What is up with Ben?

[proudpittsburgher]

Re: What is up with Ben?

I remember in the mid 90's Kevin Greene and Co. always talking about bringing it for 60 minutes. I'd like to see that outta Ben instead of the theory of bringing it for the last 6 minutes of the game.

Yea, because the Steelers of the mid 90's dominated every game from start to finish, like you are asking this team to do. Remember the 94 AFCC game?

[Steelgal]

Re: What is up with Ben?

Ben needs an OC/quarterback's coach that will push him and not be his 'friend'. He needs someone who will tell him when he's stinkin' it up and how to correct it. He needs someone who will get him in the film room and tell him when he's trying to do too much. He may not always like it, but in the long run hopefully it will prolong his career and keep him off the ground.

[msp26505]

Re: What is up with Ben?

Ben needs an OC/quarterback's coach that will push him and not be his 'friend'. He needs someone who will tell him when he's stinkin' it up and how to correct it. He needs someone who will get him in the film room and tell him when he's trying to do too much. He may not always like it, but in the long run hopefully it will prolong his career and keep him off the ground.

I got tired of hearing Ben defend Arians. The announcers during a couple of games this season made reference to the fact the Ben liked the play calling and was thinking the same thing as Arians most of the time, which to me says one of two things.

Either:

Ben is trying to protect Arians (ridiculous that player should do this, but not out of the questions, I guess).

OR

Ben needs a coach who approaches the job more like a parent (a good one) than a buddy, and gets on Ben's case when he makes bad decisions or takes unnecessary sacks.

Ben needs to be told to get rid of the ball more quickly and more often...to take the smaller, safer gain rather than swinging for the fences constantly. While I sometimes love the gunslinger mentality, it needs to be the exception, NOT the rule. Not only does this behavior often hurt the team, but it will probably also lead to Ben's career being shortened.

[isonator07]

Re: What is up with Ben?

I remember in the mid 90's Kevin Greene and Co. always talking about bringing it for 60 minutes. I'd like to see that outta Ben instead of the theory of bringing it for the last 6 minutes of the game.

Yea, because the Steelers of the mid 90's dominated every game from start to finish, like you are asking this team to do. Remember the 94 AFCC game?

Who said anything about domintating? I just want Ben and the team to play every play with heart,intsead of the final 5 minutes. Kinda like the 1-11 Browns did last night. As for Baltimore being elite I also never said they were elite. But I do however think we can all agree they are a giant notch above KC, Clev, and Oak.

[DukieBoy]

Re: What is up with Ben?

Ben needs an OC/quarterback's coach that will push him and not be his 'friend'. He needs someone who will tell him when he's stinkin' it up and how to correct it. He needs someone who will get him in the film room and tell him when he's trying to do too much. He may not always like it, but in the long run hopefully it will prolong his career and keep him off the ground.

I got tired of hearing Ben defend Arians. The announcers during a couple of games this season made reference to the fact the Ben liked the play calling and was thinking the same thing as Arians most of the time, which to me says one of two things.

Either:

Ben is trying to protect Arians (ridiculous that player should do this, but not out of the questions, I guess).

OR

Ben needs a coach who approaches the job more like a parent (a good one) than a buddy, and gets on Ben's case when he makes bad decisions or takes unnecessary sacks.

Ben needs to be told to get rid of the ball more quickly and more often...to take the smaller, safer gain rather than swinging for the fences constantly. While I sometimes love the gunslinger mentality, it needs to be the exception, NOT the rule. Not only does this behavior often hurt the team, but it will probably also lead to Ben's career being shortened.

Maybe arians has not authority ove Ben, and Ben likes it that way.

[Crash]

Re: What is up with Ben?

How about if he drives us downfield for a lead in the 2nd quarter?

Against the Raiders? He did.

The defense gave three right back.

Ben's offense scored 4 times against the Raiders. EVERY TIME, the defense gave points right back.

[papillon]

Re: What is up with Ben?

This entire season has been a conundrum:

Heath Miller has dropped at least 5 passes this year that hit him squarely in the hands.

Santonio is having a good year statistically, but, there have been games (last night for one) where he can't get open and when his route is complete he simply ambled about.

Mendenhall wasn't practicing hard, he gets benched, but is back the following week. Limas Sweed, practices hard, but, makes a some key drops and he becomes the invisible man.

Hines Ward's criticism of Ben forced him (Ward) to play last night at something less than 100%. At his age, his less than 100% isn't better than a healthy receiver.

