Observations from game vs. Giants

[ikestops85]

Re: Observations from game vs. Giants

I still think you guys are ignoring the fact that Leftwich was benched in Jacksonville and then (just last year) was dropped to 3rd string in Tampa.

And what's wrong with simplifying the playbook for a new starter? Seemed to have worked out pretty well for us with Ben in his rookie year.

Don't want to argue guys, just my opinion. But let's say we were picking teams for a game at 5th St. Field (my old stomping grounds ). You had first pick and Dixon and Lefty were both available. Who do you pick??

I pick Ben ... but that's just me

I think Dixon has earned a chance to get some time against 1st stringers in the next game. If we have a decent offensive coordinator I would think several packages would already be designed to take advantage of Dixons unique talents. Alas, we have Arians so I don't know about that. For some reason he thinks Dixon is too fragile to run with the ball.

[rpmpit]

Re: Observations from game vs. Giants

I still think you guys are ignoring the fact that Leftwich was benched in Jacksonville and then (just last year) was dropped to 3rd string in Tampa.

And what's wrong with simplifying the playbook for a new starter? Seemed to have worked out pretty well for us with Ben in his rookie year.

Don't want to argue guys, just my opinion. But let's say we were picking teams for a game at 5th St. Field (my old stomping grounds ). You had first pick and Dixon and Lefty were both available. Who do you pick??

I pick Ben ... but that's just me

I think Dixon has earned a chance to get some time against 1st stringers in the next game. If we have a decent offensive coordinator I would think several packages would already be designed to take advantage of Dixons unique talents. Alas, we have Arians so I don't know about that. For some reason he thinks Dixon is too fragile to run with the ball.

Ben sprained his ankle hopping the fence to get into 5th St Field :P


I could really do without all of Arian's outside runs and triple reverses. We simply don't have the o-line for this stuff. Simplifying the game plan would benefit anyone who is under center for us.

[feltdizz]

Re: Observations from game vs. Giants

Come on, boys. Anyone with functional eyes and even an average football IQ can see that Dixon has outperformed Byron. And you can't argue that its only preseason. He did well against a good Raven's D last year. We all saw that. And what's more important than your play on Sunday?? Leftwich was the training camp starter last year in Tampa and was demoted to 3rd string after week 3.

I don't think Leftwich is terrible. Just that Dixon is better.

And btw, I don't own a La-Z-Boy

I disagree re: Dixon. Did he really perform that well in the Ravens game last year? The game plan was incredibly conservative, built 100% to protect him. I believe that I remember reading that the playbook was chopped down, and that Dixon essentially picked 10 or 15 plays he was comfortable with.

Late in the game, when the Ravens went to a simple cover 2, Dixon was dumbfounded. He couldn't attack it at all, and ended up throwing a pick.

Dixon is a good athlete, and has performed well against third stringers. Incorporating a few packages for him is one thing, but things will get ugly quickly if he is the starter, especially for an extended period.

Even with the greatly reduced gameplan to protect him Dixon was not that effective in his only NFL start. He completed less than 50% of his passes (12 for 26), threw one TD and one INT, and had a QB rating of 60.6.

Dixon is showing against vanilla preseason defenses manned by third stringers and players soon to be out of the NFL forever.

I totally agree that if you put him in as the starter against an opponents #1 defense who has gameplanned a full week for him they will attack him and his first instinct is going to be pull the down the ball and run versus taking the hit. He is probably much more effective as someone you have a few packages designed for and force the other team to gameplan both for Lefty and worry about him too.

what about Dixon having a week to gameplan for the D? Dixon didn't get a chance to prepare for the Ravens D all week because Ben took all the snaps then was told he couldn't play. Hmmm.... who knows what Dixon can do with a gameplan and prep time.

Can Dixon fans use the BA excuse of situational playcalling and a lack of in game adjustments for the Ravens game or ANY game for that matter?

[cruzer8]

Re: Observations from game vs. Giants

The Ravens pressured Dixon and he did ok. Then they adjusted, sat back in coverage and he threw a pick. Why couldn't he adapt to the zone coverage?

This whole thing can keep going around in circles. The bottom line is the coaches are seeing something that has brought them to their decision to run Lefty with the #1s and Dixon with the #2s.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Observations from game vs. Giants

I still think you guys are ignoring the fact that Leftwich was benched in Jacksonville and then (just last year) was dropped to 3rd string in Tampa.

And what's wrong with simplifying the playbook for a new starter? Seemed to have worked out pretty well for us with Ben in his rookie year.

Don't want to argue guys, just my opinion. But let's say we were picking teams for a game at 5th St. Field (my old stomping grounds ). You had first pick and Dixon and Lefty were both available. Who do you pick??

I pick Ben ... but that's just me

I think Dixon has earned a chance to get some time against 1st stringers in the next game. If we have a decent offensive coordinator I would think several packages would already be designed to take advantage of Dixons unique talents. Alas, we have Arians so I don't know about that. For some reason he thinks Dixon is too fragile to run with the ball.

There was too much of a risk of having Dixon run the ball a lot in the Raven game last year because with both Ben and Batch on the shelf (and Byron in Tampa), the only option we had other than Dixon was Tyler Palko, who we signed off the street that very week. I don't blame Arians for that decision. It was prudent at that time.

However, now, the circumstances are different. I believe that Leftwich will start in Ben's absence, but Dixon will be used plenty in special packages. He has been allowed to run wild in the preseason, and that should continue into the first month of the regular season. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Dixon got maybe a third of the snaps during the first month of the season (some of it may be wildcat type, but I wouldn't be surprised if we gave him some spread formations to work out of like he used to at Oregon).

Typically, a QB-by-committee approach does not work, because you need to have one QB step up and be a leader. However, we already know that Ben is our leader at QB. So we can force defenses to have to plan for trying to stop two fundamentally different types of QB's each week until we get our franchise QB back.

[Steelerphile]

Re: Observations from game vs. Giants

Coaches can't tell everything by looking at players in practice, if they could they would all be in favor of eliminating the preseason. And of course they are not, because game situations help them evaluate players.

Dixon has performed very well in the games. He showed how well he could move in game number one, then tried to silence the doubters who said that is all he could do by showing good pocket presence and hitting some nice passes in game two. I think he is developing before our eyes.

I think the crowd that is anti-Dixon makes a little too much of the late interception that lost the game in Baltimore. It was his first game he ever started, with not a lot of forewarning. I think he did well by keeping it close against what is one of the NFL's top defenses. Some doomsayers were predicting the Steelers would get stomped. He couldn't complete the fairy tale ending but I think he gave many hope for the future.
I think Dixon is better now than he was last year and is ready to go as the starter. I also don't think Tomlin's mind is entirely made up. I am anticipating that Dixon will finally get in a little sooner this week or before the regular season. If he is passes well and moves the team like he has done the first two weeks, again, it will be continually tougher for them to ignore.

[Sugar]

Re: Observations from game vs. Giants

I've said many times that I would have no problem with playing both Lefty and Dixon. Ben is our QB so there's no controversy. Just play whoever works best in the situation.