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View Full Version : Kovacevic: Ben 'frustrated,' and who can blame him?



zulater
09-17-2013, 05:41 AM
The Steelers aren't very good.
They might not be good at all.
They might well be on the way to a swoon that takes years of smarter coaching and infinitely smarter drafting decisions to undo.
For right now, though, they're 0-2 after a 20-10 meltdown Monday night against the Bengals, an opponent they once owned, at Paul Brown Stadium, a facility they once leased annually.
They're 0-2 and can't pass anywhere near the new NFL norm.
They're 0-2 and can't run the ball at all.
They're 0-2 and still can't take the ball away on defense or come close to an opposing quarterback.
They're 0-2 with a chance to go 0-3 and 0-4 and 0-and-who-knows-because-it-seems-like-forever-since-they've-won-even-if-you-include-preseason.
Oh, it's bleak, all right.
When Mike Tomlin starts saying stuff like, “There's some misery that comes from the position we're in now. We won't like it, but we will wear it” … yeah, it's as bleak as a January in Jacksonville.
So why is that, out of all this, I mostly came away wondering how frustrated Ben Roethlisberger must be?
Don't tell me you didn't.


Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/dejankovacevic/dejancolumns/4711870-74/bad-steelers-jones#ixzz2f94NzsWL
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- - - Updated - - -

Nothing was more ridiculous on this night from the visitors' standpoint than seeing Markus Wheaton, the richly promising third-rounder, either watching from the sideline — sometimes along with Jarvis Jones, which is equally ridiculous but a separate matter — or gunning on special teams.
Never mind the obvious benefit to having Wheaton on the field rather than, say, spare tight end David Paulson, who in this game demonstrated not only that he can't block but also that he can't catch and that he can't hold onto the ball once he does catch it.
No, how about going with a four-wide set?
Or supplanting Cotchery, who looked every minute of his 31 years?
Did you catch Todd Haley's hilarious end-around play to Cotchery, the team's slowest receiver?
I asked Tomlin if Wheaton might be a bigger part of the offense going forward, and his reply was swift: “He will be.”
Better late than never.
Back to Roethlisberger's frustration: After Paulson's fumble, which the on-field officials incorrectly ruled happened after he was down, Roethlisberger rushed to the line to do the intelligent thing and get off a play. Only the sideline had other ideas and made substitutions that delayed the process.
Oops. Marvin Lewis threw the red flag, and the Bengals got the ball.
“That's always a collective thing,” Tomlin tried to explain. “Honestly, when you have those types of plays, particularly on the road, they aren't going to allow you to get up there and snap it quick.”
I'm betting most of the 64,585 on hand would disagree, given how slowly the Cincinnati defense was moving. Lewis threw the flag at the last second.


Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/dejankovacevic/dejancolumns/4711870-74/bad-steelers-jones#ixzz2f94e4WRa
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Steeldude
09-17-2013, 06:12 AM
The Steelers have the only hurry-up offense in the NFL that comes close to getting a delay of game penalty : )

ALLD
09-17-2013, 06:14 AM
They need to run the no-huddle the entire game and let Ben call most of the plays. The alternative is less than .500.

Edman
09-17-2013, 07:27 AM
If you are not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem.

Ben is just another part of the problem, as is Tomlin and Haley. He can sulk and pout all he wants, but I don't see him actually doing anything to help the team out either. Not getting on the same page as his recievers, not taking command. Not leading the offense. He is very much a part of the problem. He is not a very good leader.

This team sucks from the Top on Down.

zulater
09-17-2013, 07:32 AM
If you are not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem.

Ben is just another part of the problem, as is Tomlin and Haley. He can sulk and pout all he wants, but I don't see him actually doing anything to help the team out either. Not getting on the same page as his recievers, not taking command. Not leading the offense. He is very much a part of the problem. He is not a very good leader.

This team sucks from the Top on Down.

