Interesting Article About Ben Roethlisberger

Good read an I agree with the part about when his pre snap read is good he is very good in the pocket.

 

good read. i've harped on this for years about the reason he wings it so much. i also think with this line he won't have to leave that pocket as fast. he will have to learn to trust they can keep them off him longer. with the past line his mental clock went off much faster because the rush came at him so quick at times. he had to read on the fly because he doesn't read defenses quick to start with. now i expect he could have as much as 3 more seconds in the pocket to just concentrate on the defense instead of where the rush is coming. he should have a well defined pocket inwhich to work too. not just some resemblence of one that changed every snap, because he didn't know which of them was going to breakdown on this play. now he will have more to think about with the new offense , so this new line couldn't have come at a better time.

 

I always like reading Greg Cosell's articles. For those that have Sirius, he's on the Opening Drive with Ross Tucker every Wednesday at around 6:30 am. I enjoy listening to what he has to say, he knows his stuff.

Ben's never been a student of the game, but if he can ever master the X's and O's like Brady and Peyton, there's no reason he can't be as good as those guys.

 

In the article he says "I would submit that few quarterbacks have shown as much improvement over the course of their careers as Roethlisberger." "Gradually over time, Roethlisberger has gotten better and better." Hmmm. Sounds like a student of the game to me. Guess you didn't like this article. Doesn't fit your Ben hatin' beliefs.

 

The article was just fine, so don't put words in my mouth. I even said Ben could be just as good as Brady and Manning, that sounds like a compliment to me, not an insult towards Ben. I don't deny his talent, but to say he's always been a student of the game is wrong. He's improved drastically because he was pretty terrible for the first few years of his career. He's still not great when it comes to reading defences, but yes, he has dramatically improved. I expect Haley will help him get even better and over the next few years, I think we'll see the best Ben we've ever seen.

 

I read that article last night on NFL.COM and thought about mentioning it here but I just figured it would start a big fight over whether Ben was "good" or not. It seems that some people on here like him and some people on here despise him. I'm in the LOVE him group so I don't know if that puts me in a minority or not. But I agree with what the article said. People can talk about Brady and Manning and Rogers and Brees all they want to. But put them behind what Ben has had for the last 4 years and tell me who's great.

 

I don't need to put words in your mouth - I just read your posts. Here is a sampling: "I despise Ben" "It's frustrating for me hating a player so much who is the star of my favourite team" "Besides, as a Ben hater..." "I think he's a gigantic assh**e and always will be" "I hate him with a severe passion" I could go on, but the record is clear. You are a Ben Hater. It taints all your posts. If you are not careful, it will affect everything you do, gnawing away at your soul, eventually consuming your entire existence. Come back to the light while you can. Say this after me. " I love Ben. I really do. He is the best thing to happen to this organization in decades. Ben is a great quarterback. He will win many more Lombardis. I am lucky to watch him play."

 

The first year Rodgers took over as starter, his line was terrible. We have had a bad line, there's no denying that, but Rodgers, Brady and Manning make their lines look better than they really are because they get the ball out so damn fast. Ben has all the tools to be up there with Brady and Rodgers, but he isn't yet, and you can't blame it on his line. Elite players are always elite regardless of their situation. Ben has to be great every week, and can't have those terrible games like he is known to have every now and then. I think Haley will really help him get a lot better.

 

I honestly could understand having a problem with Ben's off the field persona. I really could. I could even understand having a problem with the fact that maybe he doesn't seem as assertive in pursuing the "knowledge" of the game. But when it's all said and done he's tough, he's a winner, and he's got his own way of doing things that work for him and obviously they work really good. Just ask the Ravens, Browns, Bungles, Cardinals, Colts, Broncos, Chargers, Jets, and all the other teams we've beat on the way to the parade in downtown Pittsburgh.

 

Yeah, I said all those things, so what? I'm still objective, and there's no denying Ben is extremely talented, but he has his downfalls, and the mental side of the game has always been the problem for him. Some players just don't have all the physical tools to get the job done, that's not the case for Ben. The mental side of it is the only thing holding him back from being up there with Brady, Manning, Rodgers and Brees. I really think a couple years with Haley and Ben will be mentioned with those guys. All that's missing is more consistency.

