Madden: Ben's at fault, but he's not the only one

[GoFor7]

Originally Posted by Edman

The Steelers did all of the following Last Sunday. They unleashed Ben, only scored 10 points and now they're sitting at home for the postseason.

THEY LET BEN BE BEN, and they're staring dead in the face of a losing season.

Actually, no they didn't. It was more of the run, run, pass shit.

I'm tired of the excuses for his mediocrity. Ben is just a perpetual manchild who will never get it, not to mention a bad leader. He can't handle the offense competently. He was handed a Sedan and he crashed it into a tree. Time to take the car keys off of him. Fuck that "franchise QB" bullshit. Haley drives the Offense from here on out. I don't give a flying fuck if Ben likes it or not.

Sorry, 2x super bowl winning QB > OC that never won anything. I know it's hard for a yinzer to get it, but he's the franchise. Art Rooney II is the one who needs to get with the program and understand his philosophies are outdated.

Ben probably doesn't give a flying fuck what you think.

Under Haley's direction, Ben was well on his way to a career year. But being the rebellious petulant child he is, Ben wanted to be the cowboy, so he bitched in the media about playcalling after losing the game on a play HE HIMSELF called. They handed him the keys in a do-or-die game and he proceeds to shit all over himself.

Actually, as we found out when Ben got injury, Ben made Haley look good. Do you just hate star QBs or are you really this dumb? If that's what you want then go watch Steelers football from the 90's if you enjoy not winning.

They let Ben be Ben alright, and now we're out of the playoffs.

Actually, no they didn't, at least not most of the time. Most of the time Ben did exactly what they wanted him to - hand off or throw bubble screen, then bail everyone out on third down (I know your not very smart, so I'll remind you that Ben was pretty damn good on third down before he went down). It was only during the last two minutes of the game they finally realized they needed Ben. When you play close to the vest like the Steelers do, the star QB won't bail them out every time.

I still don't get where dumb yinzers like the one I'm quoting thinks Ben has ego problems or is a manchild. I guess they can't accept that Art Rooney II is the one with outdated philosophies, so they bash the star QB as often as possible to protect the owner's image.

Ben did exactly what Artie wanted him to do this season, and it didn't work. Time for the Steelers to enter the 21st century.

[kan_t]

Originally Posted by GoFor7

I still don't get where dumb yinzers like the one I'm quoting thinks Ben has ego problems or is a manchild. I guess they can't accept that Art Rooney II is the one with outdated philosophies, so they bash the star QB as often as possible to protect the owner's image.

Ben did exactly what Artie wanted him to do this season, and it didn't work. Time for the Steelers to enter the 21st century.

I don't think that Art Rooney II's philosophy is outdated. Winning time of possession battle normally wins you lots of games. I have no problem if they want to have a more balanced offense which leads to long time of possession, but only if we have a good running game. It worked in the first half because the OL was healthy. Once the OL has broken down, the running game has become non-existence again. When the running game is not working, gaining time of possession is meaningless and I rather have the QB to throw a TD in 2 minutes than settle a FG in 6 minutes.

[SCMom]

Oh wow...we're really going to take what Mark Madden has to say seriously?

His job is to stir the pot...seems like it worked well here.

One thing he is spot on with though, is that starting QB's are hated and blamed for everything in Pittsburgh. This thread is proof.

This isn't the first time the Steelers (with capable talent) have missed the playoffs, and it won't be the last.

The blame lies on the entire team, and coaching staff. I won't pick on Tomlin specifically. There are other coaches involved, and Cowher shit the bed more than Tomlin has so far...so calling to fire him is just a knee jerk reaction.

The team and coaches know what needs changed, and they'll do that. They'll be contenders next year, just like they were in '10 after missing the playoffs.

[Edman]

Originally Posted by GoFor7

Actually, no they didn't. It was more of the run, run, pass shit. Sorry, 2x super bowl winning QB > OC that never won anything. I know it's hard for a yinzer to get it, but he's the franchise. Art Rooney II is the one who needs to get with the program and understand his philosophies are outdated.

Because passing and "no-huddle" certainly was working. 'Run-Run-Pass' didn't cause a Pick 6, missing an open Mike Wallace, or cause yet another boneheaded play in the redzone. Nope, it was our "2x Super Bowl Winning QB" who did all of that, once again ill-prepared for a big game. This time there's no Bruce Arians to harp all the blame on (Though he still sucked).

Actually, as we found out when Ben got injury, Ben made Haley look good. Do you just hate star QBs or are you really this dumb? If that's what you want then go watch Steelers football from the 90's if you enjoy not winning.

Doing it Haley's way, Ben was on pace for a CAREER SEASON, drastically eclipsing everything he did under Arians. Who made who look good again?

What I fault Haley and the team for is foolishly handing the car keys back to Ben. When we ran the offense Haley's way, we had plenty of success, but when we wanted to do Ben's way, the offense sucked.

Actually, no they didn't, at least not most of the time. Most of the time Ben did exactly what they wanted him to - hand off or throw bubble screen, then bail everyone out on third down (I know your not very smart, so I'll remind you that Ben was pretty damn good on third down before he went down). It was only during the last two minutes of the game they finally realized they needed Ben. When you play close to the vest like the Steelers do, the star QB won't bail them out every time.

