If the Steelers Lose Saturday, it will be Because...

If the Steelers lose on Saturday, the overwhelming reason will be?

1) AJ has a bigger game than AB; and

2) Ben continues his pattern of throwing 2 INTs a game

Or E, distracted by spoiled fan whining.

I go with "Ben Comes Up Small" because if Ben plays well, he's proven that he can compensate for the other three. But... good coaching, good secondary and/or a good ground game CANNOT make up for Ben laying an egg.

If Ben has a stat line similar to the below, they have no chance.

19-35, 179 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT

I went with "Ben Comes Up Small" because I believe the Steelers really do live or die with Big Ben. It won't be his fault we lose, but it will be the most likely reason.

Ben hasnt been clutch in a while. Might be time for him to re-ignite that talent.

If the Steelers lose Saturday, it will be because Ben hasn't lost his tunnel vision for AB and big plays.

If Ben takes what he's given and works smartly with that, we should be OK.



(assuming of course that the secondary doesn't have too many "WTF?" moments).

# 41 antwon blake

I think our D needs to come up HUGE this weekend. Not sure how the run game will be with Williams being banged up. That being said I went with poor secondary play, OUR FUCKING CRAP SECONDARY!!! sorry for yelling, the thought of having a pretty good secondary would just elevate this team. Anything with the name Blake attached to it must take blame...

I'm going with poor secondary... The Steelers can't let Mcarron or red head look like Joe Montana. Even on Bens worse day he's still good enough to beat the Bungles. The Defense needs to take care of business and Tomlin needs to have the team prepared and have a good game plan... the rest will take care of its self.

secondary is poor just about every week but we're always in the game. seems like when the offense doesn't show up = loss.

Ben laying an egg by forcing balls into coverage is my nightmare scenario.

If Williams can't contribute at RB, Ben will have to have his best game of the season.

FrancoLambert wrote:

Ben laying an egg by forcing balls into coverage is my nightmare scenario.

If Williams can't contribute at RB, Ben will have to have his best game of the season.

This. Especially forcing it to Brown, which I swear Haley has some part in. It just doesn't seem like Ben to be throwing this many INTs.

I actually voted poor secondary, but if they take Blake out after his weekly roasting, we might be alright.

But yeah, after watching that Cleveland game, I get anxious every time Ben chucks the ball.

Staying positive, there is no IF. We're beating those jungle clowns!!

Going to have to say poor secondary. I'm already shaking thinking about Antwon Blake lining up against AJ Green. Brr...

I think (hope) that part of Ben forcing the ball to AB so much was to try to have AB finish first in yards ahead of Julio Jones. Maybe now that the season is over and those stats are done, I'm hoping that Ben goes back to playing smart football that we all know that he is capable of.

Lokki wrote:

I think (hope) that part of Ben forcing the ball to AB so much was to try to have AB finish first in yards ahead of Julio Jones.  Maybe now that the season is over and those stats are done, I'm hoping that Ben goes back to playing smart football that we all know that he is capable of.  

I get why Ben has lost faith in Bryant but not why the ball is not being thrown more to Wheaton when teams decide they are going to rotate coverage towards Brown

Atlanta Dan wrote:

Lokki wrote:

I think (hope) that part of Ben forcing the ball to AB so much was to try to have AB finish first in yards ahead of Julio Jones.  Maybe now that the season is over and those stats are done, I'm hoping that Ben goes back to playing smart football that we all know that he is capable of.  

I get why Ben has lost faith in Bryant but not why the ball is not being thrown more to Wheaton when teams decide they are going to rotate coverage towards Brown

Or Heath, when he isn't blocking. My God.. Heath has only been his security blanket for years.

Can't let AJ McCarron move the ball on us. If he does were in trouble.

Which means it would be a pretty good idea to get some pressure on the QB and Keep Blake on the sidelines.

Without a reliable running game can't expect Ben and the offense to get 40. This should not be a shootout.

Defense needs to do its job, Ben will be fine. I would guess about 26 to 30 points for us. Bengals O should not get more than in the teens in points.

I'm not seeing the option that says "Burfict headsmashes Big Ben's kneecaps" on the poll.

Ben laying an egg.

Though if the steelers trot out those slow ass Db blitzes they employed against the Browns....they could get even shredded worse than usual. If we were playing anything but a 4th string qb the other day....they would have been in loads of trouble.

The whole team has to raise their play significantly from the last 2-3 weeks or the steelers are going to be one and done.... giving those s.o.bs  in Ohio their first playoff win in like forever.

i hope the charity given out by the bills the other day, has given this team new life, and they run with it.

Also can't forget about this guy....



Win this one for him.

The secondary usually gives up large gains, our ground game depends on how healthy our RB is, and the coaching is rarely perfect, so I'll just eliminate those. This only leaves one thing of course, and I think it goes without saying that way more often than not, Ben is a spectacular QB who has leads us to victory. However, if we get a "Not" game from Ben, I'd say we're as fucked as fucked can be, and I don't see other ways of overcoming that.

Lokki wrote:

I think (hope) that part of Ben forcing the ball to AB so much was to try to have AB finish first in yards ahead of Julio Jones.  Maybe now that the season is over and those stats are done, I'm hoping that Ben goes back to playing smart football that we all know that he is capable of.  

He was definitely forcing the ball to AB more than he needed to, I think we're going to see some other guys sharing in the wealth.

Heath is at the point of his career where he can't really create space in man coverage anymore. He rarely beats anyone other than a LB in coverage. He thrives on zone defenses because he's great at finding the soft spots in the zone to give Ben easy throws.

That's why you've been seeing nearly every throw to Heath with a defender all over him. He was never really fast, and he has lost a step.

He's still a reliable target and a pretty good blocker, but he just isn't going to beat anyone anymore without great play calling and scheme, along with zone or soft coverage defense.

He has been so awesome for so long. It sucks, but it's just a reality of football life.

This team will go as BB goes.  

I'm hoping for "Ben vs. Colts" type of play from him.


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The Secondary has been flat out ignored the past 3-4 years, it's the one area that has been bad when the other areas have improved.