How's Ben doing?

[zulater]

I was asked this simple question the other day by a casual football fan who's a friend of mine and I really wasn't sure if knew how to best answer it. In the end I said, "ok, still working the kinks out, looks special on some plays, but overall not where he was last year passing wise, but making enough plays to help us win. Hopefully he'll continue to improve as the season goes on." To which my friend replied, "so has he improved so far?" To which I answered, "not really." lol

So where do you think Ben is at now, and where do you think he's going?

[Texasteel]

If we are grading by Ben's normal play, probably C or a B. If we are grading by how he is playing with all that has happened, and starting 4 games late, I would say an A.

Ben is still not Ben, completely, but he is doing everything he needs to better the team and himself. I'm not going to grade him as mid season, but as the start of the season since this is the start for him. He is still missing some throws, and made a couple of BAD decisions, but he is still Ben, and the defense has to plan for him.

[stlrtruck]

I gave him a B simply on the fact that at times he still seems a bit rushed and out of sequence. For a man of his seasoning, he shouldn't be this way after 4 games. He should look more comfortable. I think he also tries to hard to make plays happen instead of taking what is in front of him.

[Lambert_Loonie]

I voted C, which is closer to the grade I'd give him: a B-. He's doing fine, but not great. You can say "He missed the first 4 games" but for someone who's been in the league for nearly 7 seasons & has multiple seasons worth of practices, OTA's and games with his 3 main recievers (Hines, Wallace & ARE). Even mssing the 1st four games his timing with those guys should be impeccable (Wallace I'll excuse because he's just too damn fast sometimes :P ).

But, at least for Ben, it's still early. I imagine he'll be the Ben of old by Oakland or Buffalo and he'll be playing lights out for the Playoffs.

[BPS3akaWirels3]

He is not an A do to throwing some interceptions and not getting rid of the ball quick enough which has caused some sacks and forced fumbles. All, he needs to run with the ball more like he did in the Cincy game. He is known for doing that and doing well at it. Overall he is the man for the job. He is a tuff son of bitch.

[polamalubeast]

B

It is able to be better!

[Devilsdancefloor]

i gave him a C the INT to roy williams was a example of trying to do to much. he still has those moments where you can see he hasnt had the practice time. I do like the fact he was changing plays at the line to run AWAY from blitzes. I think he will get better and better.

[vader29]

C or C+ for now, but expect it will be an A when the season ends in Dallas with our 7th title.

[SteelGhost]

I say B. But I HOPE he plays better and convert it to an A against The Pats*

[HollywoodSteel]

I say C. I'm willing to cut him a little slack for what he's been through and the time off, but he's played four games and he hasn't been getting sharper as the games go on. I'm not going to even harp on the picks, but the picks that could have been vs. the TDs that could have been. Case in point, the under throw to Wallace that was a sure TD in the end zone if he had been on target, which isn't really hard to do with Wallace. Just put it in the back of the end zone. He'll get there. They way he threw it, it really should have been picked.

This is just one example of how he just doesn't look that sharp. And if you want to say that we have to look at it like it's the first couple of games of the season, fine. How sharp were Peyton, Rivers and Rodgers the first few games this year? Pretty damn sharp.

[zulater]

It looks as if the board is trending towards a B-. I'd probably be more inclined to give Ben a B, just short of a B+. I think he's done a great job of negating the opponents pass rush, making something out of nothing. Also I think his decision making has been improved.

They still need to get more coordinated with their hot reads, and routes. And Ben as always will underthrow an occasionall open deep target. He's ben better on that, but that's part of his D.N.A., something you just need to accept.

Still we have only seen glimpses of elite Ben, and if we're to make a serious Super bowl run think we're going to need that level of play from him. One thing I would like to see, that would be Heath Miller reintroduced to the passing offense in a capacity other than extra tackle. I know we have offensive line shortcomings, but Heath has the most reliable hands of any of our receivers and dropping him into the backfield to pass protect 75% of the time when we pass seems to be a misuse of his talent.

Anyway

[Edman]

C-

Besides the Cleveland game, Ben hasn't been that great. Call it time off, but it's been four games back.

