Roethlisberger's Playoff Woes

[flippy]

What's sad is people still buy this garbage.

And ANY TIME anyone even says it? They are insulting Ben and his career.

How is that insulting? I think you're taking what I was trying to ask out of context a bit.

Trying to ask, do we really need to spend money on weapons around Ben? Is that really what will make this team better? Ben did ok with a garbage OLine, Ced, ARE, and Ward @ WR and the one dimensional FWP at RB. Compared to the 05 team, we're loaded with weapons on O. But it's not leading to a significant amount more points on the scoreboard.

My point is Ben can be equally good with garbage players around him or All Pros. He's still gonna make time in the middle of the field and he's still gonna struggle in the RZ. It's his game. He's unique.

But why spend money on the O with Ben? I think we really need to load up on D somehow. But of course we first have to find the talent on that side of the ball.

[hawaiiansteel]

Steelers PATs: Did Ben need to apologize?

JANUARY 4, 2015
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS

• Ben Roethlisberger apologized to pretty much everyone who’s ever known a 412 or 724 area code Saturday night, including “the fans, my teammates, the organization, the Rooneys and the coaches.” And his explanation for that was that he “didn’t play well enough to win.”

The latter is indisputable, obviously, as is any assessment that Ben wasn’t at his best.

But was he that bad?

Depends on how one would like to dole out the blame, I suppose.

By the numbers: Roethlisberger completed 31 of 45 passes for 334 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Those last two stand out glaringly. He was 5 of 14 for 60 yards when under pressure, which isn’t bad either in the volume of pressures or the performance when it came. He wasn’t hit once as he threw. I’ll use that information to at least downplay the impact of the offensive line not playing well against the Ravens’ formidable front seven. Roethlisberger did get sacked five times, but at least two of those were squarely on him, as he never threw the ball away.

Switching over to the receivers, including running backs: Of the 45 times they were targeted, they caught 33 passes with two drops, one each by Heath Miller and Ben Tate. They weren’t effective at all in getting yards after the catch with 126 — a stunningly low 26 for Antonio Brown against all his double-teams — or in terms of blocking for the backs or for themselves on the receiver screens. Overall, it wasn’t the worst showing, but it was far from the best.

So what’s left?

I’ll point to two facets:

1. The return of the sideways nonsense.

Maybe Todd Haley’s game plan was built on the fear of not having Le’Veon Bell, maybe it was on the expected rain that never materialized, maybe both. Whatever the case, Roethlisberger threw eight passes behind the line of scrimmage, and those plays accounted for a total of 33 yards. Expanding the field slightly, Roethlisberger threw 19 passes that traveled 0-10 yards from the line of scrimmage, and those accounted for a total of 113 yards. In this range, nine passes went sharply left or right rather than down the middle.

This, my friends, is living in your fears. It’s not fiction. It’s not narrative. It’s not Haley-bashing. It’s fact. The Steelers’ offense reverted to its early-season look without Bell.

On passes that traveled more than 10 yards in the air — actually downfield — Roethlisberger was 9 of 15 for 185 yards. But attempting only 15 of those in 51 passing plays is the dagger. And it’s a self-inflicted wound, at that.

For comparison’s sake, 13 of Flacco’s 27 passes — roughly half — traveled 10 or more yards and accounted for 146 yards. He threw only two passes behind the line of scrimmage. And he was pressured on 15 of those 27 plays, so save the argument that he had more time.

2. Red-zone failure.

The tone was set the first time the Steelers touched the Baltimore 20, that on their second drive of the opening quarter: Pass short right to Josh Harris for no gain, Dri Archer run up the middle for minus-1 yards and a 6-yard loss when Roethlisberger was brought down by Elvis Dumervil. Sideways, stupid and a sack.

On 11 total red-zone plays from scrimmage, Roethlisberger threw a pass longer than 5 yards exactly twice. One was the 6-yard touchdown to Martavis Bryant, the other the late interception.

And never mind the red zone. Anywhere on the Baltimore side of the 50, the Steelers ran 29 offensive plays, and Brown was targeted only eight of those. Dri Archer was targeted on four.

Because “we took what they were giving us,” to quote Tomlin from a few weeks back?

Yes, that and living in your fears.

[URL]http://dkonpittsburghsports.com/2015/01/04/steelers-pats-ben-need-apologize/[/URL]

[feltdizz]

What's sad is people still buy this garbage.

And ANY TIME anyone even says it? They are insulting Ben and his career.

it's a team sport dude...

until Ben wins a few playoff games with bad defenses we have to go with what we have seen...

and without a great D this team ain't that good in crunch time.

[NJ-STEELER]

I agree. And it makes me wonder how much money we can afford to pay Ben. I also agree with Chadman in that we need a running game to help Ben in the RZ.

So where do we spend our cap dollars? Perhaps we need to become more dominant on the Oline. Perhaps we need to invest in another TE to help. Perhaps we need a big possession WR.

And maybe our dollars need to go more toward our D to keep other teams from scoring.

Here's a question - How far can Ben take us without an elite D? We're going to be putting more money into our O to give Ben more weapons, but does that really help us win SuperBowls? I think Ben can be just as effective with or without great weapons. Superior weapons don't seem to add that much in terms of creating a ton more points.