The defense is handed leads in the 4th quarter 4 times and fail to hold the lead each time. In those games, the offense was playing well, but couldn't back on the field, because, the opposing team moved the ball methodically down the field and chewed the clock against the defense.

The cornerbacks do not have an interception this year. How?

This team has been wandering aimlessly about for most of the season. They have been unable to establish any type of identity offensively and defensively.

In closing, something is amiss with this team that we, as fans, will never hear about, but I suspect there has been some type of internal strife that never made it to the light of day. Too many individual efforts and not enough team effort. In football that is a costly position to take.

Hopefully, they can get it together and show they have some backbone and play three good games to end the season regardless of if they win or lose them, just show some character and head into the off season on a good note.

Pappy

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: What is up with Ben?

Is it the lawsuit? Is it the repeated head trauma? He just hasn't been the same player most of this year. Remember when he would get the ball late in the game and you just knew he would drive it down the field to tie or win the game? Where has that been this year? I hope that Ben comes back next year, because that is the guy we need. He has been in a funk just like everyone else when it has counted this year. Yeah, his oline and receivers have let him down at times, but he just hasn't looked the same for most of this year. This actually worries me more than some of our other problems.

He drove the team down the field to take the lead twice in the fouth Q last week. I think he needs to improve, but to say that he hasn't been clutch this year isn't right. The problem is more that our D hasn't been clutch.

How about if he drives us downfield for a lead in the 2nd quarter? I'm sick of low level teams hanging around and us needing a late drive. Play every drive like its the last drive and maybe we put teams away early.

As for Bens play, I agree he hasn't been himself this season. Look Dennis Dixon went into Baltimore in his first start and took us to OT to lose by a FG. With Ben we lose to Clev Oak and KC.

I agree 100% Arians is a tool. I wouldn't let him call plays for me in a game of Madden vs. a 10 yr old blind kid. But Ben needs to step up his urgency for 60 minutes. I remember in the mid 90's Kevin Greene and Co. always talking about bringing it for 60 minutes. I'd like to see that outta Ben instead of the theory of bringing it for the last 6 minutes of the game. The intensity like he had in Denver a couple years ago in the playoffs. The game he fired the pistols after a TD pass. I want that Ben back under center for 16 reg season games all through the playoffs. Maybe thats asking too much.

In the K.C. and Oakland games, Ben completed 75% of his passes (K.C.: 32-42 76.2% 398 yards 9.5 YPA 3 TD 2 INT & Oak: 18-24 75.0% 278 yards 11.6 YPA 2 TD 1 INT). He was nowhere near the reason why we lost those games (although people blame the INT's in K.C., the only was perfectly thrown to Heath and dropped, and the other was intercepted because Ben was hit as he threw, causing the ball to come out of his hand like a mallard that had recently passed away).

I think the only game that we lost because Ben did not show up was the second Cincy game (20-40 50.0% 174 yards 4.3 YPA 0 TD 1 INT). He wasn't great against Minnesota either (14-26 53.8% 175 yards 6.7 YPA 1 TD 0 INT) but he didn't make any critical mistakes and the defense was able to come through late for once.

I don't put this last game on Ben, even though the performance was sub-par by his standards (18-32 56.3% 201 yards 6.3 YPA 0 TD 0 INT). It was stupid to pass the ball 32 times and give it to your running backs only 19 times in that cold and wind. The Cleveland plan of running the ball 37 times and passing it only 19 times was the winning formula on a night like this. It is not like we were down by 28 points and needed to get pass happy in order to get back in the game. The game was within striking distance all night long, but for whatever reason, we refused to run and forced passes in elements not conducive to that (like the Mularkey's offensive gameplan in the 6-0 loss to the Jets in a Meadowlands blizzard that we were all worried about prior to this game).

[NWNewell]

Re: What is up with Ben?

This entire season has been a conundrum:

Heath Miller has dropped at least 5 passes this year that hit him squarely in the hands.

Santonio is having a good year statistically, but, there have been games (last night for one) where he can't get open and when his route is complete he simply ambled about.

Mendenhall wasn't practicing hard, he gets benched, but is back the following week. Limas Sweed, practices hard, but, makes a some key drops and he becomes the invisible man.

Hines Ward's criticism of Ben forced him (Ward) to play last night at something less than 100%. At his age, his less than 100% isn't better than a healthy receiver.

