Ron Cook Blasts Tomlin:

[Downbylaw]

In Cooks latest article in the Gazette, Cook criticizes Steeler Coach MIke Tomlin for how he handled the Qb situation. I have made similar comments in the last two weeks. By adding Ben to the mix Byron Leftwich is grossly unprepared to start the season. It makes no sense to get a guy ready (Ben) when he will be parked for 6 weeks. In the meantime, the qbs we are going to battle with in the 1st 4 weeks have had limited reps with the 1st team. Ben is a savvy Vet, he needs the least reps of Anyone of the qbs. Especially, if he is elite as you guys claim, shouldnt the elite guy need the least work? Ask Brett Favre how much work he needs.

[TackleMeBen]

it all goes back to what ben wants he gets . tomlin tries to be a players coach and not a coach coach.... tell ben he is going to sit his white butt on the bench until the 3rd or 4th qtr and if he doesnt like there is the door....

[steelerchad]

I think they have done the right thing so far in camp with the exception of starting Ben last week. Dixon earned a shot to prove himself and should have started the game against Denver. He failed, so the job should go to Leftwich by default. Lefty should have been given most of the reps through the first 3 games. Ben should play most of the reps in game 4, since we can't afford an injury to Lefty going into the regular season.

[StainlessStill]

Originally Posted by Downbylaw

In Cooks latest article in the Gazette, Cook criticizes Steeler Coach MIke Tomlin for how he handled the Qb situation. I have made similar comments in the last two weeks. By adding Ben to the mix Byron Leftwich is grossly unprepared to start the season. It makes no sense to get a guy ready (Ben) when he will be parked for 6 weeks. In the meantime, the qbs we are going to battle with in the 1st 4 weeks have had limited reps with the 1st team. Ben is a savvy Vet, he needs the least reps of Anyone of the qbs. Especially, if he is elite as you guys claim, shouldnt the elite guy need the least work? Ask Brett Favre how much work he needs.

I think Tomlin has taken a uncontrollable and an unfortunate unique situation and turning it into a positive. What else is the guy supposed to be doing? Ben is our starter, through and through and whether anyone likes it or not, he needed to go in there and be accustomed to the speed of the game and to the timing of the guys around him as well as terminology to get a feel for game-like speed since he will have NONE of that for an entire month's time (no practicing with team, no working with team, no game film, no presence what-so-ever on any Steelers or NFL headquarters.)

(As far as Favre, it's more of a iron-man, 20 years experience type thing that has more to do with his body than anything else. Even Favre is playing pre-season. Why? The same reason why Ben would need it.)

Ben needed his time, plain and simple and he only played what? 3-4 series tops that equaled to like, 10 total minutes? If we DIDN'T play Ben, and if Ben does come out flat in October, then everyone would bitch on how Tomlin didn't play him in the pre-season when he had the chance to. Not a big deal.

As for Leftwhich/Dixon, they both have had PLENTY of opportunity to man-up and was given enough time with all starting units to simply go out there and perform under the lights with the 2010 season creeping in. Plus, we got one more pre-season game to go to get ANY of these guys ready for the start of the season. They will turn it on, no doubt in my mind.

[Downbylaw]

Agree with Both posts. You see how much work Leftwich needed in the last two games. As a result he has no continuity with the guys. When will he get it, week 1? I agree, Tomlin is soft in regards to standing up to our white players. He takes hard stances with the blacks (Tone, Ike, Casey Hampton). I think he is afraid that he will be called out for taking a stand on Ben. But in his defense, he did tell Ben after the Colts game of 08 "If you dont practice you dont play". This was after Ben didnt practice for two weeks (shoulder) and subsequently played badly as a result of if.

[Downbylaw]

Originally Posted by StainlessStill

I think Tomlin has taken a uncontrollable and an unfortunate unique situation and turning it into a positive. What else is the guy supposed to be doing? Ben is our starter, through and through and whether anyone likes it or not, he needed to go in there and be accustomed to the speed of the game and to the timing of the guys around him as well as terminology to get a feel for game-like speed since he will have NONE of that for an entire month's time (no practicing with team, no working with team, no game film, no presence what-so-ever on any Steelers or NFL headquarters.)

(As far as Favre, it's more of a iron-man, 20 years experience type thing that has more to do with his body than anything else. Even Favre is playing pre-season. Why? The same reason why Ben would need it.)

Ben needed his time, plain and simple and he only played what? 3-4 series tops that equaled to like, 10 total minutes? If we DIDN'T play Ben, and if Ben does come out flat in October, then everyone would bitch on how Tomlin didn't play him in the pre-season when he had the chance to. Not a big deal.

