The *Official* Ben Roethlisberger Love Thread

[Lady Steel]

Haha! Haters gonna hate!

[hawaiiansteeler]

great pics, thanks for posting Lady Steel

[vader29]

[Lady Steel]

[teegre]

I soooo wanted Ben to get that first down rushing (on their final drive).

I also LOVED that he tried to catch a Bears DB on the field. Quick snap, spike the ball, kill the clock (just in case)… and get a free first down. It would have worked, except that that DB was actually only the 11th man (not the 12th man).

[86WARD]

I soooo wanted Ben to get that first down rushing (on their final drive).

I also LOVED that he tried to catch a Bears DB on the field. Quick snap, spike the ball, kill the clock (just in case)… and get a free first down. It would have worked, except that that DB was actually only the 11th man (not the 12th man).

I would have to watch again but the spot looked a little short of what it should have been.

[teegre]

I would have to watch again but the spot looked a little short of what it should have been.

Oh, his knee was down. It was still a play by a GROWN… ASS… MAN!!!

[EzraTank]

I soooo wanted Ben to get that first down rushing (on their final drive).

I also LOVED that he tried to catch a Bears DB on the field. Quick snap, spike the ball, kill the clock (just in case)… and get a free first down. It would have worked, except that that DB was actually only the 11th man (not the 12th man).

Well once you get past 10, you're asking for a lot in the counting department from Ben (especially with cleats on)

[DesertSteel]

In full disclosure, I think Ben has declined severely and stayed a year too long. But... I was just looking over league stats and noticed that Ben has thrown for more yards than Aaron Rodgers this season in the same number of games (8). That was very surprising!

[cubanstogie]

In full disclosure, I think Ben has declined severely and stayed a year too long. But... I was just looking over league stats and noticed that Ben has thrown for more yards than Aaron Rodgers this season in the same number of games (8). That was very surprising!

pretty amazing. It’s hard to really be objective on how he’s playing. He’s lost one of his greatest skills, scrambling and breaking tackles to extend play. It resulted in many huge plays and now LB’s and safety’s jobs much easier. He’s managing games well, but lack of big play ability seems gone. Not to mention run blocking still sub par so no running game yet. For being handicapped in those departments he’s done well but I feel what we’ve seen so far is our offensive ceiling unless O line really improves to open up running game. My expectations are actually getting a little bit higher though.

[Lady Steel]

[Lady Steel]

[Lady Steel]

Ben, you are a freakin' warrior! Coming back from COVID and playing the way you did tonight is no small feat given your atrocious O-Line. Welcome back!

[bayz101]

Ben, you are a freakin' warrior! Coming back from COVID and playing the way you did tonight is no small feat given your atrocious O-Line. Welcome back!

Tread carefully.

[fansince'76]

Definitely his best game of the season.

[that1guy]

1 win on the West coast .

[Steeler-in-west]

Ben, you are a freakin' warrior! Coming back from COVID and playing the way you did tonight is no small feat given your atrocious O-Line. Welcome back!

he’s lost his fastball but it’s sad to see a great QB going out like this, he just doesn’t have that much to work with

[Lady Steel]

[DesertSteel]

he’s lost his fastball but it’s sad to see a great QB going out like this, he just doesn’t have that much to work with

They scored 37 points The problem was the paper thin defense, aided by the many injured players.

[Steeler-in-west]

They scored 37 points The problem was the paper thin defense, aided by the many injured players.

the o line is pretty bad, they’re bad in run blocking and the pass protection was going to shit also. Ben had little to no time to throw. As far as the defense we had three guys out from last week: TJ, Minkah and Haden, and Haden hasn’t been that good this year so it’s not a big drop off from him to his replacement. we still had a lot of starters in there - it’s just that the defensive scheme looked questionable and Bush doesn’t look good at run support. If our defensive proficiency is this dependent on one guy we are in trouble

[bayz101]

he’s lost his fastball but it’s sad to see a great QB going out like this, he just doesn’t have that much to work with

I haven't really seen anything to suggest he's lost any "zip" on the ball, but I can tell he seems to be throwing with everything he has to make those throws nowadays. Which is fine I guess, but maybe not good long term.

