Letter to Big Ben: Get Over It

Well said, and about as rational as you can possibly be, no arguments can be made against any complaint you stated. I hope this does not become a problem because if it does it is nobody’s fault but Ben’s. He had to go, get over it, he should be thankful, this probably just upped his chances of another super bowl or two and will probably keep him healthier over the next few seasons. Again, great letter, can’t see how you could say it any better.

If Ben is going to worry all next season……..Well, Arians woiuld let me do this and let me do that, and not go with what the new OC calls up or demands, it will be a long season. We will find out if Ben has “truely” matured.

The way he (Ben) plays I doubt he has more than a couple more years left in the Tank. Sorry to say this, but at age 30 and over I fear his Physical skills (ie scrambling, breaking tackles, etc,) will diminish a lot and I am not sure this will serve him well; he is not a great pocket passer. He needs to learn to play QB more like Brady or manning.

idk why evrybdy think Ben can’t pass out of the pocket…..didn’t anybody see the new England game???? If they have a good game plan good things happen!!!!

why this offense looked so competent, confident, smart and in control for a couple of games, NE and Titans especially, and so harum scarum at other times?

I’m not a real student of the game as some of you are and I’m still on the fence about Arians but watching those two games I thought: wow, Ben is making smarter decisions, the game plan is working, they HAVE a game plan, this offense is really game-controlling eat up the clock and score multi-dimensional, spreading it around, keeping the defense guessing and/or exploiting their weaknesses. ANd not setting up some players to look bad because they were asked to repeat plays that didn’t work the last time…(Poor Rashard, I kept thinking, why are they doing the same thing to him again?? But maybe they weren’t. Maybe it just looked like he hit a brick wall twice in a row, repeatedly, all season long. Again, I’m not a student of the game but there were so many times when it was Rashard, no gain, Rashard, no gain…what was that about? Even if it’s a weakness of Rashard’s or a weakness of who was supposed to be blocking for him, didn’t a valiant attempt resulting in failure mean they should try a different approach? Or were they and I couldn’t see the whole picture?)

And then it was gone—the multi-dimensional, lets use everyone approach. As a plan. As a real effort with a few yards gained here, a few there, this way, that way, a spash play, back to use the clock to rest the defense and eat up the clock, so the stats at the end of the game were all across the board. After NE, everything looked like “seat of the pants” play again. I know NE doesn’t have a great defense, but neither did a couple of other teams we didn’t look good against. If nothing else, we didn’t have those “double shots” of failure we seemed to have in other games—Rashard gets no where, they try it again and fail again. Pass to Blank, doesn’t work, they try it again…(Unmatched often by no double shots of success…in fact, they sometimes seemed to abandon what WAS working for no clear reason—at least to me.)

Yes, Ben is good at seat of his pants play—sometimes literally. I don’t think anyone wants Ben to completely change his style of play or become someone he’s not. My dad pointed out a year or so ago that Ben was getting better at all the things Ben is good at, but not getting any better at all the things Ben is not good at. Not great, not suddenly developing someone else’s strengths or O-line, but making small improvements.

At the beginning of this season, Ben looked lean and mean and smarter and I had hope he himself had gained another dimension. But even before the injuries, Ben seemed to backslide into everything he already was but no extras. I might even guess that this is what ARII meant by Ben needing to “tweak” his style of play?

There may be all kinds of explanations and I’d sincerely like to hear them, even as conjecture. As a long time fan, I’m not used to the Steelers having all these options on offense but game by game, they seemed to focus on one and ignore the others when the best weapon seemed to be to use as many as possible until they found the magic ticket to that particular game. As an example, Ben to Heath was sometimes magic but over and over again in one game and then no Heath in the next game. Ben to Brown, to Brown, to Brown, or…

I’ve gone on too long, my frustration with this season showing and so much potential untapped. I don’t blame the individual players. I’m not convinced many of us have been fair to Wallace or Hines or Memo or Rashard or the O-line because of the choices made, not the effort made or the talent involved.

I love the Steelers more than most, have followed them since 1978. I hate the Pats and Ravens.
I really do feel BB must realize he cannot scramble around and take hits for another 10 yrs and survive, tahts all!!

Ben’s gonna be 30- we need an offense that’ll keep him upright for 7 more years. He needs to adjust, and the new OC needs to adjust this whole thing. Yes, better OL will help. So will hot routes, check-downs and draws. All curiously amiss in the Arians playbook.

Does this mean he will play if he wants to?

Awesome, Ben!

The formations except for the Tenn and NE games were very predictable even my grandson could recognize the bubble screen and Mendenhall off right guard before the snap just by looking at the formation. The one notable trait about Bruce Arians was once he found something that worked he never went back to it.

Trips= bubble screens
Ran right with Johnson motioning or in the fb position, motion Wallace meant he was running a deep route.
Absolutely no waggled, no sliding protection, few if any gadget plays. They often forgot to utilize Heath after the start of each half. I could go on and on. The new OC will need to play to the teams strengths. Fast WR poor oline means getting the defense to play honest. That means more balance and being a bit more unpredictable in scheme. Wallace will need to get off the line faster and Ben will need to check it down.
Extending the drive keeps our d healthy and fresh. They need to draft the middle- nt ilb and g this season.

Amen, brother. That needed to be said. Perfect pitch!

