Clayton/ESPN: (Ben Roethlisberger) Best Way to Tell Teams on the Rise is QB Stats

[alittlejazzbird]

It's a numbers and stats kind of article, and math always makes my eyes glaze over, so I'll leave the heavy reading up to you! Expect the usual Carson Palmer lovefest (i.e., third best quarterback in the NFL behind P. Manning and Brady)....but here's the stuff relevant to Ben and the Steelers:

Enough about the stats. Let's look ahead to putting into perspective what might happen in 2007. Let's play the percentages. The Bengals, Seahawks, Cardinals, Steelers, 49ers and Panthers are prime candidates for making completion percentage jumps of 4 percentage points. Of those six teams, only the Seahawks made the playoffs.

Naturally, the Bengals will have to watch Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh. Roethlisberger is a career 62 percent thrower, but more will be asked of him this year. The Steelers should put up between 22 and 25 points a game. After a 59.7 percent season, Roethlisberger should bounce back.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/column...ohn&id=2881407

[The Duke]

I'm not too trusting on stats but if what they mean Ben will put better numbers this year I agree with them. He has new resposibilities, a rookie coach easier to befriends with, and should have recovered from his accident completely. I say as long as the o line protects him better than last year he'll be fine.

[fansince'76]

Article in a nutshell: if you want a chance to win the SB, you have to have a top-flight QB. No shit - been saying that for years.

[Jeremy]

I take back everything bad I said about ESPN.

[Elvis]

Originally Posted by fansince'76

Article in a nutshell: if you want a chance to win the SB, you have to have a top-flight QB. No shit - been saying that for years.

Fan.. seems like you and myself always seem to think around the same lines. I just dont think that Big Ben is gonna be the big passing guy that everyone is hoping for though. He has shown in the past to be very unpredictable in the pass happy situations. Last year in the Browns game that we won 24-20, he looked great in the 2nd half of that game, but look what he looked like against the Raiders earlier in the season. He is very inconsistent in those situations. I just hope that the injuries that he had sustained in the offseason last year was the cause of the early mistakes that he made.

[myopunger55]

What he looked like against the Raiders was a shell shocked QB getting crushed within a half second everytime he dropped back. What? Didn't Burgess have like 4 sacks against us that fine Sunday afternoon? Blame that on the line, not Ben. There are fighter pilots that don't have the reactions to make a decision that quickly! Did you forget the run to the Superbowl? We opened up against the Broncos and attacked throught the air the whole first half! And Indy? We rode his arm to number 5! He has all the tools. Go Steelers!

[fansince'76]

Originally Posted by wedosesteelers2006

Fan.. seems like you and myself always seem to think around the same lines. I just dont think that Big Ben is gonna be the big passing guy that everyone is hoping for though.

I kinda hope he isn't - I don't want to see him throwing the ball 40-50 times a game, because to me, that is a sure-fire recipe for failure.

[ben2hines=6]

is it just me or did we just get put in the same catagorie as the damn cardinals

[MasterOfPuppets]

Originally Posted by myopunger55

What he looked like against the Raiders was a shell shocked QB getting crushed within a half second everytime he dropped back. What? Didn't Burgess have like 4 sacks against us that fine Sunday afternoon? Blame that on the line, not Ben. There are fighter pilots that don't have the reactions to make a decision that quickly! Did you forget the run to the Superbowl? We opened up against the Broncos and attacked throught the air the whole first half! And Indy? We rode his arm to number 5! He has all the tools. Go Steelers!

yup i agree. its up to the coaches to put him in situations where he can succeed. he's already displayed the physical and mental ability to carry the team to wins.but everyone around him has to do thier part.

[FastWillieParker39]

If there going to pass more than maybe the coaches see something in Ben that we haven't seen yet. Maybe Cowher has been holding him back 2 years now. Maybe he's starting to break out of his shell.

I don't see Ben passing more as a bad thing nor a good thing. I guess all we can do is sit back, wait and watch.