Big Ben Singlehandedly Loses Game for Steelers, Promptly Cries*

Not sure what is worse, Roethelsberger being so stubborn (maybe he feels like he has to play given his new contract) or Bruce Arians play calling. Arians hasnt learned a thing since the atrocious play calling last year (especially against Jax in the playoffs). I thought I was watching the west coast offese today. You cant make big plays when you only toss the ball 7 yards. Back to Roethelsberger for a second, I can't really remember the last time he led a receiver down the field with a throw. He constantly underthrows his receivers. He is definitely hurt and this was the game for him to sit and rest. Now they have no choice but to play him next week (hurt or not), bc then they look like they are panicking. What a frustrating game to watch them give away....again!

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It amazes me how many chances they give somebody just because they were on a team that won a superbowl. Its like once you get that super bowl ring you can stink it up as much as you want and still not get pulled.

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I'll go ahead and say what everyone is thinking. BEN ROTHLISBERGER NEEDS TO BE BENCHED. At least till he can figure out that he doesn't need to make huge playes every single time he passes the ball. I was at the Washington game when he went out and when Bryon and started throwing the ball we moved the ball and scored. This was because Leftwich gets the ball out quickly and to the first open receiver.
Don't get me wrong i think Ben has what it takes to win another superbowl he just needs to get back to where he was. Bench him till he gets his head on straight. Hell then they might start to play like the 8-0 Titans.

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BIG !!! STEELERS FAN! BIG BEN the man in Pittburgh but Ben truly man sit down 2-3weeks man;get your mind and body together. Byron can handle the show while you recover and he can win games man;it's your job to help the team win but you are hurting the team now. We need you to win superbowls ;So show STEELER FANS your not only tough but smart. By sitting down and let Bryon get the playing time he needs; while you get together,

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Big Ben is afraid that the world will witness the realization of his worst nightmare....that any half-decent QB can do his job better.

Fat Byron and Fat Ben are the same person. Leftwich just gets rid of the ball quicker and makes better decisions in general.

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Big Ben...i dont blame him...that idiot coach..should no better...best defense in football and they cant shake Baltimore ...another Tomlin team starts strong and fades down the stretch....I will tell you this in baseball if the starting pitcher stinks..they dont hesitate to pull him

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Big Ben is making more mistakes than a rookie quarterback, he locks into one receiver and tries to get him the ball at any cost, making major mistakes. Ben needs to sit down and stop hurting the team. The steeler's have a good team but they are not built to keep overcoming mistakes that are self-inflicted. I mean Ben did three major interceptions, but there are more who can share some of the blame, Bruce"I can't call plays"Arians, Ike"I can't cover or catch"Taylor, he plays so far back just like the rest of the steelers corners. Deshea and Gay are bench riders on any other team, nobody is talking about how the defense can;t get off the field because the corners suck. Ike had two critical tip passes each time he had good position and decided to leave his feet to make a big play instead of just running through and then trying to catch the ball or just batting it down. One cost the steelers a touchdown, the other kept a drive alive at the begining of the third quarter, which resulted in a field goal. The corners, who on third down, if the other team needs 6 yards the corners a playing ten yards back. They allow the receivers to catch the ball and then try and make the tackle. Gay and Deshea get beat every week .We need to get some corners in the draft because that is always the weakness of the defense.

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What can I say?

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i just wanted to hop over here and say that BEN NEEDS TO SIT DOWN. I love and support him and the Steelers, but his stubborn refusal to rest and heal properly is THE reason the Steelers lost to the Giants and tonight to the Colts. to ben i say, "BEN, be a man, step aside and let your TEAM do what is necessary to win. that means subbing you out for a few weeks. you're a better QB when healthy, especially when the 0-line you have upfront isn't giving all the help you need." yeah, he's not starting next week. no way.

