OK people...

as i sit here and read some of this crap as if charlie would of been in there we would have won i beg to differ batch has not even dressed this season.and this is the guy that would have come into the game and won? i dont think so pick any one of those hits lefty took charlie would have been done poor st play has finally done us in.but back to charlie if he gets reps this week then i believe we can at least salvage the next games without ben.

 

charilie should of gotten all the snaps this week. Charlie looked better in preseason then Leftwich. More consistened(sp) with his throws and running the offense. If you look at both of their body of work since they have been with our team, Charlie looks like the better fit.

 

I contest that Charlie probably wouldn't have been hit as much. Byron just takes too long to get the ball out.

How can you say it's crap? Byron couldn't move the ball, and was playing hurt. His best play of the game was a PI call.

 

Batch should have started the 2nd half.
Leftwich was ineffective after the first score where he hurt his shoulder. He was obviously in pain and not able to move the ball. After punting 6 straight times it was obvious that he could not find any rhythm.
Towards the end of the game it looked like Byron was in need of an ER ASAP.

 

Yeah, I think it was a BIG mistake to keep Leftwich in the game after he was injured. It cost us the game.

 

i agree charlie has looked better but really charlie hasnt dressed let alone practiced i just dont think he was ready but hey its just me

 

That's the latest I think it'd have been ok to put him in.

Overall I like the decision to keep lefty in though it was hard to watch.

Can't ask him to do as much as we did then pull him in the fourth quarter.

I like the decision to let Lefty finish

 

Wait, so it's "crap" that people say Charlie should've been in there, but you agree that Charlie has looked better? Maybe Charlie wouldn't have been ready, but Byron CLEARLY wasn't.

 

so u really think a 37 year old with no practice and has'nt even dressed this season should have been thrown to wolves(ratbirds) that's the crap/and yes he did look better 14weeks ago(PRE-SEASON)

 

I counted on a few of the snaps and it appeared that Lefty was only getting about 2-3 seconds before he had a defender in his face. Using a wind up, or not, a QB would be hard-pressed to get the ball out.

 

The why the hell is he even on the team if you're not going to play him when he's looked better than lefty?

 

I'd be shocked if Charlie didn't see any first team snaps this week in practice.

 

next to zero preparation charlie should get reps this week and be a viable option

 

thats gotta happen we are stuck betwix a rock and a hard place both batch and lefty are fragile we gotta get somebody in here asap

 

Not sure why everyone is assuming Batch didn't get any work in. It makes sense that he would have. Is there a quote somewhere saying that Batch sat on the bench during practice or something?

 

I'm not usually one for pinning losses on one thing. BUT - if there was one thing, it was their punt return for a TD. Besides that, their offense did nothing. Their defense was good, but not amazing. Without that punt return, we would have won. Won ugly, but won nonetheless.

 

I don't remember Lefty connecting on too many touch passes.

They handled the pass well enough but wouldn't have been able to stop a balanced attack if we had one.

We played right to them by abandoning the run.

 

In my Opinion, Haley has done a nice job keeping Ben kind of upright this season compared to years past. I know I say that at a time he is out with injury...but you can't keep any QB 100% clean...especially Ben. With that said, had Charlie started...I believe we could have used a similar gameplan we have been using with Ben...maybe simplified some though (Dink and Dunk if you would...or Drink and Drunk...whatever is your preference). I think Charlie is a smarter and more experienced QB and would have recognized several blitzes and hit his check down or even audibled to a screen in some blitz packages...I saw the blitz coming as a couch potato fan on 3 or 4 different plays and I don't think Leftwich did...if he did, he wasn't smart enough to check out of it. I think Charlie would have.

If I were coach...I would have started Charlie. I'm not a Tomlin fan at all...but he is the coach and I respect his decision to go with Leftwich. What I cannot respect is his decision to stick with him when he was clearly hurt after the first possession. Maybe give him another series or two to see if the pain wears off...but it didn't and he clearly under threw several WR's all night long because he was in so much pain that he couldn't complete his throwing motion and follow through. Typical Tomlin...scared to make a coaches decision in crunch time and it may have cost us the game and possibly the division.

 

In addition to Tomlin, Willie Colon (holding penalties to put us in a 1st and 20 hole week after week after week), Mendenhall (my 9 year old son was screaming to get out of bounds), Wallace (lazy, no effort, attitude, drops, fumbles, need I continue?) And Special Teams (Suisham excluded) are to blame as well. If you go back and rewatch the game...the last two Raven possessions, we needed good field position for Leftwich to have a chance. No rush whatsoever on the punter (do we have a punt block play in our playbook??? Would have been a good time to at least try...especially since Leftwich was struggling to complete his passes). Since we didn't even attempt to rush the punter (seriously...go back and look at the punt rush effort)...then we must be set up for a nice return. Either we suck at setting up a punt return, Rainey is not the correct personnel to return punts...or a combination of both...its both in my opinion.

I still put this loss on Tomlin. The holding penalties and personal foul penalties are a discipline issue and goes back to Tomlin. Mendenhall shouldn't have touched the ball the way Dwyer was running last night...and that goes back to Tomlin or Haley...but Tomlin could have piped in at any moment considering he is the head coach and said keep feeding Dwyer. Wallace should have been benched 3 weeks ago and not start until he shows he deserves a start...and that goes back to Tomlin and whether you agree with Leftwich starting the game or not...he should NOT have finished the game in the shape he was in...and that goes back to Tomlin. JMHO

 

They may start batch sunday against cleveland, if he can finish the game will be the bigger question, he's not the most durable guy around, so he looked good in preseason, so doesnt most QBs going against vanilla defenses playing without a game plan, but hey, give him shot to make the batch lovers happy, i'm good with that and then we can tear him down monday if he doesnt play well..........

 

Of course he has practiced, they all practice all year and with Ben out you know they had to prepare in case Byron got hurt! Stupid call by Tomlin not to put Batch in there at some point in the 2nd half, this never change mentality kills me!

 

Maybe, just maybe that is Tomlin's way of deflecting. He doesn't want to second guess his decision. He can't take it back. Someone must have said something on the sidelines, else why did Charlie start to throw? I think the reason Charlie didn't dress versus Byron probably has to do with his contract or the chance that someone else will pick him up. I can't imagine anybody other than Charlie starting this week. He knows the offense, he won a start last year. He'll be the QB. But if you are Tomlin, there's no reason to let Cleveland know that now.