That horrible lame duck pass in Cincy and frequent inability to move the offense has been a problem. He's gotta step up his game with New England and the resurgent Raiders coming to town the next two games. Ben has lost twice to two bad Raider teams, imagine how he does against a good one.

[Psycho Ward 86]

A-, he's doing great, but he's underachieving!

[fansince'76]

Ben has lost twice to two bad Raider teams, imagine how he does against a good one.

To be fair, he had his brains scrambled in Atlanta the week before the first one in '06 and really had no business playing in that one to begin with and it was the defense that shit the bed by giving up three 4th quarter TDs and made Bruce Gradkowski-to-Louis Murphy look like Montana-to-Rice in the second one last year.

I'd give him a C to this point, but he's actually looked better than I expected. If memory serves, Manning also looked like shit a couple of years ago for a good chunk of the season when he missed training camp entirely due to surgery and the Colts were sitting at 4-4 after 8 games. You can practice and simulate all the game conditions with NFL rejects and wannabes you want, but it simply doesn't compensate for missing a quarter of the season.

[Count Steeler]

His preseason is now over. Will be interesting to see how he performs this week. So far he has not been impressive, more of a game manager than the Ben from the last 2 seasons. I look for some extra passion from the whole team this week. Knock that chip off of Tom and Bill.

[zulater]

3 straight road games probably didn't help much either. Anyone else know that was the first time in 16 years the Steelers had to play 3 straight on the road?

[zulater]

To be fair, he had his brains scrambled in Atlanta the week before the first one in '06 and really had no business playing in that one to begin with and it was the defense that shit the bed by giving up three 4th quarter TDs and made Bruce Gradkowski-to-Louis Murphy look like Montana-to-Rice in the second one last year.

I'd give him a C to this point, but he's actually looked better than I expected. If memory serves, Manning also looked like shit a couple of years ago for a good chunk of the season when he missed training camp entirely due to surgery and the Colts were sitting at 4-4 after 8 games. You can practice and simulate all the game conditions with NFL rejects and wannabes you want, but it simply doesn't compensate for missing a quarter of the season.

Yeah the last two times the Steelers touched the ball that game they scored go ahead touchdowns. Ben was 10-11 for 166 yards and a td in the second half passing in that game. Kind of hard to lay the blame for that one on him, but it doesn't surprise me that Edman tried to.

[SMR]

3 straight road games probably didn't help much either. Anyone else know that was the first time in 16 years the Steelers had to play 3 straight on the road?

And we're now 4-1 on the road? Hmmm.....

[HometownGal]

I gave him a B. I think he's done pretty darned well having sat out the first 4 games. I think he's still trying to totally recover his mojo and once he does - LOOK OUT!

[steelerdude15]

I'll give him a B+. He has played well since coming back from his suspension and I'm as happy as can be to see him. He has made his mistakes like everyone else that haven't helped us, like the turnovers and things like that, but he is doing well and seems to loving every moment of it.

[steelpride12]

B easily. He is 3-1 back from his suspension and done a pretty good job. He has forced a few balls and made his fare share of mistakes, but he is coming back to the old Ben we know and love!

[IUSteel]

If memory serves, Manning also looked like shit a couple of years ago for a good chunk of the season when he missed training camp entirely due to surgery and the Colts were sitting at 4-4 after 8 games. You can practice and simulate all the game conditions with NFL rejects and wannabes you want, but it simply doesn't compensate for missing a quarter of the season.

Gotta keep in mind as well he was barred from even being on the premises, not just on-field. That means no watching film with your offensive coordinator, no talking to the Head Coach, no getting their opinion on certain teams, no hearing LeBeau or Arians dissect the crazy stuff, such as the Amoeba defense Cleveland has been running, etc etc., in addition to his off-field problems AND not getting practice time.

Missing preseason is one thing, missing 4 games of the regular season and not even being able to contact your coaches is way more debilitating. You're stepping into the season with guys who have already been through 4 games, gotta make you feel a little like an outsider.

Edit: And hell, I can remember people saying Manning was done and had lost his deep ball due to surgery, his accuracy was gone, and he shakey. Just no way he could ever recover from it...we'll be fine.