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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Tuesday update

Ben Roethlisberger was on the practice field today, but did not work. He seemed lucid speaking to his teammates and left the locker room without speaking to the media.

Speaking to players in the locker room, they said Roethlisberger's concussion was mild.

Mike Tomlin said he expects Roethlisberger to be fine and wouldn't rule him out of returning to practice this week.

© Ryan Clark, James Harrison, James Farriror, Willie Parker, Aaron Smith and Hines Ward were the veterans who did not practice Tuesday as the team held its first bye-week workout.

Tomlin is not having the team spend a practice on each of their possible opponents. They are instead focusing on their own play.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike Shanahan the new Steelers O.C. and assit coach. Well I can dream can't I?
Zeke

Anonymous said...

Dale,

I know Ben is the franchise QB, has enjoyed record-breaking success through his first years in the league (including a Super Bowl), and signed far-and-away the largest contract in team history. He is also clearly the starting QB on this team. With that said, has there been any rumblings by any of his teammates that the offense seems to have moved better with Byron this year or is the team 100% supportive of Ben through his struggles this year.

I personally think Byron has done a great job but it's been in a very limited sample. I support Ben as QB but think Byron would fill in very well if needed.

Patrick said...

Well I'm not going to say the Steelers would be just as good with Brad Johnson again, but over a 16 game season, I just do not think that Leftwhich gives the same production and leadership to this team as Ben does.

It's my opinion, and I could certaintly be proven wrong, but Ben is just head and shoulders better. Is he having a tough year? Sure. Did he have a tough year in 2006? you bet, but he was great in 2004, 2005, and 2007. Leftwhich has not had those kind of seasons and is not capable of making the plays Ben does. I'm sure the locker room recognizes that.

Anonymous said...

But can Byron not turn the ball over? At this point, I don't trust Ben to do that.

Anonymous said...

Fact of the matter is, they signed Ben $100 million. They aren't going to start anyone over him for quite some time. Even if Leftwich is the better option (I don't believe you can base that on two halves of play over the course of an entire season, nor do I think he's the better option -- period) they couldn't admit to a $100 million mistake. Not in the first year of his contract.

Ben is playing behind a god-awful O-line. Blame him for holding onto the ball all you want -- we've seen Kemoeatu and and Colon wiff enough times to know where most of the problem lies.

If the offense steps up -- if we can run the ball, if the O-Line can block, if Ben can keep his head on straight -- we'll win the Super Bowl. Don't forget his play during the 2005 playoff run. It was nothing short of legendary.

Dale Lolley said...

If he's healthy enough to play, he's going to play. That's the bottom line. He's this team's QB.
And nobody in that locker room is going to say anything otherwise.
There are things they like better about Leftwich. The offensive line knows where he's going to be at on every play. They don't have to worry about him running into a sack.
The receivers know he's going to get rid of the ball quickly and it's going to go where the play dictates.
But those are some of the same things we heard about Tommy Maddox.

Patrick said...

Dale, if you had to guees, what would you say the Steelers are going to do in the playoffs? 1 and done, another championship game loss, or all the way to the SB?

Do you expect to see anything different from the offense or defense? I don't think the defense would try to change anything, but the offense could obviously use a spark. Is that going to be them using the I formation more?

Dale Lolley said...

I actually think they'll play San Diego.
As for the game plan, I don't know yet. They haven't practiced for any particular opponent this week.