Pocket presence
 

Statistics that fantasy football geeks could never appreciate won't explain how well Ben played today.

A player as big as Ben is not supposed to morph into Gumby and resist inevitable sacks.

And after exhausting every option how sweet was Santonio Holmes to recognize what he needed to do to make Ben's effort PAYOFF.

Isn't it nice that we are winning games that we are supposed to win?

Re: Pocket presence
 

Exactly. Ben is one strong mofo. He shook off about 3 possible sacks.

The thing that I also appreciate is that he appears to be learning when to take a sack, as opposed to throwing it up in the air for the opposing team to grab.

Re: Pocket presence
 

And JUST after typing that response, Eli threw a STUPID interception.

Re: Pocket presence
 

I thought the O-line wasn't blocking very well in the first half and Ben had to shake off sacks all by himself. I thought Ben performed very well today and I loved how Santonio Holmes helped him out a couple times. Almost every time Ben got sacked or there were a few defenders coming in, Alan Faneca was standing there with nothing to do.

Re: Pocket presence
 

I don't know about Alan standing around too much...Fast Willie had 133 yards rushing..he could not do it alone...I also saw Alan picking up Willie after many + yard gains...

Don't "hate" on Alan ... he is a pro and is giving the STEELERS 100 percent...

As for Ben in the pocket??? aside the fumble he looked very comfortable, knocking lineman down that try to sack him...

What a difference a year makes!

Re: Pocket presence
 

What can I say? The O-Line did a decent job today. Willie got 100+ and Ben had reasonable protection.

I saw 2004-2005 Ben out there today. He wasn't scared of the Pass Rush, hung back there and made plays. I think we have the old Ben back. Which is good.

Re: Pocket presence
 

Ben is definitely returning to his 2005 form, he's playing with a lot better knowledge of what's going on and where people are. He eluded a few sacks today and had that nice 18 yard run.

Nothing is sweeter than having a QB that seems to sense the blind side blitz and just move a tiny bit forward making the guy totally whiff. That wasn't today, but it's something I remember seeing him doing.

Re: Pocket presence
 

I wish people would stop saying that Ben is in 2005 form, etc. He's in his 2007-2008 form, and it's better than '05! He has more experience and is doing things that he didn't in his first two seasons.

Re: Pocket presence
 

Bingo!! We are witnessing Big Ben version 2.0.

Re: Pocket presence
 

Ben doing good, and I think it's because he's getting back into "2005 ben" mode. But, I think it's safe to say he's lucky that his size makes him hard to bring down, and the fact that he's getting his mobility back.

~Pf43:tt02: