Switzer...

Seems to be true of many segments of our society.

 

Yeah these are tough times and I have found another outlet because I figured there would be a lot of people here and it would be a complete $hit show. Not really sure why someone has to complain about 9 pages on a player....isn't that what a message board is for??? Asking for a friend, lol.

 

I don’t think it was a complaint, just an observation on the times?

 

Oh ok I guess bad choice of words my me..........

 

Let's get this to twenty pages, I'll start.

"Switzer is under-rated by everyone but Ben."

 

How can he be overrated or underrated when he doesn’t even rate?

 

Kickoffs/punts are not offense. I said he didn't add or remove explosiveness from the offense. I have also never said he was a threat. I have said just the opposite. You're not saying anything that hasn't been said already, except for trying to bolster your opinion by misrepresenting what was said.

 

Thanks for making my point for me. I said I would be surprised if DJ averaged more than 20 yards over Switz. Your numbers say he was less than 10 over. Therefore, on average, DJ gave us less than a 10 yard gain in starting field position. Game changing ability? DJ and Switz are night and day. And as long as DJ remains sure-handed, he is a better option. Taking over PR duties ended up a good call based on his ability to secure the football.

Regarding the playbook opening up, that's why I questioned what our average starting field position was. If our average WITH DJ is less than the 35, which you say is the spot necessary to open up the offense, then he's not actually helping with field position/playbook. My point is that it is incumbent on the offense to move the ball, regardless of starting field position, and that an additional 9 yards on average is NOT enough to truly help or hurt the offense. It just isn't.

Can special teams turn the tide of a football game? Absolutely. Does a dynamic returner increase the odds of that? Most definitely. Therefore, DJ is a better option than Switzer. My concern early on was that DJ might not be as dependable securing the ball. He proved that he could be.

As far as the offense goes, Ben shouldn't need Switzer as a security blanket. Switzer was successful with an AB/JuJu offense because they cleared out the underneath stuff. Without wide-out threats, defenses can cover closer to the line and not have to double anyone. That nullifies Switzer's slot role and requires him to work more in vertical patterns. That's not his strength regardless of playcalling. Frankly, I don't see his value in the offense unless we got a consistent vertical threat to demand a double team, an offensive line to allow the patterns to develop, and a QB to accurately deliver the ball to that threat.

 

Ok so in short Switzer offers little or nothing to the team. That’s what I’ve been saying all along. Thanks for making my point

 

I've been screamed at by local politicians, including two mayors. The best part of that is one of them was angry about something written by another reporter. I've been thrown out of multiple locations by police officers. I've had parents flip out because I didn't write nice nice enough things about their children. I once had a young athletes grandparents chastise me in the parking lot by a baseball field because they blamed me for an error made by someone else. I once had Brendan Stai decide after a game that he didn't feel like answering questions, but instead of saying so, he got up, stood an inch away and glared at me. (Since he didn't say no, I asked him a few questions. He mostly grunted in reply, but I got a quote before leaving.)

This is just a very short list of the criticism and attitude I faced during my journalism career. None of it is unusual. It comes with the job. Any journalist who never pisses anybody off isn't doing the job right. I even deserved some of it. I'd have gladly taken more for a paycheck like Switzer's. I don't dislike the guy, but I have little sympathy for his whining about fan criticism.

 

Well, his time was faster than Larry Fitzgerald. JuJu, DJ and Washington are plenty fast to get deep. AGG helps in the redzone more IMO.

 

That is exactly where I direct my criticism. The Steelers wasted a roster spot on him last year. Think of all the talk of the loss of Fred Johnson because the injuries put the Steelers in a roster crunch. Switzer should have been the one to go.

No, I'm not one to let a slight go, but this is a message board, not my professional world. My skin gets a lot thicker when I'm getting paid to be there. I've worked in two fields that taking criticism, fair and unfair, is part of the job. This applies to journalism and teaching. It comes with playing football for money, too. You raise a fair point that some fans go to far, but it's not like I'm advocating saying terrible things about Switzer's mother. But if he plays poorly, and he did in 2019, that is fair game for fans to criticize.

 

You've finally said things that are totally believable. Thanks.

 

I knew somebody would miss the point and use my honesty that way. You were always the most likely to go there. This is a good place for it, too, given how bad the discussion of Switzer made you look.

 

Their top 3 WRs are 4.5 guys, they need a fast WR to take the top off of coverage.

 

To some people the 40 time is gospel, I have said before to those who keep talking about a burner that we have guys who get open deep a lot. Juju, DJ and JW can take the top off the defense and now with Vance and EE underneath things will keep opening up down field.

 

Yeah Ben made a comment about JW getting open deep a lot towards the end of last season and no one could get him the ball, so my crystal ball says he might be taking some shots downfield when he gets back.

 

Agreed. I think someone like Martavis Bryant can open things up as defenses respect his ability, but the guys the Steelers have can do that, too, as long as Roethlisberger is able to make defenses pay for not respecting them as deep threats.

 

I never saw Hines Ward caught from behind.

 

I generally don’t boo. I made one exception:

Michael Vick

 

https://247sports.com/ContentGaller...layers-in-40-yard-dash-115869566/#115869566_6

There is so much more than just 40 time.......where are they now??? The 24th fastest might not even make our team...........