Do You Really Think.......

........Ben will come back and be as good as he used to be? I'm not counting on it. He's old, beat up, and looks "done" to me.

 

he'll give it a go but he really needs to throw this offseason. that is probably why he got injured this year in the first place.

 

He doesn't care anymore he's just sticking around for the paychecks, you can see it on his face when he throws an INT, he just shrugs it off and says " don't worry there's a lot more of that coming my Ben fans"

 

I'd be shocked if Ben is the same. It's the elbow of his throwing arm that he hurt...by throwing the ball. And I hate to see it but Father Time catches up with all of us.

 

No I do not.

Let's be real, at 38 there'd be a question of how long he can play effectively even without the injury. The elbow now throws a big if on top of what was an existing if.

 

He's done. Rooney's will sh*t a brick because of the money they'll owe him.

 

Hard to ***** about a guy who has taken your favorite team to 3 SB's but I will. Impossible for Ben to play at the level we are use too. Hate saying this but he is going to hurt the Steelers and it's going to be felt for many many years.

 

Ben>Mason/Duck

 

elbow injuries are the most concerning for an nfl qb........ that said, even a 70% ben is 100x's better than what we have now

 

The days of the Ben who took us to 3 Super Bowls is over. We need a solid run game and better offensive line play. No one knows how his throwing elbow will respond. But he best start getting himself into shape and not round. I have my doubts.

 

Rooney doesn't care. It's the team you have to put on the field in compliance with the cap. The contract is a killer. Even if he and anyone else restructures this will catch up. Look at the Woodley contract. They had to pay him some 16 mill and he wasn't even on the team. If Ben can't go hopefully he retires and doesn't keep hanging on. Only time will tell. He is projected to start throwing in March.

 

This is the same people who didn't want to spend a couple hundred thousand to put new seats in Heinz Field so they care lol.

 

Hard to say but here is my opinion, an elbow injury is hard for a baseball pitcher never mind a football player. With that said no matter what happens with Ben I want a new OC, a QB coach and draft a young guy this year. If the Steelers feel Mason is the guy to be our #2 fine if not then sent him packing and get a vet in here at a good price as insurance. The whole reasoning on the OC and QB coach is even if Ben comes back how long does he have? We need an OC with a little something and Fitch is not it, he has proven that all season. We also need a QB coach to help these guys, every time they pan on the side line you see the QB's sitting there looking at the pics. I think they need someone with experience helping them, I did see fitch a few times but he needs to worry about what can work not helping a QB read plays. We need to have things in place in case Ben can't go not wait till he can't and go from there, that didn't work very well this year. jmo

 

Like NY stated, it is difficult to say for certain. Outside of Ben avoiding Tommy John surgery, we really don't know the specifics. That said, there is still too many unknowns currently regarding the entire offense and nevermind Ben.


First thing's first though; show Ramon Foster the back door.

 

His entire QB draft class may be done.

 

Unfortunately, I think Ben's career will end like Bradshaw's. He'll give it a try.

 

I think the best case scenario for Ben is that he gives a full season as a slightly better than league average starting QB. If the D stays strong, that might be enough. It probably fair to expect him to miss a few games, so if they might be smart to can get an experienced vet backup.

Ben has been in decline for the last few seasons. His rating, yd/att, %comp etc used to be around top 5, but they've dropped to top 10-15. And thats only slightly better than an average starting QB.

 

Carson Palmer had a similar injury, did not have surgery and said his arm responded well..that was Carson. I think your last statement is as concerning as the arm, if he shows up fitting into a Casey Hampton jersey he might as well volunteer for the IR again.

 

Pessimists you all are. I think he can come back and be effective enough to get the Steelers to the playoffs but coaching will stifle anything beyond that. Ben at 60% is better than Rudolph or Hodges. Can't wait for Camp when everyone has their Paxton Lynch love affair.

Surprised none of you are screaming to get Andy Dalton.

 

Maybe the other Fitzpatrick is available.

 

It's funny you mentioned Andy Dalton. I was on the Patriots message board to see what they were saying about their loss to the Dolphins. A lot of their posters were saying that Brady is through and needs to retire and they should sign Andy Dalton.

 

Not this year

Probably never again

Certainly younger Ben

 

Where is you optimistic view coming from? It’s not like he was hurt in a freak accident. He’s old. And next year he will be something like a year older.

 

I thin it’s fine to be optimistic or pessimistic about his chances. I just don’t get the 60-70% Ben being better than anything we may possibly see from one of the backups. Can you play with 60-70% of a elbow. Maybe he gets put on a pitch (pass) count...lol

 

That’s might thought on the elbow. Based on what we have seen, and he didn’t play well to start the season, it’s 80% or 0%. The only question is if and/or when it goes to zero.