Steelers Talk

[BuckNutty]

The truth about Big Ben

By Joe Starkey
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, September 7, 2006


Can the most successful third-year quarterback in NFL history -- a quarterback who loses a game about as often as he loses an appendix -- possibly be underrated?
Yes, and thank you for asking.

Actually, underappreciated might be the more appropriate term for Ben Roethlisberger, who will miss tonight's opener against the Miami Dolphins on account of his emergency appendectomy Sunday.

The Steelers will not crumble in his absence. Tommy Maddox doesn't live here anymore, so as long as Charlie Batch stays upright, the club should be able to survive even a couple of games without Big Ben.

At worst, they'll split.

But let's not kid ourselves. Roethlisberger is the Steelers' best player. He's the main reason the franchise snapped that pesky, 25-year Super Bowl drought, and he's the biggest key to winning it all again.

He's also one of the top five quarterbacks in football, and I'm not sure I'd rather have anyone else if I needed to win, say, a playoff game in Denver.

What's amazing is that so few people would agree with me.

What's even more amazing is that so many people still consider Roethlisberger to be more a function of the Steelers' system than anything else.

Take Sports Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman -- aka Dr. Z -- who is very good but who deserves an 'F' for his recent assessment of Big Ben. The subject matter was active quarterbacks who might be first-ballot Hall of Famers. Dr. Z began with Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer, Brett Favre and Roethlisberger.

So far, so good. But in differentiating between Palmer and Roethlisberger, the 'Z Man' writes, "I like Palmer's chances better. He seems to carry the team, whereas Roethlisberger, as effective as he is, is more a product of the system."

How many times have you heard that in the past two years? It's right up there with the line that goes, "The Steelers don't ask Roethlisberger to do too much."

Unless you include the part about them asking him to carry them to the Super Bowl, that is.

Remember, the Steelers' running game wasn't working all that well during the historic run through Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver. So, they put their trust in Roethlisberger. They came out passing in all three games, and all he did was ring up the fourth-best three-game playoff passer rating (125.8) in NFL history.

Behind some guys named Montana, Simms and Aikman.

It's true that the Steelers system fits Roethlisberger's talents, and that he's lucky to have so much talent around him. But couldn't the same be said of every great quarterback? The West Coast offense and throwing to Jerry Rice kind of fit Joe Montana's skill set, wouldn't you say?

What's also true of Roethlisberger is that he does some of his best work when "the system" breaks down.

Remember that touchdown pass just before the half in the AFC title game, the one where he scrambled away from pressure and lofted a ball just over 20 Broncos fingertips, to Hines Ward in the back of the end zone? That wasn't in the game plan. Neither was a similar, Elway-like scramble-and-chuck to Ward in the Super Bowl.

You know, the one where Roethlisberger straddled the line of scrimmage before heaving a cross-field cannon shot.

How many other quarterbacks make that play?

Roethlisberger is stunningly efficient, and it's not as if he dinks and dunks his way down the field. He led the NFL in two telling categories last season -- yards per attempt and touchdown percentage.

He obviously had a bad Super Bowl, but, like a pitcher without his best stuff, he battled and stayed in the game. Besides the big pass to Ward, he ran for a touchdown, threw a key block on the gadget-play touchdown and turned a broken play into a first down when the Steelers were running out the clock.

In other words, he found ways to help his team win the game, which is what a complete football player does. And which no quarterback in the NFL does better. Roethlisberger's career record stands at 27-4.

Yeah, 27-4.

Joe Starkey is a sports writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He can be reached at jstarkey@tribweb.com

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_469165.html

[BuckNutty]

Batch of trouble? Steelers hope backup QB can get them past Dolphins

By The Associated Press
Thursday, September 7, 2006


The Pittsburgh Steelers play their first game that counts since winning the Super Bowl. Finally, the player who received the biggest signing bonus on the club gets to show what he can do.
Rookie receiver Santonio Holmes? Newly signed cornerback Ike Taylor? Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward?

No. How about backup quarterback Charlie Batch -- who, except for two winning spot starts last season -- often is one of the least-seen players on a most-visible team that has gone an NFL-best 26-6 the last two seasons?

Batch couldn't ask for a much bigger stage this time as he fills in Thursday night for out-of-action quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in the NFL's season-opening game against the Miami Dolphins. Batch once helped the Lions make the playoffs, but still calls this the biggest game of his career.

It's not because Batch gets to go against former elementary school classmate Jason Taylor, the Dolphins' star defensive lineman, for the first time since both played college ball in the Mid-American Conference.

"I'm really looking forward to this because I haven't been able to take part in an opener for a while," said Batch, whose last such start came with Detroit in 2001. "I'm excited, I really am."

The Steelers won their final four in the regular season and four more in the playoffs to win their first Super Bowl in 26 years, but Batch threw exactly one pass in those games. He wouldn't be starting this one if Roethlisberger hadn't needed an emergency appendectomy on Sunday, forcing him to miss at least one game.

That's why it may be easy to forget Batch was once seen as one of the NFL's best young quarterbacks, one good enough that the Lions gave him a $10 million signing bonus before the 2000 season. To this day, that's about $1 million more than any Steelers player has gotten.