Yeah I'm sure Grabowski will turn the team around. :sarcasm:

NCSteeler
09-17-2013, 08:23 AM
Were not good on offense . period. I have a hard time faulting a D that has mostly done it's job without just as many players. Not getting to the QB on blitzes and only having 2 CBs healthy and we still only gave up 20 not bad at all. The sideline substituting on the fumble made me almost break something, how freaking ridiculous. Piss poor gameday coaching, been a problem for a while now.

NJarhead
09-17-2013, 08:31 AM
Were not good on offense . period. I have a hard time faulting a D that has mostly done it's job without just as many players. Not getting to the QB on blitzes and only having 2 CBs healthy and we still only gave up 20 not bad at all. The sideline substituting on the fumble made me almost break something, how freaking ridiculous. Piss poor gameday coaching, been a problem for a while now.

Me too. But that was nothing compared to how pissed I was on the tripping penalty after a 3rd and long conversion.

Seven
09-17-2013, 08:36 AM
Never mind the obvious benefit to having Wheaton on the field rather than, say, spare tight end David Paulson, who in this game demonstrated not only that he can't block but also that he can't catch and that he can't hold onto the ball once he does catch it.
No, how about going with a four-wide set?
Or supplanting Cotchery, who looked every minute of his 31 years?
Did you catch Todd Haley's hilarious end-around play to Cotchery, the team's slowest receiver?
I asked Tomlin if Wheaton might be a bigger part of the offense going forward, and his reply was swift: “He will be.”
Better late than never.

So... what Kovacevic is calling for... is Bruce Arians? :chuckle:

st33lersguy
09-17-2013, 08:55 AM
You can't blame Ben. What is he supposed to do with no O-line, no running game, and pass-catchers who consistently drop passes

NJarhead
09-17-2013, 08:57 AM
You can't blame Ben. What is he supposed to do with no O-line, no running game, and pass-catchers who consistently drop passes

I don't blame him for much, but he did have way too many over throws (high throws) last night.

steel striker
09-17-2013, 02:28 PM
I don't Ben for last night sure he missed some throws but, the Paulson fumble was really a game changer to me. Not to mention Ben had to hurry throws as well hard to get the out on time when the pressure is getting to you. No running game and, that tripping call really was a kick in the gut because, that would have set up things. Let's face it our offense is not any good right now and, the defense is left out to dry. You can't expect to win when the defense is out on the field for 40-50 minutes. How many three and outs did we have last night?

steel9guy
09-17-2013, 03:18 PM
If our Defense had time to rest because our offense was doing its job then the defense might be able to force more turnovers instead of constantly being on their heels and tiring out. Ben is doing the best he can with this bunch and I feel bad for him because he's an elite QB with no line.

HollywoodSteel
09-17-2013, 03:41 PM
You can't blame Ben. What is he supposed to do with no O-line, no running game, and pass-catchers who consistently drop passes

I don't know, make accurate passes perhaps?

I'm certainly not going to put most of the blame on Ben's shoulders. That would be nuts. I love Ben and the unique, sometime jaw-dropping, skills he brings to the table, but a truly elite QB does not squander the few opportunities he has to complete passes. Ben flat out missed on every pass over 12 yards; passes that Brady, Rogers, Brees, and both Mannings complete almost every time. I watched most of the ugly NE game against the Jets, and the Patriots receivers (the scrubs that were healthy enough to play who have much less talent than our receiving core) were dropping balls left and right, running bad route, and generally screwing up as much as a receiving core can. Edleman was the only guy who seemed to be able to hold onto anything. So what does Brady do? He throws accurate passes so that even if his guys can only hold onto half of them, they are all catchable... and that's why the Patriots are 2-0 and we are 0-2.

