Things Ben must work on to be considered "elite"...

[Indo]

Good thread
Agree with all of these points, especially that Ben is a work in progress

I have also wondered about the quick slant---seems Santo was getting a few last year and his YAC or RAC (whichever you want to call it) was always big---
Mike "The Newsman" Wallace's blazing speed could be huge in that situation

[Killer]

Originally Posted by scsteeler

Ben Like any QB had an off game. The Cincy game just did not go our way like the first time. Ben and the offense will be fine.

Exactly.

Don't try to "fix" him. Be happy he's healthy and move on to the next game.

[drucifer]

Don't make broad judgements about Ben based on this game. The Bengals contained the @#$% out of him, they deserve credit more than Ben deserves chiding. I'm not sure Manning or Brady would have done a lot better were they in his place.

[Angus Burgher]

Good point. Look what happened to Brady when he played the Jets earlier in the season. For him to walk away with 0 TDs is an odd thing, but it happened due to the right application of defensive pressure. The same thing happened to Peyton a couple weeks ago when they played San Fran (I think it was them, anyway) when Peyton was ineffective in the red zone and they had to go with a halfback option pass to win the game.

It was just a bad day for the offense. I think they'll look on it and learn.

[madtowndrunkard]

I can't disagree with the points made in the O.P but I think what you are describing would create the best QB to ever play the game.

Most QB's have weaknesses. Ben's been in the league for a while now. He's not going to get dramatically better then he is now. In fact what we are seeing right now is typically the "PRIME" years of an NFL QB. It's usually about a 3 - 5 year window for the very best of QB's....like Farve, Manning, or Brady. Some HOF'ers do it longer....that's what makes them HOF'ers.

I'm guessing Ben is always going to have issues holding on to the ball too long. He's going to take sacks when the smart thing to do would be throw it away. He's going to struggle throwing the very deep balls. He's never been able to hit a WR in stride 40 yards down field....I doubt he ever will.

Many consider Favre to be among the top 10 best QB's ever. No one remembers the stinkers he had over his career. I'm in Wisconsin so I've probably seen more of them then the average Steeler fan. Favre often killed his teams w/ bad INT's and passes into double coverage. I think that is a big reason why Favre only has one ring. He's now playing a conservative game and he's off to the best start of his career at the age of 40. IMO it's just further proof that a balanced offense wins in the NFL. Pass happy offenses will die by the pass come playoff time. We've seen it so many times over the past 10 years.

Unless Ben gets better we will not win a SB w/ a pass happy offense. Arians is taking us down a dead end. We have to take some burden off Ben's shoulders and balance this offense. Ben is not Tom Brady...He's not Manning. He's much more like Favre...he's a risk taker and he makes mistakes. He needs a balanced offense to win SB's. Ben has two rings already and they weren't achieved by throwing 60% of the time.

Ben plays with more emotion then Brady or Manning. It makes him more fun to watch some times but it also creates some inconsistency w/ this game. Brady and Manning are like robots running their offense....they do the smart thing most of the time. Ben's competitive drive and emotion make him a better QB then he should be.

[Rick5895]

I agree Ben is still a work in progress, however he is almost there. He had a bad game, all elite QB's do (remember Manning in the 05 playoffs vs Steelers).
I think we are like the coaches here, overthinking. The Bengals had a great game plan, and we did not adjust to what they were doing. Whether it be running the ball more (slow down the rush with play action) or sliding the protection and rolling Ben out of the pocket. IMO we have one of the top 5 QB's in the league, he proved it last season and he has proven it time and again this season. To be honest this loss was the best thing that could have happened to us right now. There is no doubt the bad taste left in the mouths of Ben and the rest of the team will propel them to a 13-3 or 12-4 record.

[madtowndrunkard]

Originally Posted by Rick5895

I agree Ben is still a work in progress, however he is almost there. He had a bad game, all elite QB's do (remember Manning in the 05 playoffs vs Steelers).
I think we are like the coaches here, overthinking. The Bengals had a great game plan, and we did not adjust to what they were doing. Whether it be running the ball more (slow down the rush with play action) or sliding the protection and rolling Ben out of the pocket. IMO we have one of the top 5 QB's in the league, he proved it last season and he has proven it time and again this season. To be honest this loss was the best thing that could have happened to us right now. There is no doubt the bad taste left in the mouths of Ben and the rest of the team will propel them to a 13-3 or 12-4 record.

Call me a sore loser....or what ever...but I don't accept the notion that the Bengals are better then we are. I don't mean that in a "steeler pride" sort of way. I watched both games... Cinci beat us and in both games we should have won. Cinci did not score an offensive TD yet they still won. We made more mistakes then they did. That is what the difference was. They ran back a kick and Ben threw Int's. The ST's issues have been consistent...the other miss ques are not the norm. I guess you can say they figured out a way to confuse Ben....so I'll give them that. But over all I think we are the more talented team and if we can just figure out a way to get out of our own way we'll beat the Bengals every time.

Both losses to the Bengals were very similar to the Chicago loss. It never should have happened. Poor game plan, Bad special teams, and lack of focus were the reasons we lost all 3 of those games.

[madtowndrunkard]

This is Tomlin's 3rd season....he needs to step it up as much as any player we have does. By Tomlin I mean him and his entire staff.

Our offense has so much talent it is ridiculous. I would argue we have more talent offensively then any team in the league...yet our offense struggles. Arians and our ST's coach need to be replaced.

[Nadroj 20]

Originally Posted by madtowndrunkard

This is Tomlin's 3rd season....he needs to step it up as much as any player we have does. By Tomlin I mean him and his entire staff.

Our offense has so much talent it is ridiculous. I would argue we have more talent offensively then any team in the league...yet our offense struggles. Arians and our ST's coach need to be replaced.

[SteelGhost]

Nice read Tony, thanks for posting. I agree with your comments.

Just forgot to add Ben needs his own Dallas Clark/Wes Welker kind of WR