"He's pretty athletic. He knows their offense well," Dolphins coach Nick Saban said of Batch. "They are not as quarterback oriented an offensive team (as some other teams). They run the ball really effectively. They have a really good play-action game."

The Dolphins were as quarterback oriented as any team when Dan Marino ran the show, but they haven't had a Pro Bowl QB since him -- until now. Daunte Culpepper missed the Vikings' final nine games last season with three torn knee ligaments, but has returned months earlier than expected and with a new team.

Quarterback play is always important in deciding an NFL winner, but especially so in this opener. If Culpepper can get into a rhythm early with his receivers against one of the NFL's toughest defenses -- the Steelers have nine of 11 defensive starters back from February -- it might force Batch to throw more than coach Bill Cowher would like.

One important matchup is Ike Taylor, who signed a $22.5 million contract only last week, against Dolphins receiver Chris Chambers, who had 82 catches for 1,118 yards and 11 touchdowns last season.

The Steelers would prefer to get the lead early, then turn running back Willie Parker loose on the outside against a Miami defense that excels in the pass rush but might be vulnerable against a runner with the speed Parker possesses.

"Their defense is playing with a lot of confidence now because they ended the regular season on a heck of a win streak," Batch said. "When you come into the next year with a lot of experience, and still have a lot of your guys back, it makes for a tough test for us."

Maybe, though, tougher still for the Dolphins, who probably would prefer to open the season against an opponent other than the returning Super Bowl champion in its home stadium.

Not that Jason Taylor, who grew up watching the Steelers and understands how Pittsburgh embraces them, expects the atmosphere and opening-night pageantry to have much influence on the outcome.

"What's the difference? We don't watch the (pregame) concert," he said. "We will go out for the pregame warmup, we will play football and get back on the plane and get home. It's the same thing we do every week. Who cares who we are playing or what they have going on at halftime? We don't watch that stuff."

Batch knows he will be excited, and said calming those emotions will be important to him settling into the offense quickly in his first start since Nov. 13.

"Yes, it's a blow to our offense not having Ben out there," said Ward, who is expected to play after missing the four exhibition games with a sore hamstring. "But Charlie's capable of going out there and getting the job done."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_469427.html

[OSUsushichic]

Congrats to Santonio on his first official NFL catch!

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Steelers full of surprises in opener

Friday, September 08, 2006

Alan Robinson
ASSOCIATED PRESS

<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE align=center><TBODY></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


PITTSBURGH ? Miami coach Nick Saban had the red challenge flag in his hand, hitched it forward and back, and couldn?t seem to let it go in time. Maybe the Dolphins should flag their own coach for a costly delay.
Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Heath Miller chugged his way down the sideline on an 87-yard touchdown pass play midway through the fourth quarter, fill-in quarterback Charlie Batch?s third scoring pass of the game, and the Super Bowl champions beat the Dolphins 28-17 last night in the NFL?s first game of the season.
"It seemed like it took me forever to get there," Miller said.
For good reason.
Miller?s score shouldn?t have stood ? TV replays clearly showed his foot splayed out of bounds between the 1- and 2-yard lines. However, Saban hesitated to throw his flag, which fell to the turf sight unseen as referee Walt Coleman watched the extrapoint kick. That meant the Steelers didn?t have to try to get the ball into the end zone from short yardage.
Asked if he got in, Miller said, laughing, "Touchdown. Yeah."
Saban apparently thought he could throw the challenge flag at any time before Jeff Reed kicked the extra point, but no official saw him ? and thus, no replay. And no Dolphins upset, either, even though the Steelers didn?t look particularly sharp in their first game that counted since the Super Bowl ? despite Willie Parker?s 115 yards rushing, Miller?s 101 yards receiving and Batch?s first three-TD game since Nov. 18, 2001, with Detroit.
"They said they didn?t see it," Saban said. "Whose fault is that? "
Saban explained that assistant coaches in the press box first had to watch the replay before notifying him whether to challenge.
"We can?t challenge something until we see it," he said. "When we saw it, I threw the flag. It was well before the kicker kicked it. The official said he didn?t see it, and when he said he didn?t see it, there was nothing he could do. That shouldn?t happen."
Miami, down 21-17 at the time, had a chance to come back, but new quarterback Daunte Culpepper was intercepted on consecutive series, with linebacker Joey Porter scoring on a 42-yard return with about three minutes left.
"We knew we had put them in a situation where they had to pass the ball. I had my chance to make the play and I made it," Porter said.
The Dolphins, trying to build on their six consecutive victories to end last season, never led until Ronnie Brown scored on a 5-yard run to make it 17-14 in the third quarter. .
Standing in for Ben Roethlisberger, who had an appendectomy Sunday, Batch made his first season-opening start since 2001 with Detroit. He looked rusty for two drives, only to settle in and throw a 27-yard TD pass to Nate Washington to cap a 75-yard drive early in the second period.
Batch was 15 of 25 for 209 yards. Culpepper finished 18 of 37 for 262 yards.

[iambrutus]

nick saban throws the challenge flag like a 3 year old girl. seriously, if you want it to be seen it has to make it to the field, be a man like Cowher and throw the damn thing half way across the field!