I still think our SuperBowl formula is Ben + Defense = SuperBowls. Unless we find guys the calibre of James and Troy in their prime on D, I'm not sure we're on the path to getting back to winning a SuperBowl for the rest of Ben's career. Maybe I'm a pessimist, but I'm having a hard time seeing the path to success here given our trajectory and the players we currently have.

I cant agree with that at all

IIRC the points per game when bryant was inserted into the line up went from somewhere in the teens (16 ish) to 31 PPG.

[feltdizz]

So when the Steelers defense gave up 17 points on their first three possessions of the Cincy game in January 2006 that was good defense?

So when the Steelers defense gave up 377 yards and three TD's to Kurt Warner, blowing a 20-7 4th quarter lead in SB XLIII that was good defense too?

Noted.

Is Ben good when he has a 3 INT game?

Good doesn't = perfect...


A good D will still give up points or lose a game or 2.

[BURGH86STEEL]

I agree. And it makes me wonder how much money we can afford to pay Ben. I also agree with Chadman in that we need a running game to help Ben in the RZ.

So where do we spend our cap dollars? Perhaps we need to become more dominant on the Oline. Perhaps we need to invest in another TE to help. Perhaps we need a big possession WR.

And maybe our dollars need to go more toward our D to keep other teams from scoring.

Here's a question - How far can Ben take us without an elite D? We're going to be putting more money into our O to give Ben more weapons, but does that really help us win SuperBowls? I think Ben can be just as effective with or without great weapons. Superior weapons don't seem to add that much in terms of creating a ton more points.

I still think our SuperBowl formula is Ben + Defense = SuperBowls. Unless we find guys the calibre of James and Troy in their prime on D, I'm not sure we're on the path to getting back to winning a SuperBowl for the rest of Ben's career. Maybe I'm a pessimist, but I'm having a hard time seeing the path to success here given our trajectory and the players we currently have.

Because Ben plays QB and he's had a lot of success he's going to be paid a lot of money. The key questions are how much guaranteed money does Ben want, how much guaranteed money does the organization want to offer, and the length of the contract.

The Steelers are probably 3 or 4 players away from having a defense they would like. Obtaining those players will take some luck, good planning & drafting, and timing(the prospects coming out of college combined with opportunity to draft those players) . Timing might be the most important factor.

We'll see what they can do to add to some of the pieces they have on defense.

[NorthCoast]

In the past 4 years, when he's tossed > 40 times, we have been behind and our D has stunk, and our overall win percentage is worse than any of the other teams you mention.

So what you are saying is Roethlisberger can't bring the team from behind by passing to a victory and he needs a good defense to secure the win?

Noted.

[7upnext]

Ben carried this team all season and had the #2 offense in the league. Brees has been leading his team to losing records for the last few years. Is he criticized the same way? He had shutdown Keenan Lewis on his team too.

He played a bad game. When he plays a bad game we lose. That means he carries the team. He's been fantastic for the most part this season and he looks like he's improved his play from previous seasons.

that's rich. Lewis a shutdown corner? He is average at best. That was a good one though..thanks

[7upnext]

They've been drafting the talent. It's just that DL system requires years to master. Since the system doesn't work anymore and he should be going, I think you'll see just how good our young players are starting next season. One solid draft with either a shutdown corner, safety or both and we will be right back in the mix imho

[7 UP]

that's rich. Lewis a shutdown corner? He is average at best. That was a good one though..thanks

Ill give Lewis above average status. But I do get tired of the Keenan Lewis Cortez Allen comparisons. Ill admit the Steelers kept the wrong guy. But if being better than Cortez Allen is your critera for being a shutdown corner, than I guess Bryce McCain and Antwon Blake are shutdown corners too.

[feltdizz]

Ill give Lewis above average status. But I do get tired of the Keenan Lewis Cortez Allen comparisons. Ill admit the Steelers kept the wrong guy. But if being better than Cortez Allen is your critera for being a shutdown corner, than I guess Bryce McCain and Antwon Blake are shutdown corners too.

You can't reach that far dude... lol.

[papillon]

Ill give Lewis above average status. But I do get tired of the Keenan Lewis Cortez Allen comparisons. Ill admit the Steelers kept the wrong guy. But if being better than Cortez Allen is your critera for being a shutdown corner, than I guess Bryce McCain and Antwon Blake are shutdown corners too.

McCain or Blake is going to be the next Ike Taylor, but will be able to catch the football.

Pappy

[hawaiiansteel]

Ben’s playoff record not so good

It’s easy to remember Roethlisberger’s coming-out party as a quarterback in the three games leading up to Super Bowl XL. It’s easy to remember the brilliant last-second touchdown drive he led, which was the difference in the Steelers beating Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII. Those games and plenty of regular-season heroics have established Roethlisberger.

But what about those other playoff games? He’s played in 15 games, not four.

In the 2005 playoff games against Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver and in the Super Bowl against Arizona, Roethlisberger completed 68.2 percent of his passes for an average of 9.2 yards per attempt. He threw eight touchdowns and two interceptions and had a passer rating of 115.5.

In his other 11 games, he completed 59.4 percent of his passes for an average of 7.2 yards per try. He threw 12 touchdowns and 17 interceptions and had a passer rating of 73.9....

Roethlisberger has not had a standout postseason game since the first game of the 2010 playoffs, when the Steelers beat Baltimore, 34-21. In four subsequent games, one of them being the Super Bowl, he has thrown for two touchdowns and seven interceptions and has a passer rating in the 70s.

[URL]http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/s...s/201501080237[/URL]