Harris: Dixon denied fair shot

[grotonsteel]

Re: Harris: Dixon denied fair shot

philly and crash nailed it.


I was yelling at the TV all night while he was in there.

After watching Ben for a few seasons, I would have thought Dixon would have learned something.

He has the escape down, but instead of rolling while a WR breaks open, he looks down and for a space to run. Now he is a fantastic running QB (especially against chumps), but that will not work in the NFL. You cannot have a running starting QB. WHY? Because the better defenses in the NFL WILL get to him and injure him. So he gets a leg injury and you have to rely on the backup. Or he slowly becomes a gimp and then can't run or throw.
He will never start in the league until he can escape, roll and find the WIDE OPEN WRs that he was missing last night. Of his runs, all but 1 should have resulted in a pass. Once he should have jogged for the sticks.
And anyone watching that game and being a long time football fan, should already know this. So if you are pushing for Dixon after that game, you need to go back to the ladies chalk talks to understand the game.
Sorry

[grotonsteel]

Re: Harris: Dixon denied fair shot

That's another thing. Ben leaves the pocket and uses mobility to find guys and it's "play ground" football and Ben gets bashed for it.

Dixon gets impatient in the pocket against 3rd teamers, and now it's a QB "battle" with Leftwich and people want to see more of him.

Why is the criteria different?

Dead on...

[frankthetank1]

Re: Harris: Dixon denied fair shot

That's another thing. Ben leaves the pocket and uses mobility to find guys and it's "play ground" football and Ben gets bashed for it.

Dixon gets impatient in the pocket against 3rd teamers, and now it's a QB "battle" with Leftwich and people want to see more of him.

Why is the criteria different?

who bashes ben for making plays? its a qb battle now because lefty isnt all that good either. dixon is young and can improve his game. lefty is what he is and he isnt going to improve.

[feltdizz]

Re: Harris: Dixon denied fair shot

That's another thing. Ben leaves the pocket and uses mobility to find guys and it's "play ground" football and Ben gets bashed for it.

Dixon gets impatient in the pocket against 3rd teamers, and now it's a QB "battle" with Leftwich and people want to see more of him.

Why is the criteria different?

The criteria is different because the skill level is different. Dixon can outrun most defenders and with our OL it makes sense for us to go with a QB who can keep the chains moving with his arm and his feet.

I don't mind an impatient young QB who scrambles for 1st downs because he doesn't completely trust his arm/decision making. Do you really think Lefty will make things happen given our OL woes thus far?

I have no idea why Ben is even in this discussion.

[ikestops85]

Re: Harris: Dixon denied fair shot

I'm not going to criticize Dixon for running too much once he left the pocket. Ben used to run a lot more than he does now when he broke containment. It's also unfair to compare Dixon to Ben since I think Ben is probably the best QB in the league at staying focused downfield when scrambling.

Dixon had a good game last year at Baltimore but only because the Ravens started the game playing man to man against us. Once they switched to zone Dixon had a tougher time throwing and running against them.

I think it is too early to annoint our starter yet. Give Dixon a chance and see if he can adapt and learn. Then make the decision. Lefty is certainly the "safe" decision but I don't know if it is the correct decision.

[feltdizz]

Re: Harris: Dixon denied fair shot

I'm not going to criticize Dixon for running too much once he left the pocket. Ben used to run a lot more than he does now when he broke containment. It's also unfair to compare Dixon to Ben since I think Ben is probably the best QB in the league at staying focused downfield when scrambling.

Dixon had a good game last year at Baltimore but only because the Ravens started the game playing man to man against us. Once they switched to zone Dixon had a tougher time throwing and running against them.

I think it is too early to annoint our starter yet. Give Dixon a chance and see if he can adapt and learn. Then make the decision. Lefty is certainly the "safe" decision but I don't know if it is the correct decision.

This is all about Dixon vs. Lefty. We all expected Dixon to struggle in the Ravens game and anytime the D switches defenses a young guy like Dixon will struggle.

If it was one game I would probably go with Lefty but with 4 games I really think Dixon is our guy. It won't be pretty and it won't be an air assault but his ability to roll out and freeze LB's who worry about the corner adds another dimension for them to defend.

With Lefty it's blitz all day long... with Dixon it's more of a chess match. The Lions had to call a time out late in the game because Dixon had that X factor.

[hawaiiansteel]

Re: Harris: Dixon denied fair shot

No change in Steelers' quarterback rotation

ALAN ROBINSON
Published: August 16, 2010





LATROBE, Pa. (AP) Dennis Dixon is off to a running start as he tries to overtake Byron Leftwich and become the Steelers' starting quarterback during Ben Roethlisberger's suspension.

That's the problem, too.

The Steelers don't want the mobile Dixon abandoning the pocket and running while he has open receivers downfield. Not in exhibition games, not in practices and especially not when the games count.

"If he's your starter, you're not going to expose him to running the football, because they're going to break him up," offensive coordinator Bruce Arians said earlier in camp. "That stuff, you can forget about that if he's the starter. He wouldn't last two ballgames."

So while Dixon's statistics were better than Leftwich's during the Steelers' 23-7 exhibition victory over Detroit on Saturday, the quarterback rotation remained unchanged during practice Monday.

Roethlisberger, who will play Saturday at the Giants after being held out against Detroit, ran with the starters. Leftwich followed him. Dixon came after that, running a package of plays designed to emphasize his quickness and versatility. But not running too much.

"And it's not necessarily with the twos (second unit) or the threes (third unit), it's a special package," Arians said Monday. "When you play without Ben, you're going to utilize all the players you have. He'll have a package, and how he plays within that package will determine how much he plays."

Nothing during practice suggested coach Mike Tomlin is altering his plan to begin the season with the far-more-experienced Leftwich at quarterback rather than Dixon, who has started only one NFL game. Roethlisberger was suspended for six games, but the Steelers anticipate the penalty being cut to four.

Leftwich was 6 of 10 for 43 yards, was sacked once and was hit multiple times against Detroit's starters. Dixon was 6 of 7 for 128 yards, a touchdown and two long completions against Lions backups, but he ran the ball six times only one time fewer than he threw it.

"He (Dixon) was productive, but half of that production came in the fourth quarter," Tomlin said. "So we're not going to get carried away."

Wide receiver Hines Ward likes Dixon's multidimensional skills and how they will force defenses to prepare not only for Leftwich's throws from the pocket during Roethlisberger's absence, but for Dixon to take off if he can't locate a receiver.

"We have a healthy competition at quarterback. And competition brings out the best in everyone," Ward said. "Dennis, he brings an added dimension to the game than Byron doesn't. Byron's a pure pocket guy. Dennis, the one knock on him is he doesn't have the experience. The two are different but it's hard to compare two guys when their games are so different."

During practice, Dixon appeared to have gotten the message that running too much can be worse than running too little. Even if Roethlisberger's message to him appears to contradict that of his offensive coordinator.

"I always tell him to run," Roethlisberger said. "If your guy's not there pull it in and take off. He's got something that the rest of the quarterbacks in the room don't have because he can take off running and score on plays that most people wouldn't get out of the pocket on."

There was one change during practice as first-round draft pick Maurkice Pouncey ran with the starters at center. The Steelers drafted him as a center, but planned to use him at right guard initially because it can be difficult for a rookie to deliver all the line blocking calls.

Apparently, that's no longer a worry. If Pouncey starts at center, he would bump Justin Hartwig, who is in the final year of his contract.

"We'll nail down a job for him (Pouncey) at some point," Tomlin said. "But to this juncture, he's been very impressive with how he's handled the responsibilities of playing both, and really playing both very well.

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