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'Double D' stands for difficult decision
By: Mike Bires
Beaver County Times
[url="http://www.timesonline.com/sports/sports_details/article/1501/2010/august/23/double-d-stands-for-difficult-decision.html"]http://www.timesonline.com/sports/sport ... ision.html[/url]
Monday August 23, 2010 11:53 PM
PITTSBURGH — Preseason statistics usually don’t mean much. But here’s a stat that’s downright amazing: Dennis Dixon has a 141.0 passer rating after two preseason games.
There’s not an NFL quarterback playing any better.
Dixon, the Steelers’ third-team QB, isn’t listed among official NFL leaders. That’s because he hasn’t averaged 14 passes per game.
But his rating is higher than the 124.5 compiled by Jacksonville’s Luke McCown, the league leader at the halfway point of the exhibition schedule.
And it’s much higher than the 105.7 of teammate Byron Leftwich.
By presenting those numbers, I am not saying Double-D should be the starter on Sept. 12 when the regular season opens with Ben Roethlisberger out on suspension.
But if Mike Tomlin does elevate Dixon to No. 1 on the depth chart over Leftwich, the Steelers’ odds of winning wouldn’t be any lower.
With Roethlisberger under contract through the 2015 season, Dixon may never get a chance to log any significant playing time in Pittsburgh, at least not as long as No. 7 stays healthy.
That means that unless Dixon someday moves on to a different team, we may never find out exactly if he has what it takes to play in the NFL as a starting quarterback.
Based on how he’s progressing in his third year with the Steelers, I’d like to think he’d do well.
Dixon isn’t the greatest practice player in the world. At times during the three weeks of training camp at St. Vincent College, Dixon’s throws lacked accuracy. There were even a few times when the football slipped out of his hand as he threw.
But I believe Dixon is one of those athletes who is at his best when it matters most, and that’s once a game begins.
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There have been some in the media who say Dixon was a disappointment last year in his first and only NFL appearance. He received his share of criticism for his stats in a 20-17 overtime loss at Baltimore — 12 of 26 for 145 yards, a 60.6 passer rating and an interception in OT that set up the Ravens’ game-winning field goal.
But what a lot of people forget is that Dixon didn’t even know he was going to start until Saturday of that week when recurring concussion symptoms sidelined Roethlisberger. Charlie Batch was already out with a broken wrist.
By throwing for a touchdown and running for one, Dixon far exceeded expectations.
At kickoff, who would have imagined the Steelers going into overtime, on the road in a hostile environment, against their most hated rival, with Dixon at QB?
Under those difficult circumstances, Dixon hung tough and gave the Steelers a chance to win.
Because he’s so quick on his feet, Dixon gives the Steelers a dimension that Roethlisberger and Leftwich don’t.
He’s going to give opposing defensive coordinators something to think about and prepare for while Roethlisberger serves his suspension, whether it’s four games or six.
For the record, Dixon has completed 13 of 15 passes in the first two preseason games. That’s an 86.7 percentage rate.
I know. He’s racking up those stats against second stringers, third stringers and sometimes even fourth stringers.
But he’s getting better and better by the day.
Mike Bires can be reached online at [email="mbires@timesonline.com"]mbires@timesonline.com[/email]
By: Mike Bires
Beaver County Times
[url="http://www.timesonline.com/sports/sports_details/article/1501/2010/august/23/double-d-stands-for-difficult-decision.html"]http://www.timesonline.com/sports/sport ... ision.html[/url]
Monday August 23, 2010 11:53 PM
PITTSBURGH — Preseason statistics usually don’t mean much. But here’s a stat that’s downright amazing: Dennis Dixon has a 141.0 passer rating after two preseason games.
There’s not an NFL quarterback playing any better.
Dixon, the Steelers’ third-team QB, isn’t listed among official NFL leaders. That’s because he hasn’t averaged 14 passes per game.
But his rating is higher than the 124.5 compiled by Jacksonville’s Luke McCown, the league leader at the halfway point of the exhibition schedule.
And it’s much higher than the 105.7 of teammate Byron Leftwich.
By presenting those numbers, I am not saying Double-D should be the starter on Sept. 12 when the regular season opens with Ben Roethlisberger out on suspension.
But if Mike Tomlin does elevate Dixon to No. 1 on the depth chart over Leftwich, the Steelers’ odds of winning wouldn’t be any lower.
With Roethlisberger under contract through the 2015 season, Dixon may never get a chance to log any significant playing time in Pittsburgh, at least not as long as No. 7 stays healthy.
That means that unless Dixon someday moves on to a different team, we may never find out exactly if he has what it takes to play in the NFL as a starting quarterback.
Based on how he’s progressing in his third year with the Steelers, I’d like to think he’d do well.
Dixon isn’t the greatest practice player in the world. At times during the three weeks of training camp at St. Vincent College, Dixon’s throws lacked accuracy. There were even a few times when the football slipped out of his hand as he threw.
But I believe Dixon is one of those athletes who is at his best when it matters most, and that’s once a game begins.
Advertisement Click Here
There have been some in the media who say Dixon was a disappointment last year in his first and only NFL appearance. He received his share of criticism for his stats in a 20-17 overtime loss at Baltimore — 12 of 26 for 145 yards, a 60.6 passer rating and an interception in OT that set up the Ravens’ game-winning field goal.
But what a lot of people forget is that Dixon didn’t even know he was going to start until Saturday of that week when recurring concussion symptoms sidelined Roethlisberger. Charlie Batch was already out with a broken wrist.
By throwing for a touchdown and running for one, Dixon far exceeded expectations.
At kickoff, who would have imagined the Steelers going into overtime, on the road in a hostile environment, against their most hated rival, with Dixon at QB?
Under those difficult circumstances, Dixon hung tough and gave the Steelers a chance to win.
Because he’s so quick on his feet, Dixon gives the Steelers a dimension that Roethlisberger and Leftwich don’t.
He’s going to give opposing defensive coordinators something to think about and prepare for while Roethlisberger serves his suspension, whether it’s four games or six.
For the record, Dixon has completed 13 of 15 passes in the first two preseason games. That’s an 86.7 percentage rate.
I know. He’s racking up those stats against second stringers, third stringers and sometimes even fourth stringers.
But he’s getting better and better by the day.
Mike Bires can be reached online at [email="mbires@timesonline.com"]mbires@timesonline.com[/email]
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