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Hi, my name is Velvet and I'm a steelers fan living in Milwaukee,WI.
I read your post regarding the steelers lost to the colts. Tell me
I'm not the only person who sees this. Not that Mike Tomlin is a bad
coach but he certainly doesn't know Ben the way Bill Cowher did. Put
Bill Cowher back at head coach right now and Pittsburgh is 9 and 0. I
think its time for people to start looking at Ben for what he really
is. Bill Cowher knew how to handle Ben which is why Ben did not like
him. Ben was a great QB coming out of college but it usually takes
time to be that in the NFL. Ben did not get much credit for the super
bowl win and rightfully so considering he had the worst stats of any
super bowl winning QB in the super bowl era. He benefited from
brilliant coaching and a outstanding defense. The NFL Ben should be
played like an average QB. What I mean by that is Bill Cowher
recognized Bens strengths for what they were and did not try to make
a dollar of 15 cent ( which means he didn't try to get out of Ben
what he knew Ben was incapable of ). Ben is extremely weak in
recognizing diverse defensive packages ( there's a reason he's
getting sacked all the time and it's not all on the O-line) so Cowher
kept most things basic and simple. Ben didn't like it because he knew
by coach Cowher doing that, that was a confirmation not only to him
but to the entire world the lack of confidence that Cowher had in
him. I, like most steelers fans, always wanted Pittsburgh to open
things up but when they tried to do so look at what happened, Ben
would drop back for 5 to 6 seconds and that would be it, SACKS or
interceptions and unlike Favre he wouldn't throw the 40 and 50 yard
interceptions he would throw the 5 and 10 yard picks that would
sometimes be ran back for touchdowns. The offensive line would get so
much of the blame but what successful QB takes that long to get rid of
the ball. I mean its not like they have the most aggressive receivers
in the league. They don't get much if any separation whatsoever.
Short quick throws are Bens biggest strengths. I was watching the
2006 divisional playoffs the other day when they played the colts and
that's all Ben threw and he was great. Giving him the option to go
down field is trouble. The first drive of the game Sunday was simply
brilliant. Guess why? Do I really need to say? They went back to the
short quick throws. Now to the defense. Ike Taylor is Big ben on
defense. Slow to recognize plays and when the opportunity to make a
play presents itself some type of way the completely unthinkable ends
up happening in favor of the opposition. This is and has ALWAYS been
Ike Taylor. He needs to get thrown 500 passes a day to learn how to
catch the ball. There has been no player in the league since he's
been playing to drop more interceptions. Think about this if you will
the mistakes we're talking about here are mistakes from the Cowher
era. Only more confirmation of the fact that the more things change
the more they remain the same. Ikes problems has been addressed
because this is by far the best he's played since starting a few
years back but the fact remains the problems he had in the Cowher era
are the same his play has definitely improved though. Ben on the other
hand simply has not. So in short what I'm saying it's only a matter of
time before the ship sinks. And it will not sink because of the
problems I mentioned here. It will sink because of the coaches lack
of recognition of there players strengths and weaknesses (especially
Bens) after all isn't that what a coach is for. Maximizing his
players strengths and improve on their weaknesses to put a more
polished player out on the field. The rest of the infractions were
nothing they couldn't have overcome. Mewelde has been doing a decent
job, they got rid of that weak punter, horrible O-line play is
mitigated when the ball is out early. I'm anxious to hear your reply
because steelers nation up this way is simply done with Ben. He is
simply not progressing. And the coaches have to see this.

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The guy is so over rated it's funny. Even the Super Bowl they won he stunk in. They win with defense in Pittsburgh and no turnovers. That is not Bradshaw, Harris, Swann, and Stallworth out there, and they should stop trying to be. They win UGLY there, every game they win is close, boring, and ugly. When they do win big it's all based on other teams turnovers and defense. Big Ben??,,,,please, it's just Ben and a very average offense led by field position from the defense. And, they are so lucky to be in that pathetic division. You get the Browns and Bengals TWICW each year, and the Ravens are not some type of juggernaunt either. Steelers are the 5ht or 6th best in the AFC, if that. And Ben should not even be considered for anything as far as a pro bowl player. Taking a team on 40 yard or less drives is not some great QB.

