question about Steeler fans

im not calling anyone out or questioning anyones love of this team, but i wonder how many people that post here are 25 years or younger.

computers and the internet have been around for a long time now, but its still a young persons toy/tool.

i ask this question because of all the crazy posts lately about trading Ben. drafting a qb in the 1st round to replace Ben.

i think that any Steeler fan that has been a fan for lets say the last 15 to 20 years is spoiled. if you became a Steelers fan in the mid 90's you saw a team that was pretty good, but not great. they made a few AFC championship games and even went to the super bowl, but lost.

those fans didnt have to suffer for very long until Ben came around. they didnt have to watch:

Malone
Woodley
Cambell
Brister
Bono
Blackledge

they did get to see the tail end of:

Odonell
Briser
Tomzak (the tree)
Miller
Stewart (Kevin Gilbride ruined his career)
Graham
Maddox (Be replaced when he got hurt)

that last list of guys had some success. O Donell got them to the super bowl. Stewart was RGIII and Vick, but better. look up his stats when he was able to be himself. pretty good. Maddox was pretty good aswell. he could flinge the ball around just about as good as anyone.

there was a gap between Bradshaw and Ben that was pretty painful. 25 years between super bowl wins. put that into perspective for the newer Steeler fans. the Steelers last won a super bowl in 2008. imagine waiting until 2033 until they win there next. im 41 now so that would make me 66 years old. im not saying that once Ben is gone they are going to have to wait another 25 years between great qbs that are capable of winning a super bowl, but excuse some of us Steeler fans that did have to wait 25 years between them once already and are in no hurry to lose a guy that has taken this team to 3 of them and won 2.

if the Steelers get a young stud qb on their roster that looks like he is the next great thing than maybe trading Ben is an option, but those guys dont come around to often. sure RGIII, Wilson and Luck looked great this year, but so did Cam Newton last year and how did he and the Panters do this year? 1 year doesnt prove anything. Ben has been doing it for a long time. hes a proven winner. the team around him wasnt very good this year and they were hurt. if Ben sucks next year and the team looks terrible again than in Sure the Rooneys will take a look at some things, but its not going to happen this offseason. Ben, Tomlin, DL and probably a lot of the vets that we think are too old will be back next season.

as a Steeler fan all i can ask for is that they put the best product on the field. i do think Tomlin, DL and Haley need to look at this roseter and some changes need to be made with some younger guys. that will happen, but dont expect a complete over haul. thats not how this franchise works.

 

For the record, I'm well over 25, but I wasn't around to watch this team in the 70's like some of you guys were. With that said, there's 2 ways you can look at this.

Like you said, the younger crowd won't have suffered through all the lean years. The younger crowd is more likely to want to get rid of Ben because they didn't have to suffer through the years of not having a franchise QB. They don't know what it's like so to them, replacing Ben is no big deal.

Then you have the older crowd, the people who remember what its like to cheer for a team with a crappy QB. They know what its like to cheer for a franchise that just isn't a true SB contender every year. To them, replacing Ben is an impossible feat and will take another 25 years. No matter what Ben does or doesn't do, Ben is irreplaceable in their eyes because of how long it took to replace Bradshaw.

There's flaws with both thought processes. Side A thinks we can replace Ben easily because they don't know any better. Side B thinks we won't be able to replace him because we couldn't replace Bradshaw easily. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Look how fast GB replaced Rodgers. Look how fast NE replaced Bledsoe. Denver struggled for a few years, but they went from Elway to Cutler and now to Manning. The Colts replaced Manning very quickly. Then you have a host of teams that have struggled to find a starting QB, but these are generally poorly run franchises to begin with, such as the Browns, Cardinals, RedSkins, etc.

As we are a very well run franchise, I think when the time comes (whether that's now or 30 years from now) to replace Ben, I don't think it will take anywhere near 20+ years like it did in the past. This is now a passing league and success relies on having a good QB, and our FO will do whatever it takes to get us one. The game in the 80's didn't rely so heavily on the QB position so there wasn't a huge emphasis to go out and get one like there is now.

 

the day is going to come when Ben will have to be replaced. i know the Broncos, Colts and Packers all were very successful/lucky in finding a replacement for a great qb that was done, but they also got extremely lucky and some teams, most teams have to hit the bottom before they get that next great qb.

the Broncos have a great qb now, but they havent won a super bowl since 98. the Colts only won 1 with Manning. the Packers got very lucky having Rodgers fall to them in the draft. the 49ers are still looking for their next great qb.

Ben is still pretty young and if healthy and with an oline that can keep him healthy he can still be a very good qb that can as we know lead them to a super bowl.

you are right that some people that did go through that 25 year drought are afraid to lose Ben, but some of us like me, want to see a real viable option before i even think about getting rid of him. right now they dont have one. maybe they draft Johnny football and he becomes that guy, but hes not a guy that gonna step right in. heck Rogers didnt step right in. he had to watch Favre for a few years 1st.

im all for drafting a young guy that can sit on the sidelines and watch Ben and learn. before anyone says they dont want a guy to watch ben and learn from him. remember Favre and Ben are very similar qbs and Rogers turned out pretty good after watching Favre.

 

Stewart could do some amazing things with the ball in his hands, but I don't know if I would call him RGIII. With that being said RGIII has looked good this season, but it is still just one season.

 

Ben is still good enough to win super bowls. the team around him wasnt very good this year. they were hurt and they made a ton of mistakes and they looked old and slow at times.

changing qbs isnt going to make this team better. Ben is not the problem. like you said Tomlin_Era, over half the teams in the NFL have sub par qbs. the Steelers have a top 10 qb. fix the team around Ben and Ben will be fine.

