucked, the run game sucked...and there was some poor play calling and coaching decisions. Pretty hard to win with all that. But Ben left some big plays out on the field, missing open guys in big situations, and those plays easily could have made the difference in the game. I don't think it has anything to do with losing his "killer instinct." But I do worry that he may have lost his "clutch instinct."

nah.... I used to think the same way but Ben made a great point last night in the interview with Kurt Warner. How many of these WR's have been a part of Ben's clutch drives?

I remember the Wallace catch vs GB in the regular season but I don't think the rest of the team has that clutch mentality that Ben was surrounded with from 2004 to 2008

[BURGH86STEEL]

I don't know if Ben's lost it. I do know that he and the offense didn't deliver in 2 of the 3 losses when they had the opportunity. The defense stepped up and stopped the Broncos from scoring a TD in crunch time. That stop gave the offense the opportunity to drive down the field and win the game.

Neither unit stepped up to deliver in crunch time vs the Raiders. The offense had the first opportunity go drive down the field to end the game. The defense had the opportunity to stop Oak from driving down the field to end the game. Neither unit was able to do the job.

Titans game was very similar to the Oak game. The offense had the opportunity to end the game. The offense didn't score of move the ball well enough to give the special teams a better shot at a FG. The special teams failed at the FG attempt vs Titans. The defense failed to stop the Titans from driving down the field to end the game.

The conclusion I've reached is this team has not found ways to finish the games they loss. No sense in finger pointing at one unit or another because all 3 units failed to deliver in crunch time and at various points of games. They won and loss games as a team.

[stopplayn]

With the new rules dictating more offense and more scoring. How come we dont benefit from it? Ben has AB, Wallace, Heaaaaath, Sanders, Mendenhall etc. He has more weapons than any qb in the league. Why isnt this translating into points? Brady, Rodgers, Brees etc have poor defenses too. To offset that fact they put up big points. Ben needs to start doing the same. Yes, he moves the sticks but we need more TDS. If ONE of those FGs was a TD, then we win. I remember the term FG Bruce. Well Bruce is scoring TDS in Indy with Luck. We arent in the burgh and its a problem.