Don't blame Ben.

[zulater]

Yeah he threw a terrible pick but Ben was about the only reason we were in the game. How many 3rd and longs did he have to convert tonight? We had no running game. The supposed short passing game was a non starter. Nope. All we had all night is Ben miraculously converting one long third down after another, keeping a badly overmatched team in the game until the final 3 minutes.

[fansince'76]

Yeah he threw a terrible pick but Ben was about the only reason we were in the game. How many 3rd and longs did he have to convert tonight? We had no running game. The supposed short passing game was a non starter. Nope. All we had all night is Ben miraculously converting one long third down after another, keeping a badly overmatched team in the game until the final 3 minutes.

Agreed. The number of third and longs were ridiculous. Our offense for the better part of the first half was run-stuff, run-stuff, Ben pulling something out of his ass on third and long to move the chains, wash, rinse, repeat.

[polamalubeast]

Roethlisberger were unbelievable in 3rd down tonight

[Craic]

Thank God we went back to three yards and a cloud of mediocrity. I was afraid we had stopped being the Pittsburgh Steelers.

[Austin87]

Ben missed 2 easy TD's. One to Heath in the end-zone and he didn't even see a wide open Wallace late in the game. Actually I don't blame anyone for this loss, the entire team didn't play well.

[fansince'76]

Thank God we went back to three yards and a cloud of mediocrity. I was afraid we had stopped being the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Yeah, the return of Cowherball didn't work so well without an All-Pro line...

[polamalubeast]

at the end of the 2nd quarter, the Steelers played the no-huddle for the rest of the game

I not want to see the same thing of the beginning of the game to the next game

[Devilsdancefloor]

Yeah, the return of Cowherball didn't work so well without an All-Pro line...

QFT but i thought Dywer ran well when he had a chance

[fansince'76]

QFT but i thought Dywer ran well when he had a chance

Yeah, Dwyer had a couple of nice runs, but not nearly enough.

[tube517]

I don't blame Ben. Just wanted him to take his time on that last drive.

The defense got their asses handed to them. They made these no name WRs look legendary. (Yes, I know who the QB is)

And the rush defense was pitiful.

[tube517]

Yeah, Dwyer had a couple of nice runs, but not nearly enough.

Yes, too little too late.

[Edman]

Before you start demonizing our new cowherball, take into account the Field Goals we ended up settling for in the red zone after driving right down the field, not to mention Ben missing a wide open Heath Miller that would've really set the tempo for the game.

The Steelers were playing Keep Away, Slowing the game down, and keeping Manning on the sidelines. That's a good idea playing on the road in a very hostile environment, Unfortunately we wound up with FG's instead of TD's and the Defense couldn't stop a leak. 14-7 instead of 10-7 or 21-14 instead of 14-13 would've went a long way.

I'm not blaming Ben, he was the reason we had a chance, but it was a total team loss tonight. Defense didn't even get off the plane, and the Offense didn't execute in the Red zone.

[zulater]

QFT but i thought Dywer ran well when he had a chance

Yeah he earned the start next week against the Jets.

[zulater]

Before you start demonizing our new cowherball, take into account the Field Goals we ended up settling for in the red zone, not to mention Ben missing a wide open Heath Miller that would've really set the tempo for the game.

The Steelers were playing Keep Away and keeping Manning on the sidelines. Unfortunately we wound up with FG's instead of TD's and the Defense couldn't stop a leak. 14-7 instead of 10-7 or 21-14 instead of 14-13 would've went a long way.

I'm not blaming Ben, he was the reason we had a chance, but it was a total team loss tonight.

No doubt Ben would love that one back.

[HollywoodSteel]

Just to stir things up I'll blame Haley. The first couple of possessions were pitiful. Run on first and long, run on second and long every play. We didn't call one play action pass until the second half. We should have been making them play catch up all game.

[steel9guy]

I blame Bruce Arians for this loss. He was baaaaad tonight

[st33lersguy]

If the defense had shown up in the 2nd half, Pittsburgh never would have trailed. The defense deserves a majority of the blame

[zulater]

Just to stir things up I'll blame Haley. The first couple of possessions were pitiful. Run on first and long, run on second and long every play. We didn't call one play action pass until the second half. We should have been making them play catch up all game.

Good points.

[Butch]

While I'm not blaming Ben he didn't have a stellar game either. The pick 6, the missed TD to Heath and the him not seeing Wallace all could have made a big difference in the outcome of the game. He also forced a lot of balls he shouldn't have. This loss was a team effort nothing more nothing less from the defense to the offense, I'm not blaming anyone player or coach just a bad performance all around. It's week one we have plenty of time to improve.

