He has given up

[feltdizz]

I found this today in an article online about Ben and the Steelers. Here's what the author said:

"Roethlisberger looks worse on fourth down, when he is required to make throws that he simply can’t make. But instead of trying, he’s given up.

Either the Steelers coaches don’t trust Roethlisberger to complete passes to the first down marker, or Roethlisberger lacks the confidence to make those throws. Either one is troublesome."

This is exactly what I mean on these 4th down plays.

I wouldn’t even mind if they were bad passes that were picked off on 4th down. Just TRY to get a first instead of giving up with these check downs.

[feltdizz]

Ben played well under Haley, but his style of play changed. They forced him to be pocket passer Peyton Manning type. I think that long term change took a lot out of his ol Superman style of play. They put a square peg & jammed it in a round hole. Ben was gifted enough he still played well especially having Heath AB & Bell. But i'd rather Ben's career have been shorter & he played the entirety his style.

The ol Ben under Haley Ben never would just hike the ball & chuck it to the first read. He had to see the guy open. You always had confidence when Ben threw the ball it was because someone was open. Now he throws it no matter what.

I can agree with this.

I would take an exciting 12 year career over an 18 year career where the last 4 or 5 seasons ended like ours have.

[Northern_Blitz]

Ben played well under Haley, but his style of play changed. They forced him to be pocket passer Peyton Manning type. I think that long term change took a lot out of his ol Superman style of play. They put a square peg & jammed it in a round hole. Ben was gifted enough he still played well especially having Heath AB & Bell. But i'd rather Ben's career have been shorter & he played the entirety his style.

The ol Ben under Haley Ben never would just hike the ball & chuck it to the first read. He had to see the guy open. You always had confidence when Ben threw the ball it was because someone was open. Now he throws it no matter what.

I do think that the mandate from the owner was "don't break my QB".

I agree Ben played well under Haley.

But we've been trying to be a very safe offense since Haley left.

You have to wonder if some of that rubbed off on Rudolph too...who looked like he was told something like "whatever you do, don't turn it over".

I wonder if the debacle at home vs. Cleveland also hurt Ben's confidence. Especially having to stew in it all off season.

[Steelerphile]

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.

If they want to make a go of the season, they simply have to make the switch at QB. Mason is next up and should play immediately. When they go to Seattle and start Ben again, it is almost a guaranteed loss of at least 10 or 17 points. But I feel that they will not act. People will continue to make excuses for Ben and fault the line and every other factor., and say Mason would not do better anyway, so why change.

Mason, I think, would do better. When people were being critical of him, he was a developing QB, but fans especially are impatient and want results almost immediately from players. t pPlayers take time to grow into maturity, especially QBs. Mason's had growing pains but it was due to inexperience. Ben's recent play is due to being too old and not having the ability to do it at a high level anymore. Even though Mason is not an truly athetic QB, he is quicker around the pocket and has more mobility than Ben.

[Northern_Blitz]

If they want to make a go of the season, they simply have to make the switch at QB. Mason is next up and should play immediately. When they go to Seattle and start Ben again, it is almost a guaranteed loss of at least 10 or 17 points. But I feel that they will not act. People will continue to make excuses for Ben and fault the line and every other factor., and say Mason would not do better anyway, so why change.

Mason, I think, would do better. When people were being critical of him, he was a developing QB, but fans especially are impatient and want results almost immediately from players. t pPlayers take time to grow into maturity, especially QBs. Mason's had growing pains but it was due to inexperience. Ben's recent play is due to being too old and not having the ability to do it at a high level anymore. Even though Mason is not an truly athetic QB, he is quicker around the pocket and has more mobility than Ben.

I agree that we won't be quick to make a QB change.

If we were, Mason would have been playing in the 2nd Cincy game last year.

[Buzz]

Regardless of who is mostly at fault, it's time to make some major changes to this offense

I don't think we will, though ... I'm afraid it will be a season-long suck-fest

[feltdizz]

Regardless of who is mostly at fault, it's time to make some major changes to this offense

I don't think we will, though ... I'm afraid it will be a season-long suck-fest

agreed. Tomlin is going to have to make a tough decision soon..

or maybe the FO knew this could happen and its a way to get a high draft puck while also being the “good guys” who won’t bench a HOFer.

