Blame Front Office for poor back-up quality?

Hell Yeah, smoke it hard boys and girls! Leftwich will light it up Sunday. Monday morning will be Leftwich "arse kissing fest"!

 

http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG...aring-1st-round-qbs-to-the-rest-of-the-draft/

this is the best i can tell you guys about the success of first rounders to guy taken after that. of course i'm insane i guess.

 

This article does not address the issue of taking a quarterback in a later round for the express purpose of sitting him on the bench and expecting him to come into a game at a moment's notice to backup the starter. It's a completely different situation when you're taking a quarterback as a potential to become your starter. I would love to see an article about the success (lack of) of quarterbacks that are taken with the purpose of being a backup. I'm going to bet you won't find many. The Steelers get it. They know that the best backup is someone who comes in with some experience under his belt - ready for the speed and complexity of the pro game - not a green former stud from a college program who isn't seen as starting NFL material.

 

if ben is out for 4/6 weeks why we still not brought in another qb ?

 

They should bring in someone. That Jerrod Johnson kid may be able to come in for the #3 role. Or - veteran? Seneca Wallace is available.

 

For those that think the Steelers are in bad backup shape....Just curious what backup QB's would you prefer? Where are they currently at?

HACK

 

Hack, my 2 cents on it is that Lefty and Batch are generally as capable as any other backups across the league. My issue is that we have two journeyman injury-prone guys who are clearly not our future at QB. It sure would be nice to have a young hungry guy (like Ben back on 04) who we drafted with the intention to be the future franchise QB. Then, he could come in and sink or swim so we can see what we've got. At this point, Ben probably has 4-5 more years at best and we need to be preparing for the future. Most of us were pretty damn worried and skeptical when a rookie Roethlisberger came in to start due to injury. Obviously, Ben proved that he was the future for the franchise and had the injury not occurred, we wouldn't have known and it could have been years later before Ben got the chance to start. This is he type of situation where you get to take a peak into what your future looks like and unfortunately, the future at QB when Ben hangs it up is uncertain and something that the FO needs to be preparing for now IMO. Lefty is as good a backup as any and at least we have a decent OC now who has hopefully adjusted the game plan to the talent he has on the field. Something that BA never did. Good luck today Lefty!

 

There are huge problems with "preparing for the future" with 4-5 years left for Ben. First - the Steelers TRIED that route before with Cliff Stoudt. It doesn't work. Secondly, even if you ASSUME it's going to work - anyone who would be envisioned to come in to take over after Ben retires isn't going to wait 4-5 years to get his shot. The Steelers are, as usual, doing things the right way. Veteran backups - and timing the future. Perhaps this injury to Ben speeds up that time table. Who knows?

 

Two issues here! WoW I remember when most of you wanted to tar and feather Ben out of town and now everyones in a panic..
Second those draft choices are precious we had a terrible offensive line and the defense was getting older fast. Some picks you just have to take if they fall into your lap. If this turns out badly the front office will deal with it ,they always do.
It's nice to see the passion of the fans on this board, best there is.

 

So, you're saying that preparing for the future by looking ahead 4-5 years doesn't work. Mmmmm-k. Hope you don't have kids in middle school that plan to go to college...

 

The good news is that Ben should be back withing 3 or 4 weeks. I pray Bryon can get us at least 2 wins. It will be interesting if the steelers decide to draft a qb to groom in next years draft due to the concern of another injury. I would assume the FO decision to draft a qb will be based on the outcome of these 4 games

 

Actually, I DO have a child in middle school - but I don't think that preparing for HIS future 4-5 years out has anything to do with preparing to replace a QUARTERBACK in the NFL 4-5 years out. First of all - 4-5 years for a 14-year-old is right around the corner. In the NFL, 4-5 years is as long as most CAREERS. It's an eternity. Second, my son isn't going to be expecting to go to college in 3 years, when he has more than 4 years before he actually has to go. Again - in the late 70's, the Steelers acquired Cliff Stoudt with the idea that he would ride the bench and carry a clipboard for a few years and take over for Bradshaw when he retired. Well - those of us old enough to remember THAT debacle know exactly how that worked out. Heck - we even saw what happened with "Slash" as he struggled to find a role and finally became the starting quarterback. The answer for Ben's replacement isn't a so-called "developmental" quarterback they should have drafted this year. Depending on how he comes back from this injury, the Steelers may or may not have moved up the timetable for finding their next starting quarterback.

So - please don't insult me by trying to compare the world of the NFL to real life. Of COURSE the Steelers have to have a vision for the next 4-5 years, but I don't think that vision is any different than their 4-5 year plan has ever been. I'm sure they have in thier mind the point at which they will need to acquire Ben's starting QB replacement. They have not done anything wrong by not doing it yet.

 

Wasn't trying to insult you mdbates. Apparently your skin could be a tad thicker. It is purely opinion. I stated mine, you stated your's. They don't line up and it isn't worth arguing about for me because I don't give a rat's ass what you think. Carry on.

 

The problem with your analogy Knox is you start preparing for their college in 4 or 5 years....you get them all through High School and have saved enough money to send them to college....then they come to you and say thanks Dad....but I am going to take the cash....and Mr. Johnson up the street is going to be my dad now....but thanks for the last 5 years.

HACK

 

That's a sad story Hack. That darned Mr. Johnson...

 

And that ladies and gentlemen is why this tread of started

 

You see Knox...its an analogy about free agency....Mr. Johnson isn't real...or is he?

HACK

 

I'm fine with Left going into this game if we went in with a run first mentality to limit Byron's limitations.

I think they tried to make Byron do too much in this game.

Dwyer/Mendy combo could have won this game for us....

 

Tonight Byron sure didn't look like a guy who used to be a starter in the NFL. Seems like Lefty gave us all we could handle when he was with the Jags. Whatever happened to THAT guy??? Would have been nice if he would have showed up tonight. And how bad has Charlie become if they still don't put him in there after Lefty gets injured. I am more than a little worried now about the QB position. I fell for some of the crap you guys were saying about our backup QBs and was feeling like we could do this without Ben for a few games. Boy, were we mistaken. We are in deep doodoo.

 

Just as I suspected. I asked the Steelers to get Charlie ready? Oh well
atleast AB will be back next week.