Blame Front Office for poor back-up quality?

Before the draft they had a chart of starting QB's and where they were drafted.....basically they showed that the majority of starting QB's come from the first round.....next...7th round and FA's......Most 2-6 guys never pan out. No reason to draft a guy in the 3rd round who is going to be buried on the bench.

and as was said....Many feel the Steelers have the best backups in the game. 2 first round QB's and one 2nd on the roster......Name one other team that can say that? (there might be...I didn't look)


HACK

 

It's good to see some sanity returning to this thread. I just don't see the value in drafting a backup quarterback when there are usually capable former starters available. If your goal is to have a capable backup, the best place to look is among former starters who are young enough to continue playing. Most of them are happy to get a contract, easily learn the system, have experience leading an offense, and know how to handle the pressure and speed of the game. Listen to the interviews with Luck and RGIII. These TOP drafted quarterbacks - expected to start and succeed for many years in the NFL, talk about the huge difference between the college and pro games. Most of it has to do with speed, but also with the higher quality of player at every defensive position. Now - move down the draft board a few rounds and pick up a player, plop him on your bench and give him NO experience whatsoever with any of the speed and defenses of the NFL. Watch your starter go down and then throw the untested guy into the fire? Bad idea IMHO.

 

I havent read all 51 or so responses here but Im sure I maybe repeating someones... Why didnt we take Colt McCoy when the Browns were shopping him for a 5th or 6th?

 

You guys would rather throw a young 4-5-6 round pick QB at the Ravens than Leftwhich?? Come on Leftwich is probably one of the best veteran backups in the league. Of course he's no Ben, but I'd take a guy like him who knows the offense and has been in NFL games over a young kid anyday. BTW did you know Lefty was actually drafted higher than Ben.

 

Todd Marinovich was also drafted higher than Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Brett Farve......Where they were drafted has nothing to do with it.

 

i would take seneca wallace that was better than mccoy and cost nothing as a 3rd qb if ben is out for more than 5 weeks

 

This was my thought as well. But as it turns out the front office felt differently than we do.

 

Well the Browns kept McCoy and cut Wallace. That tells me McCoy was better. Anyone pick up Wallace? Maybe Wallmart!!

 

Steelers of the last 2 decades seem to like the veteran back-up former starters as opposed to the young late round draft pick.

They probably should have gotten rid of Charlie 2 or 3 years ago, but Byron keeps on getting hurt.

 

they kept mccoy because is younger i saw a lot browns games (to root against) and for me wallace was better , he played well in seattle too , now the only problem he is injurie prone thats why nobody pick him up , but for 5 games maybe he can stay healthy

 

5 games?? Thats almost a third of a season....Really you want Wallace over McCoy? Sorry but think we have to agree to disagree.....

 

I do agree that Batch's knowledge is extremely valuable! i think he has helped Ben be the great QB he is. I really hope he gets involved with coaching after his career! Preferably for the Steelers

 

WAIT..... Are you insinuating that we should FIRE MIKE TOMLIN IMMEDIATELY..... AFTER CHARLIE BATCH RETIRES???? LOL.

 

Leftwich is our starting Quarterback and im rolling with him he's got my full suport he's gonna surprise you guys on Sunday "Get em Lefty"

 

Obviously they can't, or do they understand logic LOL.

 

It's preferable and probably more logical to have a backup that had playing experience then to draft a QB in the 3rd round to sit on the bench for years and gain very little or no starting experience. Starting experience appears to matter. Especially at the QB position. If I were a player or coach, I'd prefer and feel more comfortable starting a QB that started in the league then a QB that rarely played. One reason why many veteran QB's stick around for as long as they do is because they had starting experience at some point.

 

i was hoping for Yates especially where he was drafted it could jst be the Tarheel in me tho

he diid a great job coming in last year and he has a huge upside

 

We also won a game where Lefty came in to fill in for an injured BR.. Scored 2 TDs. I believe it was 2008 but I dont recall the team

Bman

 

Back-ups are called that for a reason. When a QB goes down it's usually for "part" of a game and in this scenario you really really need a QB to come in and NOT mess it up with dumb decisions and cost you the game but with limited snaps in practice can still perform at a high level. Here you want a Vet.

If the QB goes down for a couple games you need someone who knows the playbook in and out and the gameplan and with a few more snaps during the week the falloff at that position is minimum as can be. Here a vet is also desired.

Having a young draftee as a back-up is very risky. But with high risk can come high rewards also. If your Franchise QB goes down and that youngster come in and lights it up you have a problem, good and bad. Good being he can become your new Franchise QB or can be traded for more and/or higher draft picks that were spent on him to upgrade the team as a whole. Bad he can divide the team, lockerroom chaos, QB controversy rarely works out until one leaves.

You almost have to have a QB backup that is a VET. Its good business sense. You should also periodically ( once every 3-4 drafts ) draft a QB to develop. We did that with Dixon and he didn't work out. I wanted R. Wilson in latter rds this past draft. I thought he would fall due to his height. He just didn't fall far enough for us, which is best for him. We brought in Johnson who I thought competed well but as a reminder to all, first step is getting here. Second step they still must beat out the vets which speaks highly of our vets.

We can with either of our back-ups and as Tomlin-era correctly stated, we have the best back-ups in the NFL. Name another team that has TWO back-ups better than the Steelers. Naming one is not easy but can be done but one back-up is good a a partial game. What happens when he goes down-----Season over!!! We keep going because of our Front Office and the foresight to have the best equiped team top to bottom. One key injury should not stop this team, and hasn't.

Cajun-

 

I didn't read any of these three pages, but.... we have poor backup quality?

I like Leftwich just fine, and I think Charlie Batch as a #3 is pretty damn awesome. In addition, I imagine Haley will be better at making adjustments to the QB than Arians was.

 

If Flacco ever goes down the rats will be in a world of hurt, the only backup QB they have is Tyrod Taylor who they drafted last year from Va Tech who hasd never started a game and looked lost in preseason..Just maybe we can get him in the game sunday, ya think???

 

Not hoping for it, but just maybe if it happens, it will convince the insane individuals who think we should have untested young backups on the roster at the QB position that their opinions are probably a little farfetched.

 

insane? what a richard cranium.