The defense is handed leads in the 4th quarter 4 times and fail to hold the lead each time. In those games, the offense was playing well, but couldn't back on the field, because, the opposing team moved the ball methodically down the field and chewed the clock against the defense.

The cornerbacks do not have an interception this year. How?

This team has been wandering aimlessly about for most of the season. They have been unable to establish any type of identity offensively and defensively.

In closing, something is amiss with this team that we, as fans, will never hear about, but I suspect there has been some type of internal strife that never made it to the light of day. Too many individual efforts and not enough team effort. In football that is a costly position to take.

Hopefully, they can get it together and show they have some backbone and play three good games to end the season regardless of if they win or lose them, just show some character and head into the off season on a good note.

Pappy

I think you are are probably right and I think one of Troy's comments maybe should have tipped the hand:

"I don't think any one player can fix what this team is going through".

Meaning what this team is going through internally/interpersonally.

[stlrz d]

Re: What is up with Ben?

This entire season has been a conundrum:

Heath Miller has dropped at least 5 passes this year that hit him squarely in the hands.

Santonio is having a good year statistically, but, there have been games (last night for one) where he can't get open and when his route is complete he simply ambled about.

Mendenhall wasn't practicing hard, he gets benched, but is back the following week. Limas Sweed, practices hard, but, makes a some key drops and he becomes the invisible man.

Hines Ward's criticism of Ben forced him (Ward) to play last night at something less than 100%. At his age, his less than 100% isn't better than a healthy receiver.

The defense is handed leads in the 4th quarter 4 times and fail to hold the lead each time. In those games, the offense was playing well, but couldn't back on the field, because, the opposing team moved the ball methodically down the field and chewed the clock against the defense.

The cornerbacks do not have an interception this year. How?

This team has been wandering aimlessly about for most of the season. They have been unable to establish any type of identity offensively and defensively.

In closing, something is amiss with this team that we, as fans, will never hear about, but I suspect there has been some type of internal strife that never made it to the light of day. Too many individual efforts and not enough team effort. In football that is a costly position to take.

Hopefully, they can get it together and show they have some backbone and play three good games to end the season regardless of if they win or lose them, just show some character and head into the off season on a good note.

Pappy

I think you are are probably right and I think one of Troy's comments maybe should have tipped the hand:

"I don't think any one player can fix what this team is going through".

Meaning what this team is going through internally/interpersonally.

Troy's statement is pretty wide open. It can be interpreted many ways.

[Mister Pittsburgh]

Re: What is up with Ben?

How about if he drives us downfield for a lead in the 2nd quarter?

Against the Raiders? He did.

The defense gave three right back.

Ben's offense scored 4 times against the Raiders. EVERY TIME, the defense gave points right back.

Our offense mustered 10 points against one of the worst D's in the league over 3 1/2 quarters. Think our D could have had a different approach if we had a big lead in the 2nd quarter? Maybe pin our ears back and crush Gradkowski like our D is built to do, rush the passer? How about putting up a lead to dictate the ballgame rather than the whole 4th quarter comeback against a crap team deal?

[feltdizz]

Re: What is up with Ben?

In the K.C. and Oakland games, Ben completed 75% of his passes (K.C.: 32-42 76.2% 398 yards 9.5 YPA 3 TD 2 INT & Oak: 18-24 75.0% 278 yards 11.6 YPA 2 TD 1 INT). He was nowhere near the reason why we lost those games (although people blame the INT's in K.C., the only was perfectly thrown to Heath and dropped, and the other was intercepted because Ben was hit as he threw, causing the ball to come out of his hand like a mallard that had recently passed away).

I think the only game that we lost because Ben did not show up was the second Cincy game (20-40 50.0% 174 yards 4.3 YPA 0 TD 1 INT). He wasn't great against Minnesota either (14-26 53.8% 175 yards 6.7 YPA 1 TD 0 INT) but he didn't make any critical mistakes and the defense was able to come through late for once.

I don't put this last game on Ben, even though the performance was sub-par by his standards (18-32 56.3% 201 yards 6.3 YPA 0 TD 0 INT). It was stupid to pass the ball 32 times and give it to your running backs only 19 times in that cold and wind. The Cleveland plan of running the ball 37 times and passing it only 19 times was the winning formula on a night like this. It is not like we were down by 28 points and needed to get pass happy in order to get back in the game. The game was within striking distance all night long, but for whatever reason, we refused to run and forced passes in elements not conducive to that (like the Mularkey's offensive gameplan in the 6-0 loss to the Jets in a Meadowlands blizzard that we were all worried about prior to this game).

