Better Outlook From Today Forward: Ben vs. Joe

[Shoe]

No one has mentioned the complacency, the hubris, that tends to creep in when one achieves success. Ben got it (a big head) when he "made it", and he lost his share of Chiclets on the windshield of a car because of it. Once anyone "makes it", he has to fight the sense of complacency that will come from it. It's an example of why (e.g.) giving public school teachers a guaranteed job (tenure) is not a good thing.

At this point in Ben's career, he's got something now to prove. He blew a couple games at the end that either: a) are a harbinger of where he is at as a player, or b) will light a fire under a guy who still has the ability. IMO, it's b. I think Flacco is a solid player though.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

As I said in another thread, Ben needs to buy into Haleys system 100% in all aspects and lead by example. Stop being a crybaby over Arians cause he isn't coming back and put the work in. Quit throwing the little barbs out in the media about the system and go to work.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

I'm hoping Ben can win a couple more Super Bowls...I'm not ready to give up on him yet.

[Shoe]

As I said in another thread, Ben needs to buy into Haleys system 100% in all aspects and lead by example. Stop being a crybaby over Arians cause he isn't coming back and put the work in. Quit throwing the little barbs out in the media about the system and go to work.

I agree. All the revisionist fans look back and complain, based on late-season failures. What they ignore is how efficient the O was before Ben got hurt. We didn't have to suffer through 8 sack games (because Ben had to hold the ball so long)... Ben got the ball out faster, and while not as flashy, the O was steadier.

Another thing Steeler fans totally seem to ignore is how... for this decade, all I hear is how we need to get Heath Miller the ball more. In Haley's offense, Heath was way more productive than previous years. Yet they don't appreciate that fact--that's what they've been asking for all these years!

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Ben getting injured, missing games, and playing injured, the past two seasons is the biggest reason we lost to Tebow and this year didn't even make the playoffs.

[NJ-STEELER]

Comparing offenses to offenses, Ben Roethlisberger has had the worst supporting cast on offense of any top-tier QB in the NFL for the last five seasons. If you disagree with this statement, then you are wrong.

And it's not even close.

with free agency officially under way, the steam doesn't hhave a RB or WR

on the roster drafted in the first 2 rounds


is there another team out there that can say that?

[grotonsteel]

Joe Flacco and it ain't even close for me. Flacco has a much better arm, better brain, better leader and unquestionably the MVP along with Ray Lewis during their superbowl run. It obvious that Flacco has worked hard to become the quarterback that he is. Ben, to the contraire.

Joe Flacco played awesome in post season and SB but in regular season Ben had better numbers.

[grotonsteel]

Neither is true IMO and I think we have much better talent at WR, RB (not TE) than the Pats... Our WR's can match up with just about any WR core in the league when utilized correctly.

Our WRs are horrible.

AB84 was one the biggest reason Steelers lost Oakland and Dallas games. Can you believe a WR making so much of an impact??

Mike Wallace is a one trick pony...can catch the ball unless its perfectly thrown...

Sanders well he is afraid to get hit. He is a wussy.

Steelers made a big mistake signing AB84 to that contract. Steelers acted like a ditched lover and went to the next chick available and that was AB84 when MW rejected them. AB84 is a career No.2 WR. Steelers need to get a No.1 WR somehow.

Steelers WR are not a good fit if they want to implement Haleys Offense. WRs need to get open quickly...run crisp routes and well make catch in traffic. Steelers WR just cant do it. No toughness in them.

[grotonsteel]

As I said in another thread, Ben needs to buy into Haleys system 100% in all aspects and lead by example. Stop being a crybaby over Arians cause he isn't coming back and put the work in. Quit throwing the little barbs out in the media about the system and go to work.

Ben is not a rookie. He is a franchise QB. An OC job is to design plays that suit your franchise QB. Flacco was not happy with OC and OC got canned and he had not even won the SB then.

Anyways its not like Haley had a great system..Haley was way too predictable. DBs were just sitting on the routes and daring Steelers to throw deep. Obiviously no running game did not help.

Big Ben had every reason to question the play calling. I would have done the same thing. Maybe not in media but yeah i would be pissed off with rubbish play calling towards the end of the season games.

I hope Haley and Ben work out things in this offseason but i would like to some more deep passes called in a game.

[DBR96A]

Ben is not a rookie. He is a franchise QB. An OC job is to design plays that suit your franchise QB. Flacco was not happy with OC and OC got canned and he had not even won the SB then.

Anyways its not like Haley had a great system..Haley was way too predictable. DBs were just sitting on the routes and daring Steelers to throw deep. Obiviously no running game did not help.

Big Ben had every reason to question the play calling. I would have done the same thing. Maybe not in media but yeah i would be pissed off with rubbish play calling towards the end of the season games.

I hope Haley and Ben work out things in this offseason but i would like to some more deep passes called in a game.

Once the offensive line improves, the passing game will have more of a vertical component to it because Roethlisberger will actually have time to drop back and throw it deep. Completing a few deep and intermediate passes will keep defenses more honest than they were late in the season, which will open up the short routes again and make the passing game very versatile. The running game will improve too, which will improve down-and-distance situations, the play-action passing game, and, of course, scoring.

I can't wait to see a full season from David DeCastro, and I believe Mike Adams will improve as well. The Steelers should draft another G so the overhaul of the offensive line will be complete. I look forward to a day when we can say that Marcus Gilbert is the worst starting offensive lineman on the team.