As for my hatred for Ben tainting all my posts, that's your opinion, and your opinion is wrong, period. I hate Ben as a person, not as a player, there's a difference.

 

I agree that Manning and Brady get the ball out fast. I even thought of that when I was typing their names. As far as his "bad Ben" games go Brett Favre was the same way and in my opinion he was great. Barry Sanders spent alot of his time going backwards and getting negative yards but in the end he also went forward alot and was very hard to tackle. I think it would be pretty hard to say that Barry or Brett wasn't elite because they had a flaw in their game.

 

But he never said Favre or Sanders weren't elite.

It's very easy to not like the guy and love the player. It sucks to have to do, but I have been doing it since the GA incident.

Ben can improve and most likely will. And none of the ever mentioned elite QB's would have as much success as Ben has had with the same o-lines. No way no how...

Ben was great from the moment he took the field and never losing a regular season game his rookie year and the best PlAYER (not person) we have had since Woodson.

 

Ben didn't make the transition that he should had based on his talent level. I believe not putting in the necessary work off the field is what kept Ben from making that transition into an all time great. Not making that transition is what kept the Steelers offense from becoming a top 5 scoring unit. People can harp on BA or the Oline all they want but Ben is the player mostly responsible for the success and failure of the offense. It's his job to make up for deficiencies on the offense. Going forward, Ben will be the player that determines if the offense will become a top 5 scoring unit. Will Ben become a more consistent QB or will he remain an inconsistent QB? We shall see.

 

Lets be fair there T.E. They relied heavily on the run game early in Ben's career and limited the amount of the field he had to look at in the first two years at least. That is a well known and documented fact. You have countless videos where Cowher is telling Wiz about taking the handcuffs off, or talking with Ben about the coverage he sees and corrects him when he is wrong. He also used his legs alot more in those early days to gain yardage and not for the "extending" the play as he has become known for. So yes while he was winning games as your stat points out, some of his play was down right ugly and he needed to learn to play at an NFL level. I don't think anyone can throw stones at the end result of his drive to win or his competitive nature but if they gave style points for wins he would be dead last which is why it is good that they don't give out wins based on style.

 

I can understand alot of people saying that Ben "holds on to the ball too long". Alot of times I scream at the tv myself. But do you think that maybe the reason he did that was because he knew that BA was gonna just stand back and let him play his style and just accept the risk/reward that comes with it. Maybe now with Haley he will be encouraged to just take what the defense gives him and not have to go for the home run. However I have been seeing some headlines on NFL.COM saying that Ben is not gonna "change" and is gonna "play his style" so we will just have to see.

 

Also for the people who seem to wish that Ben would be more "conventional" and more of a "pocket passer" I remember a very effective, conventional, pocket passer named Neil O'donnell. He threw really well from the pocket and did win a Super Bowl... FOR THE COWBOYS! I will take Ben anyday over probably every NFL qb in the league right now. He plays Steeler ball. He's tough. He aint pretty. He's not the best "student". He's not trying to be the valedictorian of the NFL. He just wants to win and so do I.

 

If Ben is not putting in the off season work, or mentally preparing for play, or is just plain not a student of the game then I hope to h@ll he keeps doing it, it's served us well since his arrival.

What has he done since donning our colors? What does the record say, has he improved or regressed over the years?

C'mon man!

 

That's not really a great point (though I know it's kind of half serious). O'Donnell didn't throw the game away because he was a conventional pocket passer. He threw it away because... well, God hates us, or something.

 

why does ben get all the credit for those early days? we had alot better line then. we had one hell of a defense that always kept games close. we had a good run game too. cowher was happy with a 3 point lead in those days. bringing up maddox has no relevnce. he was not brought in to be the franchise. ben was. cowher never thought of a qb as an important cog in the wheel. he didn't even want ben. winning with maddox and o'donnel shows they didn't need a high scoring offense to win games. ben did have a little more talent then those others did, but we also put one heck of a team around him. he also had some really good qb coaches that tried to teach ben to be a better qb. i still believe to this day that he wouldn't listen to them as much as he should have, because of his ego. bens early successs directly led to his big ego that has held him back in alot of ways. with the talent he has, his worst enemy is himself. while being very talented, he had alot of help to win all those games. he also could have been alot more, with all the help he had.