Charlie Batch is made of glass
Okay, it seems like nobody else is willing to say it, so I guess I’m going to have to be the one to do it. Charlie Batch is made of glass. He’s like that guy in the M. Night Shyamalan movie “Unbreakable”. He’s fragile. He breaks upon the slightest contact.
Some have referred to him as “Brittle Batch”. Perhaps that nickname is appropriate.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Charlie Batch. He has been an excellent backup quarterback for the Steelers for many years. Unlike Byron Leftwich, Batch always seemed to be comfortable playing a backup role. Moreover, he was a hometown boy. So getting to play for the Black and Gold was a dream come true for him.
Charlie has been a mentor to Ben Roethlisberger throughout Big Ben’s career. He can always be seen offering Ben words of advice and encouragement anytime Ben makes a mistake.
Steelers QB Charlie Batch
But despite Charlie’s many good qualities, he has one quality that is very bad for an NFL player; he gets hurt too easily.
Did anyone even realize that Charlie was hurt during the Kansas City game? After all, he only participated in 4 plays. When did he get hurt? How did he get hurt?
Big Ben took a vicious knee to the head, and he’s already promising teammates and fans that he is going to play Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. Meanwhile, nobody saw Batch take a hit, but he’s out for the rest of the season.
The same thing happened in 2008. Batch played a few plays in the preseason opener, and he broke his collarbone, which caused him to miss the entire season.
Steelers fans are probably spoiled because we get to watch Big Ben play each week. Ben gets sacked 59 times per game, and he just keeps ticking. How many times has Ben been sacked in the last 2 years? 3,000? 4,000? But he just gets up and keeps playing. I’m sure all of those hits are going to take their toll at some point, but so far, he shows no sign of slowing down.
That’s why it’s hard to accept Charlie’s injuries. It seems that if a defender looks at Charlie too hard, he gets injured.
Lets take a look at Charlie’s history.
As a college quarterback, he missed the 1996 season when he injured his leg after only 2 games.
When he was with the Detroit Lions, Batch also had a history of injuries. He played the 2nd half of the 1999 season with a fractured knuckle that severely hindered his performance. In 2000 he injured his knee in a non-contact drill and had to have surgery. He came back from the knee injury later in the 2000 season, but suffered bruised ribs that seemed to slow him down for the rest of the season. He also suffered a concussion that season that made him miss playing time. Batch’s injury history, along with the Lions’ selection of Joey Harrington in the draft, finally made him expendable in 2001.
With the Steelers, Batch missed most of the 2004 season after having knee surgery. Then as mentioned earlier, he missed the 2008 season with a broken collar bone. Now he will miss the rest of the 2009 season with a broken wrist. That’s a lot of time missed due to injury for any player. But it’s a ridiculous amount of time missed for a backup player who seldom even gets onto the field.
Lets look exclusively at Batch’s time with the Steelers. If we were to calculate the ratio of Batch’s time missed due to injury relative to his actual time spent on the field in games, the ratio would equal infinity. He’s missed a lot of time while playing very little.
Batch will be 35 years old on December 5, 2009. Brett Favre has proven that a quarterback can play long after age 35. However, do the Steelers want to continue to place their faith in an aging quarterback who can’t seem to stay healthy?
As I said earlier, I really like Charlie Batch. I truly do. But someone has to ask the tough questions. Since nobody else seems to be willing to, that burden apparently falls to me.
So what do you think? Is it time for the Steelers to move in another direction with their backup quarterback, or is Batch worth keeping after the 2009 season?
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I was reading somewhere that Ben Roethlisberger may be cleared to play Sunday against the Ravens. Did anyone else see anything about this?
1LOL…..
I have to admit I have never put together all of Batch’s injuries and time missed like that. That’s too funny!
I was really laughing out loud too…And then I remembered I’m mad at the Steelers right now so back to the serious stuff.
Guys, I agree that Ben takes alot of hits and keeps on trucking unlike Charlie “Patch-him-up”. But a couple of years ago I have been concerned about the hits he takes.
Right off the top of my head I can think of great QBs whose career was shortend because of concussions (Steve Young and Troy Aikman). If you notice, Ben gets them easier and easier. This is a horrible sign guys.
Ben getting sacked 5,000 times each game doesn’t concern me as much as the fact that he is slowly losing a career for each one.
So, do we need to seriously look for another back up? Yes, and a QB for the future might not be out of question either sadly enough.
Now Kemo is out? Oh Lord, My emotions are as brittle as Batch. Now Bruce will call 60 passes! Heck, playing the Ravens on top of that we may not even attempt to run at all. Do we have to run or can we just pass every play? Why not! Yes, that’s it! Identity!
….I may be the one with a concussion. Must have happened when I head butted the wall at 3:17 PM CST Sunday.
2Tony,
I’m sure that every member of Steeler Nation says a prayer each night for Big Ben. I’m impressed that he can take the punishment that he does, but eventually it’s going to catch up with him. After all, he’s only human.
As much as I like Charlie Batch, it may be time for him to go. He just can’t seem to stay healthy. What good is a player if he’s never available to play?
After being benched in Tampa Bay, I’ll bet Byron Leftwich wishes he were still playing for the Steelers.
3Someone please tell me what play caused the broken wrist…….I have this terrible habit of blinking so I guess I missed it…and I agree I bet Leftwich wished he was still in Pgh… I know I do…can we PLEEEEEASE get Ben some coverage??? we cant afford to have him out…Dixon isnt ready, but then again how ready can I expect him to be at 3rd string…
4Protection didnt get ben hurt it was his indesisivness to run that got him hurt.
I wouldnt mind seeing Dixon play more lets see what he has
5itiswhatitis,
Have to disagree with your thoughts. Not on how he got hurt but on the idea of seeing Dixon.
There is no contest between Ben and Dixon. NONE. I give my favorite team a hard time alot because I love them so much but Dixon? NO!
I believe Dixon has proved he can be on a NFL roster but replace Ben? Please!
Steelers problems are simple: No Running Game, Special Teams Debacles, and 4th Quarter Defense.
6If my two time SB winning qb isnt up to playing in the game why risk it?It makes no sense to play him against a team of cheap shot artists like the Ratbirds.
Put dixon in the game he knows all the plays and is amazingly athletic.
Six years ago a “rookie” led us to a 15-1 reg season why cant it happen again?
7One other thing they have a running game BA doesnt use it enough.
8Again…exactly how did Batch get hurt? I could not beleive he was hurt as it was never clear that it had happened during the game…I heard about it the next day on ESPN!
Play Dixon…Ben needs the rest or he may be finshed forever. You can expect blitzes, and obviously the Ravens are a tough defense, AND the O line is hurting right now too! Unfortunatley, I think the Steelers have problems this week.
9Looks like you will get your wish, Ben is out!
10not and never was my wish to not see ben play but Double D is all we got so here we go steelers here we go!Maybe we can catch fire in a bottle again.
11Looks like Dixon is doing OK, but we need to get rid of GAY, he is constantly getting beat, especially deep. Time for Parker and Gay to both go.
12