Don’t Expect Too Much From Ben Roethlisberger

Examining why the Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3) should not be too surprised if their franchise quarterback doesn’t light up the stat sheet on Sunday. 

This expectation should probably go without saying, but Steeler Nation is notorious for having somewhat high standards of their players. So, with that in mind, let us pause to consider what is likely to happen when Ben Roethlisberger makes his much anticipated return to the field against the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals (6-0).

Rust

Obviously, this will be a concern for the Steelers offense. Being out of action for four games will probably factor in to Ben’s timing with his receivers. Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, Heath Miller, and the rest of the offensive weapons will have to adjust back to Roethlisberger as opposed to Michael Vick and Landry Jones. The tempo is not going to be as sharp as possible because 1), they only had one week of practice with Ben as a full participant and 2), #7 will probably be bit out of sync compared to earlier in the season.

Inconsistency

This not only concerns Ben himself, but the Steelers in general in his first action after missing at least one week due to injury or suspension. There have been games where the quarterback’s play is solid and the team rallies around him for a victory. This was the case in 2005 when, after returning from a knee injury, Roethlisberger was just 9-for-14 for 93 yards with two touchdowns and two interception. Pittsburgh rushed for 221 yards, the defense came up with two takeaways, and the end result was a 27-13 victory over . . . yup, the Bengals. Then there are games where Ben was on point but the rest of the team wasn’t. Such was the case in 2009 when the veteran completed 18 of 24 passes for 278 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, and Pittsburgh still lost on a last minute drive by the Oakland Raiders in a 27-24 upset victory. On the whole, the Steelers are 4-5 when Ben first returns to play after missing at least one week and the quarterback is 168-for-273 (61.5% completion percentage), 1,785 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions.

Final Thoughts

Steeler Nation is about to discover whether or not this team has what it takes to compete for a playoff spot in 2015. Hopefully the Steelers will be able to rally around Big Ben to a greater extent than what they were able to do for Jones last week. After dazzling against the Arizona Cardinals, the 3rd QB had a game worthy of most guys making their first NFL start, completing 16-of-29 passes for 209 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions in a 23-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs last Sunday. The defense failed to come up with a takeaway and only sacked Alex Smith twice while the offense could have put the ball on the ground more often than it did. For more on that story, here’s a link to the fine folks at Behind the Steel Curtain.

The bottom line is this: the Bengals can be beaten. They have yet to face a team with a record above .500 this season. They’ve taken advantage of their soft schedule, but the Black and Gold can give them a reality check and get right back into the AFC playoff picture. They just need to take advantage of their opportunities.

Stats courtesy ESPN

Retraction

Editor’s Note: For the first three games of the 2015 Robert Morris University Colonials football season, I mistakenly credited defensive lineman Zack Zamiska as the team’s long snapper. In RMU’s matchup with the Sacred Heart Pioneers on October 10th, when Zamiska was out of the game due to injury, I again misidentified the long snapper as Anthony Lucian, whom I thought was an injury replacement. In fact, the Colonials long snapper has been, and continues to be, freshman Trey Harper who is also a defensive lineman. Zamiska was the team’s long snapper last season. My apologies for any confusion that I may have caused in listening to my highlights. Mr. Harper, if you happen to read this, again my sincere apologies. 

Why Chris Boswell Is Jeff Reed 2.0

A closer look at the latest phenomenon to hit the Steel City. 

Now, before we get started, he’s only got two games under his belt. On the other hand, that’s what makes his performance to this point so impressive.

Regardless of how he does for the rest of the season, there can be no doubt that Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Chris Boswell is starting to get some attention as a serious NFL kicker. The rookie who had previously gotten cups of coffee with the Houston Texans and New York Giants, Boswell has excelled in his first two starts in a Black and Gold uniform. He is 5-for-5 in field goals and 4-for-4 with the long extra points. Four of his five field goals have been at least 40 yards in length and his longest is 51, which he made last Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. In that game, he contributed over half of the Steelers point total with 13 thanks to his four field goals along with an extra point. He has definitely been an improvement over the oft-criticized Josh Scobee. The former Jacksonville Jaguar was just 6-for-10 in field goals although he missed just one extra point in seven attempts. Scobee was unable to figure out how to kick on the natural grass surface at Heinz Field where he missed two critical field goals against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday, October 1.

Boswell, the third replacement attempt for Shaun Suisham since his season ending injury in the Hall of Fame game back on August 10th, is reminiscent of another Steeler kicker of days gone by. Way back in 2002, the Steelers were in a familiar position to this year. They had an ineffective kicker in Todd Peterson who had made just 12-of-21 kicks in 10 games before a season injury. Jeff Reed was picked up to replace him and quickly cemented his role as the starting kicker for the Black and Gold. He would hold the job for nearly nine seasons during which time he became the second highest scorer on the Steelers All Time list behind only the incomparable Gary Anderson. It will be interesting to see how well Boswell does for the remainder of the season. The Steelers could have quite the competition between the hot rookie and the veteran whose job he replaced in Suisham.

When they stay effective, kickers tend to have long careers with one team. Perhaps the Steelers have found their next big leg.

Stats courtesy Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, and Wikipedia

A Tale Of Two Backups

How the Pittsburgh Steelers (4-2) have fared at QB in their three games since Ben Roethlisberger’s knee injury. 

