TPOP: All I Want is PERFECTION

Here is my latest article for The Point of Pittsburgh:


All I Want is Perfection - Is That Too Much to Ask???
by Tiger Rowan

Ben Roethlisberger is my guy. When he was drafted, I jumped up and down (literally), and predicted that he would lead the Steelers to six Super Bowls, winning five of them. There might be other quarterbacks with better statistics, but I will take Big Ben ten out of ten times. For years, I have debated with people about the value of Ben Roethlisberger versus the media darlings, such as Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady. People have provided me with coincidental statistics and banal rhetoric… to no avail… because, again, Big Ben is my guy. Period.

So, on a day where Roethlisberger tied Terry Bradshaw for the most victories by a Steelers quarterback (107), it might shock some to hear me say: Ben could have played better.

Read more:
http://www.thepointofpittsburgh.com/all-i-want-is-perfection-is-that-too-much-to-ask/

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another great article teeg


and

ya nitpicking..........

vasteeler wrote:

another great article teeg


and

ya nitpicking..........

Thanks, man.

And, yea... I'm going to catch some heat.

Good article, for the most part.

If it takes a player or team to play a perfect game to get the win, they probably are not that good to begin with. Mistakes will be made, poor judgement will be shown. Not to mention, there is another team chock full of millionaires on the other side of the ball who get paid to play as well. People sometimes forget about that fact, where everything is good but the other side makes a better play.

I do feel your pain though. Just once, I want the outcome not to be in doubt. There was a bit yesterday (in the 3rd qtr.) where I thought, "Uh oh...here comes the 49'ers."

Well the thing is now Ben DOES put up the big numbers. those back to back 500+ yard games really was a showing of how high his ceiling is and how much ability he has. Credit is due to Brown Wheaton Bryant and Bell but all that under consideration He is every but as good at Brady Manning or Rodgers the only difference now is that hes putting the monster numbers with them. Ill take his streakyness along with his absolute love and devotion to the game his team and the fans over any quarter back out there. I think right now the top performing quarterbacks are Ben and Brady. I think hands down for the past 2 seasons Ben has been a top 3 quarterback. He is actually a fantasy owners dream now when a couple years ago he just didnt have the in your face stats he does now.

jak341 wrote:

Good article, for the most part.

If it takes a player or team to play a perfect game to get the win, they probably are not that good to begin with. Mistakes will be made, poor judgement will be shown. Not to mention, there is another team chock full of millionaires on the other side of the ball who get paid to play as well. People sometimes forget about that fact, where everything is good but the other side makes a better play.

I do feel your pain though. Just once, I want the outcome not to be in doubt. There was a bit yesterday (in the 3rd qtr.) where I thought, "Uh oh...here comes the 49'ers."

I hear your point (about the other team getting paid, too).

BUT...

On that play to AB, the Niners' secondary was burned, and the only reason that they were able to break up the pass, is because AB had to come back for it. If BB hits AB in stride, the safety has no play on the ball.


Please note that I am a realist. I know that scoring in the 40s is excellent, and that not every throw is going to be perfect.

BUT...

If BB has a weakness, it is his deep ball. He can uncork it 70 yards; he has the arm strength, but for whatever reason, he habitually underthrows his deep balls. I swear that he'd have 30 more TDs in his career, if he had not underthrow so many receivers.

.

ImperialFan wrote:

Well the thing is now Ben DOES put up the big numbers. those back to back 500+ yard games really was a showing of how high his ceiling is and how much ability he has. Credit is due to Brown Wheaton Bryant and Bell but all that under consideration He is every but as good at Brady Manning or Rodgers the only difference now is that hes putting the monster numbers with them. Ill take his streakyness along with his absolute love and devotion to the game his team and the fans over any quarter back out there. I think right now the top performing quarterbacks are Ben and Brady. I think hands down for the past 2 seasons Ben has been a top 3 quarterback. He is actually a fantasy owners dream now when a couple years ago he just didnt have the in your face stats he does now.

Yep.

The two six-touchdown games from last season (Colts game and Ravens game) shoudl be what BB does every week.  He has the skills to do it... and the O-line to do it... and the receivers to do it.

In reality, I do not expect 6 TDs every single week.  

BUT... it's absolutely within the realm of possibility for any game in which he plays.  

.

teegre wrote:

ImperialFan wrote:

Well the thing is now Ben DOES put up the big numbers. those back to back 500+ yard games really was a showing of how high his ceiling is and how much ability he has. Credit is due to Brown Wheaton Bryant and Bell but all that under consideration He is every but as good at Brady Manning or Rodgers the only difference now is that hes putting the monster numbers with them. Ill take his streakyness along with his absolute love and devotion to the game his team and the fans over any quarter back out there. I think right now the top performing quarterbacks are Ben and Brady. I think hands down for the past 2 seasons Ben has been a top 3 quarterback. He is actually a fantasy owners dream now when a couple years ago he just didnt have the in your face stats he does now.

Yep.  

The two six-touchdown games from last season (Colts game and Ravens game) shoudl be what BB does every week.  He has the skills to do it... and the O-line to do it... and the receivers to do it.  

In reality, I do not expect 6 TDs every single week.  

BUT... it's absolutely within the realm of possibility for any game in which he plays.  

.

should have been 7..............

Always enjoy your articles teegre..hope Bens performance yesterday ws just a glimpse of great things to come this season..I have no reason to think that it wasnt

steelcrazy wrote:

Always enjoy your articles teegre..hope Bens performance yesterday ws just a glimpse of great things to come this season..I have no reason to think that it wasnt

Thanks, man.

45 ppg is a realistic possibility.

And, I think that BB will finally be in the discussion for MVP (5600 yards, 44 TDs, 2 INTs).


.

It's hard to be perfect.

I know Ben waited too long to throw that pass to AB down the sideline and underthrew it, but it wasn't deflected. AB had it hit him in the chest when he jumped. He's made hundreds of catches tougher than that. He also dropped a pass earlier in the game. Deangelo Williams also dropped a perfectly thrown pass, and I think there were one or two others that I can't recall clearly that dropped passes.  When you add in the drops, he nearly was perfect. He was hitting players deep down the field in stride and right on the money. For Ben to play like that, it requires good play from the offensive line, and receivers to get open.  A good running game also doesn't hurt.

All that said, I completely understand the point of your piece. If Ben doesn't play great, this team probably doesn't have a chance to win it all this year. He's that good, and not many people outside of Pittsburgh seemed to know that before last season. He has carried this team for the last few years, and took what would have been 4 to 6 win teams with an average quarterback to an 8-8 season, and an 11-5 season with a trip to the playoffs. Now that the weapons are in place around him, huge numbers are coming.

Some of us always knew he was this good even when many Steelers fans didn't......I'm not going to mention names!

Great writing as always my friend. Any time we can get a Conan the Barbarian quote in there, it has to be a quality writer on the keyboard!

Ben had a 155 passer rating. He is now tied with Peyton Manning for the most games with passer ratings above 150 (7).

can't help but wonder how much he may have accomplished if they had gotten rid of BA sooner. the difference really is all the talent around him, but he has vastly improved his play since BA left.

He had great talent around him with Bruce Arians. Hines Ward, Willie Parker, Rashard Mendenhall, Heath Miller, Mike Wallace, Santonio Holmes etc.

Haley just puts together better game plans, calls better plays in games, makes adjustments, and is less reckless with the ball, all while making it a point to protect Ben.

Ben is far from slowing down.

If they keep him protected he'll be here until he's 40.

teegre wrote:

jak341 wrote:

Good article, for the most part.

If it takes a player or team to play a perfect game to get the win, they probably are not that good to begin with. Mistakes will be made, poor judgement will be shown. Not to mention, there is another team chock full of millionaires on the other side of the ball who get paid to play as well. People sometimes forget about that fact, where everything is good but the other side makes a better play.

I do feel your pain though. Just once, I want the outcome not to be in doubt. There was a bit yesterday (in the 3rd qtr.) where I thought, "Uh oh...here comes the 49'ers."

I hear your point (about the other team getting paid, too).  

BUT...

On that play to AB, the Niners' secondary was burned, and the only reason that they were able to break up the pass, is because AB had to come back for it.  If BB hits AB in stride, the safety has no play on the ball.  


Please note that I am a realist.  I know that scoring in the 40s is excellent, and that not every throw is going to be perfect.  

BUT...

If BB has a weakness, it is his deep ball.  He can uncork it 70 yards; he has the arm strength, but for whatever reason, he habitually underthrows his deep balls.  I swear that he'd have 30 more TDs in his career, if he had not underthrow so many receivers.  

.

that has always been my biggest critique of Ben. his under thrown deep balls has been the weakest part of his game his entire career.
we all know he loves to go deep , but he's so damn inconsistent with putting the ball in the right spot. i was thrilled to see him hit such a high percentage of them on sunday. lets hope it's just the beginning and not a fluke.

