Big Ben blows it again!
Let’s review. The Steelers defense plays like men possessed. They dominated Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts offense. They hold them to 62 yards rushing. James Harrison adds to his sack total. Aaron Smith picks up a sack as well. The Steelers march the ball 62 yards for an easy touchdown on their very first offensive series. The Steelers’ offense maintains control of the ball for almost 10 minutes more than the Colts. Mewelde Moore rushes for 2 touchdowns. Big Ben throws for 284 yards. Clearly, that narrative ends with a decisive Steelers victory, right? Wrong.
In the normal universe, that game would have been an easy win for the Steelers. But in this bizarro universe that is the Steelers’ 2008 season, such performances sometimes result in losses. Too often, the cause of those losses proves to be Ben Roethlisberger.
In this unusual season, in which the Steelers were supposed to be overwhelmed by the NFL’s most difficult schedule, they instead find themselves with a 6-3 record. Moreover, they could easily be 8-1. Two of the losses, the ones to the Giants and Colts, should have been wins, had it not been for the poor play of the Steelers’ $100 million quarterback.
Yesterday, Ben Roethlisberger gave up two costly interceptions. The first, with only 1:30 remaining in the 1st half, gave the Colts great field position, and ultimately resulted in a Colts touchdown. So instead of going into halftime leading the Colts 17-7, the Steelers found themselves only leading by 3 points, 17-14.
The second costly interception came in the middle of the 4th quarter. With the Steelers leading 20-17, Roethlisberger threw his second interception of the game. Four plays later, the Colts had another touchdown, and led the Steelers 24-20. That would be the final score of the game.
It’s not fair to place the entire burden of the loss on Ben Roethlisberger’s sore shoulders. Afterall, it was coach Tomlin who allowed him to start despite missing practice most of the week. It was Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians who had Roethlisberger launch 42 passes with a sore shoulder. Most of those passes were off-target or fell woefully short of the intended receiver. I could see that as a spectator. Why couldn’t the Steelers coaching staff see as much?
History has shown us that Big Ben is a warrior, and he is willing to play through injuries. However, history has also shown us that Ben usually plays badly while hurt. Does anyone remember the awful 2006 season when Roethlisberger came back too soon from a motorcycle accident and an emergency appendectomy? Sure, it was courageous of him to try to be there for his teammates. But after throwing his 200th interception (okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit), Coach Cowher should have benched him and let Charlie Batch play until Ben was fully recovered. The same is true this year. An injured Ben Roethlisberger is an ineffective Ben Roethlisberger. When will the Steelers’ coaching staff learn that lesson?
On two separate occasions this season, Byron Leftwich has come into the game and been more effective than Big Ben. That is not to say that Leftwich is better than Roethlisberger. He’s not. But Byron Leftwich at 100% is better than Ben Roethlisberger at 80%.
While Big Ben’s ego may not like the idea of being benched temporarily, it is the best decision for his long-term health. The Steelers have invested a lot of money in their franchise quarterback. It’s time to start protecting that investment. And it’s time to stop losing winnable games.
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I totally agree. Ben Roethlisberger is a good quarterback, but when injured he does not perform up to his 108 Million dollar contract. I believe if he were not payed so much the organization could afford to buy him a decent offensive line. But as a steelers fan I am tired of watching him choke in big game situations. And another question, why would they sign him to a 8 year contract when he is so injury prone? There is no way he will last 8 years in the NFL while taking as many hits as he does. Can somebody explain this to me? This does not make since from a team winning stand point, nor a business stand point.
1I agree that Big Ben should not have played in this game. I also do not like the reluctance of using our other backs like Carey Davis or Gary Russell or even Davenport. I do not particularly care for the play calling of Bruce Arians either. I think for the most part his play calling is predictable. I am sitting home and can tell you what next play will be and so can the opposing team. I get very nervous when Big Ben is going to throw; kind of the same feeling I would get whenever Kordell Stewart would throw, and we all know how that turned out. It really upsets me when we lose a game because we don’t play well and that includes thinking well. When we play well and we play smart; but still lose I just feel we were beaten by a better team. I do not feel we were beaten by a better team last night.
2Jared,
I don’t quite agree that Big Ben’s contract is eating up all of the money that could have been used for offensive linemen. IMO, Max Starks is more guilty on that count. He is definitely not earning his $7 million this year.
As far as why we signed Ben to such a long contract, I think it was insurance for us. It is hard to find a franchise quarterback. When you find one, you have to lock him in long-term. There is almost no downside to doing this. The NFL is different from the NBA or MLB. In the NFL, a team can cut a player, and they are not responsible for paying the remainder of his contract (see DeAngelo Hall). So if the Steelers decide that Ben sucks two years down the road, they can just cut him. Sure, they lose his signing bonus, and any salary he’s already been paid, but the rest never gets paid. So signing Ben to a long-term contract wasn’t as crazy as you might think.
But other than that, I agree with the rest of your points.
3Charles Screven,
You are not the only one who gets nervous when Ben goes back to pass. Particularly when he is injured. How many passes has he thrown this year that could have been touchdowns, but weren’t because the ball was underthrown? The pass to Hines Ward would have been a touchdown if Hines hadn’t had to come back to the ball.
It is not good when fans get nervous when their $100 million dollar quarterback is going to pass the ball.
4Iagree 100% pull big ben, lets start winning all our games,,and we shouid be!
5Yes, I enjoyed your article. You hit the nail on the head. I’ve been saying the same thing all along. Why would you want to hurt a good team that is Superbowl quality this season? With this defense, all you need is a decent healthy QB to protect the ball. We have great talent on both sides of the ball. When you have the best defense in the league that’s shutting down offenses, and just to let your QB give the ball right back to them, sucks! I’ve always said that Ben wasn’t the same after the bike wreck, which he isn’t. Then to toss him that big contract after the fact, really flipped me for a loop. Ben was a decent QB coming in, but not all that. Just because Ben has this hugh contract doesn’t give him the authority to stay on the field and hurt the entire team. Winning is the object, this is not a popularity contest. Did you see how much the team stepped up after Leftwich came in during the second half of the Redskin’s game? I could not believe Tomlin’s decision to start Ben in the Colts game. The same thing happened last season when I was at the first Jacksonville/Pittsburgh game, Dec.19. Ben did not practice at all that week prior to the game because of this same shoulder. I just knew Batch was starting. But what a suprise! Ben started and finished, and looked terrible. Another game we would have easily won with our back-up. When will these coach’s wake up? I know our Big Nasty “D” is just about fed up, can’t blame them.
6well first of all ben and tomlin both said it won’t heal till after the season so i guess you morons want leftwich in for the rest of the year. sounds good to me. i’ll just bet you are all the same idiots that cried and whined why oh why did we sign leftwich he sucks. so lets just bench ben for the rest of the year and all you asses will get what you want, which is no playoffs, because byron won’t get us there. i hope you all get what you want you’re all a bunch of friggin assholes.
7Bill,
8We appreciate your comment, and understand your point. However, this is a family oriented website. Please try to keep your comments rated PG. Thanks.
Bench Big Ben!!! The Steelers have a very good team, and yes I am biased! I love the Steelers, but they will not make the superbowl if he continues to play. He needs rest…badly! Byron does a good enough job to win, with the help of that Steel Curtain D. Tomlin needs to take charge and sit the kid.
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