It's Ben's responsibility to get rid of the ball when he breaks the pocket..
When he completes these types of passes he is a hero... but when he doesn't he gets a pass. When is Ben responsible for anything? Motorcycle, sex case, most sacks damn near every year and he even blames himself for many....

Ben is a good QB who had a ton of success early but it's time for him/us to treat him like a person... he makes mistakes. He can get better..

[NWNewell]

Re: What is up with Ben?

This entire season has been a conundrum:

Heath Miller has dropped at least 5 passes this year that hit him squarely in the hands.

Santonio is having a good year statistically, but, there have been games (last night for one) where he can't get open and when his route is complete he simply ambled about.

Mendenhall wasn't practicing hard, he gets benched, but is back the following week. Limas Sweed, practices hard, but, makes a some key drops and he becomes the invisible man.

Hines Ward's criticism of Ben forced him (Ward) to play last night at something less than 100%. At his age, his less than 100% isn't better than a healthy receiver.

The defense is handed leads in the 4th quarter 4 times and fail to hold the lead each time. In those games, the offense was playing well, but couldn't back on the field, because, the opposing team moved the ball methodically down the field and chewed the clock against the defense.

The cornerbacks do not have an interception this year. How?

This team has been wandering aimlessly about for most of the season. They have been unable to establish any type of identity offensively and defensively.

In closing, something is amiss with this team that we, as fans, will never hear about, but I suspect there has been some type of internal strife that never made it to the light of day. Too many individual efforts and not enough team effort. In football that is a costly position to take.

Hopefully, they can get it together and show they have some backbone and play three good games to end the season regardless of if they win or lose them, just show some character and head into the off season on a good note.

Pappy

I think you are are probably right and I think one of Troy's comments maybe should have tipped the hand:

"I don't think any one player can fix what this team is going through".

Meaning what this team is going through internally/interpersonally.

Troy's statement is pretty wide open. It can be interpreted many ways.

Very true.... I'm just saying that in light of what's happening I tend to interperate it a certain way.

One interpretation is correct.... I don't know if it's mine... just my

[stlrz d]

Re: What is up with Ben?

Troy, does the team miss you?

Troy's answer.

Troy, does the team miss Aaron Smith?

Troy's answer.

Troy, if Ben's play is more consistent do you think the team would be playing better?

Troy's answer.

Troy, do you think putting in (insert player) for (insert player) would help on defense?

Troy's answer.

Etc....

Don't read too much into it. He could have been asked anything and given that response.

[NJ-STEELER]

Re: What is up with Ben?

In the K.C. and Oakland games, Ben completed 75% of his passes (K.C.: 32-42 76.2% 398 yards 9.5 YPA 3 TD 2 INT & Oak: 18-24 75.0% 278 yards 11.6 YPA 2 TD 1 INT). He was nowhere near the reason why we lost those games (although people blame the INT's in K.C., the only was perfectly thrown to Heath and dropped, and the other was intercepted because Ben was hit as he threw, causing the ball to come out of his hand like a mallard that had recently passed away).

I think the only game that we lost because Ben did not show up was the second Cincy game (20-40 50.0% 174 yards 4.3 YPA 0 TD 1 INT). He wasn't great against Minnesota either (14-26 53.8% 175 yards 6.7 YPA 1 TD 0 INT) but he didn't make any critical mistakes and the defense was able to come through late for once.

I don't put this last game on Ben, even though the performance was sub-par by his standards (18-32 56.3% 201 yards 6.3 YPA 0 TD 0 INT). It was stupid to pass the ball 32 times and give it to your running backs only 19 times in that cold and wind. The Cleveland plan of running the ball 37 times and passing it only 19 times was the winning formula on a night like this. It is not like we were down by 28 points and needed to get pass happy in order to get back in the game. The game was within striking distance all night long, but for whatever reason, we refused to run and forced passes in elements not conducive to that (like the Mularkey's offensive gameplan in the 6-0 loss to the Jets in a Meadowlands blizzard that we were all worried about prior to this game).

It's Ben's responsibility to get rid of the ball when he breaks the pocket..
When he completes these types of passes he is a hero... but when he doesn't he gets a pass. When is Ben responsible for anything? Motorcycle, sex case, most sacks damn near every year and he even blames himself for many....

Ben is a good QB who had a ton of success early but it's time for him/us to treat him like a person... he makes mistakes. He can get better..

but, he didn't leave the pocket on that play.