 

I started following the Steelers in '72 when I was 15. I got to see the glory year of the '70s. Living in San Diego, I didn't get to see many regular season games. Mostly playoffs and, of course, SBs. Most of the '80s, I was working on yachts in MX. and couldn't see the games, so I was spared most of that decade's frustrations. I saw a lot of the games in the '90s with good and bad players.
IMO, in this era of fantasy football, it's real easy to just blurt out, "trade Ben" because that's what you would do in your fantasy league. In reality, It's hard to find a consistently good QB like Ben. Sure, he has bad games but, ask fans of the Chiefs, Raiders, Bills, Dolphins, etc. if they'd like to have a "washed up" player like Ben.

 

Just to pick up on that, Ray - also, while we look back at the 80s as the decade we were awful, we still got to the playoffs a fair few times, and were in the toughest conference there was in terms of other teams talents.

I will be interested to see what Tomlin's approach to QBs will be. Remember that Cowher never did much to "develop" young talent at that position. Problem is, our offense has become, at least this season, over-dependent on Ben.

 

i am 53 and started watching games in stadium in 1970. cowher liked game managers and never really liked QB's. or thought they were that important. that had alot to do with our QB droughts through those years.

i have no problem having a good young QB in the pipeline. two is better then one when it comes to that. bens hits are adding up for every year he ages. that time is soon coming. what would be wrong with a guy that could step in and possibly light it up?

just because alot of guys didn't over the years, doesn't mean we quit trying to find the next one or at least one that can step in and step up when our older guy goes down as he does every year.

 

i'm 43 i started to be a steelers fan in the middle 80's , the only qb i saw that made me think we can win was ben , now i will trade him only for a better and younger one (luck rg3 ,rodgers ), otherwise i'm glad to keep ben , the problem should come in some years and i would think about to have a losing season like the colts had if there is someone in the draft at that level .

 

I agree...the Ben Bashing is unreal. It took Steelers a long time to find a franchise QB and now we should get rid of him? Crazy.

I also don't think Stewart is any way near as good as RG3. Kordell was able to complete deep passes to wide open receivers because he had Bettis and a dominant run game to play off of.

 

kordell rg3 ??????????????

 

Ben is it. He is building a HOF career right before our eyes. A career has ups and downs, this year was our down year.

This guy has plenty left to prove and much football to play. I'm going to enjoy the ride but remember that I'm watching something special too.

 

I've been following the Steelers since the start of the '76 season. I would like to see the team carry Ben, Batch, and a young developmental quarterback next year. That said, though, how many "developmental" quarterbacks actually become superstars? It seems to me that the team will need to experience a truly awful season like the Colts did last year in order to someday "find" Ben's replacement.

 

Kordell had a season with 21 td passes and 11 td runs. better than Vick or RGIII had. i know RGIII has only played 1 season, but Kordell when he was allowed to be Kordell was pretty dangerous.

 

Ive said it a bazillion times, Kordell Stewart = Mike Vick. Both coulda been great but were plagued by inconsistency. Both would look like world beaters for 2 or 3 or 4 weeks, then both wouldn't be able to hit the broad side of a barn for 2 or 3 or 4 weeks. Overall and over their careers, they are pretty much equal. RG3 though looks to be a lot better...so far.

 

It's funny but I'm only 30 and Kordell is the reason I became a Steelers fan. I thought it was awesome that he could play qb and wr. When you're 13 and you play football on the playground you wanna do 2 things. You either wanna play wr or qb. He could do both and I thought that was the coolest thing I had ever seen in my life. People laugh when I say that Slash was one of my favorites but I think of him as the guy that introduced me to the Steelers. I even used to like Neil O'Donnel! I know Kordell didn't turn out to be that great but I still have a soft spot for him just because he was the guy that got me interested. Yancey Thigpen was another one that I really loved and on D Kevin Green was my man. I grew up a HUGE wrestling fan so I liked the fact that he wrestled too. Kids reasoning behind things is hilarious.

 

As long as we are on the subject of drafting a QB isn't this suppose to be another draft where it is heavy on defense with very few skill position players on the offensive side of the ball? Is there a lot of QB or RB prospects that could be considered 1st or 2 nd round material and almost pro ready?

 

I've got a Kordell rookie card if you want it.
He was ruined by trying to make him strictly a QB, IMO.
As for finding Ben's replacement, I'm all for it but, I don't think it will come through the draft but through a trade for someone else's rookie or PS guy ala Montana/Young.

 

I am 27 and started following the Steelers because my dad was western PA. I guess I was around 8-10 when I really started to watch and root for them.

 

Kevin Gilbride is great for Eli Manning, but he was the guy that ruined Kordell stewarts career.

 

Jerome Bettis said he thought Kordell was set up for failure. I just don't think Cowher would ever accept an untraditional scheme such as what Kordell sorta flourished in early in his career ya know.

 

i think we missed on those types the last couple of drafts. i don't see to many that are going to be franchise guys.

there are however guys that could be good backups that can do a few things well, like run and pass. thats the type that will be a good backup. a guy that can move the chains with his feet if the play breaks down, and it will for most backups. a game manager plus. they are in this draft. finding a 10 year backup isn't a bad thing when you need him.

we don't need a starter right now or a new franchise guy, but if he turned out to be one, hey good for us. this draft may have some of this type guys even into the UDFA picks. we just have to get them here and keep them here. if they don't work like dixon then we are that much closer to a ben replacement by then. whats the harm?