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What are the Steelers going to do about their offensive coordinator? This is a REAL issue they just can't sweep under the rug. That play calling is awful!!!!!!!!!!

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the steelers offense have been insulated for so long by their great defense and now people are starting to see Ben for the QB he really is which he's plain horrible.

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Leave Ben alone. He's not 100% right now and playing with a slightly separated shoulder. Mike Tomlin is the person who needsto be benched. Why isn't he starting Byron Leftwich so Ben can rest his shoulder ? Don't kill the messenger. I ahve been a Steelers fan since 1970 so I've watched them thru all their ups and downs. Ben is not the only one to blame. What about all the dropped balls by the receivers ? The Steelers are not going to win every game they play. True Steeler fans love Ben Rothelisberger and fully support his efforts to take us back to the Super Bowl. We didn't have the greatest team record in 2005, and didn't win the division title. But when push came to shove, we hammered the Bengals, who won the division that year. Then we went on to hammer the Colts and the Broncos. Leave Ben the hell alone!

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i scanned the comments best i could. first, in baseball they don't bench a starting pitcher when he is having a tough time. they keep sending him out there so he can work out his problems. take that from a former baseballl player.

second, it's easy to jump on ben here, but at least one pick was not his fault. holmes stopped running the route and the colts defender jumped the ball. that one goes to holmes, who in my opinion, is player horribly since his pot incident.

third, the guy is clearly hurt. show me any professional athlete that will take himself out of a game and i'll show you a non-competitor. that is the coaches call and tomlin should be held responsible for playing ben.

fourth, arians sucks. we all know this. his play calling is predictable. his ability to adjust DURING a game is terrible. he does a poor job of putting the guys in a position to succeed.

fifth, the o-line sucks too. big deal, bob sanders comes up to stuff the run. our o-line was still missing blocks left and right in that game. the colts, even with sanders, have been getting gouged on the ground, but our line can't handle the job. THIS IS THE LARGEST REASON OUR OFFENSE IS INCONSISTENT.

without solid line play, our run game struggles. without consistent run game, our play action passing game struggles. without play action passing our QB becomes typical pocket passer. Uh-oh, our o-line doesn't give our QB time to throw.

yes, byron did nice in washington. but they protected byron relatively well, regardless of how quickly he got rid of the ball.

if ben is hurt, the coaches need to sit him. regardless of that, our o-line needs to step it up, or we can expect the same inconsistent offense we have seen all year.

and that finally takes us to why we are really here. poor player personnel decisions in the last 3 years have left us with a relatively untalented offensive line. and to make matters worse, we're gonna lose some of these guys next year with no viable alternative to replace them. without a good line, next year isn't looking so good.

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Coming from Steelers Nation In Jacksonville. Ben is great and the best thing that has happened to the Steelers in a long time. To put in my opinion Ben should play end of story he is our quarterback. If he is cleared to play he should play.But thankfully that is not my job nor anyone elses but Ben and the coaches to make. The Steelers are a great team and organization and so is their quarterback. There are many great quarterbacks that go through down times. Ben is a great quarterback that has developed and is stil learning. The people that cannot see that are blind. It must hurt you when he does play great which is the norm. This is not normal. All you have to do is look at Ben's overall stats. I have been watching the Steelers for 32 years and even the great Terry Bradshaw took years to develope and was critized a lot in his first 7 years. They use to say he was dumb. But he won 4 Super Bowls with the Steelers. You would think that we had not won a game this year . We are 6 and 3 and I have no doubt that they all bounce back from this loss inspite of the critics that call themselves fans.

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O-VER-RA-TED *clap*, *clap*, *clapclapclap*
O-VER-RA-TED *clap*, *clap*, *clapclapclap*
O-VER-RA-TED *clap*, *clap*, *clapclapclap*

He's always been surrounded by great talent, good receivers, excellent defense, great offensive line, great running game. Yet he's only had one or two good seasons, statistically speaking. He's had two or three poor to average seasons.

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