Roethlisberger is Digest Player of the Week

[stillers4me]

It was the seventh-coldest game in franchise history, but Ben Roethlisberger (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/team/roster/ben-roethlisberger/54dda34e-9e43-4c57-9397-1143ddced5d6/) was playing as though it was a perfect afternoon for football.

Roethlisberger completed 22-of-34 for 217 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, for a rating of 102.21. Not only did Roethlisberger protect the football flawlessly in an afternoon when the Steelers did not turn the ball over, he also did not take a sack.

Roethlisberger is the Steelers Digest Player of the Week.

Also considered were William Gay (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/team/roster/william-gay/1a5771c1-6fa2-4076-94a2-44fef5695d61/), who had three tackles, one sack, one forced fumble, and one interception that he returned for a touchdown to give the Steelers a 27-3 lead in the fourth quarter; Troy Polamalu (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/team/roster/troy-polamalu/1b1010ec-73b6-414d-88ee-72dbd9b48597/), who had four tackles, one sack, and two forced fumbles; Antonio Brown (http://www.steelersuniverse.com/team/roster/antonio-brown/859114e9-d70b-477b-8eaf-6f34bb1ffc03/), who caught six passes for 92 yards plus a touchdown in going over 1,000 yards receiving for the year; and Le’Veon Bell, who had 80 yards rushing on 23 carries, plus another 18 on two catches.

http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/Roethlisberger-is-Digest-Player-of-the-Week/e6b79df7-8609-44a4-91f6-52ad7036fb38

[siss]

We should still trade him....

(/sarcasm)

[Dwinsgames]

We should still trade him....

(/sarcasm)

we should ( no sarcasm ) provided we can get a wealth of picks .....

[ALLD]

In another thread there were advocates for other players. The common thread I saw was BB who protected the ball and field position which gave both crews the best opportunity to win the game.

Ben made some good really good throws, but his game management is what won the game if you had to choose one element. The D also played most of the game and did not do the vanishing act in the second quarter like last week and the first half of the season. They were led by #43 who was on fire.

[Mistah Q]

Ben is great if you:

1) Have some semblance of a run game
2) don't ask him to throw 30+ times a game

We're running the ball pretty decent right now. At one point Ben was throwing for 72% but he finished the game 1 for 5 while we threw in several bad runs for good measure.

Still I'm not even close to convinced that he's worth such a large percentage of our salary cap, especially the way we pushed back and restructured. And Ben is getting up their in years and bodily abuse taken... he doesn't have too many seasons left. Can this team with its cap hell deliver a championship in his remaining years? Two weeks ago I would have said no. Now I'm still leaning toward no, but if this Beachum-Velasco miracle keeps working out, they stay healthy, and we get ourselves a real LG... maybe.

I would still trade him if we got, as D said, a wealth of draft picks. The more likely option though is probably an extension... it's the only way to really relieve the cap pressure, I don't imagine any team crazy enough to take on the cap mess we've created, and it's probably not worth the trade if we're just going to eat that much dead money. But if the offer does come through... you do it.

[GoSlash27]

I'm gonna have a Kanye West moment here...

Congrats to Big Ben, who played a big game and even pulled off a nifty pooch-punt. Ben deserves kudos for it and I don't want to detract from it, *BUT*....

Troy Polamalu deserves this honor IMO. 4 tackles, 1 sack, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, and darn- near an interception. He was in "beast mode" today, and if there's one player who you could point at and say "that guy's responsible for this win", I believe it'd be Troy.

[X-Terminator]

Ben is great if you:

1) Have some semblance of a run game
2) don't ask him to throw 30+ times a game

We're running the ball pretty decent right now. At one point Ben was throwing for 72% but he finished the game 1 for 5 while we threw in several bad runs for good measure.