[grotonsteel]

Once the offensive line improves, the passing game will have more of a vertical component to it because Roethlisberger will actually have time to drop back and throw it deep. Completing a few deep and intermediate passes will keep defenses more honest than they were late in the season, which will open up the short routes again and make the passing game very versatile. The running game will improve too, which will improve down-and-distance situations, the play-action passing game, and, of course, scoring.

I can't wait to see a full season from David DeCastro, and I believe Mike Adams will improve as well. The Steelers should draft another G so the overhaul of the offensive line will be complete. I look forward to a day when we can say that Marcus Gilbert is the worst starting offensive lineman on the team.

Well Said..

Healthy Offensive line could do wonders to Steelers Offense.

[feltdizz]

Our WRs are horrible.

AB84 was one the biggest reason Steelers lost Oakland and Dallas games. Can you believe a WR making so much of an impact??

Mike Wallace is a one trick pony...can catch the ball unless its perfectly thrown...

Sanders well he is afraid to get hit. He is a wussy.

Steelers made a big mistake signing AB84 to that contract. Steelers acted like a ditched lover and went to the next chick available and that was AB84 when MW rejected them. AB84 is a career No.2 WR. Steelers need to get a No.1 WR somehow.

Steelers WR are not a good fit if they want to implement Haleys Offense. WRs need to get open quickly...run crisp routes and well make catch in traffic. Steelers WR just cant do it. No toughness in them.

Maybe he Haley offense had something to do with the WR's taking a step back? It's their first year in a new offense and all of a sudden our WR core is trash. I think we need to give them another year before tossing them to the curb.

..and a WR fumbling is no different than a QB throwing a game ending INT or a RB fumbling in crunch time. It happens from time to time but it shouldn't define their career.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Ben is not a rookie. He is a franchise QB. An OC job is to design plays that suit your franchise QB. Flacco was not happy with OC and OC got canned and he had not even won the SB then. (The OC's job is to design plays that best suit the 11 guys on offense, not just the QB & OC in Ravenland got canned because he wasn't running the ball more and letting Flacco take shots downfield to his WR's, which by the way are superior to our WR's)

Anyways its not like Haley had a great system..Haley was way too predictable. DBs were just sitting on the routes and daring Steelers to throw deep. Obiviously no running game did not help. (Yet somehow Haley's system got Arizona to the SB with an older non mobile QB and 2 WR's but no RB at all and gave KC a top 5 RB with no WR's to speak of....but yeah...he is clueless....Rooney's have no idea what they are doing at all...BTW, i have read on multiple occasions where Kurt Warner who also has SB rings was singing Haleys praises).

Big Ben had every reason to question the play calling. I would have done the same thing. Maybe not in media but yeah i would be pissed off with rubbish play calling towards the end of the season games. (Yeah....would be a typical Ben move to question the playcalling when he was off to an MVP season with his best TD to INT percentage ever and his sack numbers were way down...which BTW, his injury was due to him holding onto the football and running around...just like last season).

I hope Haley and Ben work out things in this offseason but i would like to some more deep passes called in a game. (I would modify that to if Ben gets his head out of his butt and into a playbook and embraces what isn't going to go away we will have a solid offense and his career will probably be extended another 2 to 3 seasons giving him an additional tens of millions of dollars in earnings for his career)

....................

[papillon]

Right now Joe Flacco is the elite quarterback "du jour", because of his performance in the playoffs. At the mid-point of the season Ravens fans were discussing not giving him a contract and to look in a different direction, now they're all amped up to give Joe the keys to the city. Joe Flacco has made positive strides as an NFL quarterback form year to year and now in his fifth year he is playing at a high level. Kaepernick was all that for a few weeks, Ryan was the greatest thing since sliced bread, they were measuring Wilson for his HOF jacket along with RGIII, what all these guys have in common and not in common with Ben is that they haven't proven to be able to sustain a high level of play over a 16 game season and then into the playoffs.

And, while Ben has made some throws that make you say hmmm recently he still has proven that he's more than capable of taking a team into the playoffs. Everyone has bad games, bad stretches of games,etc, but Ben's overall statistics and success for 9 years is top shelf. The Steeler offense has never had the compliment of players that other top tier quarterbacks have. Burress, Holmes and now Wallace, players that had to be accounted for never saw their second contracts, Bettis was at the tail end of his career, Parker was a one-trick pony running back, Mendenhall has been injured, Ward and Miller have been the only constants at the skill positions for Ben, the offensive line has been decimated at times by injuries and in a constant state of flux and yet, Ben and the Steeler offense has succeeded well enough to to be in three Super Bowls, winning two of them.

I can't speak to other teams offensive line situation, but during the Super Bowl it was said that the 49ers offensive line didn't miss one single game all year, that's unbelievable. And, in reality, can't really say for sure that the skill players for other top tier quarterbacks have been constant, but it seems anytime the Steeler are playing top teams the names that need to be defended are typically playing and are the same players year after year.

Lets see how Joe does next year and if he can sustain the level of play he put on tape in the playoffs, same with RGIII, Luck, Wilson and Kaepernick. The Ravens started the process of defending the read option by hitting anything that moved in the backfield and, since, its an option and the quarterback could be a running back he isn't protected as well. It will be interesting to see how defenses adjust to this style offense.

Pappy

[feltdizz]

Sorry Pap but Flacco has been getting better every year... that logic works for the rookies but I dont buy it for Flacco. Seems like every yeqr we hear the "lets see what he does next year"

Give Flacco credit. If they go 9-7 next year what will it prove? The guy has a SB mvp, tied montana with 11 tds and no picks... and has an impressive playoff record.

I have a feeling it will be 9 year or 10 years into his career and a few fans will still try the "wait til next year" with this kid.