[Northern_Blitz]

Regardless of who is mostly at fault, it's time to make some major changes to this offense

I don't think we will, though ... I'm afraid it will be a season-long suck-fest

If we can't do a 180 on offense in the next week or two, season-long suck-fest is probably better than 7 or 8 wins and missing the playoffs.

[Oviedo]

agreed. Tomlin is going to have to make a tough decision soon..

or maybe the FO knew this could happen and its a way to get a high draft puck while also being the “good guys” who won’t bench a HOFer.

Unlike fans who see every bad game as the end of the world, this organization thinks long term and it always has. They probably hoped that they could get one more good season out of Ben but that probably won't happen. They are probably already thinking through draft strategies and how to spend a larger amount of cap space than we have ever had.

Short of injury, I also don't see them benching Ben. We'll roll with what we have for better or worse. If it gets too painful for some there is a power button on every remote or TV. Turn if off and go and enjoy your family, make some friends and enjoy your life. If you can't do that you have bigger problems than what the Steelers do.

[NorthCoast]

look at the stats from the tweet I just posted on the pressure Ben faced vs GB.

I know people want to put this on the OL because they aren’t playing well but Ben has time.

Watch other games and you will see QB’s under pressure on some plays.. they take sacks too.

Still not an excuse for plays when you have time or plays when its first down or get off the field.

And curiously Roethlisberger's time to throw this week was the shortest so far this season. There were a few jailbreaks again but it wasn't the worst the OL has played (Harris avg'd 4.1 yds/att.... which I am guessing 1 yd of that was after contact).

But I still don't buy he's given up. But I will say his body language speaks volumes, as in 'this is getting more and more like work than fun'.

[NorthCoast]

Unlike fans who see every bad game as the end of the world, this organization thinks long term and it always has. They probably hoped that they could get one more good season out of Ben but that probably won't happen. They are probably already thinking through draft strategies and how to spend a larger amount of cap space than we have ever had.

Short of injury, I also don't see them benching Ben. We'll roll with what we have for better or worse. If it gets too painful for some there is a power button on every remote or TV. Turn if off and go and enjoy your family, make some friends and enjoy your life. If you can't do that you have bigger problems than what the Steelers do.

I think he will be benched but it might not happen until they are mathematically eliminated from postseason. It seems it would serve little purpose to continue putting him in harm's way at that point. And especially if the org truly does believe Rudolph is the next starter on this team.

[SteelBucks]

And curiously Roethlisberger's time to throw this week was the shortest so far this season. There were a few jailbreaks again but it wasn't the worst the OL has played (Harris avg'd 4.1 yds/att.... which I am guessing 1 yd of that was after contact).

But I still don't buy he's given up. But I will say his body language speaks volumes, as in 'this is getting more and more like work than fun'.

I wish they would commit to the run. It was working yesterday. We need beginning of career, game manager Ben back, not gun slinger Ben. It would help limit the game altering mistakes plus give the defense some rest on the sideline.

[phillyesq]

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.

That's a great point. If you string a few runs together, let the line get into a groove, wear on the defense a bit - it has to help.

[NorthCoast]

That's a great point. If you string a few runs together, let the line get into a groove, wear on the defense a bit - it has to help.

Their success rate on runs has hovered around 1 in 4. One good run per set of downs. They really struggle to put two good runs together. Usually someone on the OL screws it up with a missed assignment or penalty. I feel bad for Harris. He looks like he is playing with every ounce he can muster but the rest of the offense is such a cluster.

[SteelBucks]

Their success rate on runs has hovered around 1 in 4. One good run per set of downs. They really struggle to put two good runs together. Usually someone on the OL screws it up with a missed assignment or penalty. I feel bad for Harris. He looks like he is playing with every ounce he can muster but the rest of the offense is such a cluster.

They need to find a consistent OL combination. Would Finney and Banner be any worse? Turner has been awful.