Who Do You Bench To Get The Point Across?

[flippy]

Bench everyone.

And put all the benched starters on ST.

[D Rock]

Bench everyone.

And put all the benched starters on ST.

As obvious a joke as this is, I do love the idea of sending benched players to ST.

Maybe it will both help the ST for the rest of the year and also humiliate those former starters into playing better.

[birtikidis]

I'd like to see carter sit and Mundy get some serious playing time.

[NorCal-Steeler]

give the last 3 games to Sweed to see if he stays or goes, although i dont know who you sit for him.

[RuthlessBurgher]

give the last 3 games to Sweed to see if he stays or goes, although i dont know who you sit for him.

I agree that Sweed should get more opportunities in this stretch run. I don't think you sit anyone in particular for him (you can blame Hines, Holmes, or Wallace...since all 3 have had excellent seasons) but just rotate Sweed in more. When you go 3-wide, you can start out with Ward-Holmes-Wallace as usual, but then maybe switch to Ward-Holmes-Sweed, then maybe Holmes-Wallace-Sweed, then Ward-Wallace-Sweed. None of our establish receivers are penalized, but Sweed gets on the field more.

[Shoe]

give the last 3 games to Sweed to see if he stays or goes, although i dont know who you sit for him.

This of course assumes that Sweed (or whatever young buck you/I want to see play) has earned it in practice. In other words, someone who makes it very difficult for the coaches NOT TO play...

...in that case, I think we'd have already seen him more. (Though I think Hines gimpy hammy may end up giving him some extra snaps.)

Same deal with Burnett. Again, "lucky" for Burnett that the guys ahead of him haven't done ish themselves, so I guess he may have a shot. But the only time I recall him distinguishing himself on the field, he dropped a pass that my 60-something year old mother might've caught.

I do like Key Fox as well, but I don't think you go and bench one of your captains like Farrior.

[NW Steeler]

First of all I don't believe that wholesale changes should happen right now. I think that Burnett and Lewis should see enough time to give the coaching staff an idea of what they have in these players. I want them to play and try to win 3 more games; I hate the "I give up" attitude that I feel in many posts.

Ziggy Hood should see some extended time and Sweed should see more playing time, but, not exclusively.

That's it, you make the sweeping changes after the season and there will probably be many. Right now, you try and focus on winning three games.

Pappy

I'm with pappy on this one. I don't think you will see wholesale changes or benchings until we are officially eliminated at least.

[Lonbull]

To begin with I don't think the Steelers are playing poorly due to a lack of effort - so benching anybody to get a "point across" doesn't really make much sense to me. That being written - I do think that if and when the Steelers are officially eliminated from the playoffs there are some opportunities to look at.

1st - If I were the Steelers I would immediately put both Hines Ward and Troy Polamalu on the IR. This is basically a round about way of giving two starters the rest of the season to heal.

With Hines out of the way I would give Sweed and Wallace more playing time. This would give Sweed a chance to secure a spot on next year's team, and Wallace a chance to play from Ward's position.

While I would love to see Foster, Urbik and Hills get a chance to play - you're putting your greatest asset #7 at risk just to give the young guys a chance to play. So I think you continue with your starting front five.

I would run a few plays using Stefan Logan if that's the plan for next season.

Ziggy Hood is your new starter for the rest of the season.

I would move either Lewis or Burnett to the nickel back - most likely they're not ready to be used in this defense as starters - however they "should" replace Townsend as much as possible.

And I would also like to see Fox and Timmons used as the Starters at ILB (as was previously stated).

IMO - Tomlin has the best players on the field - and isn't giving anyone special treatment.

[buckeyehoppy]

I'd like to see Timmons and Fox on the field at the same time...and longer than just a few plays.

Farrior isn't gonna be around forever.

I LOVE Kiki Fox. He reminds me of Larry Foote (a good thing) and has a great motor which has helped him his entire career on ST. Would love to see him get plugged in next to LT.

[Wolfhound45]

Can he bench the entire team?

Seriously, the season is over with. No "benching" (IMO) is going to make a huge difference. Time to recognize 2009 for what it was, a squandered opportunity to make a mark as the "Team of the Decade."

"War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one."