Still I'm not even close to convinced that he's worth such a large percentage of our salary cap, especially the way we pushed back and restructured. And Ben is getting up their in years and bodily abuse taken... he doesn't have too many seasons left. Can this team with its cap hell deliver a championship in his remaining years? Two weeks ago I would have said no. Now I'm still leaning toward no, but if this Beachum-Velasco miracle keeps working out, they stay healthy, and we get ourselves a real LG... maybe.

I would still trade him if we got, as D said, a wealth of draft picks. The more likely option though is probably an extension... it's the only way to really relieve the cap pressure, I don't imagine any team crazy enough to take on the cap mess we've created, and it's probably not worth the trade if we're just going to eat that much dead money. But if the offer does come through... you do it.

You DO NOT...DO NOT...trade your franchise QB for anything, PERIOD. And certainly not for a bunch of draft picks that are more likely to not pan out. Sorry, but that is just stupid. Giving him a cap-friendly extension like the Ravens gave Unibrow is absolutely what they should do.

BTW - 45 passes last week, 34 this week, 2 Ws. Can we please stop this argument that the Steelers can't win if Ben has to throw 30 times?

[zulater]

Ben is great if you:


2) don't ask him to throw 30+ times a game



This again? :frusty: You are aware he's thrown 30 or more passes in 4 out of 5 of this seasons wins?

[Mistah Q]

Never said the Steelers couldn't win - but that we shouldn't use Ben as a high volume passer

He finished today's game 1 for 5
Last week against Detroit he threw 45 attempts; he was great in the first half but he finished the second half somewhere around 50%

[zulater]

Never said the Steelers couldn't win - but that we shouldn't use Ben as a high volume passer

He finished today's game 1 for 5
Last week against Detroit he threw 45 attempts; he was great in the first half but he finished the second half somewhere around 50%

He played to the game situation. Protecting the lead and the ball was all that mattered when he went 1-5. Last week when the 4th quarter mattered he played his best.

[GoSlash27]

He played to the game situation. Protecting the lead and the ball was all that mattered when he went 1-5. Last week when the 4th quarter mattered he played his best.

'Zackly. Zu and I don't agree on a whole lot, but we agree on this. The game dictates how often we throw. We try to keep it balanced because that balance creates uncertainty that helps us, but when the situation calls for us to let that go then we let it go.
"30" is an arbitrary number. If we've done 30 passes and we need a 2 minute drive to win, then it would be idiotic to call all running plays due to some nonsense quota.

[zulater]

Ben Roethlisberger threw often enough early, and especially on first down, to give the offense a boost on a cold, windy day. Not only did he throw two touchdowns, he completed 16 of 23 passes for 171 yards in the first half that helped build a 13-3 lead. And, for the second game in a row and fourth time this season, he did not have a turnover. His second-quarter stretch when he completed 10 of 12 passes for 114 yards turned around the game.



Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/Steelers-Report-Card/2013/11/25/REPORT-CARD-TODAY-S-TEAM-GRADE-GERRY-DULAC-grades-the-Steelers-effort-Sunday-in-a-victory-against-Cleveland/stories/201311250084#ixzz2lecycF2K


Even though they rushed a season-high 34 times, the Steelers threw just as many times on a day when the windy, cold conditions weren't conducive to passing. And, whether by design or not, they were intent on throwing on first down. Of their 23 first-down opportunities in the first three quarters, Ben Roethlisberger threw on 17 of them, or 74 percent of the time. He completed 13 of those passes for 146 yards and two touchdowns. "Our game plan was to run heavy early," Roethlisberger said. "But we also said let's get into our offense and not rely strictly on the run game."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2013/11/25/Gerry-Dulac-s-Two-Minute-Drill-Steelers-vs-Browns-2/stories/201311250079#ixzz2lefZVH7i

This goes to what I've pointed out on the other thread concerning Ben and the so called magic threshold of 29 passes. Ben only had 7 second half pass attempts yesterday. But no more were needed, so the causation point comes into play. Ben helped build the lead with his arm. So the 30 pass attempt ceiling is fallacy.