Going to be a LONG season

[that1guy]

Does anyone else have concerns that relying on Najee as much as they do (he had to have played 70 snaps) may get him hurt?

[Shoes]

Does anyone else have concerns that relying on Najee as much as they do (he had to have played 70 snaps) may get him hurt?

Yes. But the steelers did it with Ben early on and nearly killed him.

[that1guy]

Yes. But the steelers did it with Ben early on and nearly killed him.

Najee is the one bright spot , he is as much of a playmaker as we all hoped but it reminds me of how the Steelers overused Bell and that led to a serious knee injury.

[Mojouw]

Does anyone else have concerns that relying on Najee as much as they do (he had to have played 70 snaps) may get him hurt?

Sure. But that is what bad offenses do. They rely on guys that can create plays outside of scheme and structure. Until further notice, the 2021 Steelers offense is contested catches by Claypool and Harris doing it all himself.

[stillers4me]

You're kidding yourself if you thought anyone on the team is going to come flat out and say Ben sucks or they refuse to play with him. The young guys know what Ben has accomplished and are just trying to be good teammates. They want to have his back as much as they can.

Ok, making less money even though Ben sucks instead of getting out of Pittsburgh. Good plan.

[stillers4me]

[Dwinsgames]

I would likely bet the under on 8 wins as I sit here this evening after watching that display in ineptness .....

[stillers4me]

Tomlin is facing his first "losing season".

[Rotorhead]

People seem to forget that Ben was going to hit the cap the same whether he stayed or left. We weren’t going to get anyone better this season whether Ben stayed or left. It is what it is, and all we can hope for our OL starts figuring things out this season and heads into next season only needing minor upgrades. MR isn’t the answer, DH doesn’t look to be the answer some of us hoped he could be.

[Mojouw]

People seem to forget that Ben was going to hit the cap the same whether he stayed or left. We weren’t going to get anyone better this season whether Ben stayed or left. It is what it is, and all we can hope for our OL starts figuring things out this season and heads into next season only needing minor upgrades. MR isn’t the answer, DH doesn’t look to be the answer some of us hoped he could be.

Great point. Letting Ben play was always the only decision they really had for 2021.

I think that many fans took until this week to give up on the narrative that there was a way to cobble together a good offense for this season and this was a contending team. It was a great idea and they did everything they could in the off-season to make that happen. But they put a TON of eggs in the Ben Roethislberger isn't done yet basket.

[teegre]

Ben couldn't even read that last defense and picked that hot read to Harris for no gain on 4th and 10. He's a shell of his former self. When Watt gets healthy we will eek out some wins but the #1 overall pick would not surprise me at this point.

Bingo!!! A terrible decision on fourth-&-game. This brain fart is exacerbated when one realizes that Ben had a receiver open in the end zone.

But, that’s the rub: he’s not even looking downfield, let alone past his outlet. On that same series (the few plays prior to that awful fourth down), Ben should have been throwing into the end zone. That way, it’s either incomplete or a touchdown. Instead, it was dump off, sack, dump off… wasting 2 minutes of valuable time.

[Mojouw]

Bingo!!! A terrible decision on fourth-&-game. This brain fart is exacerbated when one realizes that Ben had a receiver open in the end zone.

But, that’s the rub: he’s not even looking downfield, let alone past his outlet. On that same series (the few plays prior to that awful fourth down), Ben should have been throwing into the end zone. That way, it’s either incomplete or a touchdown. Instead, it was dump off, sack, dump off… wasting 2 minutes of valuable time.

And that is how you know a player needs to hang them up. He is only looking for certain "safe" options. At some level, Ben knows that there are things he can no longer do.

[teegre]

Well I hope they have considered this at the start of the season. That 4th down play to Harris was just sick. I have to go back and look at the game but it looked like Pat Muth had a few steps on his guy in the EZ.

THIS!!!

[86WARD]

It’s both, you got a 39 year old QB that can’t evade the rush and throw like he used to behind a porous young o line.

mahomes was still making plays and scoring behind his crap o line in KC today

He was also throwing lollipop passes and passes behind players and deep passes near the sidelines.

[Steeler-in-west]

He was also throwing lollipop passes and passes behind players and deep passes near the sidelines.

your talking about Mahomes? He did mange to throw three TD’s.

I’m also not on board with this notion that Ben is automatically the best QB on the team therefore we have no choice but to play him, then what’s the point of having a backup? Only use him if Ben is injured ? I thought backups came in if the starter was injured or….ineffective, maybe the Steelers are going to wait until the o line has a good game to decide what the real issue is…..

[Edman]

And that is how you know a player needs to hang them up. He is only looking for certain "safe" options. At some level, Ben knows that there are things he can no longer do.

According to Stan and Charlie on the post-game show, Tomlin was asked about the pass to Najee on 4th down and his response was "we ran out of plays". I didn't hear the Tomlin post-game presser but I can't believe he would actually give that answer. If this is true, it's an admission and a scathing indictment.

[Mojouw]

According to Stan and Charlie on the post-game show, Tomlin was asked about the pass to Najee on 4th down and his response was "we ran out of plays". I didn't hear the Tomlin post-game presser but I can't believe he would actually give that answer. If this is true, it's an admission and a scathing indictment.

Yeah. I read that. The full comments are less damning. It was basically that the Bengals were loading up to stop X and we wanted to then do Y and there's only so many ways to do that.

Defenses never used to dictate what this team did on offense. Now they do.

And they're caught in between. The current roster on offense is constructed half to play "we're just gonna line up 3 wide and who cares what the defense does can you can't stop our guys" and half "whatever Canada's system" may be.

Welcome to the in between times at the end of franchise QB tenure.

[BlackAndGold]

I'm usually an optimistic fan but yea this is bad. I don't see how they can right this ship. Hopefully they don't wear Najee down but who am I kidding?

[hawaiiansteeler]

I'm usually an optimistic fan but yea this is bad. I don't see how they can right this ship. Hopefully they don't wear Najee down but who am I kidding?

same here.

our offensive line is offensive.