[steel striker]

Ben keep the steelers in the game and, he did not have all night to throw in the second half like Manning did. The pick was one I'm sure he like to have back and, he tried to force that last one in there. All things considered it could have been alot worse. Atleast they made it a game considering the on the road and, the most bias announcers in the history of calling games Michaels & Collinsworthless should have been wearing the Bronco's color waving the pom-poms. I'm surprise they did not Peyton was walking on water.

[86WARD]

Some of those passes he was completing were ridiculously tight and in traffic. He played well for the most part...

[Moose]

It was definitely a whole team loss....from coaches down. Play calling sucked, execution sucked. And some want to do away with preseason games....LMAO, can you imagine what this team would have looked like ? !! hahahaha What a joke of a performance Sunday night, embarrassing. Denver owned us big time. They could do whatever they wanted, when ever they wanted. Their offense sits off the field for an hour, comes in and runs a few plays and scores. Lucky Ben didn't have a few more interceptions, there were quite a few dropped by Denver's CB's.

[GBMelBlount]

I don't blame Ben Zu.

It was our first real game with a new OC and a lot of people out on both offense and defense.

The important thing is how well we make adjustments after this game imo.

IFF this becomes a pattern then it is a problem.

[oneforthetoe]

I didn't have a lot of problems with play calling., We ran a lot early but we needed to keep the ball away from Manning so that makes sense. The only problem I had with play calling was on the one FG drive where we threw on all three downs. You have to run it, to at least get it closer, on one of the first two downs. Then, if you get the ball inside the one, at least you have options.

[zulater]

• Finding something, anything, that works on first down. They never gained as many as five yards until their 14th first down.

Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/2575607-8...#ixzz269h1zaLZ
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook

For anyone that wants to put a disproportionate amount of blame on Ben, because he forced a few passes. I think the above helps explains why he had to.

[Count Steeler]

While I don't blame Ben at all for this loss, we actually should have lost by more, I am getting concerned that the 4th quarter magic is missing from his game. He has not had a game winning 4th quarter drive since Indy last year. And some of the opportunities that have arisen, SB against GB and in Denver, among others, we looked completely disorganized and out of sorts.

Something is missing on this team.

[stillers4me]

I rarely blame Ben. He's usually one of the reasons we stay in or win the close games. Occasionally, he tries too hard and it bombs.

This one lies on the defense.

[GBMelBlount]

While I don't blame Ben at all for this loss, we actually should have lost by more,

I am getting concerned that the 4th quarter magic is missing from his game.

He has not had a game winning 4th quarter drive since Indy last year.

And some of the opportunities that have arisen, SB against GB and in Denver, among others, we looked completely disorganized and out of sorts.

Something is missing on this team.

Totally agree with this.

Something is missing and we both saw that last year as well Count.

Where is the focus and fire?

[Craic]

While I don't blame Ben at all for this loss, we actually should have lost by more, I am getting concerned that the 4th quarter magic is missing from his game. He has not had a game winning 4th quarter drive since Indy last year. And some of the opportunities that have arisen, SB against GB and in Denver, among others, we looked completely disorganized and out of sorts.

Something is missing on this team.

You know, I haven't thought about that, but going back, yeah, I think you're right.

I hate to make this connection, but I gotta wonder. After Ben "grew up" and got rid of the "Big Ben" persona, how many comebacks has he had? Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad for the QB we have now, and for him as a person. I'm just wondering if part of that persona was a cocksure attitude that helped him in those last minutes.

On the whole, I'll take what we have now, but it was a thought that hit me after reading your post.

[Craic]

• Finding something, anything, that works on first down. They never gained as many as five yards until their 14th first down.

Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/2575607-8...#ixzz269h1zaLZ
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook

For anyone that wants to put a disproportionate amount of blame on Ben, because he forced a few passes. I think the above helps explains why he had to.

I don't think anyone is putting a disproportionate amount of blame on Ben. In the end, he made one mistake, and there were two mistakes of omission. For a QB playing behind a makeshift line with a WR who sat out all camp and a set of RB's that are all good backups, but none are starters, that's not a bad track record. Heck, Troy probably had the same amount of mistakes. Adams had two mistakes on the line as did Leg. and they only played how long in that game?

I put a proportional amount of blame on him for not hitting Wallace on a fly route when the coverage was blown. I put a proportional amount of blame on him for not hitting that TD pass. Both of which would have changed the game and tilted it in our favor to win it.

However, I'm not even going to start counting the defensive mistakes. One side has to pick up the other when one makes a mistake. Neither side did that for the other this game. Even Tomlin's calls were wrong (in hindsight, which is always easier, of course).

(oops, thought this was a different thread... sorry to double post).