As for Leftwhich/Dixon, they both have had PLENTY of opportunity to man-up and was given enough time with all starting units to simply go out there and perform under the lights with the 2010 season creeping in. Plus, we got one more pre-season game to go to get ANY of these guys ready for the start of the season. They will turn it on, no doubt in my mind.

Yes, Ben is our starter BUT he is not our starter for the 1st 4 weeks. He is supposed to act like Ben is hurt and move on. So Ben get accustomed to the speed only to sit down for 5 weeks. How can you justify that Ben needs more work than Leftwich/Dixon? Ben is a vet.
So Favre is a iron man type of thing? What about Manning in 08 missed the whole preseason due to a knee injury and started the season without these "reps" you keep talking about. Brady did the same thing in 09, saw limited action in the preseason following a knee injury and jumped right in. "One more preseason game" Everyone knows that you dont play your starters but maybe one series in the 4th preseason game. Everyone knows that except you I suppose. SIGH

[joeyssteelcurtain]

Originally Posted by Downbylaw

In Cooks latest article in the Gazette, Cook criticizes Steeler Coach MIke Tomlin for how he handled the Qb situation. I have made similar comments in the last two weeks. By adding Ben to the mix Byron Leftwich is grossly unprepared to start the season. It makes no sense to get a guy ready (Ben) when he will be parked for 6 weeks. In the meantime, the qbs we are going to battle with in the 1st 4 weeks have had limited reps with the 1st team. Ben is a savvy Vet, he needs the least reps of Anyone of the qbs. Especially, if he is elite as you guys claim, shouldnt the elite guy need the least work? Ask Brett Favre how much work he needs.

The starting OB for the first 4 weeks is just that only for 4 weeks ben is playing the other 12 games just think about ben will not get anytime for 4 weeks he needs all the work he can get and he didint even play that much you guys are just ben hatters

[SteelMember]

You were on the path to making a good argument right up until...

Originally Posted by Downbylaw

Tomlin is soft in regards to standing up to our white players. He takes hard stances with the blacks (Tone, Ike, Casey Hampton). I think he is afraid that he will be called out for taking a stand on Ben. But in his defense, he did tell Ben after the Colts game of 08 "If you dont practice you dont play". This was after Ben didnt practice for two weeks (shoulder) and subsequently played badly as a result of if.

... where you basically call him an "uncle Tomlin".

I'm ain't buyin' that one.

I don't think a couple series, and a single quarter of a game is too much for Ben to play. He needs the reps too. Unless he does a Favre, and goes out and throws with some highschoolers, he's not going to get any practice with the team for possibly a month and a half. And you can't tell me he needs less reps just because he's "a vet". Byron has just as much tenure in the NFL, and he's had his problems even holding a job as a starter for the past couple years.

I think Tomlin has divvied up the time pretty well... considering the circumstances.

[Downbylaw]

I take exception to Bens sefishness. As I said the starters wont be in there long and GUESS WHO wants to be in there taking up all the reps? Yep, the guy who needs the least work. Ben Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger wants to play in the preseason finale: "I'd like to work on the no-huddle [offense]; it's a lot easier at home. You can use the cadence, and I think it would have been hard to do it tonight. I'd like to get a couple of series doing that, even though I don't want to keep those O-linemen in there too long."

While Tomlin was busy talking about How bad Dixon and Lewis played (and I agree). When has he called out any of his white players for playing bad? Hartwig? Ben? Keisel?

I have no problem with a coach calling out those who play badly. In fact I encourage it but I dont like a coach who only does it to the guys who look like him. It shows that he is uncomfortable in his skin. I dont like that.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...-one-liners-1/

[Downbylaw]

Originally Posted by joeyssteelcurtain

The starting OB for the first 4 weeks is just that only for 4 weeks ben is playing the other 12 games just think about ben will not get anytime for 4 weeks he needs all the work he can get and he didint even play that much you guys are just ben hatters

So in your opinion getting Ben work now is the solution? What about the 5 weeks when he is sitting there not with the team? Wont he develope rust? Or will he stay sharp? My contention is that Ben is the most experienced in the offense so he needs the least amount of work. The Steeler have FOUR games to play in his absence so dont you think we should be concentrating on those games before we think about the other ones? In fact Tomlin used that as his excuse not to play Batch "Charlie has experience and needs the least amount of work to get ready due to that experience and we know what he can do" How does that statement not apply to Ben? Or Maybe Tomlin is saying Ben is not as good as you guys think he is lol