Did we really waste Ben’s best years?

[feltdizz]

or did we just fail to realize his early years were his best years?

Playoff Ben hasn’t been that hot lately.

Way too many turnovers.

[whatever]

They were wasted.
Bens strength was his ability to extend plays. He was simply incredible. Watching a guy that size scramble, throw defenders off him, take viscous hit and still connect on incredible throws was amazing.
Really to no fault of their own, the organization took all that away to preserve his body and extend his HOF career.
He has had a couple wtf playoff games but the team had more than enough talent to go much farther than they did.
Besides, they had the second greatest HC in the league that could motivate, scheme, and coach up the rest of the players even if Ben had a bad game.

[hawaiiansteel]

Ben is clearly done.

thank you for all the good years when you were younger but it's time to turn the page and move on without him.

what I'm afraid of is that Ben will want to play out the last year of his contract and out of respect the Rooneys will let him.

[Northern_Blitz]

or did we just fail to realize his early years were his best years?

Playoff Ben hasn’t been that hot lately.

Way too many turnovers.

I think Ben (and every QB) is better when they have a good defense.

It's the "curse" of having a good QB on a market level deal.

He's really good, but pretty much no one can carry a team all by themselves.

What made Ben very special was his ability to extend the play. It wasn't about his pinpoint accuracy, or his ability to read defenses (although he got much better at reading Ds later in his career IMO).

When he was great, I think it was him being a gunslinger who wasn't afraid of being smacked in the mouth to make the big play (thrived on it?).

And I think that's much harder (impossible?) to do in your mid to late 30s vs. your mid to late 20s.

[Northern_Blitz]

Ben is clearly done.

thank you for all the good years when you were younger but it's time to turn the page and move on without him.

what I'm afraid of is that Ben will want to play out the last year of his contract and out of respect the Rooneys will let him.

My guess is that he wouldn't want to play a season where his cap hit is that high after he looks at what the roster he'd be playing with looks like.

Maybe they does the no new money extension though if he really wants to come back for one more year.

I think it's only putting off the inevitable, but I could see them letting him go out like that if he wanted to.

[Steel Maniac]

They were wasted.
Bens strength was his ability to extend plays. He was simply incredible. Watching a guy that size scramble, throw defenders off him, take viscous hit and still connect on incredible throws was amazing.
Really to no fault of their own, the organization took all that away to preserve his body and extend his HOF career.
He has had a couple wtf playoff games but the team had more than enough talent to go much farther than they did.
Besides, they had the second greatest HC in the league that could motivate, scheme, and coach up the rest of the players even if Ben had a bad game.

Thank you.

[Steelhere10]

When you are solely responsible for 8 turnovers in the last two playoff games, it's more like he wasted the Steelers years!!

[Northern_Blitz]

When you are solely responsible for 8 turnovers in the last two playoff games, it's more like he wasted the Steelers years!!

I think people keep mixing up the regular season and playoff games against Jax.

He was "only" responsible for 2 turnovers in the playoff game (1 INT, 1 FUMBLE). But that was enough to lose against a team that probably had the best defense of the decade. Especially since they came early and we really needed to force them out of their ball control offense.

[Steel Maniac]

When you are solely responsible for 8 turnovers in the last two playoff games, it's more like he wasted the Steelers years!!

Oh, Ben isn't excused. But did Ben waste the other 8 years of playoff failures? No. What we saw last night was a failure from the entire team. You see Ben didn't allow the 40 yard TD pass to Landry. Ben should be done. Despite what comes out his mouth, we shouldn't be bringing him back.

[Steelhere10]

I think people keep mixing up the regular season and playoff games against Jax.

He was "only" responsible for 2 turnovers in the playoff game (1 INT, 1 FUMBLE). But that was enough to lose against a team that probably had the best defense of the decade. Especially since they came early and we really needed to force them out of their ball control offense.

Nope he had 3int and one fumble.