Great article, but perfection doesn't exist in sports. There's always something than can be improved

Solid article.
Much like you I'm a huge Ben fan.
The reality is that he should always be in the discussion amongst the 'elite' whomever that is week to week depending on who you ask.
But of course the media hogs will always point to him having the worst QB rating in a Super Bowl, but yet they forget how the Steelers got there and that was riding Ben's arm in those 3 games and his stellar play.

Point is they don't make that Super Bowl with any other QB in my view.

pczach wrote:

All that said, I completely understand the point of your piece. If Ben doesn't play great, this team probably doesn't have a chance to win it all this year. He's that good, and not many people outside of Pittsburgh seemed to know that before last season. He has carried this team for the last few years, and took what would have been 4 to 6 win teams with an average quarterback to an 8-8 season, and an 11-5 season with a trip to the playoffs. Now that the weapons are in place around him, huge numbers are coming.

Some of us always knew he was this good even when many Steelers fans didn't......I'm not going to mention names!

Great writing as always my friend. Any time we can get a Conan the Barbarian quote in there, it has to be a quality writer on the keyboard!

Thanks for the kind words.  

The bolded part is essentially it.  

It's amazing how many people don't know how GREAT he is.  Maybe it's because he makes it look so easy.  IDK... but, they're about to find out.  

And... any time is a good time for a Conan reference.  

.

Lardlad wrote:

can't help but wonder how much he may have accomplished if they had gotten rid of BA sooner. the difference really is all the talent around him, but he has vastly improved his play since BA left.

As Tony said, Haley just puts together a better gameplan... and, I think that Haley is a better coach.

Haley told BB to do X, and BB resisted, but eventually did it. Boom!!! BB got better. Whereas, Arians was afraid to actually "coach" BB.

.

BlackAndGold wrote:

Ben is far from slowing down.

If they keep him protected he'll be here until he's 40.

BB has gotten better each season.

He will threepeat... and retire.


.

Master_Of_Puppets wrote:

teegre wrote:

jak341 wrote:

Good article, for the most part.

If it takes a player or team to play a perfect game to get the win, they probably are not that good to begin with. Mistakes will be made, poor judgement will be shown. Not to mention, there is another team chock full of millionaires on the other side of the ball who get paid to play as well. People sometimes forget about that fact, where everything is good but the other side makes a better play.

I do feel your pain though. Just once, I want the outcome not to be in doubt. There was a bit yesterday (in the 3rd qtr.) where I thought, "Uh oh...here comes the 49'ers."

I hear your point (about the other team getting paid, too).  

BUT...

On that play to AB, the Niners' secondary was burned, and the only reason that they were able to break up the pass, is because AB had to come back for it.  If BB hits AB in stride, the safety has no play on the ball.  


Please note that I am a realist.  I know that scoring in the 40s is excellent, and that not every throw is going to be perfect.  

BUT...

If BB has a weakness, it is his deep ball.  He can uncork it 70 yards; he has the arm strength, but for whatever reason, he habitually underthrows his deep balls.  I swear that he'd have 30 more TDs in his career, if he had not underthrow so many receivers.  

.

that has always been my biggest critique of Ben.  his under thrown deep balls has been the weakest part of his game his entire career.
we all know he loves to go deep , but he's so damn inconsistent with putting the ball in the right spot. i was thrilled to see him hit such a high percentage of them on sunday.  lets hope it's just the beginning and not a fluke.

Last year was the first step in the evolution of BB.

Last year, he led the league in passing yards. This year, he will lead the league in TD passes.

.

SteelersNorth wrote:

Solid article.
Much like you I'm a huge Ben fan.
The reality is that he should always be in the discussion amongst the 'elite' whomever that is week to week depending on who you ask.
But of course the media hogs will always point to him having the worst QB rating in a Super Bowl, but yet they forget how the Steelers got there and that was riding Ben's arm in those 3 games and his stellar play.

Point is they don't make that Super Bowl with any other QB in my view.

Exactly!!!

Those three playoff games were the best playoff performance by a QB ever (QB rating). Sure, he was stunned by the lights of the SuperBowl (or, Cowher throttled him back)... but, there would NOT have even gotten to the SuperBowl without BB.

.

P Manning is always in the convo but he sucks in the superbowl. I thought Ben played quite well in superbowl 43, game winning drive and all.