Everyone talks about how Brady would be awful behind our line. First of all, as much as I loath Belichic, he would never let an o-line enter the season that was this bad. If he had to coach them up himself and walk them through practices to correct every mistake, he would. But that said, Brady would do better than Ben, even with this o-line. So would Manning, Rogers, Brees, and possibly a few other guys in the league. I'm disappointed in too many guys on our team (coaches included) to count, but I have to count Ben among them right now.

zulater
09-17-2013, 04:10 PM
Here's something I heard on ESPN radio's Coach and Company show that puts our offensive struggles in perspective. Five individual qb's have more rushing yards than the Steelers have as a team. (75 yards)

Craic
09-17-2013, 04:50 PM
I don't blame him for much, but he did have way too many over throws (high throws) last night.

I noticed that as well. The week before, Ben couldn't be blamed for anything. This week however, I think he shoulders some of the blame. He missed passes he normally doesn't miss. Now, it might be that his receivers ran different routes than they were supposed to, but I doubt was the issue every time. I wonder if his mechanics are breaking down again and he's throwing off his back foot. He's had that problem over the years and every once in a while, has needed to get back to basics.

steeldawg
09-17-2013, 05:05 PM
I don't know, make accurate passes perhaps?

I'm certainly not going to put most of the blame on Ben's shoulders. That would be nuts. I love Ben and the unique, sometime jaw-dropping, skills he brings to the table, but a truly elite QB does not squander the few opportunities he has to complete passes. Ben flat out missed on every pass over 12 yards; passes that Brady, Rogers, Brees, and both Mannings complete almost every time. I watched most of the ugly NE game against the Jets, and the Patriots receivers (the scrubs that were healthy enough to play who have much less talent than our receiving core) were dropping balls left and right, running bad route, and generally screwing up as much as a receiving core can. Edleman was the only guy who seemed to be able to hold onto anything. So what does Brady do? He throws accurate passes so that even if his guys can only hold onto half of them, they are all catchable... and that's why the Patriots are 2-0 and we are 0-2.

Everyone talks about how Brady would be awful behind our line. First of all, as much as I loath Belichic, he would never let an o-line enter the season that was this bad. If he had to coach them up himself and walk them through practices to correct every mistake, he would. But that said, Brady would do better than Ben, even with this o-line. So would Manning, Rogers, Brees, and possibly a few other guys in the league. I'm disappointed in too many guys on our team (coaches included) to count, but I have to count Ben among them right now.

Well every pass is not going to be on the money but he threw some dimes yesterday, pass to sanders he took to the 1 yd line was thrown perfectly. Nice fade to moye in the endzone, the problem is there are so few opportunities for us because our receivers are not getting open. Ben is going to throw interceptions, he will throw bad passes as every QB does, but you cant excpect ben to be perfect just because the rest of the offense is inept. Brady is a perfect example if anybody watched their last game it was a debacle.

steeldawg
09-17-2013, 05:14 PM
If you are not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem.

Ben is just another part of the problem, as is Tomlin and Haley. He can sulk and pout all he wants, but I don't see him actually doing anything to help the team out either. Not getting on the same page as his recievers, not taking command. Not leading the offense. He is very much a part of the problem. He is not a very good leader.

This team sucks from the Top on Down.

Wow, what do you want him to do, throw the ball and catch it? I mean honestly what more do you want from the guy? Not getting on the same page as the receiver? The recievers should be getting on bens page he is the one with the ball. Not leading the offense, by doing what? What does that even mean? How much can you expect from any qb who has no running game, a young line , and receivers who don't get open.

SteelerFanInStl
09-17-2013, 06:09 PM
Ben and the receivers definitely seemed out of sync last night. They just weren't on the same page. It seemed like a number of times the receiver pulled up when Ben was expecting them to keep going, thus the overthrow. I also saw receivers that seemed to give up on their routes a number of times.

Count Steeler
09-17-2013, 06:13 PM
Wow, what do you want him to do, throw the ball and catch it? I mean honestly what more do you want from the guy? Not getting on the same page as the receiver? The recievers should be getting on bens page he is the one with the ball. Not leading the offense, by doing what? What does that even mean? How much can you expect from any qb who has no running game, a young line , and receivers who don't get open.

Giselle?