He has given up

[feltdizz]

Ben is just trying to make it through the season, he clearly has lost his desire to make plays when we need them.

and Tomlin can go too if he lets Ben continue to play like this.

yes, I’m still mad at these 4th down check downs.

[SteelBucks]

Saying Ben doesn’t care is BS.

[feltdizz]

Saying Ben doesn’t care is BS.

not throwing past the sticks on 4th down is BS.

[SteelBucks]

not throwing past the sticks on 4th down is BS.

That’s fair but attacking a HOF QBs desire is not. Sorry but that’s very weak.

[Ghost]

I do have a question - Not sure if it's Ben or Canada but there were 5 times in the first half where Harris carried on 1st down and got at least 4 yards (sometimes as much as 7 or 8 yards). And every time Ben threw on 2nd down. It was the perfect time to run on 2nd and see about establishing a run game. Who's making the call to throw? The play calling or Ben improvising is downright nonsensical at this point. They are 18-43 on 3rd down and 0-3 on 4th.

[feltdizz]

That’s fair but attacking a HOF QBs desire is not. Sorry but that’s very weak.

its not weak. Ben is a HOFer but he is at the end of his career.

Anyone who steps on this field opens themselves up to praise or ridicule based on their play.

and IMO this is part of the problem with holding onto players too long. There comes a time when you have to call it like you see it.

Ben has not thrown the ball like a HOFer on these 4th down plays. He is throwing the ball like a guy who doesn’t have that fire anymore.

[feltdizz]

I do have a question - Not sure if it's Ben or Canada but there were 5 times in the first half where Harris carried on 1st down and got at least 4 yards (sometimes as much as 7 or 8 yards). And every time Ben threw on 2nd down. It was the perfect time to run on 2nd and see about establishing a run game. Who's making the call to throw? The play calling or Ben improvising is downright nonsensical at this point. They are 18-43 on 3rd down and 0-3 on 4th.

We have no identity on offense. Its just pulling plays out of a hat right now.

[Eich]

Don't think we needed a new thread for this, piling on Ben.

To say that he doesn't care and is giving up is ridiculous. Yes, he has played miserably. But you really think he wants to look old, tired, washed-up in front if Steeler Nation? In front of his wife and kids? In front of his teammates? He could have retired. He didn't.

He might be playing a little too cautious behind this "line" and certainly playing poorly. But giving up or not caring is ridiculous.

[LPMAN]

Ben is just trying to make it through the season, he clearly has lost his desire to make plays when we need them.

and Tomlin can go too if he lets Ben continue to play like this.

yes, I’m still mad at these 4th down check downs.

Ben's attitude towards the game changed the minute they forced Haley on him & fired his friend Arians.

BEFORE it was win at all costs hold the ball & look for THE play.
AFTER it was ok i'll check it down throw faster to prolong my career.

[SteelBucks]

its not weak. Ben is a HOFer but he is at the end of his career.

Anyone who steps on this field opens themselves up to praise or ridicule based on their play.

and IMO this is part of the problem with holding onto players too long. There comes a time when you have to call it like you see it.

Ben has not thrown the ball like a HOFer on these 4th down plays. He is throwing the ball like a guy who doesn’t have that fire anymore.

These are all fair points but you’re saying he’s doesn’t care in your original post. That goes way beyond his physical limitations. I seriously doubt he’s “given up and lost his desire”.

This team has a laundry list of problems. Ben’s desire is at the bottom of the list.

[SteelBucks]

Don't think we needed a new thread for this, piling on Ben.

To say that he doesn't care and is giving up is ridiculous. Yes, he has played miserably. But you really think he wants to look old, tired, washed-up in front if Steeler Nation? In front of his wife and kids? In front of his teammates? He could have retired. He didn't.

He might be playing a little too cautious behind this "line" and certainly playing poorly. But giving up or not caring is ridiculous.

Spot on Eich.

[NorthCoast]

I won't say he's given up. But here's my question; do the Steelers really need a Ben Roethlisberger to run the kind of offense they are currently running!?? I mean short dumps to the WR or RB, occasional misses on a deep throw, avoiding the middle of the field on intermediate throws, taking a couple of sacks per game and maybe an int or two.
I mean, I could see Rudolph pretty much do the same thing.

[Oviedo]

its not weak. Ben is a HOFer but he is at the end of his career.

Anyone who steps on this field opens themselves up to praise or ridicule based on their play.

and IMO this is part of the problem with holding onto players too long. There comes a time when you have to call it like you see it.

Ben has not thrown the ball like a HOFer on these 4th down plays. He is throwing the ball like a guy who doesn’t have that fire anymore.

I have to agree with you on this. The failure this season is on the OL and Ben. We knew the OL was going to be work in progress and I expected ups and downs, but more downs now by far. Ben however is the key and he is missing throws all over the place. Throwing high. Throwing behind players. I thought we should more on but was Ok keeping Ben one more season because he has been such agreat player for us and I was hopeful. Unfortunately, it looks like Ben stayed one season too long. That doesn't take away from his greatness it just means collectively the team and Ben made a decision that isn't working.

I'm not sure the organization will embarass Ben by benching him, but we need to give Mason some chances so we know what we have going forward.

Silver lining is it looks like we will have a top 10 draft pick the way things are going. Unfortunately none of the QBs coming out are that great which is why we need to get Mason some time on the field.

[feltdizz]

Don't think we needed a new thread for this, piling on Ben.

To say that he doesn't care and is giving up is ridiculous. Yes, he has played miserably. But you really think he wants to look old, tired, washed-up in front if Steeler Nation? In front of his wife and kids? In front of his teammates? He could have retired. He didn't.

He might be playing a little too cautious behind this "line" and certainly playing poorly. But giving up or not caring is ridiculous.

Who said he wants to look this way? Do you think anyone in the org WANTS to
look this way?

Its just the way it is man.

When you hitch your wagon to old players you sometimes end up looking like it was intentional because this is a young mans game.

If I tried to run a full court game with some 20 year olds I will look like I don’t care because the game has passed me by.

Ben is at that point.

Not sure what his kids have to do with this. His body can no longer do what it needs to do to succeed in this league. Unless we get a miracle this is going to end like Manning.. and I don’t mean Peyton.

Ben is looking like Eli out there right now. Its sad to see but even if he threw lollipop passes to the end zone I would feel like he is at least giving players a chance to make a play.

These check downs scream “I surrender”

[feltdizz]

Ben's attitude towards the game changed the minute they forced Haley on him & fired his friend Arians.

BEFORE it was win at all costs hold the ball & look for THE play.
AFTER it was ok i'll check it down throw faster to prolong my career.

well.. that sure sounds like Ben has given up if a coaching change made him lose his desire to win at all cost.

Personally I don’t buy that Arians stuff because Ben played well under Haley.

While I think Arians being let go was a mistake (partially to the way it was handled) we can’t act like that offense was going to work while rebuilding our defense.

Arians offense needed a strong defense. How man years did we hear the old “we are almost there” after a horrible offensive display.

That Haley offense got the balm out quick to playmakers and the stats proved it. Now we have Ben with even faster check downs and he even admitted he watched other offenses throw it quickly and wanted to emulate it in 2019/2020