SO SO TRUE, GLAD SOMEONE HAS THE GUTS TO SAY WHAT PEOPLE ARE THINKING. BRADY, ROGERS, BREES NICKLE AND DIME YOU TO DEATH, THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT THE LONG BALL UNTIL THE DEFENSE GIVES IT TO THEM, THEN THEY GO DOWN FIELD AND BEAT YOU.
WITH THE RECEIVERS THE STEELERS HAVE, WALLACE, BROWN, MILLER, SANDERS AND THE PROFESSOR HINDS WARD, THEY WOULD BE UNSTOPPABLE WITH THE NICKEL DIME APPROACH, LET THE PLAY MAKERS MAKE PLAYS.

This letter has taken new life this week with reports from PPG and the Trib regarding Big Ben’s feelings about Arians’s retirement. He says that he thinks Art Rooney II owes him answers. Well, Mr. Rooney will give Big Ben answers because he likes and respects Big Ben. However, what Big Ben needs to realize is that Mr. Rooney owes him nothing. Mr. Rooney is the boss and when a boss dismisses your friend, he does not have to give any reason why. Arians is gone, get over it.

Personally, I don’t see why Mr. Rooney is walking softly through this mess. That is not the Steeler way. Just come out and say you did not like the production level of the offense the last few seasons. As much as I would love to see a power running game back in Pittsburgh, I know the chances of that happening in 2012 are slim. However, I would much rather see the next offensive playcaller be able to hold Big Ben accountable for his own actions (like admonish him if he takes sacks that takes the Steelers out of field goal range) and use the ENTIRE offense. I really believe Heath Miller is the most underutilized player in the NFL. It boggles me that he only has 2 TDs in each of the last two seasons. I put that on Arians alone. While I know the track record for going outside the organization for OCs is not good (see Ray Sherman and Kevin Gilbride), I would seriously consider it because I believe Randy Fichtner will be another spineless yes-man to Big Ben.

If Big Ben is that angry that Arians retired and acts like the petulant child that many in and outside Steeler Nation perceive him to be, then the rumors are true. He is uncoachable. Please prove me wrong Big Ben.

Big Ben be called a “game manager” since 2006….

May we please dispell this silly notion that somehow Arians had nothing to do with the success of the no-huddle? Do we really think that this wasn’t discussed, practiced, monitored during the week?

Not making any suggestions. Just commenting. So please don’t barrage me with a lot of complaints like I am a “turncoat”. I have been a Steelers fan since probably a lot of the “posters” were born. And a fan of Ben’s since he was chucking for Miami of Ohio. Just don’t like the way that he is being utilized and is continually being injured (multiple times) year after year.

I am not in the mood for an argument.. Ben is “definitely” our QB (and a DAMN good one), but I think that Peyton at 95% could throw for 6,000 yards with our receivers – easily. I just want to see Ben stay healthy for a season and reduce his sack total. It is not “all” the fault of the O Linemen – a lot of it, but not all of it.

That is not what I am advocating. I just want Ben to play up to his ability and understand the old adage that: “with age(and experience) comes wisdom”. I watched Ben in college. He was very similar to Cam Newton. He looked like a man playing with boys. I was VERY pleased when we selected him in the draft. I am not pleased in the way that he is getting beaten and battered every year. Part of the blame goes to the OL and part of the blame goes to Ben. A “smart” Ben (with the talented receivers we have) could easily throw for over 5000 yards and hand the ball off to a 1000+ yards rusher. We have fleet WR’s Brown, Wallace and Sanders. And I think that Heath and Wes Saunders could be a comparable version of Gronkowski and Hernandez – if they are utilized properly. I hope that we will select a tough OC who is “progressive and innovative”. I was calling for (and posted) us to pick Hank Hynosky as our FB in last years draft. And in the previous year, I and several others were online and were suggesting for Management to pick Legarette Blount. We were correct on both accounts. Am hoping that we can pick up a quality OT and a quality OG and NG in the draft. Also hope that we can address the backup QB problem that we had. Now is the time for our “walking wounded” to address their injuries and get the necessary surgery or rehabilitation that is needed. This team has SOOOOO much talent. There is no reason that we should not win it all next year if we have a good draft.

That is not what I am advocating. I just want Ben to play up to his ability and understand the old adage that: “with age(and experience) comes wisdom”. I watched Ben in college. He was very similar to Cam Newton. He looked like a man playing with boys. I was VERY pleased when we selected him in the draft. I am not pleased in the way that he is getting beaten and battered every year. Part of the blame goes to the OL and part of the blame goes to Ben. A “smart” Ben (with the talented receivers we have) could easily throw for over 5000 yards and hand the ball off to a 1000+ yards rusher. We have fleet WR’s Brown, Wallace and Sanders. And I think that Heath and Wes Saunders could be a comparable version of Gronkowski and Hernandez – if they are utilized properly. I hope that we will select a tough OC who is “progressive and innovative”. I was calling for (and posted) us to pick Hank Hynosky as our FB in last years draft. And in the previous year, I and several others were online and were suggesting for Management to pick Legarette Blount. We were correct on both accounts. Am hoping that we can pick up a quality OT and a quality OG and NG in the draft. Also hope that we can address the backup QB problem that we had. Now is the time for our “walking wounded” to address their injuries and get the necessary surgery or rehabilitation that is needed. This team has SOOOOO much talent. There is no reason that we should not win it all next year if we have a good draft.