Yes, the superbowl quarterback is struggling. Everyone lately is chiming in and climbing on, "whats wrong with these Steelers?"
"It's very obvious; it's Roethlisberger," said Bob Trumpy, the former All Pro Bengal tight end who broadcast the game last weekend for CBS, "He's the guy who's the magic and he's being very careless with the football. He's not protecting the ball. You can't have a quarterback who is careless with the football." adding, "It's all centered on Ben Roethlisberger. You can't look anywhere else. I don't see Pittsburgh as a team making stupid mistakes. I don't see blown coverages or missed blitzes. I just see Roethlisberger playing this year like it was last year and it's not; that happens in this league."
Mike Butler, grew up a Steeler fan, he is a Pittsburgh native who served as a scout and personnel director with the Indianapolis Colts. He too has his opinion. "He [Rothlesberger] seems to be making some bad decisions. It just seems like he's off, something's missing," Butler said. "He's probably rusty; he missed practice time with the receivers, which is big. They have to do that every day, in my opinion, to keep that chemistry. In my opinion, it just takes some time." he adds, "Once you start losing, it compounds itself. Everyone starts pressing and then you don't play as well because you're pressing. I think it just takes a little time in practice."
Well I hope that Chiefs can help to nurture that seed of doubt that has sprung in the minds of so many, on the team, in the press and in the stands. I like this idea. Keep them all questioning, keep them all whispering. Meanwhile. Rothlesberger says his answer is all in the teams' mindset.
"What I'm going to do is what a lot of guys are going to do, we're going to start the season over right now," Ben said. "We're 0-0 and lookin' for our first win," said the All Pro quarterback. "It's going to be good for everybody in terms of getting everybody on the same page." He gets to the point... "There have been times when everything is going right, but there's always one play where it breaks down, one play that's killing us and biting us in the butt."
Doesnt that just sound like the definition of questioning himself? More:
"Guys are rushing wide, trying to keep me in the pocket," Ben said of opposing defenses. "A lot of the big plays from my first two seasons came when I got out of the pocket." He reasons. The problem is, his LT Marvel Smith doesnt see it that way. Smith chimes back with... "That might be true, but I haven't noticed it." It is Smiths' job to protects Ben's blind side and he has different angle on it. "I haven't seen anything specific like that, I mean, it might be an emphasis for somebody, and he's made a lot of plays outside the pocket, but I haven't seen anything like [perimeter players rushing wide] specifically."
Bill Cowher his coach is still scrambling for the answers too. "It's hard to pinpoint; there's so much that goes into it," Cowher said after practice yesterday. "There's the protection, the route, then the actual throwing of the football. He's just got to continue working with receivers to develop the kind of continuity that we [once] had."
Ben admits though, this is his responsibility.
"It starts with me," said the 24-year-old quarterback. "I have to make the adjustments, make the corrections."
My point here is this- things are in a bit of turmoil in Pittsburgh, so say them all.
I say, let Ben think he needs to get outside to make his plays, we got a coupla guys named Jared Allen and Tamba Hali who are licking their chops. That will play right into this defense.
No one, Palmer, Plummer, Smith or Leinhart has made a living scrambling out of the pocket againt this defense. But hey, Ben, you are welcome to try!
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