Pissed Off

I just finished watching the Steeler game. I love watching the Steelers. Whenever I'm deployed watching the Steelers is often the highlight of my week. But, I'm honestly thinking about switching teams. I'm getting awful sick and tired of the hero worship that's been heaped on that idiot rookie. The Steelers have suffered from a string of shitty quarterbacks. First, there is Kordell Stewart, who couldn't keep it straight as to whether he was supposed to throw the ball to the guys on his team or the guys on the other team; he never cracked the code on that one. Following him was Tommy Maddox, the only thing he had going for him is that, well he wasn't Kordell Stewart. And then comes "big-ben." I won't even bother correcting capitalization on that. Ben Roethlisberger disgusts me.

I just spent 2 1/2 hours of my life (that I will not get back) watching every last one of my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers give 150% effort... well, almost all of them did. I've seen better quarterbacks in Pop Warner. Here's some hints to every team that is going to face the Steelers this year:

1. Roethlisberger will not stay in the pocket--sack him deep.

2. Roethlisberger cannot think on his feet-- he is either afraid to take a hit, or just can't make a decision when the pressure is on.

3. You don't have to focus on sacking Roethlisberger... just get close to him.

4. Roethlisberger doesn't seem to understand that throwing down the ball the sideline is much safer than throwing it straight down the middle. So put your players in the middle whenever he is supposed to throw out to stop the clock, and you'll get an interception, every time.

I know this is pretty harsh. I know that this kid’s only been playing in the NFL for 16 games (regular season, he blew it in the postseason.), but it boils down to cowardice. I honestly think that the reason he can't think on his feet is because he's afraid to take a hit. He's a pretty big guy, so he shouldn't be intimidated by the guys that are trying to rip his head off. Also, he's got a pretty damned good offensive line; they work really damned hard to keep him safe for enough time to pass the ball accurately. Big Ben seldom knows whether to run, pass, hand off, take a knee or throw the ball away.

Of course, I'm not going to tell Bill Cowher how to do his job. But if it were me, young Mr. Roethlisberger would ride the bench for at least one game… I wouldn’t even let him dress. He could just stand next to the water cooler. Better yet, he could just sit in the skybox next to Art Rooney and watch the game and learn.

And yes, I feel pretty safe judging him as a coward, I often had to make decisions while getting shot at and still managed to make them. That’s pressure. Of course, the Steelers do have another option: Change the color scheme of their uniforms: Put yellow on top and black on the bottom. That way, he could have a stripe of yellow on his back, a yellow belly, and no one would know what he does when he doesn’t know whether to shit or go blind, or when he pees his pants because he’s about to get hit.

--Chuck