How come Ben was having the season of his life, if the Steelers were "corralling" him in their "outdated" system? I'm still waiting for your retort to that. He wasn't putting up Average Joe Game Manager stats, he was in MVP discussion. That doesn't happen in an "outdated" dinosaur system that hates Ben and wants to turn him into Trent Dilfer.

[ZoneBlitzer]

Originally Posted by SCMom

Oh wow...we're really going to take what Mark Madden has to say seriously?

His job is to stir the pot...seems like it worked well here.

One thing he is spot on with though, is that starting QB's are hated and blamed for everything in Pittsburgh. This thread is proof.

This isn't the first time the Steelers (with capable talent) have missed the playoffs, and it won't be the last.

The blame lies on the entire team, and coaching staff. I won't pick on Tomlin specifically. There are other coaches involved, and Cowher shit the bed more than Tomlin has so far...so calling to fire him is just a knee jerk reaction.

The team and coaches know what needs changed, and they'll do that. They'll be contenders next year, just like they were in '10 after missing the playoffs.

I think that it's time to acknowledge that the team is going through a major transition. Wholesale personnel changes are occurring. There are major voids opening up all over the place. There will be growing pains as new players get acclimated. It is likely that the team will no longer be as competitive in the division. The Bengals and Browns have amassed respectable young talent and are on the rise. The Steelers are a bit behind the times. They waited too long to address o- line issues. And they have settled for an underachieving offense for years. Efficiency and execution are not hallmark traits of Tomlin's team. With Ben in charge, it is based on improvisation that is losing its effectiveness in critical situations. There are foundational and fundamental issues with the offense which require restructuring from the ground up. I don't think that this time around they will be contenders. This may turn out to be the transition we've feared.

[SCMom]

Originally Posted by ZoneBlitzer

I think that it's time to acknowledge that the team is going through a major transition. Wholesale personnel changes are occurring. There are major voids opening up all over the place. There will be growing pains as new players get acclimated. It is likely that the team will no longer be as competitive in the division. The Bengals and Browns have amassed respectable young talent and are on the rise. The Steelers are a bit behind the times. They waited too long to address o- line issues. And they have settled for an underachieving offense for years. Efficiency and execution are not hallmark traits of Tomlin's team. With Ben in charge, it is based on improvisation that is losing its effectiveness in critical situations. There are foundational and fundamental issues with the offense which require restructuring from the ground up. I don't think that this time around they will be contenders. This may turn out to be the transition we've feared.

I agreed with you up to the Browns being contenders.

I know you're trying to look at it objectively, but the reality of it is, the Steelers will be contenders again in the very near future.

Ben and the WR's will acclimate to the new offense. New guys are coming up on defense. Same old, same old in the Steelers tradition. I'm not worried. There have been worse years than this one, and there will be ones that may be worse than this. There were certainly those years under better coaches than Tomlin.

Many people seem to just be freaking out again (like they did in '09). I know you guys like to discuss the ins and outs of team chemistry, and what needs to be done and changed...and I don't want to deter that at all. There's just a ton of knee jerk reactions that I've been reading. It'll be fine. We're not going to stoop to the new Browns level anytime soon. I truly believe that.

[BowCatShot]

The Rooneys pay guys like this, Madden, to get on these web sites and write articles like that one blaming the fans. Take the heat off of the owner's backs and try to place it onto the people who actually pay for this stuff. Sophomoric attempt at best. Nobody really falls for that ruse, I hope.

[Ricco Suavez]

Originally Posted by BowCatShot

The Rooneys pay guys like this, Madden, to get on these web sites and write articles like that one blaming the fans. Take the heat off of the owner's backs and try to place it onto the people who actually pay for this stuff. Sophomoric attempt at best. Nobody really falls for that ruse, I hope.

There WAS a second shooter on the grassy knoll afterall.

[Ricco Suavez]

I may not agree with everything ZoneBlitzer says on here but I do see a MUCH improved Browns team that has talent for the future. Now it will remain to be seen if they can continue that trend with the next draft and what they can do the first time those rookie contracts expire. But I for one see a team on the rise. Pains me to say it.

[LLoyd&Greene]

Originally Posted by madtowndrunkard

I think I'm a realist. Right now I'm not happy we failed to win a single playoff game 2 years in a row. I'm not happy that we lost to the worst teams in the league... that in it self isn't so upsetting... it's the fact that we lost to the worst teams in the NFL with enough talent to be a Superbowl contender. Same as last year.

So it's perfectly natural to question what went wrong and find ways to fix it.

You're not a realist if you think that going 12-4 and losing a playoff game at Mile High Stadium is a failure. There's nothing wrong with being disappointed at how this season turned out, but the sky isn't falling. There's no need to jump out of the window. Where's the faith in the organization? I think that this organization deserves the benefit of the doubt. You think that you're the only one who's questioning why things went wrong and how to solve those problems? This is just a wild guess, but I assume that everyone in the organization is doing that too.