[Rotorhead]

the o line is pretty bad, they’re bad in run blocking and the pass protection was going to shit also. Ben had little to no time to throw. As far as the defense we had three guys out from last week: TJ, Minkah and Haden, and Haden hasn’t been that good this year so it’s not a big drop off from him to his replacement. we still had a lot of starters in there - it’s just that the defensive scheme looked questionable and Bush doesn’t look good at run support. If our defensive proficiency is this dependent on one guy we are in trouble

One guy? 3 of our top 4 defenders were out not to mention we still haven’t recovered from losing Alualu. The “one guy” you are referring to has 12.5 sacks after half the season and missing basically 3 games and would probably be DPOY if he hadn’t missed any time (and still may get it). That is a pretty big miss, how many other teams defense drops off when that type of talent is out? Remember Troy P and how our entire defense sucked when he was out? Now add to that our best corner and safety, so we basically lose 75% of our pass rush and 50% of our backfield after losing the left side of our DL. No pressure and terrible coverage against one of the top QBs in the league, then losing our best offensive weapon on the second to last drive that started from the 3 and we had to settle for a FG instead of a TD.

[Lady Steel]

[Steeler-in-west]

I haven't really seen anything to suggest he's lost any "zip" on the ball, but I can tell he seems to be throwing with everything he has to make those throws nowadays. Which is fine I guess, but maybe not good long term.

he seems to be floating more of his passes, anyway that’s what it looks like. Maybe putting everything into his throws is effecting his accuracy at times.

[Steeler-in-west]

One guy? 3 of our top 4 defenders were out not to mention we still haven’t recovered from losing Alualu. The “one guy” you are referring to has 12.5 sacks after half the season and missing basically 3 games and would probably be DPOY if he hadn’t missed any time (and still may get it). That is a pretty big miss, how many other teams defense drops off when that type of talent is out? Remember Troy P and how our entire defense sucked when he was out? Now add to that our best corner and safety, so we basically lose 75% of our pass rush and 50% of our backfield after losing the left side of our DL. No pressure and terrible coverage against one of the top QBs in the league, then losing our best offensive weapon on the second to last drive that started from the 3 and we had to settle for a FG instead of a TD.

Haden, at 32 hasn’t been that good as this seems to be his final year. I would argue Sutton is just as good at coverage at this point. And through most of the game we kept rushing four with no pressure, as if Watt’s shadow from the sidelines was going to help generate pressure for us. By the time they started thinking about a little more blitzing they were already being shredded by Herbert with a score of 27-10. Too little too late. The guy was already in a groove with all kinds of time. Just seemed like a lousy game plan. Injuries should not be an excuse for a seeming lack of good strategy

[Rotorhead]

Haden, at 32 hasn’t been that good as this seems to be his final year. I would argue Sutton is just as good at coverage at this point. And through most of the game we kept rushing four with no pressure, as if Watt’s shadow from the sidelines was going to help generate pressure for us. By the time they started thinking about a little more blitzing they were already being shredded by Herbert with a score of 27-10. Too little too late. The guy was already in a groove with all kinds of time. Just seemed like a lousy game plan. Injuries should not be an excuse for a seeming lack of good strategy

I agree that Haden and Sutton are about equal, maybe Sutton is a bit better, but Haden/Sutton are our best CBs, and he was missed today. I also agree the gameplan was ridiculously bad, even stated that if we didn’t start to get some pressure in the first qrtr of the game day thread, that it would be a long night, and it was. At this point Shobert is our best ILB and Bush needs to start figuring out how to get his game straight before the end of the season.

[stillers4me]

[Crow-Magnon]

Ben had a good game last night. Is he the Ben of ten years ago? No. But he still balled and played enough to win. The Steelers D lost that game. Which I know is down several starters. I feel your pain.

[bayz101]

[DesertSteel]

Stats can be cherry picked by either side to "prove" their point. The truth is somewhere in the middle. He's more than you'd expect from a 39-year-old QB who's taken the most sacks ever. But he's not elite and the o-line (or OC) does him no favors. This should be his last year.