Michael Vick

As easy as it is to make excuses for the veteran southpaw, the numbers in his three starts were not pretty. Vick completed just 58% of his passes (35 of 60) for 333 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of just 74.8. He was also sacked eight times, but he did counter with 104 rushing yards. There were moments where he just did not look comfortable with the offense and he was clearly not in tune with his receivers. In the San Diego game alone, he could have, and probably should have, thrown three or four interceptions instead of just the one on the last second Hail Mary before halftime.

They key element is simple: Vick kept the Steelers in every game that he played and he managed to come up with several key contributions. His 72 yard touchdown bomb to Markus Wheaton tied the game in the fourth quarter at 17 before the Steelers would go on to win 24-20 over the Chargers on Le’Veon Bell’s walk-off touchdown. A critical 24 yard rush by Vick on the touchdown drive set up the score. As unfortunate as it is that he injured his hamstring during the Cardinals game this past Sunday, the timing of Vick’s injury could not be better for three reasons: 1), he wasn’t having a very good game anyway. Vick was only 3-for-8 for six yards, although he did rush for 47 yards on five carries. 2), Ben Roethlisberger is going to fully participate in practice this week so he could be ready for this week against Kansas City. 3), Assuming that Ben isn’t ready to go, here’s the second tale and the third reason the Steelers will be just fine.

Landry Jones

You talk about a guy who just came outta nowhere. The third string quarterback for Pittsburgh, the guy that no one expected to succeed, put on an absolute show against the Arizona Cardinals. Jones completed 8-of-12 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns, both to his favorite target: the recently activated Martavis Bryant. He was not sacked, he did not throw an interception, and he finished up with a passer rating of 149.3. It should be noted that 88 of his yards came on one play to Bryant when the receiver bobbed and weaved through shell-shocked Arizona defenders for a touchdown. Still, Jones surpassed all expectations and could very well wind up starting against the Chiefs this Sunday.

The fact that the Steelers defense has had a surprising amount of success to this point in the season hasn’t hurt either backup QB, but the bottom line is that both guys did their job. Vick was serviceable. Jones, though the snaps were limited, was incredible. It all adds up to a 2-1 record in Roethlisberger’s absence and a team that is at least within striking distance of the red-hot 6-0 Cincinnati Bengals for the top spot in the AFC North.

As good as this team is now, a healthy Ben Roethlisberger could make these 2015 Steelers downright scary.

Stats courtesy Yahoo! Sports

A Week Of Madness

Documenting the roller-coaster week that was for the Pittsburgh Pirates (98-64) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (2-2). 

Pirates

Destiny called, but the Bucs were apparently too busy to pick up.

Needing to win the season’s final seven games in order to secure a division title outright over the St. Louis Cardinals (100-62), Pittsburgh came up with a 3-4 record and will settle for the top NL Wild Card spot for the third straight season. The Bucs had plenty of chances to catch the Redbirds this season, including a record 16 baserunners left stranded in Monday’s 3-0 loss to St. Louis, but ultimately they could not cash in. Neil Walker’s solo shot and Francisco Cervelli’s grand slam were exciting to watch on Wednesday’s 8-2 victory over the Cardinals in the first game of a double-header. However, the Cardinals slammed the door shut on the division crown with an explosive offense led by Jason Heyward’s grand slam in an 11-1 rout.

Andrew McCutchen’s solo blast and Starling Marte’s second walk off home run of the season led Pittsburgh to a 6-4 victory over the Reds in 12 innings on Friday. After a disappointing 3-1 loss last night, in what could be A.J. Burnett’s final regular season start, the Bucs came back this afternoon and clinched home field advantage over the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card game with a 4-0 victory. J.A. Happ pitched yet another solid outing with six shutout innings allowing just three hits and three walks with seven strikeouts. Walker provided an RBI single, Pedro Alvarez homered, and the Bucs got RBI doubles from Jordy Mercer and Josh Harrison on Fan Appreciation Day. Pittsburgh fell just short of 2.5 million fans in attendance for the season and should expect another blackout crowd to kick off the post season for the senior circuit on Wednesday. The Bucs will have their hands full against Jake Arrieta and the Cubs will have their hands full against Gerrit Cole in what could be a pitching duel for the ages.

Steelers

Thursday night’s 23-20 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens (1-3) overshadowed an otherwise excellent night for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bill Cowher and Jerome Bettis were in the house as “The Bus” received his Hall of Fame ring, presented to him by Cowher. Michael Vick completed 19 of 26 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown in his first start as a member of the Black and Gold. He also threw a key block for Le’Veon Bell’s touchdown in the second quarter. Bell went on to rush for 129 yards on 22 carries to go along with the score. The Steelers defense recorded two takeaways thanks to Ross Cockrell’s interception in the second quarter and fumble recovery in the third. However, the defense missed too many tackles and the offense wasted too many opportunities to put away the Ravens. Baltimore scored the game’s final 16 points and Josh Scobee’s two missed field goals were too much to overcome. Scobee has since been released and former Giants kicker Chris Boswell becomes the third attempt to replace Shaun Suisham for Pittsburgh since the Hall of Fame game way back on August 9th. With the Cincinnati Bengals at 4-0, the Steelers have a lot of work to do if they want to secure a second straight AFC North title. Pittsburgh has another eight days to chew on Thursday night’s loss before a Monday night game on October 12 against the San Diego Chargers.

Stats courtesy MLB Gameday and Yahoo! Sports